Jamaica
Jamaica: another two-party state - The Red Menace
Article looking at the capitalist nature of Jamaican society, following the election of a 'socialist' party in the 1989 elections.
Last month Michael Manley of the People’s National Party replaced Edward Seaga (Jamaica Labour Party) as Jamaican Prime Minister. Since Jamaican independence, the PNP and the JLP have taken it in turns to administer capitalism on the island.
More job cuts announced, more to come
As the economic recession restates its international nature, further job losses are to be announced in Jamaica and Ireland, while Swedish unemployment rate rises 14% in one month and the International Labour Organisation predicts 7.2 million workers to be made redundant in Asia in 2009.
Cider maker Bulmers is to make 120 people redundant, seven of them in Northern Ireland. The company's plant in County Tipperary will lose 103 posts, while 11 jobs will be cut in Dublin. Aidan Murphy of parent company C&C, said the cuts, made through voluntary redundancies, was needed to "safeguard the viability of the company".
International developments in airport workers' struggles
As recession and job losses seem imminent, airport staff across the world have been organising to oppose their negative effects.
Air France unions have called for employees to join mass strikes due to take place on January 29. A statement released last night by seven unions including the two biggest ones, the CFDT and CGT, called for employees to demand greater protection for jobs and pay in the face of the current economic crisis.
Construction workers wildcat and go-slow in Jamaica
More than 50 workers at a construction site in Lewisville, New Market in St. Elizabeth on Monday joined the scores of Jamaican workers demanding increased wages.
The workers who are extending a section of the Lewisville High School said they are on go-slow and will continue their protest until their employer meets with them. They are employed by a privately owned construction company based in Kingston.
The workers are also upset that they are being made to work without health insurance.
Babylon Burning: West Kingston lock-down and police killings in Jamaica (2001)
In the summer of 2001, police locked down parts of the downtown area of Kingston, Jamaica. This contemporary leaflet reports on the event, and examines the background to the violence that makes Jamaica the state with the largest police 'kill-rate' (per head of population) in the world.
On Saturday 7th July 2001 July police entered Tivoli Gardens in Downtown Kingston, the Jamaican capital, looking for guns that had killed Willy Haggart, the gang leader, or don, of nearby Arnett Gardens, an event that had resulted in weeks of intermitant gang violence between supporters of both parties in the West Kingston areas Hannah Town and Denham Town.
Jamaican electricity workers wildcat strike
Wildcat industrial action by employees of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) yesterday led to power cuts affecting some 58,000 customers in seven parishes around the country.
The JPS reported last night that customers in sections of Clarendon, Manchester, St Ann, St Catherine, St Elizabeth, St James and St Thomas had lost their supply up to last night because of the action.
Labour Rebellions of the 1930s in the British Caribbean Region Colonies - Richard Hart
A brief overview of the numerous struggles which occurred in the British Caribbean during the 1930s, which led to the introduction of many trade union rights across the region, written by Jamaican trade unionist Richard Hart.
Published in 2002 jointly by Caribbean Labour Solidarity and the Socialist History Society.
About the author
Jamaican labour minister intervenes to try and avert hotel strike
Labour Minister Derrick Kellier has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow with contractors, as well as the two major trade unions representing the more than 2,000 workers at the Fiesta Hotel site in Hanover, in light of a threat by disgruntled workers to lock down the project.
Kellier, who was making his first appearance yesterday at a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House since he was appointed minister just more than a year ago, is expected to chair the meeting, which will involve representatives of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the National Workers Union (NWU), as well as the two main contractors on the site.
1952-1973: Radical perspectives in the Caribbean
The experiences of Fundi, Carribean Situationist. " From the start we saw through the fraud of the "independent" unions ... We decided that the union bureaucracy must stop; that there should not be any mediation between us and the boss for this has been responsible for suppressing confidence in ourselves to take up the total task of ending capitalism. ... We developed the capacity for instant strike action. We had meetings on the factory compound and the farms during work hours against the wishes of the boss and traditional unionism. ... Such actions are the bedrock of direct participation which stands in truth against the lies of centralized leadership."
None Shall Escape:
Radical perspectives in the Caribbean - Fundi (Caribbean Situationist)
Published in 1988 by
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