Submitted on Thu, 03/30/2006 - 2:09pm
Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.
By Julie Hyland - From wsws.net, 29 March 2006
Thousands of schools, local government facilities and transport services across the United Kingdom were closed or partially closed Tuesday as almost 1.5 million local government workers took strike action to defend their pension rights.
But from the outset, the leadership of the 11 unions involved in the dispute sought to demobilize any active participation by workers. In the main, pickets were at a minimum and any visible signs of protest were patchy and kept limited. In Manchester, England’s third largest city, the regional trade unions called off a lunchtime rally at the eleventh hour.
Submitted on Thu, 03/30/2006 - 2:03pm
Statement issued by the http://www.cnt-f.org - March 29, 2006.
Trois millions de manifestants ce mardi 28 mars ! Et c'était un jour de semaine...soit trois millions de grévistes ! Les salariés du public comme du privé ont su se mettre en grève pour être nombreux à exprimer haut et fort leur rejet du CPE et au-delà, de la précarité.
Et Monsieur de Villepin reste inflexible. Il ne s'agit plus de croire qu'il fait le sourd. Comment être sourd à ce raz de marée ? Que dit Monseur de Villepin, en clair ?
Que les moyens de grève sont illégitimes et que la grève est dépassée...Que peu lui importe l'ampleur de la protestation populaire. Que quel que soit le nombre des grévistes, ils seront toujours quantité négligeable.
Submitted on Mon, 03/27/2006 - 12:48am
By Mike Hargis, Chicago - Industrial Worker, April 2006
It was so incredible: I never saw the beginning of the march, nor the end. I didn’t hear one speech and never even made it to the Loop where the march was supposed to end. There was just this sea of humanity gathered in the streets, flowing in the same direction with the same object in mind: defeat the new, draconian immigration bill known as “The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005” (HR4437).
On March 10 at least 300,000 people took the day off work or school and converged in Chicago’s Loop to protest this bill, which would turn undocumented workers into “aggravated criminal felons” and those who assist them, such as priests and nurses (and unionists) into criminals as well for “aiding and abetting” them. The bill passed the House of Representatives just before Christmas, it is currently being debated in the Senate.
Submitted on Thu, 03/23/2006 - 7:20pm
Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad,
President of the Republic
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98-21-6648.06.65 or: + 98 21 649 5880
Dear Mr. President,
We have written you in the past concerning the situation with the bus workers and their union in Tehran. We understand that the situation has escalated since we last wrote you. The International Solidarity Committee of the Industrial Workers of the World wrote you previously requesting the release of imprisoned union activists and leaders. At that time no release occurred, and the workers sought to strike in protest of the illegimate and brutal repression on their coworkers and comrades. We have read that security forces of your government preemptively arrested and beat workers, and their families including workers' wives and children. Thereafter an international campaign was launched to free these workers from wrongful harm. We understand that now most of the arrested workers have been freed.
Submitted on Mon, 03/20/2006 - 3:39am
Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.
Reposted from www.libcom.org - March 20, 2006
A fresh wave of protests has hit France as students, school pupils and workers continue the occupations, blockades and rioting against the first employment contract (CPE).
This is just a short summary of the events being updated regularly on http://libcom.org/blog - the most comprehensive and up-to-date English coverage of the struggle against the CPE anywhere on the web.
Scores of high schools and around 70% of universities are occupied today.
In many areas teachers have been joining their pupils in the protests, with several thousands demonstrating in Limoges, Boulougne, Le Havre and many other towns and cities across France.
The Monteil school in Rodez, the largest school in Aveyron with 1,600 pupils, was occupied and shut down with barricades. Fifteen schools in Seine-Saint-Denis, the scene of last years riots by suburban youths, are occupied. Many young people from the banlieus are preparing to join in the demonstration in Paris later today. Around 1,000 high school pupils have blocked a motorway in Nice whilst 200 pupils did the same in Vitry-on-Seine.
This is a strong sign that the struggle is circulating and extending outside the universities to France's disaffected working class youth - the focus of mass civil unrest in November last year. The increasing numbers of lecturers and teachers on strike and supporting the protests, and the railway and motorway blockades, along with support from France's major unions, all point to a struggle which is encompassing an ever wider section of France's society.
To keep up-to-date on the events in France, look at http://libcom.org/blog