Support IWW Union In Dispute Against "Alternative" Union Busters

IWW members in the USA are in dispute with the "Collective" managing an "alternative" business that has sunk to employing right wing union busting legal support to try and break the union.  More from Facebook below:

MAY 22 UPDATE & SUMMARY from the IWW SCCU

Since we have not put out any public press releases or statements recently, here is a summary and update from the IWW Sisters' Camelot Canvass Union on our struggle:

SUMMARY:

After months of consensus-based organizing, the canvass workers at Sisters' Camelot went public to the bosses as unionized with the IWW on Monday, February 25.

On Friday, March 1 the union met with the managing collective to begin negotiations-- only to be forced to go on strike when management flatly refused to negotiate with the union.

On Monday, March 4 the union went to the managing collective's weekly decision-making meeting (by invitation)-- hoping to restart negotiations. At this meeting, the managing collective offered easier access to the bosses decision-making body (the Collective) as an alternative to negotiating with our union-- then they publicly fired one of the striking union members in retaliation for union organizing.

Since then, the managing collective (with the help of a group of their friends: http://libcom.org/library/statement-autonomous-union-busting-firm-twin-cities ) has run an aggressive union-busting campaign-- included aggressive character assassination of the fired union member, and many public statements full of lies about the facts of our unionization & management's refusal to negotiate.

After several weeks of being on strike, the union made an offer of a package deal to the management. This deal took all demands regarding pay and benefits off the table, leaving only 8 of the original demands. These 8 demands would have simply given the workers more workplace democracy and more control over their immediate work environment. The management refused this offer to end the strike.

Soon after the package deal was refused by management, the NLRB made a decision that the firing of a striking union member was illegal. Upon making that decision, the NLRB offered the management a settlement offer to end legal proceedings which would include rehiring the fired worker and paying back-pay.

Instead of accepting the settlement offer from the NLRB, the Sisters' Camelot managing collective is now working with a known right-wing union-busting lawyer to fight the decision in court.

Sisters' Camelot has been working with John C Hauge from the nationwide anti-union law firm Ford
Harrison as their pro bono lawyer. John C Hauge has been on a personal campaign against workers rights which has included:
(1) Silencing victims of workplace sexual harassment.
(2) Decertifying unions.
(3) Taking pension funds away from union members.
(4) & making sure the family of a worker who died on the job got no compensation.

UPDATE:

Sisters' Camelot's management is now fighting the illegal firing in court with the right-wing union-busting lawyer John C Hauge as their pro bono lawyer. If Hauge is able to appeal this case to a higher court, it could set a precedent which would result in hundreds of thousands of misclassified independent contractors in the US losing access to their basic rights as protected by the NLRA. Trial is set for June 6, when the NLRB will be seeking a court-order to enforce their decision that the fired worker should be rehired and given back-pay.

The union canvassers have now been denied their livelihood while having to endure being on strike since March 1, a hardship endured for 83 days now (as of May 22, 2013).

Since refusing to respect the canvassers right to organize and forcing them to strike, Sisters' Camelot has lost the workers who traditionally raise 90-95% of Sisters' Camelot's income. Because of this lost income Sisters' Camelot has had to scale back it's program operations drastically, is moving out of their warehouse space and office, and has begun selling off their assets.

It is abundantly clear at this juncture that the managers at Sisters' Camelot would see the good works of the organization scale back and suffer rather than respect their worker's right to unionize & give up some of their personal power in favor of more workplace democracy.

It is also far too clear now that the managers at Sisters' Camelot would rather assist a sexist, right-wing lawyer with his personal campaign against workers rights rather than admit that they were wrong to fire a union member while on strike.

We are still constantly organizing to win this campaign and assert our right to unionize. We are organizing outreach to other unions, constantly fundraising for our strike fund, organizing to prevent scabs from being able to take our jobs, and doing direct outreach to supporters in the community to prepare them for mobilization.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

We have been enduring economic violence in the form of lost livelihood while on strike since March 1. We depend on money from the strike fund to allow those of us who have not gotten side jobs to continue organizing with our phone bills paid, rent paid, and food on our dinner tables. Please donate money to our strike fund at: 

You can also creatively organize a fundraiser for our strike fund and invite your friends & family. Feel free to contact us at sisterscamelotcanvassunion@gmail.com if you are interested in organizing a fundraiser.

Give us your contact information so that we are able to contact you when and if changes in this situation could allow for public involvement to help turn the tide and end this conflict. Email your name and telephone number to sisterscamelotcanvassunion@gmail.com . Your contact information will be kept carefully guarded.

Even though overwhelming public opinion in support of us has failed to persuade Sisters' Camelot's management yet, you can sign our Community Support statement on our website at www.canvassunion.org .

Also you can stay on top of new developments by liking our facebook page at www.facebook.com/SCcanvassunion

Hats Off To Howard

A link here to Howard Thorp's very good blog from the left of the Green Party of England and Wales - Capitalism Creates Poverty

Howard has posted interesting recent articles on the Green Party's direction after Caroline Lucas steps down as leader and on the situation in Greece.

http://capitalism-creates-poverty.blogspot.co.uk/

Occupy!

Breaking the silence of this blog (Silence due to many commitments including the local anti-cuts group, fighting to save jobs at work and battling against trolls, shills and apologists on many a discussion board)to give my full support to the Occupy Movement worldwide.

One of the most encouraging things about this upsurge is the challenge to the narrowness of the "accepted" political and economic discourse, by which we get the full range of views in the public arena from A to B and everyone with views from C to Z is either ignored, ridiculed or attacked as an "extremist".

Here are some useful links:

Occupy London

Occupy Wall St

Occupy Together website

Occupy Movement Wikipedia Page

Support your local Occupiers! Another World is Possible!

The Reality of Coalition Neo-liberalism

I was up close and personal with the reality of the austerity coalition's policies this week as the redundancy axe began to fall in my workplace.
For those still deluded enough to think the coalition is just about "Deficit reduction" and getting rid of "unproductive workers" the coming few months is going to be instructive. A tsunami of job losses in local government is coming along with the proposed total transformation of the National Health Service and a slow but sure dismantling of locally democratic controlled education. The shared (Neoliberal) aim of the two coalition party leaders, Sauron and Saruman, is the final dismantling of the post war settlement in Britain. That is effectively the end of anything resembling a welfare state and the beginning of a new age of corporatism. At the same time they hope to finish off what remains of anything approaching effective trade unionism by decimating the public sector and shaving off services left right and centre to corporations, religious groups, charities, philanthropists and the like. Their ideological attack dogs in organisations like Policy Exchange are already slavering for even more restrictive anti-union legislation and attacks on freedom of speech and assembly. So much for the "libertarian" rhetoric of the Cameroons and Orange Bookers.

The reality of this at the grassroots is likely to be disruption in the short term and in the longer term the creation of a two (or more?) tier system of services with the encroachment of private insurance, religious charities and corporate asset strippers.

At my workplace I have sat amongst devastated people who are going to lose jobs or workmates. We have people being made redundant on the grounds of "sickness points" who have otherwise exemplary performance and disciplinary records. That means people who have been unfortunate enough to have cancer in their families, who have had swine flu and even work related injuries, who have been coping with immense stress due to personal and family problems - these people are to pay for their bad luck with their jobs if they and their unions cannot win their appeals. This is people who have worked in a public sector employer that has been ranked amongst the best of its' kind in the country and in one of the most successful workplaces of that employer. And the 70% or 80% who remain may only have a temporary reprieve before the axe swings again, and again and again. Looking for jobs in this socially deprived part of the country will not be easy - the jobs that there are will probably pay half or less than what those being made redundant were paid and may be temporary or otherwise insecure.

Fortunately I sense that even those who went along for a while with the Coalition's rhetoric are now seeing the reality of what they are about - an ideological project to cement the power of certain sections of society even more firmly. They see the Bankers' bonuses, the sucking up to Murdoch and the political two-facedness and turn away in disgust. A mood of resistance is developing that goes far beyond the students that were the first to take the field. What is more, there is an awareness that alone in our workplaces and communities we are unlikely to be able to mount anything more than fragmentary resistance. What is needed is a movement across industries and society, across barriers of age and culture that takes inspiration from those resisting at the knife edge of the neo-liberal totalitarian project.

We need to work towards such a movement and as we do, the dream of ages past - the social general strike, the general expropriation of the expropriators becomes less of a dream and more of a possibility on the way to concrete necessity.

International day of action: solidarity with UBS cleaners

International day of action: solidarity with UBS cleaners
Friday, 19 March 2010
17:00 - 18:00
London demo starts at UBS, 100 Liverpool Street

Friday 19th March is the international day of action against UBS, demanding the reinstatement of sacked shop steward Alberto Durango and the reversal of cuts in cleaners' conditions by contractor Lancaster.

Protests are planned for the USA, Sweden, Switzerland and around the UK. There has been regular leafletting outside UBS offices, let's keep up the pressure and build solidarity with these exploited migrant workers.

The London protest will kick off from 5pm outside the UBS building at 100 Liverpool Street. Come, bring friends, bring stuff to make a noise, bring placards!

Demand Freedom For Jailed Iranian Workers!

Amnesty International has launched an online campaign this week demanding the release of jailed trade unionists in Iran. Please sign up today:

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=613

Iran - Elections Stolen, Repression Continues

The repression against the independent workers' movements in Iran continues, now combined with widespread Police and secret police action against supporters of opposition parties after the disputed election.

It is shameful that some self proclaimed "liberation" leaders and "international socialists" are lining up behind the authoritarian and dictatorial Iranian leadership. Lessons there for those who tend towards idolisation of "radical" regimes in South America and elsewhere.

Fortunately international workers' organisations are not so foolish and know the difference between solidarity with fellow workers and standing aloof in the name of a dogmatic and abstract "anti-imperialism" that identifies with regional rulers.

IRAN: ALL OUT FOR 26 JUNE GLOBAL SOLIDARITY ACTION DAY

Four global union organizations representing over 170 million workers have called a worldwide action day on June 26 to demand justice for Iranian workers. Demonstrations will take place outside Iranian embassies and consulates to protest the ongoing denial of rights and arrests of trade unionists within the country. Please visit the campaign's new website at http://www.justiceforiranianworkers.org/ and make sure to click on the 'Get Active' link.

Free May Day Detainees In Iran

There were some marvellous marches, demonstrations and rallies around the world earlier this month in celebration of International Workers' Day, May 1st. In some parts of the world however, these were met by repression and violence. Below are details on solidarity actions and events for the Iranian workers who bravely stood up for the right of working people to organise and who have been detained by the state.

1 Iran's May Day Organizing Committee: A Call for the International Campaign to Free May Day Detainees
2 Sample Protest Letter (IASWI)
3 Protest Rally in London, UK
__________________________________________________________

Iran: A Call for an International Campaign to Free May Day Detainees

Workers and labour organizations in Iran and all over the world!

On May First, the International Workers’ Day, many workers and their families assembled in Laleh Park of Tehran in response to the May Day Organizing Committee (consisting of independent labour organizations in Iran ). People gathered to present their demands and to commemorate the May Day; however, they as well as other visitors of the park were violently attacked by the security-intelligence forces and plain-clothes agents. These forces used all kinds of tools and equipments to assault people, as the result of which many got severely injured and more than 150 people while being beaten were taken to custody. At this time, about 100 of the above are still incarcerated.

The people who were so brutally beaten and arrested had not committed any crime. They were repressed because they wanted to commemorate their international day, along with billions of other workers around the world, and put forward the demands of million of working people of Iran . They are being oppressed because of their efforts to form independent organizations. Many of them just like thousand other workers in Iran have not been paid for months. They are now in such unbearable situation only because they raised their protest voice together.

Everyday, the families of the May Day detainees have been gathering outside courts and judicial offices but they have been badly treated and never received a clear answer from the judicial authorities. We, millions of workers and toilers and egalitarians, are responsible towards our imprisoned colleagues and their families and must not leave them on their own. We have to engage in united and immense efforts for the freedom of all prisoners.

We therefore launch a campaign for the freedom of May Day detainees and call on all workers’ and human rights’ organizations in Iran and internationally to denounce these arrests, demand unconditional freedom of all detainees and support the legitimate demands of workers in Iran, which was stipulated in their 2009 (1388) May Day resolution. All concerned organizations and individuals are urgently requested to take any necessary and possible measures, depending on their capacity, in support of the May Day detainees.

LONG LIVE CLASS SOLIDARITY OF WORKERS OF THE WORLD

Please send the report of your actions, statements and solidarity messages to campain1may@gmail.com.

May 9th, 2009 (Ordibehest 19, 1388)
The May Day Organizing Committee:
• The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company
• The Syndicate of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company
• The Free Union of Workers in Iran
• The Founding Committee of the Syndicate of Building 's Painters and Decoration's Workers
• The Collaborative Council of Labour Organizations and Activists
- The Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations
- The Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Free Workers’ Organizations
- A Group of Worker Activists
- The Women’s Council
• The Center for Workers’ Rights in Iran

Supported by:
The Electrical & Metal Workers' Trade Association in Kermanshah, The Association in Support of the Sacked Workers of Saqhez, The Committee in Defence of Haft Tapeh Workers, Workers of The Parris textile Factory in Sanandaj, Workers of the Shin Baft Spinning and Textile Factory in Sanandaj, Workers of Shahoo, Sanandaj Textile, Gharb Baft, Ajor Shil, Shir Paak Araa, Gunnny Baafi (Gunny Making) Sama, Fajr Flour and Nirou Rakhsh factories, Service workers of Sanandaj’s Tohid Hospital, A group of Retired Workers of Sanandaj, Workers of Farsh Gharb Company in Kermanshah, Dena Laastic (Rubber), A group of workers of Ghaa-en Cement, A group of Workers of Aslavieh …

(more names to be added)
Translated by the May Day Organizing Committee

Thanks to all protest letters sent thus far

Sample protest letter: Protest against repression of May Day Events in Iran
Send your protest letters to (Prepared by the IASWI):

To: info@leader.ir ; dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir ; info@judiciary.ir ; iran@un.int ; ijpr@iranjudiciary.org ; info@dadiran.ir ; office@justice.ir; matbuat@mfa.gov.ir; info@police.ir;
Cc: info@workers-iran.org; campain1may@gmail.com


The May Day rally and celebration in Tehran , which was organized by independent Iranian labour organizations on May 1st, 2009, was violently attacked by security and intelligence forces and many were beaten and over 150 people arrested.
About 100 women and men are still incarcerated. They are detained in unacceptable conditions in section 204 of Tehran ’s Evin Prison.

We condemn these attacks on workers’ rights and independent labour organizations and activists. Workers must have every right to organize and celebrate May Day events. We are asking for the immediate and unconditional freedom of all May Day detainees. We also demand that the government to respect workers’ rights to organize, assemble and strike, put an end to persecution of labour activists, free all jailed workers and not to interfere in the affairs of independent workers’ organizations.

Please mail your protest letter to (optional), and send a copy also to campain1may@gmail.com:

Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran , Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 649 58 80

Leader of the Islamic Republic:
Ayatollah Sayed *Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street
Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 251 7774 2228

Head of the Judiciary:
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building
Panzdah-Khordad Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986 (may be difficult to reach)

Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Institutions in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: mission.iran@ties.itu.int
CC: International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (info@workers-iran.org).

You can also send your protest letters to the Iranian Embassy in your country: click: http://www.worldembassyinformation.com/iran-embassy/index.html

Demonstration in London

Protest against the arrests of workers at May Day rallies in Iran !

The 2009 May Day rallies in Tehran and Sanandaj were violently attacked by the Iranian security forces and over 150 people arrested.

In Tehran a large crowed responded to a call made by 10 workers’ organisations and institutions and gathered in Laleh Park to celebrate the May Day. The security forces in a brutal and violent attack broke up the rally and arrested over 150 workers. A number of workers were also arrested during a rally in the city of Sanandaj in western Iran .

The only crimes of these workers are attending the May Day rally and protesting against the lack of the most basic workers’ right and demanding the right to organise and to strike.

We, the participants of this protest action, while strongly condemn the arrest of labour activists, do our utmost to have these workers released and call on all progressive and humanitarian organisations to join us and do whatever possible to
free the jailed workers in Iran.

We call on all trade unions and labour and progressive organisations and pro human rights institutions to condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran for the continued imprisonment of workers in Iran and the violation of the most basic human rights and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all the detainees.

Date: Saturday May 16
Time: 2pm
Place: BBC Television Centre, Portland Street , London W1A 1AA

Called by:
- International Alliance in Support of workers in Iran - Britain Section
- March 8 Women Organisation (Iran-Afghanistan)
- Council for the Defence of people’s struggle in Iran
- Worker-communist Party of Iran-Hekmatist
- Worker-communism Unity Party
- Fedaian Organisation (Minority)
- International Iranian Refugee Organisation – Britain
- Association of Iranian Political Prisoners in Exile

May Day Greetings!

May Day Greetings to all readers of Greenman's Occasional Organ old and new.

It seems we are fated to live with the ancient curse of "living in interesting times"!

Feelings of solidarity and comradeship go out to all those facing attacks from bosses and governments, to all those living in the shadow of the new flu and the fears that it arouses, to all those who dream and organise and struggle for a better world.

May out of our current trials and battles come greater international understanding and unity, and clearer views of how we might work together to fight climate change, eliminate bigotry and take back control of our own lives, workplaces and communities from neo-liberal capitalism and corporatism.

Below is the draft text of the leaflet that the Nottinghamshire General Membership Branch of the IWW will be distributing at local May Day events over the next few days:

Make This A May Day To Remember – Join The IWW!

Whilst May Day has historically been a day of worker's solidarity and a celebration of the power of working people, this is not a day or year like any other.
That's because the world is in the midst of economic recession and financial failure, and it is workers worldwide who are suffering from layoffs and mass firings in almost every sector of the global economy.

While working people are under attack, the capitalists are taking advantage of the situation to claim for themselves bigger and larger shares of national and global wealth, as governments rush to bail out banks and investment firms, which have been allowed to become "too big to fail."

Under the newly amended rules of capitalism, corporations (especially in the financial sector) can scam, steal, and hustle virtually everyone, and when the economy falls, the government sails in and bails them out with public money!

Under a system such as this, the capitalists can never lose. It's like a gambling casino, where the house rules change all the time to benefit the winners.

But workers are losing.

Around the world, workers are facing lost jobs, vanished careers, repossessed homes, and families broken and shattered against the grinding wheel of Capital. Capitalism is destroying our natural environment and squandering the resources of the world in its never-ending pursuit of profit at all cost. It is even beginning to threaten the long term survival of a viable civilization. The pursuit of dwindling resources leads to more catastrophic wars.

This will be one hell of a May Day for many - but it's the one that globalized capitalism has fashioned for us all.

Only if labour – the organised working class - is truly globalized can it now effectively fight for its’ fair share from the ravages of capitalism.

Everywhere, people are beginning to fight back – strikes, occupations, militant demonstrations are growing across what were previously held up as countries of capitalist triumph. Many of the tactics and strategies being employed have a long and glorious history – some are those that were employed from the start by the Industrial Workers of the World, the international Union set up in North America at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Despite a marvellous period of struggle that union was diminished by repression, war and the false hopes upheld by business unions and dogmatic “Communists” alike. Nevertheless it survived, and now in the first decade of the Twenty First Century the IWW, or Wobblies as they are affectionately known, have enjoyed renewed growth as working people seek effective and militant forms of organisation untainted by soggy capitulation or links to failed models of 20th Century regimes.

The IWW has particularly grown in Britain, with new groups and branches springing up across the country – including locally in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire. Many who attended the Put People First demonstration in London in March this year were surprised and impressed to see the many flags and banners of the IWW, with a block of marchers to rival many of the TUC unions.

The IWW is not exclusive, you can hold dual card membership with a TUC union if they are the main organisation in your workplace – we are not about dividing, but uniting workers around a militant platform. We are not about splitting workers and sectionalism, but about uniting all workers in each industry and all industries. We are about workers, not bureaucrats, calling the shots, about democracy and direct action rather than credit cards and funding neo-liberal political parties. We are not about narrow nationalism, but international workers’ solidarity that recognises that, as ever, UNITY IS STRENGTH!

Join with us and begin the task of building the new society within the shell of the old. Defend the gains that working people have made and look forward to a just, sustainable and dynamic society where all are engaged in democracy at every level, in every community and workplace.

Forward to the future – forward to ONE BIG UNION!

Left and Green G20 Comment

Some very good left and green commentary before and after the G20.

On Britain's Guardian Comment Is Free pages there was a good article by Seamus Milne about the protests (here) and another, beautiful and poetic statement of the situation we find ourselves in, (as opposed to where we could be) in the prosperous West/North, by Jeremy Seabrook

Imagine a society that looks with different eyes on the submissive surrender of its children to forces which, from the moment they open their eyes, ensnare them in the silken nets of commerce, instructing them in perpetual dissatisfaction and teaching the corrosive lesson that even the most abundant plenty can never be enough. Imagine a liberation that threw aside the sexual burka, the invisible but ubiquitous garment that determines a rigid hierarchy of desirability and glamour, so that the beauty of the wise, the kind, the merciful and the noble might appear once more through the shallow virtue of the skin-deep. Think of a society where voices of sobriety and wisdom are audible above the strident cries of the preachers of the market.

The hyperactivity of a manic entertainment industry will fade, and we will ask ourselves why we spent one-eighth of our life on earth gazing at other people's passions by the unearthly glow of a TV set, or why we sat for a year in traffic and stood uncounted hours in line waiting to relieve ourselves of the money we have earned. Why, people will ask, have we been both distracted from life and amused to death? Whatever happened to our ability to delight and enchant, to hold one another enthralled as we sang and celebrated our lives, rather than wept over the fate of shadows on screens, or vicariously lived the rise and fall of the famous, paying homage to their fabricated success?

More here.

Following the Summit announcements, the usual suspects like the Brownite mouthpiece Will Hutton sung the praises of Gordon and the G20. The Brownites and other enthusiasts for the deal hope that we will believe that the leopard can change its spots, that the IMF, strengthened and emboldened, will not use that new strength to impose an only slightly amended version of the "Washington consensus" globally (perhaps in the age of trillion dollar rescue packages and global "quantative easing" we should speak of the "London Consensus" - a shiny new "humanitarian" and cleaned up method of imposing the power of corporations and finance houses on the poor people of the world.)

Fortunately questions are already being asked about the lack of a significant environmental and climate change tackling element to what is proposed, and the nature of the agenda behind the agreement, as well as the unlikelihood of meaningful action by those who have been instrumental in creating the current crises in the first place.

The G20 Alternative Summit must go on!

Disturbing developments in London -

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 31st 2009. 3 p.m.

G20 SUMMIT: PUBLIC OUTRAGE AS UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON CLOSES CAMPUS TO EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY

* The G20 Alternative Summit must go on! Classes and lectures must go on!

* In only a few hours a petition to Keep UEL Open receives over 1400 signatories from across the world, including well-know academics and writers, e.g. Naomi Klein.

* University is a crucial centre of democracy. Democracy is now the only safe path for the world out of the current multifaceted crisis.

London – Following the decision of the University of East London’s Corporate Management Team to close down the entire university on Wednesday, April 1st and Thursday, April 2nd, staff and students have launched a petition to keep the university open, arguing that they “would feel ashamed of UEL if this institution […] were to become known as the university that had closed its doors to democratic debate and education in times of crisis such as these.”

The University of East London was scheduled to host the G20 Alternative Summit on Wednesday, April 1st, intended as a popular assembly for everyone engaged in current struggles for social justice. Amidst fears over ‘security’ in light of these G20 protest events, management first withdrew its support for the Alternative Summit and subsequently decided to shut down the entire campus for the duration of the G20 summit and protest events, cancelling lectures and classes and shutting the library.

In the petition, staff and students are arguing that such ‘security’ considerations are a “classic excuse for every historic attempt to curtail free speech. Instead of seizing the opportunity to become a common space thriving with creative energies, [the University of East London] plans to become an empty shell for two days.”

The petition states that,

“It is time for the university management to become accountable not only to the government funding bodies, but to the wider public to whom it owes both its livelihood and a duty to fulfill its role as a part of civil society. The past 3 decades have seen public spaces such as universities hollowed out by the state and by corporations, as more and more of our common resources are transformed into sterile commodities, valued only in cash terms. In universities this has led to a policy regime which increasingly sees ‘employability’ in the ‘creative industries’ or in ‘business and finance’ as the only benchmark of success by which a university education can be judged; which sees research separated from teaching; which sees ‘knowledge transfer’ to the commercial sector as the only legitimate destination for the fruits of inquiry."

The signatories to the petition, which include a number of well-known academics from universities across the globe, including writer and activist Naomi Klein, are urging UEL management to “reconsider [their] decisions and take this unique opportunity to open the university as a crucial centre of democracy, since democracy is now the only safe path for the world out of the current multifaceted crisis. We must keep our university open to staff and students, rejecting the claims and ‘risk assessments’ that reproduce fear instead of promoting dialogue. We urge you to take responsibility for enabling the university to act as a truly public space for debate in a time when nobody can doubt that radical new ideas are needed.

Mobilise For The G20 Protests!

The G20 protests over the next week offer the first real opportunity for mass protest in Britain around the deepening economic crisis and the ongoing assault on ordinary people being carried out to appease the bankers and finance capitalists.

The neo-liberal beast is wounded, it is time to forge the coalition to begin digging its' grave and fight those who seek its' resurrection.

There are so many events and types of action planned that there is something for everyone - a way for everyone who is affected and concerned to show their anger, unrest and resolve to find better ways of running our world.

There is a massive demonstration planned for Saturday 28th March under the banner Put People First! - For, Jobs Justice and Climate. The broad demands of the march are for decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty and inequality and for the building of a green economy to tackle climate change. Whether the current political and economic systems and their representatives at the G20 would be willing or able to deliver these things is another question! But in that question are the seeds of a debate that needs to be had and the beginnings of a radical critique. I would urge everyone who can to get down to London for what promises to be a massive demo - assembling at Victoria Embankment from 11am.

The Wobblies, the growing section of the IWW in this part of the world promise a vibrant and militant bloc, plus there should be representatives of just about every left of centre, progressive and campaigning organisation from the UK and farther afield.

For those interested in NVDA (non-violent direct action) the Climate Camp are holding a City G20 Climate camp on 1st April in the City outside the European Climate Exchange.

The Stop The War Coalition and CND are raising the peace issue at several points.

For other forms of action a whole range of groups are planning various actions during the summit period.
See Indymedia - main G20 page here and also - here, here, here and here.

The G20 Meltdown Site is Here.

The Alternative G20 meeting website is here.

Similar demonstrations are taking place in Berlin and Frankfurt in Germany, and then on Monday 30th March there is mass action planned in Ireland.

WE WON'T PAY FOR THEIR CRISIS!

Good News for Left Greens!

Some links below to reports and news from the Green Party of England and Wales Spring Conference that was held in Blackpool last weekend.

Here is the official Green Party Web Page.

Here is the speech delivered by Caroline Lucas, and here is that of her Deputy, Adrian Ramsay.

Here is a report from Joseph Healy.

The Green Left were very pleased with the success of left motions and candidates at the conference.

The latest good news is that Green dissidents in the Czech Republic have been instrumental in bringing down the Centre Right Atlanticist government and its' right-green little helpers as reported by Derek, here. Irish left greens take note!

Strikes And Protests In France

The day of action in France on Thursday saw a magnificent display of solidarity and militancy in the face of the onslaught of the ruling elites.
Here are some links to pictures and reports -

One important struggle is that of the Continental Tyre Company workers in Compiegne - here

Here is a map showing the spread and size of the protests from Le Monde, with a contrast between Police and organiser estimates and comparison to earlier protests.

Here is the BBC report.

Here is Al Jazeera's report.

Here is the story, in the Washington Post.

Here is the right-wing British Telegraph, focusing on violence.

Left reportage on the days' events from Lib Com here, and from Monthly Review here.

For readers of French here is the statement of the French Unions from the CGT site.

General Strike Wins Advances In Guadeloupe

Inspiring news from Guadeloupe - the general strike there led by the LKP coalition of unions, political and community groups has forced major concessions from the authorities, a fine example of what can be achieved by resolute collective action and solidarity. As we remember the historic struggle of the British Miners that began 25 years ago this week it is good to see an example of a strike that succeeded in achieving many of its objectives. The workers of Guadeloupe should be on their guard though, capitalists and colonialists are not known for quitting their side of the struggle, as ever, the struggle continues....
The following came from the ILC group and was posted on the RevLeft forum -

Update: First Victory!: Agreement Signed, General Strike Ends after 44 Days!

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

We received this morning a communiqué from the Guadeloupe-based Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance (ATPC) informing us that an agreement was signed Wednesday, March 4 at 8 p.m. between the LKP Strike Collective of 49 trade unions and organizations, the local governments, the employers' groups, and the French State. The agreement grants the strikers their top 20 immediate demands and allows for continued negotiations, with a tentative agreement reached on many points, on the remaining 126 mid-term and long-term demands.

The general strike was formally ended by vote of the LKP Strike Collective, with the unions and community organizations declaring this a "First Victory." The communiqué of the ATPC ends with the following words: "This was a FIRST VICTORY -- a victory obtained the workers and an entire mobilized people, and by the international solidarity with this courageous struggle."

The Jacques Bino Agreement -- named after the trade union leader who was killed on the barricades the night of February 16 -- that was signed on March 4 covers the following categories: wages/purchasing power, housing, transportation, education, employment, public services, trade union rights, environmental protections and culture.

Twenty of the articles, the List of Immediate Demands of the LKP Strike Collective, were fully met by the French authorities and employers' associations and were signed and codified into the agreement. Here are some of the provisions of the March 4 agreement:

On Wages: The agreement grants a 200 euro monthly increase to workers making the minimum wage, or SMIC, and up to 1.4 times the minimum wage (that is, between 1321 euros and 1849 euros). All workers making between 1.5 and 1.6 times the minimum wage (between 1849 euros and 2113 euros) get a 6% pay increase. Workers making 1.7 times the minimum wage or more (more than 2113 euros) get a 3% wage increase.

On Price Cuts: Lowering by 5% to 10% of costs for 100 basic staples and commodities, and for utilities (water, oil, gas, electricity, etc.) The cost of meals in the student cafeterias is cut by 20%, with a commitment to increase by 50% the produce of local farmers in all the meals provided by the student cafeterias. Family canteens will receive subsidies for their meal plans. Lowering of public transportation costs by 20%. Agreement by the State to fund 40,000 round-trip Paris-Point-a-Pitre airline tickets at 340 euros for low-income families, for the purpose of family reunification. Cuts in banking fees. Compensation of 40,000 euros for all small transportation owners in the aftermath of the reorganization of the urban and inter-city transportation plan.

On Housing: Moratorium on all foreclosures, evictions of renters and utility cutoffs. A Special Fund of 3 million euros is created to provide subsidized housing for 17,000 senior citizens and 7,000 handicapped persons. Freeze on all rents, accompanied by a tax cut of 9% for all renters. End of speculation in land for hotels and resorts, particularly non Guadeloupan chains and banking interests, with financial assistance to local businesses involved in tourist industry.

On Employment: Emergency Recovery Plan to provide jobs for 8,000 youth between the ages of 16 and 26, with the creation of a "Bill of Rights for Employment for all Working People in Guadeloupe." Creation of an agency to provide employment for job seekers, with the creation of jobs to meet the employment needs. All students on waiting lists for education at all levels will be admitted into a school.

On Agriculture and Fishing: Protections and subsidies for the agricultural producers, and protection of 64,000 hectares of agricultural lands. Stabilization of prices for fishing industry. State aid for fishing hatcheries and for modernization of fishing fleet and processing.

On Trade Union Rights: Improvement in State recognition of union prerogatives and rights, with fuller respect for, and enforcement of, collective-bargaining agreements and labor legislation. Designation of mediators to resolve specific conflicts that have arisen at RFO, Air France, International Airport, etc.

On the Environment: Creation of 50,000 hectare nature preserve.

On Culture: Commitment by the State to establish Creolle as a language for all public buildings and services, on the par with French.

The workers and people of Guadeloupe were ecstatic over this victory. People took to the streets spontaneously to celebrate.

Reactions in the mainstream French press, understandably, were less than sympathetic to the strikers. Writing in Les Echos on March 5, journalist Jean-Francis Pécresse laments that the French government gave in to the "mob pressure of the LKP Strike Collective, signing an agreement whose preamble proposes nothing less than the creation of a 'New Order in opposition to the Model of the Plantation Economy.' What value should we place on agreement signed under pressure from the LKP militia, an agreement imposed by intimidation?"

The scorn and racism of the colonialist power and of the white ruling class elite on the island, the Beké, comes through loud and clear in this article. How dare Pécresse use the term "mob" to describe a valiant, organized, peaceful (despite all the provocations by a 5,000 contingent of French Riot Police, the CRS) and disciplined people -- the overwhelming majority of whom are Black -- who were able to withstand the hardships of 44 days of a general strike, with the creation of soup kitchens, agricultural procurement committees, self-defense committees, picket lines, cultural committees, and barricades.

The impact of this victory will be felt around the world. There can be no doubt about this. We will continue to inform our readers and supporters of the repercussions of this powerful movement.

As the declaration of the ATPC notes, one of the keys to victory was the international solidarity expressed day after day with the general strike in Guadeloupe. All who signed our Open Letters, organized delegations to the French Embassy and Consulates, organized forums, broadcast news on their shows, publicized this movement in their press and postings, and/or sent statements to the strikers in Guadeloupe contributed to this victory.

Thanks to all for your support.

In solidarity,

Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin
For the ILC

Weekly Links 2/3/2009

Very busy this week, so just time for a few interesting links.

Last week an in depth report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation delivered a damning report on New Labour's record as regards their promise of delivering a more equal society. The report is mixed to say the least. There is a marked contrast between the few modest but welcome reforms associated with New Labour's first term and the gradually deteriotating situation since -

Commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the study, by a team led by LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, shows sharp contrasts between different policy areas.
Notable success stories include reductions in child and pensioner poverty, improved education outcomes for the poorest children and schools, and narrowing economic and other divides between deprived and other areas.

But health inequalities continued to widen, gaps in incomes between the very top and very bottom grew, and poverty increased for working-age people without children. In several policy areas there was a marked contrast between the first half of the New Labour period and the second half, when progress has slowed or even stalled.

More here. The Child Poverty Action Group respond here.

The Green Party Trade Union Group have posted video clips on their blog of the recent meeting on work-life balance addressed by Green MEP Jean Lambert and representatives of several unions.

Two new articles by co-author of the first ecosocialist manifesto Michael Lowy have been posted on the Ecosocialist International Network website, these are Ecosocialism and Democratic Planning (reprinted from the Socialist Register) and What is Ecosocialism? (Reprinted from Capitalism, Nature, Socialism.)

The climate change film, The Age Of Stupid is about to premiere on 15th March and has a new website. It is being launched at a "People's Premiere" at 64 cinemas across Britain.

Defend Joel Kovel - Support Free Speech!

Just back from a short break in York (a great place for a visit and a hive of Green activity, home to my old friend from Sheffield and now Green Councillor and blogger Andy D'Agorne)

The big news in the ecosocialist community is the victimisation of leading ecosocialist thinker and writer Joel Kovel. It seems Joel has fallen victim to the increasingly vicious Zionist backlash against anti-Zionist Jews and other anti-racist leftists who dare to speak out about the crimes and malevolence of the Israeli regime and the IDF. More from Derek Wall on his blog here, including contact details for Joel's former employer.

This comes in a week where on this side of the pond an appalling article by author and journalist Howard Jacobson took up two pages of the mainstream "intellectual" broadsheet The Independent, casting aspersions of anti-semitism left, right and centre at just about anyone who dares to voice any negative opinion about the actions of Israel and its military. Needless to say this has ignited one of the fiercest flame wars ever seen on the website and pages of that normally reserved organ!

There are real anti-semites out there, and some of them have posted comments on Jacobson's article and need opposing, but attempts to silence criticism of the actions of the state of Israel by smear and innuendo against brave people with good anti-racist credentials and histories is really contemptible and should not be allowed to succeed.

Coming Events To Raise The Political Temperature

A series of coming events should help to raise the political temperature and build the kinds of coalitions we need to see developing in the current period.

This week there is to be action on the London Underground situation - the RMT have arranged a demonstration in London against LU/TfL proposed job cuts

Wednesday 11th February 2009
Demonstrate against the proposed job cuts on LUL / TFL.

Meet outside St James Park tube station at 07:30 am to demonstrate outside 55 Broadway.

At the end of the month, various anti-poverty, environmentalist and campaigning groups have organised a discussion and "teach in" day in London entitled
6 Billion Ways -

As climate, food and financial crises start to look like a GLOBAL MELTDOWN
Come to 6 BILLION WAYS to discuss making another world possible...
Debates, films, music, workshops, art

Saturday 28 February
10am - Midnight @ Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA

Including discussions on: the financial crisis and economic alternatives, conflict and liberation in Palestine and Iraq, climate catastrophe and building a green new deal, the future of feminism, the impact of Obama on race politics, when resistance is successful and how to change consumer culture.

Speakers include: Tariq Ramadan, Mark Thomas, Susan George, Karma Nabulsi, Meena Raman, Tariq Ali, Ken Livingstone, Trevor Ngwane

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10am - 7pm. Workshops, debates and discussions FREE
7pm - 8.30pm. Final plenary with keynote speakers FREE
8.30pm -Midnight. Gig £7/£5 concessions

Organised by City Circle, Friends of the Earth, Jubilee Debt Campaign, People and Planet, Rich Mix, War on Want and the World Development Movement.

Big mobilisations are planned for March and April around the meeting of the G20 - various organisations and publications including New Internationalist have come together to form a coalition known as Put People First which is planning a mass march in London on 28th March - Unions like Unison are amongst the sponsors.

A second series of major demonstrations are planned for 2nd April - these involve the peace movement, the conclusion of a Socialist march for jobs, and potential mobilisations or radical activists from all over Europe that are planned from 28th March onwards.

Then, immediately afterwards the focus shifts to the NATO summit in Strasbourg, Kehl and Baden Baden.

And then we have Mayday, everywhere! A good head of steam of resistance, defiance and protest should have built up by then.

The ruling class must be told in no uncertain terms that we will not pay for their crisis. The demands of the rising social and political movements are non-negotiable - real democracy, real freedom, real equality - an end to militarism, the surveillance state and corporate rule. There must be a real, effective programme for combatting climate change and resource depletion on an international scale and on an egalitarian basis.

Hopefully, our would-be rulers will now see, as the failed leaders of countless regimes saw before them, that the game is up. The bribes, the threats, the "bread and circuses", the lying propaganda machines have all failed them. People have begun to believe that another world really is possible.

Occupy!

Workplace or institutional occupation is a tactic having an international comeback. It is ideally suited to situations where workers have little to lose and can force concessions in the most desperate circumstances. Occupation can be used by students as in the recent wave of University occupations pressuring Israeli links of UK Universities around the Gaza situation, but is also a time honoured method of working class struggle.


Poster for the Movimiento Nacional de Empresas Recuperadas (MNER), at a worker-recovered print shop, Chilavert Artes Gráficas in Buenos Aires, Argentina - from Wikipedia entry by Brian Zbriger.

Info here on recent or ongoing occupations in Ukraine, in Ireland (complete with the reappearance of the Starry Plough flag - the symbol used by James Connolly's Irish Citizen Army in the early 20th Century)and in Chicago, USA.

The plus points of occupation as opposed to other tactics are that it prevents lockouts, it actively prevents any economic activity that is not under the control of the workers, it captures plant and buildings and holds them as a bargaining chip, it is often warmer inside at this time of year (!) and last but not least it prefigures more generalised self management. Let us hope that these good examples begin to spread around the world. Things may be about to get quite exciting.

Weekly Links 01/02/2009

Blogs
A big welcome to the world of blogging to my fellow Green Left supporter and ecosocialist Joseph Healy, who has started blogging here. His first posts include something on the Green campaign for a living wage in Lambeth, a report back from the Convention of the Left recall meeting in Manchester and something on fellow Green GE candidate Peter Tatchell.
Jim this week blogged on the Labour Heathrow rebels and the SNP budget. He also posted his final reflections on the "Progressive London" event.
The refineries dispute has spurred furious debate across the left blogosphere - a small sample here - A Very Public Sociologist published that blog's take on the dispute at AVPS and Socialist Unity held a debate on the piece as well as publishing articles by Andy Newman (on the position of Amicus-Unite General Secretary left candidate Jerry Hicks), Respect's George Galloway and Labour (soft populist) left John Cruddas.
Dave Osler also started a debate here.


Unions and Workplace Struggle
For French readers I have linked the website of the French "social movement" unionists of Solidaires, who came to my attention as a result of the recent upsurge in struggle in France. As I understand it Solidaires came about as part of the grouping of some of the more militant and radical French unions - a process that created SUD.
The Green Party Trade Union Group this week produced a statement on the London Underground redundancies in support of the workers involved in that struggle.
The RMT's video on European Rail Transport "Liberalisation" and Privatisation is now available online as well as via a DVD.

Politics
The European Emissions Trading Scheme is once again exposed this week as a means of generating colossal profits for the big polluters while doing nothing to reduce carbon emissions. Indeed, the scheme is now actually inhibiting the development of clean technologies in developing countries!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/27/industry-abusing-ets-carbon-trading

The two British Green MEPs this week doorstepped the Israeli ambassador over the question of Gaza.