Italian unions sign up to the repression of trade union rights
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Jan 19 2014 12:37
It should have been just the implementation decree for the 31 May agreement but it has turned into a new agreement, with an even harsher level of repression against workers’ struggles.
The agreement regulates relations between Confindustria (the major employers’ organization in Italy) and the three confederal unions CGIL, CISL and UIL, and limits workers’ trade union rights severely. It sets out that only those unions which signed the 31 May agreement can take part in negotiations about workers’ future. What’s more, it has introduced a system of ‘certification’ for members.
Anarchists and the trade unions - Paul Delesalle
The text of a pamphlet first published in 1900 encouraging anarchists to get involved in the trade unions, which the author claims are the “embryos of the groups of free producers of the future”.
Anarchists and the Trade Unions – Paul Delesalle
The importance of the trade unions, which is increasing every day, makes it our duty to consider and especially study what position we must assume towards these groups and to what extent we must participate in their development, whether by becoming members of them, or by helping to create them.
Reviving the strike - Joe Burns
If the American labor movement is to rise again, it will not be as a result of electing different politicians, the passage of legislation, or improved methods of union organizing. Rather, workers will need to rediscover the power of the strike. Not the ineffectual strike of today, where employees meekly sit on picket lines waiting for scabs to take their jobs, but the type of strike capable of grinding industries to a halt - the kind employed up until the 1960s, argues Joe Burns.
In "Reviving the Strike," labor lawyer Burns draws on economics, history and current analysis in arguing that the labor movement must redevelop an effective strike based on the now outlawed traditional labor tactics of stopping production and workplace-based solidarity.
An account of the universities strike, 31 October 2013
An account by Demogorgon, a left communist clerical worker and member of the International Communist Current, of the run-up to an day of the joint union strike action in UK universities, including a leaflet she/he distributed beforehand. We do not necessarily agree with all of bit but reproduce it for reference and discussion.
I work in Higher Education in a low-grade administrative function. My workforce is ‘represented’ by three unions: Unite, Unison and UCU. On the 31st October, and for the first time ever, all three unions called a sector-wider strike over the issue of pay.
Kyiv conference demands justice for Kazakh oil workers
Submitted by Gabriel Levy on Nov 5 2013 12:12
A campaign to free imprisoned activists, and get the truth about a police massacre, is going international.
The “justice for Kazakhstan oil workers” campaign was the central focus of a conference of independent trades union activists, socialists and human rights campaigners from across the former Soviet Union at the weekend.
Has PCS been outflanked to the left by a bosses’ union?
Submitted by Phil on Oct 21 2013 17:20
A look at two of many attacks faced by workers in HM Revenue & Customs. The contrasting responses from clerical grade union PCS and senior grade union ARC are worth noting, but not for the reason you might guess.
Listing all of the ongoing issues and disputes within HMRC at present would be an essay in itself. Suffice to say, there are a lot. In this post I want to talk about two in particular; the imposition of detrimental new terms and conditions for staff and the quotas in the new performance management system which are aimed at making it easier to sack the “bottom 10%” of staff from the job.
'This is class warfare' the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe
Submitted by wojtek on Oct 11 2013 21:30
Lucien van der Walt on the potential of Zimbabwean trade unions' to force change during a wave of strike action in 1998.
Trade unions in Zimbabwe: For democracy, against neo-liberalism
Submitted by wojtek on Oct 11 2013 21:09
Lucien van der Walt's paper on the state of organised labour in Zimbabwe circa 1998.
Meaningful work: an appeal to the young
Submitted by s.nappalos on Oct 8 2013 12:52
An article about meaning in choosing employment.
From the time I was a child, I was told to follow my dreams and do something I truly loved. Granted I rarely met an adult who was passionate about their work, but they seemed sincere in their desire for others to take that path. The advice of course usually had a piece of bitterness attached to it. As I came of age, the terrain didn’t look pretty.
The death of the liberal class - Chris Hedges
The liberal class plays a vital role in a democracy.
It gives moral legitimacy to the state. It makes limited forms of dissent and incremental change possible. The liberal class posits itself as the conscience of the nation. It permits us, through its appeal to public virtues and the public good, to define ourselves as a good and noble people.
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