Tag Archives: Trade Unions

October 2nd: All Out for Jobs, Education, Peace and Equality!

The following statement is from the Network to Fight for Economic Justice (NFEJ):

October 2nd, 2010, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

The Network to Fight for Economic Justice (NFEJ) is calling on all affiliates and supporters to rally for Jobs, Education, Peace and Equality, on October 2nd in Washington D.C. Initiated by the NAACP and labor unions, along with hundreds of progressive organizations, this rally promises to be powerful. The NFEJ is an endorser and is calling upon our members and affiliates to promote and mobilize our unions, community groups, poor people’s organizations, and student groups. We want to build our own movement that brings real change to the society we live in.

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25th anniversary of historic Hormel strike commemorated in Austin, Minnesota

The following article by Mick Kelly is from Fight Back! News:

Ray Rogers speaking at P-9 strike commemoration. (Fight Back! News/Mick Kelly)

Austin, MN – About 200 veterans of the famous Hormel strike – members of Local P-9, along with their families and supporters – gathered here at the American Legion Hall to commemorate strike’s 25th anniversary. Among those in attendance were P-9 President Jim Guyette, Vice-president Lynn Huston, Pete Winkles and Ray Rogers. The event was sponsored by the United Support Group.

Participants in the strike spoke about the necessity of it and of their pride in participating in this historic battle of labor. Many, who paid dearly for their efforts, said if given the opportunity, they would do it again.

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Colombian Mass Grave Of More Than 2000 May Be Civilian Trade Unionists, Not Military Casualties

The following article by Conn Hallinan is from Alternet:

August 5, 2010 | If you want to understand what’s behind the recent tension between Colombia and Venezuela, think “smokescreen,” and then go back several months to some sick children in the Department of Meta, just south of Bogota. The children fell ill after drinking from a local stream, a stream contaminated by the bodies of more than 2,000 people, secretly buried by the Colombian military.

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What’s an ‘independent’ union? Imperialist strategy vs. worker militancy in China

The following article by  Deirdre Griswold is from Workers World:

Can it be just a coincidence?

After a wave of strikes at foreign-opened firms in China — strikes that were supported by the government and gained significant wage increases for the workers — the business media in the United States and other imperialist countries are complaining that China is taking an economic turn harmful to their interests.

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How the Communist Party of China Safeguards Workers’ Interests During Crisis

The following is the contribution of the Marxist Institute – Academy of Social Sciences People’s Republic of China, Prepared by Enfu Cheng and Shuoying Chen, researchers at Marxism Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, P.R. China, to the nineteenth International Communist Seminar on “The consequences of the economic crisis and the intervention of communist parties,” Brussels, 14-16 May 2010.

Since the global financial crisis broke out, the Communist Party of China has let government and trade unions play their full role in safeguarding workers’ interests with regard to employment and social security, etc.

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Colombian activist Liliany Obando’s trial postponed again

The following article by Angela Denio is from Fight Back! News:

The jailing and repeated postponement of trials of Liliany “Lily” Obando tells the story of a powerful woman. She is dealing firsthand with the extreme repression facing many Colombians who oppose the government. In Colombia there are over 7000 political prisoners. Colombian trade unionist Liliany Obando was arrested in the summer of 2008. Her arrest came during a string of attacks by the Uribe government targeting leaders of Colombia’s growing struggles for social change.

Obando is a typical Colombian. She has taken up the challenge to fight for the rights of the people – the ones who don’t matter to the rich in charge in Colombia and their puppeteers here in the U.S. government. Through her work with FENSUAGRO, a Colombian union, Obando championed the rights and welfare of Colombian farmers and rural wage laborers. Her work was transparent and legal under Colombian law, but Liliany Obando now sits in prison. Continue reading

General Strike in Greece: Plutocracy Must Pay for the Crisis!

The following article is from the website of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE):

The new 24-hour strike held on February 24th against the plans of the social-democrat government of PASOK to place the burdens of the capitalist crisis on the shoulders of the workers was a great success.

Millions of workers resisted to the intimidation by the capital’s parties (the social democrat PASOK, the conservative ND, and the extreme-right, racist LAOS) which argue that workers must submit in order to “rescue the country from bankruptcy”. The “patriotism” of these political forces has only one goal: to maintain and expand the profit making of the capital at the expense of the workers’ gains by means of raising the retirement ages, cutting salaries and pensions, further dismantling of the social-security system, deteriorating the working relations and increasing the anti-people taxes.

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