Communicating International Solidarity

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Union City has been participating in the 3-day LabourStart conference this week at the AFL-CI O, discussing the latest online communications strategies and technologies to reach workers worldwide. LabourStart is an online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which serves the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information, and by assisting unions in campaigning and other ways. Its features include daily labor news links in more than 20 languages and a news syndication service used by more than over 700 union websites, including the Metro Council’s. Here’s a sample of some recently posted stories:
ARGENTINA: Zanon workers win major legal battle (8/18): The workers at Argentina's occupied ceramics factory, FASINPAT (Factory Without a Boss), won a major victory this week: the factory now definitively belongs to the people in legal terms. The provincial legislature voted in favor of expropriating the ceramics factory and handing it over to the workers cooperative to manage legally and indefinitely. Since 2001, the workers at Zanon have fought for legal recognition of worker control at Latin America's largest ceramics factory which has created jobs, spearheaded community projects, supported social movements world-wide and shown the world that workers don't need bosses.
- by Marie Trigona, from upsidedownworld.org
COLOMBIA: Colombian Unions Support The US Employee Free Choice Act (8/6): UNI affiliates in Colombia showed their support for the Employee Free Choice act in front of the US Embassy in Bogota on August 4. As part of a seminar on human rights, organized by UNI Americas - UNI is a global union for skilled and service workers - in Colombia, representatives of unions and union federations affiliated to UNI on August 4 delivered a letter from UNI calling on the US government to pass a law ensuring US workers have the right to join a union.
SOUTH AFRICA: (8/18) UTATU Vows To Protest Until Metrorail Gives In: The United Transport and Allied Trade Union is adamant its members will continue to protest until wage and working conditions are met. Hundreds of UTATU members have been picketing outside Metrorail officers countrywide.
INDIA: RIMS Staff Protest Non-Payment Of Salaries (8/18): Doctors, nurses and other employees of the Rajiv Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ongole on Monday staged a dharna demanding payment of salaries held up for the last 2-10 months due to technical objections.
- Andhra Pradesh, The Hindu
ZIMBABWE: ILO Probes Torture Of ZCTU Leaders (8/13): A three-member team of International Labour Organisation (ILO) lawyers arrived in Zimbabwe on Wednesday to begin investigations into the alleged torture of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) leaders in 2006, the labour union has said.
- by Simplicious Chirinda, ZimOnline
CANADA: Mexican Consul Tampered With Migrant Farm Vote (8/17): The Mexican consul visited migrant Mexican farm workers in Manitoba and threatened to blacklist them from ever coming to Canada again if they did not vote to decertify their union at Mayfair Farms in Portage La Prairie, said a spokesperson for group supporting the workers. The vote to abandon the union, which they had previously chosen to join, was announced earlier this month.
CHINA: China Bows To Protesting Steel Plant Workers (8/16): Chinese authorities have bowed to demands from protesting workers of a steel mill and suspended the process of privatizing the unit. The Communist Party has also promised to reconsider the decision to hand over the plant to the private sector. This is the second occasion within a month when the party has indicated it is ready to listen to workers opposed to privatization of the steel industry, part of which suffers from overcapacity and inefficient management.
- Saibal Dasgupta, TNN
Click here  for the latest LabourStart reports; email streetheat@dclaborarchives.org if you’re interested in adding this feature to your local’s website.