Emancipation & Liberation » Trade Unionism

Sep 14 2018

FRENCH POSTAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL STRIKE FUND

Category: For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 8:39 am

French workers remain one of the best organised groups in Europe. This is why Macron has launched attacks on the rail workers (see http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2018/04/14/french-public-sector-workers-under-attack/) and the postal workers. The organised French working class offers the best alternative to the neo-liberalism of Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche and the rampant national chauvinist, racist Right populism of Marine Le Pen’s Fronte National. The post workers have been on strike since March. We are publishing this appeal.

FRENCH POSTAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL STRIKE FUND

French Postal Workers are locked in a fight to the death against the Macron government, defending wages, conditions and the right to organise as trade unionists. We urge trade unionists to support the fight by contributing to the information strike fund at the link below. Continue reading “FRENCH POSTAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL STRIKE FUND”

Tags: Emmanuel Macron, En Marche, French Postal Workers International Strike Fund, Fronte National, Gael Quirante, Le Poste, Marine Le Pen, Muriel Penicaud

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Aug 22 2018

STOP UNION BUSTING IN UKRAINE

Category: Capitalism and Communism,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,Other Economic Struggles,Russia and ex-USSR,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 10:32 am

HOW WORKERS IN UKRAINE’S STEEL INDUSTRY ARE FIGHTING FOR WAGES, RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY

UKRAINIAN UNIONS UNITE IN MAJOR STRUGGLE WITH GLOBAL GIANT ARCELOR MITTAL

Tags: ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine Solidarity Campaign

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Jul 25 2018

LESSONS OF THE RED (REPUBLICAN) STATES TEACHER STRIKES

Category: How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Trade Unionism,US imperialism — RCN @ 2:13 pm

Eric Chester has sent in this article form Jack Gerson, a teacher activist on California, about the teacher strikes in

West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona.

LESSONS OF THE RED (REPUBLICAN) STATES TEACHER STRIKE

Striking teachers in West Virginia

Last Saturday (June 9), I attended the “Lessons of the Red States Teacher Strikes” forum featuring teacher leaders of the mass education strikes in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arizona. The forum, held in Oakland, California at a local public high school (Oakland Tech) was organized by the Oakland teachers’ union and co-sponsored by the San Francisco, Berkeley and Richmond (California) teachers’ unions. Here are my impressions and observations about this event. Continue reading “LESSONS OF THE RED (REPUBLICAN) STATES TEACHER STRIKES”

Tags: American Federation of Teachers, Arizona, Arne Duncan, Author: Jack Gerson, Bail Out Schools Not Banks, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, California, California Proposition 13, California Teachers Association, charter schools, checkoff system, classwide organisation, Donald Trump, Eli Broad, George Miller, Jerry Brown, John Doerr, Keith Brown, Kentucky, Los Angeles, National Education Association, No Child Left Behind, Oakland, Occupy, Randy Weingarten, Red State Teacher Strikes, Reed Hastings, Ted Kennedy, West Virginia

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Apr 14 2018

FRENCH PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS UNDER ATTACK

Category: Capitalism and Communism,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,The EU,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 1:44 pm

We are posting this article from Socialist Democracy (Ireland) about the attacks the French Macron government is launching on French rail workers. As the world retreats behind new national state barriers, France inside the EU seeks to pave the way for private capital to match those already achieved by its major competitor the USA, and a new competitor, soon to be outside the EU, the UK.

FRENCH PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS UNDER ATTACK

French public sector workers on strike on March 22nd

In France the Macron Government has set in motion plans for the destruction of the terms and conditions of approximately 150,000 workers in the national rail network, the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF). The level of workers’ anger has produced an impressive response. The major unions involved have been forced into putting forward plans for industrial action and in a show of unity 13 organisations on the left have presented a joint statement of solidarity. Continue reading “FRENCH PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS UNDER ATTACK”

Tags: Bruno Poncet, Emmanuel Macron, EU, France, French rail workers, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, SNCF, Socialist Democracy (Ireland), SUD-Rail union

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Apr 14 2018

UKRAINIAN UNIONS UNITE IN MAJOR STRUGGLE WITH GLOBAL GIANT ARCELOR MITTAL

Category: For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,Russia and ex-USSR,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 1:15 pm

UNIONS UNITE IN MAJOR STRUGGLE WITH GLOBAL GIANT ARCELORMITTAL

APPEAL FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

A major dispute is developing in the industrial city of Krtviy Rih in south east Ukraine. Trade unions form both the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) and also the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) have united their demands and held a joint conference to launch the campaign.

Their dispute is with the steel giant Acelormittal, part of the Mittal Steel Company which is a world wide corporation.The workers at Kryviy Riv are calling for international solidarity in their struggle. International support is important and has assisted the Ukrainian unions against the mining company, EVRAZ ,and more recently to defeat the trial of 94 miners for protesting. Ukraine Solidarity Committee will be publicising the campaign and calls for assistance. We publish below a report by the KVPU on the conference to launch the campaign.

REPORT FROM KVPU

Workers at the Arcellormittal plant

On March 27, the Conference of the labor collective of the PJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih” that was announced at a rally organized by nine trade-union organizations on 14 March was held in Kryviy Rih. At the Conference, the representatives of the labor collective of the PJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih” made requirements to the Chairman and CEO of steel group “ArcelorMittaland” Lakshmi Mittal and to the CEO of PJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih” Paramjit Kahlon. Continue reading “UKRAINIAN UNIONS UNITE IN MAJOR STRUGGLE WITH GLOBAL GIANT ARCELOR MITTAL”

Tags: ArcelorMittal, Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, Elena Pipipenko, EVRAZ, Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, Iryna Future, Kryviy Rih, Ukraine Solidarity Campaign

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Feb 25 2018

COWIE MINERS, POLMAISE COLLIERY AND THE 1984-85 MINERS’ STRIKE

Category: Capitalism and Communism,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Trade Unionism,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 9:44 pm

Dave Douglass reviews Steve McGrail and Vicky Patterson’s Cowie miners, Polmaise colliery and the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

COWIE MINERS, POLMAISE COLLIERY AND THE 1984-85 MINERS’ STRIKE

Great Strike of 1984-85: an unequal battle

Polmaise was at the epicentre of the Scottish miners’ action in 1984. Like Cortonwood it was among ‘the first of the first’ to be threatened and pick up the gauntlet – the ‘single sparks’ that lit that prairie fire.

The struggle at Polmaise had started in February 84, and for those men and their families it ended 13 months later. The new, ‘get tough’ management style introduced into the Scottish and other coalfields prior to the Great Strike was a deliberate policy to prematurely kick-start the all-out action and break our long-term overtime ban strategy, which was relentlessly reducing stocks of coal at pitheads and power stations. There had been controversial closures in 1982 and 83, and half of Scottish mines were already engaged in forms of action around various disputes by February 84. Polmaise itself was out over the threatened closure of the pit. Continue reading “COWIE MINERS, POLMAISE COLLIERY AND THE 1984-85 MINERS’ STRIKE”

Tags: 'Ghost Dancers', Arthur Scargill, Cowie miners Polmaise colliery and the 1984-85 miners' strike, Cowie Stirlingshire, Doncaster, Great Strike 1984-5, National Union of Mineworkers, Northumbria, Nottingham mines, Polmaise colliery, Scotland, South Wales, Steve McGrail and Vicky Patterson, Yorkshire

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Feb 22 2018

MAJOR VICTORY FOR THE 94 UKRAINIAN MINERS FACING COURT FOR PROTESTING

Category: For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Russia and ex-USSR,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 12:27 am

In a follow up to an earlier posting, we are pleased to be able to report a victory for Ukrainian miners. This article was first posted at the Ukriainian Solidarity Campaign website at:- https://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2018/02/21/major-victory-for-the-94-ukrainian-miners-facing-court-for-protesting/

MAJOR VICTORY FOR THE 94 UKRAINIAN MINERS FACING COURT FOR PROTESTING

The Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine has secured a major victory for the 94 miner facing court proceedings. The miners at the uranium mine “Ingulska” were facing court after protesting for months of unpaid wages. Continue reading “MAJOR VICTORY FOR THE 94 UKRAINIAN MINERS FACING COURT FOR PROTESTING”

Tags: Clive Lewis MP, Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, Independent Trade ~Union of Miners of Ukraine, Ingulska Uranium Mine, Jeremy Corbyn, Khalid Mahmood, Kropyvynytski, Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign

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Dec 21 2017

94 UKRAINIAN MINERS ON TRIAL FOR UNION PROTEST

Category: For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,Russia and ex-USSR,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 6:35 pm

We are posting the following appeal from the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign, which was first posted at:- https://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2017/12/18/94-ukrainian-miners-on-trial-for-union-protest/

94 UKRAINIAN MINERS ON TRIAL FOR UNION PROTEST

URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY

Ukrainian miners of the uranium mine “Ingulska” (Kirovohrad region), who were protesting for a wage increase, are facing prosecution for holding a protest underground after their shift finished. Court proceedings began against the 94 miners on 18 December in Kropyvnytskyi.

Dmytro Bondaryev, leader of the Independent Trade Union of Mineworkers (NGPU) at the mine, states that the miners had to hold the underground protests because of the lack of effective dialogue with the management. The miners are demanding wage increase of 50 percent. Dmytro Bondariev says: Continue reading “94 UKRAINIAN MINERS ON TRIAL FOR UNION PROTEST”

Tags: Anton Zhmurenko, Dmytro Bondaryev, Independent Trade Union of Mineworkers, Ingulska Uranium Mine, Mykhailo Volynets, Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign

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Dec 10 2017

BOMBARDIER-BOEING DISPUTE THREATENS WORKERS IN THE NORTH

Category: For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,The EU,The global economy,Trade Unionism,UK state/British imperialism,US imperialism — RCN @ 4:45 pm

Bombardier is a Canadian owned aircraft company which employs 4000 people in Belfast. At the moment these workers’ jobs, pay and conditions are threatened as an outcome of growing American protectionism, reflected through the Northern Irish political set-up, which hamstrings any effective trade union response. This consequences of this are explained in this article from Socialist Democracy (Ireland)

BOMBARDIER-BOEING DISPUTE THREATENS WORKERS IN NORTH

Bombardier aerospace factory Belfast

The ongoing dispute between aerospace companies Bombardier and Boeing – which has raised fears over future of production at Bombardier’s Belfast facility – has served to highlight the highly integrated nature of modern capitalism and the exposure of the Northern Ireland economy to global upheavals. Continue reading “BOMBARDIER-BOEING DISPUTE THREATENS WORKERS IN THE NORTH”

Tags: 'America First', Airbus, Alabama, Boeing Aerospace, Bombardier Aerospace, Bombardier Mobile, Bombardier Quebec, Brexit, Caterpillar, China, conservatives, Donald Trump, DUP, Fresh Start Agreement 2015, ICTU, Jimmy Kelly, JTI Gallagher, loyalists, Michelin, Peace Process, Peter Bunting, Schlumberger, Sinn Fein, Socialist Democracy (Ireland), UNITE

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Jul 08 2017

DURHAM MINERS’ GALA – BIG MEETING GETS BIGGER

Category: Commemorations,Cultural Celebration,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,For Liberation: Struggles against Oppression,For Self-Determination: Struggles against Alienation,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Political Campaigns,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 12:05 pm

The 133rd Durham Miners’ Gala on Saturday 8th July will see some 150,000 march through the ancient city. Dave Douglass, ex-miner and author of Stardust and Coaldust autobiographical trilogy looks at its history and the ongoing significance.

BIG MEETING GETS BIGGER

A day of looking back and looking forward

Crowds are now back to the size they were in the immediate post-war years following nationalisation, when they celebrated the defeat of the hated private coal-owners. This mother of all miners’ galas, featuring both picnics and demonstrations, was the labour movement’s most prestigious public platform. The miners formed the bedrock among the proletarian, trade union and socialist ranks; they made up an army of labour that was strategically placed in terms of their bargaining power and influence – the politics of coal dictated much of politics per se. The position of the miners in the class war sent waves across the broad labour movement. Continue reading “DURHAM MINERS’ GALA – BIG MEETING GETS BIGGER”

Tags: 'Ghost Dancers', 'Stardust and Coaldust', Arthur Scargill, Author: Dave Douglass, Bob Crow, Chartists, CPGB, Davie Guy, Davie Hopper, Dennis Skinner, Durham Miners Gala, Ed Miliband, George Brown, Great Strike 1984-5, Harold Wilson, Irish republicans, ITGWU, James Callaghan, Jim Larkin, John Major, Margaret Thatcher, Michael Heseltine, Miners Federation of Great Britain, Neil Kinnock, NUM, Peter Kropotkin, The Big Meeting, Tony Benn, Vietnam War

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