Submitted on Tue, 01/03/2006 - 3:20am
This article has been moved to the "blog" section of the IWW website:
And two further responses to Thomas Brewton and his apologists have been added.
Please note that these statements are not official publications of the IWW and as such represent the individual opinions of IWW members.
Submitted on Tue, 11/22/2005 - 5:22am
自從1970年,全世界有個大改變。 前所未知的"財富"轉移,導致無數人貧窮,而少數幾個富到以往所無法夢想。我們可以看到:
今天,世界的340位億萬富翁控制的財富,超過20億最窮的人的總所有。每天我們看到飢餓,環境惡化和人類文明的毀壞,為了什麼呢?讓區區一、二千人暴富和掌權。
我們看到了所謂「共產主義」體制的崩解,還有一個差不了多少的自由市場體系的開始。
我們看到工業主義移到前社會主義國家和"開發中"國家和連帶的狂買情況和資源整批竊盜的興起。
世界工業勞工(IWW或Wobblies)是從1905年開始就存在的革命工聯。IWW是由北美洲要求一個真正激進,民主工會的一般勞工所建立。
在工會中,Wobblies是有名的,老闆們怕我們。透過我們民主的結構,彈性策略,團結和未來的願景,IWW的影響一直被全世界感受到。
而IWW在今天比以往更加重要。我們希望這份簡介,能鼓舞你加入我們,一起建造所有勞工的「單一大聯盟」,並一舉掃除剝削的資本主義和階級社會。
原則
The IWW憲章的開宗明義,宣明了我們的基本原則:
Submitted on Tue, 11/08/2005 - 3:22pm
This week, we are launching LabourStart TV.
No, it's not a television station. (That would be nice, but we don't have the money for that just yet.) But it is a big step forward for us, and I think for the international trade union movement as well.
Basically, we will start collecting the web addresses of videos produced by and for unions the same way we now do with text-based news stories.
That sounds simple enough, and it is.
But we're doing more than just listing what's available elsewhere on the web.
We're telling trade unionists what other unions have done. We're showing cutting-edge technology that is now fairly widely used in our movement. And we're encouraging other unions to move forward and use the new technology.
A beta version of LabourStart TV is already online. It has no logo nor graphics, and the text is not yet finalized, but it will have these by the end of this week. You can already see it here:
http://www.labourstart.tv
(Don't you just love the simplicity of that address?)
As correspondents, you can already begin adding content now. We will be announcing LabourStart TV towards the end of this week and it would be great to feature content from unions in your country. Here's all you need to do to add shows:
Submitted on Tue, 10/25/2005 - 4:55pm
By Jon Bekken - Industrial Worker, October 2005.
More than 50 economists and labor activists went to Kansas City Sept. 15 – 17 for a conference on radical economics and the labor movement organized as part of the IWW centenary. Presentations addressed a wide variety of topics, from historical work to studies of recent efforts by Latin American workers to defend their labor standards through strikes and worker collectives. Other papers sought to update IWW and Marxian economic analysis, reported on initiatives to bring radical economic analysis to broader audiences, and explored the intersection between radical economics and economic thinkers such as Galbraith and Sraffa. In addition, there was a tour of Kansas City labor history sites (shortened by bad weather), culminating in a performance of Wobbly songs in the old City Market by Bob and Judy Sukiel. The idea was to bring together economists and labor activists for a dialogue which might restore the dialogue between economists and working-class movements that once posed a vital challenge to the dominance of capitalism’s house economists. As Dirk Philipsen of Virginia State University noted in his presentation on historical struggles for economic democracy, “It is clear that corporate capitalism is not sustainable. It is not realistic to believe that it can survive.” And so there is an urgent need to open a conversation about economic alternatives.
Submitted on Sun, 10/09/2005 - 5:51pm
By Alexis Buss - Industrial Worker, September 2005.
In a stunning turn-around from recent decisions limiting workers' rights, the Bush-appointed U.S. National Labor Relations Board issued a June 7 ruling which requires that every trip to the bar, ballpark or café among coworkers should include discussion of wages, hours and working conditions. Otherwise, workers may not have legal protections for hanging out with one another.
Ok, not quite. The case, which originates in a charge filed by SEIU Local 24/7 against Guardsmark, a San Francisco-based security company, was filed to deal with three Guardsmark work rules relating to workers' abilities to talk to one another, and enlist the support of the public, including the firm's clients:
1) A "chain of command" rule, which says that on-duty workers may only take problems up a chain of command in a very proscribed way, and that workers may not register complaints with the company's clients;
2) A "no-solicitation" rule prohibiting solicitation and the handing out of literature while on duty or in uniform;