unions
Articles about unions and the nature and function of labor or trade unionism.
Cambodia: Garment workers threaten strikes
Garment workers are trying to prevent large pay cuts. At the same time building workers have gone on strike in support of sacked colleagues.
The garment workers are threatening strikes in reaction to governement proposals to change the law that compels employers to pay double wages for night work. By cutting this premium by 70% the Prime Minister, Hun Sen, claims he will be able to create tens of thousands of new jobs. The industry is currently responsible for US$2.3bn worth of exports yearly, almost 80% of the total.
Chile: Forest workers strike over, unions call for continued protests against police violence
May 9, 2007: The Building and Wood Workers International reports the end of the strike of more than 7,000 workers against Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA – the largest forestry and pulp producing company in Chile.
The Chilean Confederacion de Trabajadores Forestales, affliated with the BWI, negotiated a raise in wages of 12% wage rise for the highest earners and a 52% rise for the lowest earners. All other demands had been met prior to the strike, which was called in response to the company's offer of a 5% raise.
Interview with Rasem Al Bayari, Palestinian trade unionist
Being a trade unionist is a very dangerous business in Palestine.
Rasem Al Bayari, Deputy General Secretary of the PGFTU (Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions), an ITUC affiliate, knows that well: following the destruction of a PGFTU building in October 2006 and the firing of two rockets at his home in January, on 6 April Rasem Al Bayari was injured by masked men who attacked him while he was in a car with his family.
Trade unionism and the class war - Guy Aldred
Pamphlet on class struggle and the unions by the anarchist-communist Guy Aldred.
Taken from a collection of Aldred's pamphlets Studies in Communism,(1940). Originally published in Pamphlets for the Proletarian, No. 11, (1911). Second edition published in The Spur series,No. 4,(1919).
Guy Aldred was an Anarchist-Communist, based for most of his life in Glasgow and active for many years as a pamphleteer and public speaker.
Trade guilds: Initiation through work - Andre Nataf
The origins of the guilds, their beliefs and practices. An informative brief survey, despite its conservative conclusion.
"The secret of the guilds is, then, a skill, but this only comes through practice. As he worked to fashion a stone, the guild member was working on a fragment of the universe to fit it into the designs of God; art, according to the alchemists, was the way of perfecting Nature.
Zimbabwean unions call-off mayday celebrations after death threats
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says it was forced to cancel May Day celebrations in four provinces after militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party allegedly threatened to murder union officials if the celebrations went ahead.
ZimOnline reported: Relations between Mugabe and the ZCTU are hostile with the workers’ federation blaming wrong government polices for plunging the economy and workers into misery.
In turn, Mugabe accuses the ZCTU of conspiring with his Western enemies and of using genuine worker grievances as pretext to instigate Zimbabweans to revolt and overthrow his government.
Revolutionary unionism in Latin America - the FORA in Argentina
Excellent pamphlet outlining the origins and development of the Argentinian working class movement, focussing in particular on the anarcho-syndicalist FORA (Federación Obrera Regional Argentina).
REVOLUTIONARY UNIONISM IN LATIN AMERICA
The FORA in Argentina
ASP LONDON & DONCASTER 1987
PREFACE
Anarchism is the philosophy of a new social order based on liberty, and unrestricted by man-made laws; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.
The decline of African-Americans in unions and manufacturing, 1979-2006
Article about the diminishing numbers of African-American workers in trade unions, which is dropping faster than the general decline in unionisation in the US.
For much of the postwar period, a higher share of African-American workers have been in unions than workers from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. As union representation and union coverage have declined for the country as a whole, unionization rates for African-Americans have fallen more quickly than for the rest of the workforce.
Israeli general strike called off as negotiations begin
The public sector strike scheduled to begin Wednesday morning has been postponed indefinitely, Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini decided Tuesday after meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
During the meeting, Olmert promised to intervene personally in order to expedite the payment of withheld wages to municipal worker employees and to "personally follow the progression."
The strike was meant to protest a delay in the payment of wages to between 7,000 and 8,000 employees of 40 local authorities and 16 religious councils.
BNP scab union set for launch
The British National Party is set to formally launch its scab union on the 24 February at an undisclosed venue in central London.
It is the latest attempt by the BNP to attract working class voters away from Labour. ‘Solidarity, The British Workers Union’ was registered with the Certification Office in December 2005 but it has yet to hold a formal public event. This will change this month when it holds its first Annual Meeting.
