Molly'sBlog

2009-07-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

LE SYNDICALISME CANADIEN/CANADIAN LABOUR:

STARBUCKS SYNDIQUÉS AU QUÉBEC/STARBUCKS UNIONIZED IN QUÉBEC:

Un grand merci à 'PhattMatt' de la 'Insurrectionary People's Picture Show Theater' blog pour les infos sur l'histoire siuvante.

A big thanks to 'PhattMatt' of the 'Insurrectionary People's Picture Show Theater' blog for the info on the following story.

Les travailleurs à un point de vente Starbucks au Québec ont fait une percée en organisant avec les 'Syndicat Starbucks' , une branche de le syndicalist 'Industrial Workers of the World' (IWW). L'IWW est prêt à prendre cette lutte, alors que d'autres syndicats, plus traditionnelles, éludé la tâche.

The workers at a Starbucks outlet in Québec City have made a breakthrough by organizing with the Starbucks Union, a branch of the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW was willing to take this struggle on while other, more traditional, unions dodged the task.

L'histoire de Le Soleil. The story from Le Soleil.
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Syndicalisation des employés de Starbucks: Québec part le bal
Frédéric Denoncourt

Le Soleil
(Québec) Après un mois de démarches, les employés du café Starbucks du 1200, avenue de Germain-des-Prés ont déposé lundi matin leur demande d'accréditation syndicale auprès de la Commission des relations de travail.

La Commission devrait mener une courte enquête au cours des prochains jours pour s'assurer que les employés du café ont signé leur carte du syndicat en l'absence de toute contrainte et qu'ils ont acquitté leur droit d'adhésion.

Par la suite, la syndicalisation sera en vigueur, a confié au Soleil Simon Gosselin, un employé du café, à la tête du mouvement de syndicalisation.

«Dès que ce sera fait, le Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses de Starbucks sera autorisé et nous pourrons négocier une convention collective avec l'employeur.»

Il s'agira du premier café Starbucks syndiqué au Québec.

«Il y a environ un mois que le projet est sur la table. L'enjeu majeur était que l'employeur voulait nous obliger à travailler un minimum de 24 heures chaque semaine, sinon nous aurions été rétrogradés, avec perte de salaire. On aurait même pu perdre notre emploi. Or, nous sommes tous des étudiants et c'était impossible pour nous de travailler un minimum de 24 heures par semaine avec nos cours», continue Simon Gosselin.

L'obligation imposée par l'employeur de demeurer sur les lieux de travail durant les pauses café non payées était un autre irritant qui a incité les employés à se syndiquer. «Le fait d'être syndiqués nous permettra de négocier de façon solidaire avec l'employeur au lieu de n'être que des individus dont le seul recours était de démissionner en cas de désaccord», poursuit Simon Gosselin.

La question salariale ne serait pas au coeur de la démarche des employés de Starbucks. «On verra en temps et lieu car on est moins bien payés que chez McDonald's.»

«On s'attend à une réponse de la part de l'employeur, peut-être à des représailles. Mais à l'heure actuelle on a tous payé nos cotisations et on est tous syndiqués.»

Étant donné les faibles salaires des travailleurs, la Confédération des syndicats nationaux et la Fédération des travailleurs du Québec auraient refusé d'intégrer le nouveau syndicat, qui s'est finalement tourné vers l'Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Le Soleil a tenté en vain d'obtenir les réactions de la partie patronale. Celle-ci nous a renvoyés au siège social de Starbucks, à Seattle, où nous avons abouti dans une boîte vocale.
Rejetés par la CSN et la FTQ
Quand les employés du café Starbucks ont communiqué avec Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), ils ont rapidement obtenu un accueil favorable.

«Nous ne refusons personne. Notre principe est d'être un grand syndicat où tous peuvent être membres», a laissé entendre Andrew Fletcher, délégué chez IWW qui a soutenu la démarche des employés du café.

«L'expérience que l'on a acquise aux États-Unis, on va l'emmener au Québec. La semaine prochaine, un délégué américain de l'IWW viendra rencontrer les travailleurs. Chez Starbucks il y a beaucoup de roulement et les employés ne sont pas très bien payés. Nous pourrons leur offrir notre expertise sur des questions légales.»

Selon M. Fletcher, si la FTQ et la CSN ont refusé de prendre sous leur aile les employés du Starbucks de Germain-des-Prés, c'est qu'elles ont fait le calcul que cela ne leur rapporterait rien.

«Ces grandes centrales regardent le nombre de travailleurs à syndiquer et combien leur rapporteraient leurs cotisations par rapport à ce que ces travailleurs leur coûteraient. La grande différence, c'est que nous faisons tout ce travail bénévolement. Nous n'avons donc pas à faire ces calculs.

«Ce qui est intéressant pour nous, c'est que l'on vient de prendre racine ici. Nous pourrons à l'avenir essayer de syndiquer d'autres entreprises du même genre», conclut M. Fletcher.

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And the story in English.

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Unionization of Starbucks employees: Québec Runs With the Ball:

Frédéric Denoncourt

The Sun (Quebec)

After a month of efforts, the employees of Starbucks Coffee at 1200, avenue de Germain-des-Prés filed their application on Monday morning for union certification with the Commission des relations de travail.

The Commission is obliged to conduct a short inquiry in the coming days to ensure that employees of the cafe signed their union cards without any coercion and that they have paid their membership fees.

Thereafter, unionization is in effect, Simon Gosselin, a coffeshop employee at the forefron of the unionization movement told the Sun.

"Once this is done, the Starbucks Workers Union will be authorized and we can negotiate a collective agreement with the employer."

This will be the first unionized Starbucks in Quebec.

"It has been about a month that the project has been on the table. The major challenge was that the employer wanted us to work a minimum of 24 hours each week, otherwise we would have been demoted, with loss of pay. We might even have lost our jobs. But we are all students and it was impossible for us to work a minimum of 24 hours per week with our classes, "continues Simon Gosselin.

The obligation imposed by the employer to remain at work during the unpaid coffee breaks was another irritant that prompted employees to unionize. "Being a union will enable us to negotiate together with the employer instead of being individuals whose only recourse was to resign in case of disagreement," says Simon Gosselin.

The salary issue is not central to the approach of Starbucks employees. "We will come to it in due course because it is less well paid than at McDonald's."

"We expected a response from the employer, perhaps in retaliation. But now we all paid our dues and we are all unionized. "

Given the low wages of the workers, the Confederation of National Trade Unions and the Federation des travailleurs du Quebec refused to sign up the new union, which ultimately turned to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

The Sun tried in vain to obtain feedback from the employer. It has routed us to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, where we ended up in a voice mailbox.

Rejected by the CSN and the FTQ

When Starbucks employees contacted Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), they quickly earned a favorable reception.

"We do not reject anyone. Our principle is to be one big union where all can be members , "suggested Andrew Fletcher, an IWW delegate who supported the approach of the coffeeshop staff .

"The experience we gained in the United States, we will take it to Quebec. Next week, a delegate of the American IWW will meet with workers. At Starbucks there is a lot of turnover and employees are not very well paid. We can offer our expertise on legal issues. "

According to Mr. Fletcher, if the FTQ and the CSN have refused to take the Starbucks employees of Germain-des-Prés under their wing , is because they have made the calculation that it would bring them nothing.

"The big centrals look at the number of workers to organize and how much the workers would contribute as compared to how the workers would cost them. The big difference is that we do all this work voluntarily. We do not have to make these calculations.

"What is interesting for us is that we are coming to take root here. We may in future try to organize other companies of the same kind, "says Fletcher.

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Il y a un groupe IWW à Montréal et ce soir ils mettrons un piquet de solidarité avec les travailleurs de Starbucks.

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Piquetage de solidarité contre Starbucks:
Suite au dépôt d’une demande en accréditation syndicale pour un Starbucks à Québec, nous vous convions à un piquetage de solidarité pour les travailleurs du Starbucks, qui aura lieu mardi le 14 juillet, à 19h00, devant le Starbucks du 1709 Rue St. Denis, coin Ontario.

À Québec, une conférence de presse aura lieu mardi le 14 juillet, à 11h00, au 1200 Av de Germain des Pres, dans l’arrondissement Sainte-Foy.

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There is an IWW group in Montréal, and this evening they will hold a picket in solidarity with the Starbucks workers.

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Solidarity Picket Against Starbucks:

Following the filing of an application for union certification in Quebec Starbucks, we invite you to a picket of solidarity with Starbucks workers, to be held on Tuesday 14 July at 19h00, in front of the Starbucks of 1709 Rue St. Denis , corner of Ontario.

In Québec, a press conference will be held Tuesday July 14 at 11.00, at 1200 Avenue Germain des Pres, in the borough of Sainte-Foy.

2009-07-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN LABOUR-SUDBURY/PORT COLBORNE:

USW BEGIN STRIKE AGAINST VALE INCO:

Today workers represented by the United Steel Workers began strike action against Vale Inco at both the mines in Sudbury and the refining plant in Port Colborne, both in Ontario. Vale Inco (see the wikipedia article on this company ) is the Brazilian owned parent company that acquired inco in October 2006. With this acquisition Vale became the second largest mining company in the world. Workers at the Voisey's bay operation in Newfoundland have also taken a strike vote which authorized strike action beginning in early August. Here are the bare bones of the story from the Reuters News Agency.

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Strike begins at Vale Inco's Ontario sites
Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:12pm EDT

TORONTO, July 13 (Reuters) - Unionized workers at Vale Inco's nickel mine in Sudbury and its nickel refinery in Port Colborne, both in Ontario, went on strike early on Monday, after rejecting the company's contract offer over the weekend.

"The strike started at midnight and workers were on the picket line just after midnight, both at Sudbury and Port Colborne," said Bob Gallagher, a spokesman for the United Steelworkers union.

The strike won't have any immediate impact on nickel output because Vale had closed the Sudbury mine through the end of July because of low nickel prices.

Negotiations between Vale Inco -- the nickel mining and processing division of Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (VALE5.SA) -- and its Sudbury union broke down as the two sides failed to agree on bonuses, pensions and other issues.

Members of the USW's Local 6500 voted overwhelmingly to reject the company's contract offer on Saturday. The Local represents about 3,300 workers at the Sudbury site in northern Ontario, which is one of the world's largest nickel mines. And about 120 workers of USW's Local 6200, which represents workers at the Port Colborne nickel plant in southern Ontario, rejected the offer on Sunday.

Miners at the Vale's Voisey's Bay nickel-copper operations in Labrador on Canada's East Coast have already voted to authorize a strike, which will likely take effect in early August.

Gallagher said the union was willing to go back to the negotiating table if the company will to come back and talk about possible compromises. Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; editing by Peter Galloway)

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For many years past Inco facilities, whether in Ontario, Newfoundland or here in Manitoba, have often been the scenes of long and hard fought strikes. While both the union and the managers of Vale (for obviously different reasons) are saying that the strikes will be short term the reality is likely to prove otherwise. While workers in Newfoundland will likely join their compatriots in early August those at Thompson, Manitoba are bound by a contract that will not expire until 2011. No doubt the strike would be more effective if it was nationwide, but barring that there are surely other actions (work to rule ???) that Inco workers elsewhere could undertake to support their fellows on strike. It should also be noted that the United Steel Workers have signed agreements with other unions representing miners in countries where Vale operates calling for global cooperation.

In the meantime the Ontario workers have launched a website (Fair Deal Now) to give the union point of view on the strike. Here's the announcement from the website of the United Steel Workers.

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Inco Strikers Launch Action Website: “FairDealNow.ca”:
13 JULY 2009 – Facing a final offer that demands long-term dramatic cuts, USW workers overwhelmingly reject the concessions from a company that made over $13 billion US last year.

Workers Launch an Action Website (http://www.fairdealnow.ca/ as they begin strike at Vale Inco.

After months of negotiations, the Vale Inco position demanding major long-term concessions to pensions, the nickel bonus and seniority has not changed “one iota”.

Faced with a final offer that demanded dramatic long-term changes and cuts to the collective agreement, USW members voted overwhelming to reject the demands.

In votes of 85%, 97% and 99%, USW workers in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey’s Bay voted down the company’s final offer.

“Vale made over $13 billion US last year, and currently has over $22 billion US cash assets on hand, but is using the economic environment to take away new workers’ pensions and slash profit-sharing in good times -- our members deserve better,” said John Fera, President of USW local 6500.

As of 12:01am, July 13th, USW workers at Vale Inco are on strike.

Show your support, follow the developments and receive “breaking news” updates by visiting their new action website, details below.
->->Visit the Vale Inco strikers’ wonderful new action website at http://www.fairdealnow.ca/. ->->View the news releases and coverage concerning Vale Inco.

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As the photo above shows workers in Sudbury began their strike action by a graphic "showing of the Canadian flag". This is both quite apt and only potentially ironic. The Brazilian owners of Vale, of course, care as little for the well being of workers in Canada (or other countries where they operate such as Indonesia, New Caledonia and Kanaky) as they do for their workers in Barzil. What seems ironic is the idea of Canadians protesting against "Brazilian imperialism", but in our new world of globalization the idea that a company is "headquartered" in a presumably poor country is meaningless. The international ruling class of managers is just that - international. They operate wherever profit is to be made, and the old ideas of "imperialism" connected to this or that country are becoming increasingly antiquated.

Still, the appeal to both nationalism and, much more importantly "localism" is and will be a major driving force behind resistance to the transnationals, whatever their country of origin. What follows below is a 'Letter to the Community' from the workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne. What they make plain is how the fight of the Vale Inco workers is also a fight for the communities involved. Whatever the official union beliefs and hopes in a "low stockpile" of nickel this strike will be long and hard fought. The wider it is and the wider the net of soliodarity that it casts the more likely it is to be successful. This means the involvement of the local communities. It will also hopefully mean, should the strike become bitter enough, the advancement of ideas beyond simple collective bargaining. Can the workplaces be occupied ? Is there another model for how to run the mines, perhaps one where Vale Inco is displaced and the enterprises are managed by a cooperative with representation from the local communities, the Canadian taxpayer and the workers themselves ? This is hardly impossible. In the USA General Motors has essentially been nationalized (without the democratic control of local communitioes and the workers themselves). If Vale wants to claim "poverty" then maybe this option should be on the table. Even if it doesn't come to fulfillment it will, like hanging, do wonders to concentrate the minds of management.

Anyways, from the Fair Deal Now website...

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Letter to the Community:
Dear members of the community,
The workers at Vale-Inco have done everything we could to avoid a strike.

We know how hard this will be on our members and on our communities. Equally, we also know how hard it would be on our members and their communities if we had accepted the company’s demands for dramatic long-term restructuring and cuts to how we are compensated.

This round of bargaining has been nothing like the past negotiations with Inco. Vale, the new owner who currently is a massively profitable multinational from Brazil, has chosen to use the current economic conditions as simply an excuse to extract deep long-term cuts with little regard for maintaining the family incomes that sustain our communities.

The fact is that in the past two years, Vale has extracted twice as much profit from Ontario, as Inco had in the previous 10 years.

We understand these are very difficult economic times, and we let this fact guide us during the entire negotiating process. However, Vale’s focus has not been on trying to find ways to get through these difficult times. (Given they have $22 Billion US of cash assets on hand, you can see why they are not as concerned about this issue as we thought they would be.)

Rather, their main focus has been on dramatically reducing a benefit that does not pay a single cent now (or in any economic hard time).

The nickel bonus is an innovative mechanism developed by Inco and USW to allow workers to partially benefit in good times and to help protect the company in bad times. The fact that Vale is attacking this benefit (that currently pays nothing) shows they are not motivated by the current economic situation.

Vale would rather use this moment to attack a fair mechanism knowing that good times will eventually return.

At the same time, it appears Vale is quite willing to give its senior executives a share of the profits now. Total compensation to the top six Vale executives increased by 120% in the last two years (from 2006 to 2008). (It should also be noted that in 2008 Vale has a revenue of US $ 38.5 billion and a net income of US $ 13.2 billion. Most companies would envy such profitability-Molly )

Still Vale insists they need to radically impose these concessions from their Canadian workers.
We believe that every person who lives or works in the communities of Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey’s Bay should recognize that the health and viability of their community is being threatened.

The question is not whether Vale Inco can survive this economic recession. Their profits answer that question. The real question is whether our communities will have the crucial middle-class family incomes when we eventually come out of this recession.

For Canada, the question is whether our natural resources, and the hard and dangerous jobs involved in their extraction, can provide the reliable and hardworking families a middle-class compensation.

For foreign companies to extract those Canadian resources and reap such substantial profits, but not provide our families and communities with hard-working secure incomes is just not right.
We ask for, and appreciate, your support.

Respectfully,
USW locals 6500, 6200 and 6480

2009-07-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

TORONTO PARAMEDICS PROTEST IN THEIR OWN WAY:

The following from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is an update on solidarity actions for the Toronto civic workers' strike. Paramedics who are employed by the city of Toronto have, of course,to provide an essential service. This doesn't mean that they can't show their solidarity with their fellow workers in other ways. Personally I like the black and red colour scheme, but I guess I'm prejudiced.

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Paramedics step up in Toronto strike:
At the same time as Toronto Mayor David Miller was publicly releasing the city’s latest offer to Locals 416 and 79 on July 10, paramedics who work for Toronto EMS were announcing their plan to make sure the public knows they are part of the city-wide strike.
***Charles, CUPE 79's picket line troubadour (YouTube)
***Paramedics announce t-shirt campaign (photos)
***Steelworker solidarity barbecue (photos)

The medics, who belong to Local 416, will begin tomorrow to wear black t-shirts with the slogan “paramedics on strike” instead of their regulation shirts. Local 416 and the city of Toronto have an essential services agreement that requires staffing levels be maintained at about 75%.

Meanwhile, the two locals have submitted counter offers to the city. They say they will not join the city in bargaining through the media.(Ah, those politicians- they just can't stop campaigning no matter how imappropriate it may be-Molly)

Earlier in the week, the Steelworkers Toronto council held a solidarity barbeque at Nathan Phillips Square in front of city hall for picketers and their families. Solidarity activities continue next week with an OPSEU picket at city hall on Monday, barbeques sponsored by CUPE 4400, CAW and the Toronto Professional Firefighters’ Association at various picket lines on Wednesday, and a CAW picket on Thursday.

2009-07-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN LABOUR:

AN 'EMPLOYEE LIBERATION ACT' ?:

Much ink has been spilled, and many organizing resources have gone towards the promotion of the 'Employee Free Choice Act' down in the USA. How much extra bargaining power will this act actually provide for workers who wish to organize ? From up here in Canada it seems that passage of this act will be, at best, a statute that will bring labour relations in the USA to the present level of our own legislation. To say this inadequate is a serious understatement. Here's an opinion from the website of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) by Daniel Gross on what a 'Employee Liberation Act' would supply that is missing from the tabled legislation. The following was first published at Z Net.

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Introducing The Employee Liberation Act - Unleashing The Power Of Worker Self-Activity And Direct Action:
By Daniel Gross - Originally published on Znet, June 30, 2009
The EFCA Debate
The labor movement is dedicating much of its energy to passing the law known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA has three provisions: 1) increased liability for illegal union-busting during certain critical organizing periods; 2) adding majority sign-up as another mechanism to certify a union alongside the election method; 3) implementing a binding arbitration option if a first contract cannot be agreed upon by a union and an employer.

From the perspective of the corporate CEOs and their special interest front groups, EFCA is all wrong, especially majority sign-up and binding arbitration. Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot, probably reflected the sentiments of many CEOs on EFCA when he lamented that: "This is the demise of a civilization. This is how a civilization disappears."

I'm not going to delve into the corporate argument since others have already debunked the corporate position copiously and persuasively. But I will make just one point about the leading corporate argument against EFCA though their argument is bogus for many reasons.

The corporate CEOs are spending millions to promote their primary argument that EFCA undermines the secret-ballot election. Yet, one of the first things companies do like clockwork when confronted with an upcoming union election is file a legal challenge to get the election called off outright.

There are various arguments that employers make to achieve the goal of killing an election such as challenging the scope of the bargaining unit. As employers litigate to cancel the election altogether, they simultaneously unleash a relentless campaign to win more votes than the union in case the bid to cancel the election fails. These corporations like Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot that are portraying themselves as guardians of the secret ballot actually attack secret ballot elections as a matter of course.

There are however dissenting voices on EFCA among some progressive unionists that should be taken seriously. With respect to majority sign-up, the dissenters worry that large unions will become disengaged from their membership by virtue of an organizing process that frankly requires less organizing. The fear is that union's will succumb to the temptation of just signing up workers without building strong organizing committees and facilitating rank & file leadership development.

On the issue of binding arbitration, EFCA dissenters worry about potentially putting union contracts into the hands of an outside party (the government) and radical unionists seeking to move away from no-strike pledges and other pro-management provisions can't imagine such dramatic changes happening in a system that includes a government arbitration component.
Common Ground
The good news is that all unionists are united in the understanding that EFCA is not a cure-all for what ails the labor movement(I'm not entirely convinced of the accuracy of this statement-Molly) and by initiating discussion about an Employee Liberation Act I'm not seeking to make judgments among competing EFCA arguments (except the judgment that the corporate argument is the biggest joke of all time).

I'm also not thinking here about paradigm-shifting legislative reform. Looking around the world, there are many labor law regimes one could choose from to derive ideas. For example, there are labor law regimes which allow certification of unions which represent only their members regardless of majority status, unlike our model which requires a majority for certification. (Note that U.S. unionists not interested in government certification absolutely have the right to organize at work and take action to address issues of concern regardless of majority status). See the work of Professor Charles Morris for the leading case in favor of requiring employers to bargain with members-only unions in the U.S.

For the Employee Liberation Act, I'm thinking of politically-feasible though not unambitious labor law reforms, the majority of which are achievable in the near-to-mid term with the support of a dynamic grassroots movement. I'm also limiting myself to three provisions as in EFCA.

Of course limiting the proposal to three provisions means I have had to leave out all kinds of important reforms. I'd love to hear from you about your own Employee Liberation Act; based on your experience as a worker and an organizer which elements would you choose?

My co-author and friend Staughton Lynd says that high on his list would be doing away with the Fansteel decision and giving protection to workers occupying their plants when the boss has engaged in wrongdoing. He'd also like to take an ax to the Elk Lumber case and give protection to that wonderful tactic known as the slow-down.

It's also important to point out that some of the current rules I will take to task were created by judges, not Congress, and therefore could be modified in court without need for legislative action. In other words, the Employee Liberation Act in certain key respects need not be a legislative "act" at all and direct actions on the job and in the community could be directed in more than one direction.

You'll notice that the reforms I will propose are essentially unrelated to both union certification and the formal collective bargaining process. This is in line with the writing and speaking I've been doing with Brother Lynd on solidarity unionism in which we've focused on the National Labor Relations Act's Section 7 (protecting concerted activity) and Section 8 (enforcing that protection) rather than Section 9 (government certification process). We have concerns about how the certification process and its aftermath may unduly favor representational activities by union staff not employed on the shop floor at the expense of rank & file organizing and action.

Rather than focusing on government certification or formal collective bargaining, the reforms I propose go to relieving some of the burdens which exist on a) worker self-activity and b) direct action, the two fundamental pillars of a transformative labor movement and the two key drivers of working class power.
The Employee Liberation Act
Provision #1: Getting serious about discrimination against workers by putting anti-union discrimination on par with other forms of discrimination .

The contemporary United States workplace is a zone of impunity. Probably the greatest impediment to worker free association today is the pandemic of firing, harassing, and disciplining employees who join labor unions, engage their co-workers in conversations about organizing, hand out union documents, or engage in collective action around issues of concern at work. If you've heard about the concept of class struggle but are not sure if it really exists, start organizing a union at your workplace and watch your doubts melt away.

The most active, most public organizing on the Industrial Workers of the World union campaign at Starbucks is taking place in four cities: New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Grand Rapids. Would you be surprised if Starbucks had discriminatorily fired in each of those cities the barista who was instrumental in getting the ball rolling on an organizing drive? Starbuck did do that in addition to firing several other key outspoken organizers. Only through an organizing model based on broad-based leadership and through the determination of members in the face of adversity has the Starbucks campaign continued to grow.

The prominent New York seafood retailer and wholesaler Wild Edibles has fired the entirety of its workforce that engaged in collective activity; one-by-one everyone was taken out, forcing some to rely on food banks to feed their families and some to leave their homes. Remarkably, most of the workers have stuck it out and continue to wage a powerful campaign for accountability.

These are just two stories from campaigns I work on that illustrate the enormous phenomenon of discrimination against workplace organizers across the United States and across industries. The massive amount of firing, disciplining, and harassment of workers for building a union or joining a worker center sends an unmistakable and powerful chill among employees who otherwise would be inclined to band together.

Companies are able to discriminate against union supporters with impunity largely because labor law administers just a slap on the wrist when violations occur and even that slap on the wrist can be delayed for many years.

For many violations of union rights, the sole remedy is literally the company being required to post a piece of paper on the wall saying it won't do that illegal act again. If the company does repeat-offend, well then you guessed it, it'll have to post a piece of paper again. The hope that companies will be held accountable for recidivism through a contempt of court sanction is a near-total fantasy.

On the delay issue (and for you legal eagles), try reading court cases about union campaigns and compare the date of the court decision with when the campaign at issue took place. All too often, in the many intervening years you'll find the abyss where union efforts have faltered.

I'm always haunted by the Darlington case in the Supreme Court. The boss in that case shut down a textile mill immediately after workers voted to unionize in a clear effort to break the union. Hundreds of workers lost their jobs. The year was 1956. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court and back down again for further litigation. The case was finally "settled", for money damages only, 24 years later in 1980. The problem was that many of the workers had died in the meantime.

Thankfully there is already ample statutory precedent for putting some teeth into anti-discrimination law. That precedent is federal civil rights law which protects against discrimination based on race, gender, and age, among other protected classes.

Here's how labor law would change if we put it on par with civil rights law. With respect to money damages, workers discriminated against for union activity are currently entitled only to back pay, which usually works out to the money you would have earned between the time you got fired and the time you got a new job. If you line up a job right away, you may be entitled to little or even no compensation. And in case you were thinking about hitting Atlantic City for a while to up your damages, labor law imposes a duty upon you to mitigate your damages by seeking a job.

Under the federal civil rights law, back pay is available as well. But critically, the boss may owe compensatory damages as well, that is, damages which take a more accurate and complete look at the harm done than simple back pay. Compensation for future, not just past, economic loss is an important type of compensatory damages. Compensation for mental anguish is another example of compensatory damages not available under labor law. Sometimes workers can also receive punitive damages which are damages designed to punish the wrongdoer.

Compensatory and punitive damages can add up and can create a significant deterrent to corporate wrongdoing compared to a measly back pay award. The boss's court system takes the bite out of civil rights law by making many of the cases extremely difficult to prove, a function of civil rights law we wouldn't want to transmit to the labor context.

In addition, federal civil rights law contains a private right of action, albeit after a first administrative step, meaning a worker can file her own case in court without relying on the government to prosecute the matter. In the labor law context, a worker must go through the National Labor Relations Board and can't have her day in court directly. Putting anti-union discrimination on par with other prohibited discrimination would give workers the option to file their cases in court where they could have more control of the proceeding.

Perhaps most importantly, as a litigant in court under the civil rights model, a worker could immediately petition the court for a temporary restraining order to undo a retaliatory firing instead of waiting for years while the Board process plays out. The Board can also seek injunction relief for a fired worker but rarely does so. One of the enforcement features of EFCA would require the Board to seek these injunctions in the same way it must when a union violates certain provisions of the National Labor Relations Act.

The nice thing about this legislative reform is that we are simply placing anti-union discrimination on par with other forms of discrimination, so it's a straight-forward proposal to articulate. Since unions are how workers exercise the fundamental and cherished right to free association, it's fair to put union activity in the same category as other critically important protected classes. Employers will argue that this reform will open up the flood-gates of litigation but they always argue that. Law-abiding employers need not fear this proposal as liability only attaches for unlawful activity.

The most exciting aspect of upping the ante against employers for illegal union-busting is the stimulating effect on self-activity and direct action that workers will experience as corporate impunity erodes. Because ultimately, it is organized workers using their own creativity and initiative, not the legal system, that can seriously beat back union-busting and check the incredible power of the corporations.
Provision #2: Ending second-class status in the workplace.

No issue in labor law has more economic and moral resonance than the issue of solidarity between workers of differing immigration statuses. Employers since time immemorial have sought to undermine unity between workers and drive down wages by dividing folks based on race, gender, religion, country of origin, and more. The bosses' great lie is that if workers exclude one group or the other, then workers in the in-group will see their economic boats rise. But letting the corporations divide and conquer us is a losing strategy for working families.

Then there's the moral part. Whenever one group is placed into a second-class category, horrors occur. Horrors like lynching and Jim Crow. Horrors like paramilitary immigration raids on peace-loving people at work, whose children are left to fend for themselves while their parents are treated like criminals.

Workers without immigration status come to work, work hard every day, add tremendous value to society, and yes, taxes come off their paychecks just like they do for a worker with papers. Except when these workers need social security benefits or need unemployment insurance, they won't get the benefit of the systems they've paid into. For workers who put their sweat and sometimes blood into their labor every day to make goods or provide services like any other worker, it's wrong for a single right to be denied them.

Yet under then-Chief Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court did just that in the Hoffman Plastic case. The Court gutted the already meager protections of the NLRA even further for workers who gave inauthentic immigration information when hired. Under current law, it is still technically illegal for a boss to fire an undocumented worker who applied with invalid immigration information. But the boss need not 1) pay any back pay nor 2) reinstate the worker who has been discriminated against to her job. What does it mean then for the employer's misconduct to be unlawful? Yes, it's the piece of paper on the wall again!

Under Hoffman, bosses exploit undocumented immigrant labor for years with no mention of status issues. But just as workers begin to organize, the boss raises up Hoffman like a bazooka and blows workers right out of the workplace, often en masse, with no real repercussion. It's a tremendous union-busting tool which harms all workers because non-union workplaces bring down all boats.

Because the Hoffman case was a matter of the Supreme Court interpreting acts of Congress rather than the Constitution, Congress has the right to pass legislation which undoes Hoffman.

The Employee Liberation Act would help ensure that workers have the right to all of labor law's remedies and that no one is a second-class worker. It's both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do for all workers' pocketbooks. Because the Hoffman case actually promotes undocumented immigration by giving employers an incentive to hire workers with the least amount of rights, the argument to repeal Hoffman has a natural defensive message against opponents who will claim the reform is a slight against workers with papers.

On a concluding note, repealing Hoffman, while necessary, is just a stop-gap measure. The woefully unjust immigration law system impacts workers and their children in myriad ways and requires comprehensive reform.

It's important to note that farm workers and domestic workers are also treated as second-class. However, unlike undocumented workers who are technically protected by the National Labor Relations Act but denied important remedies, domestic and farm workers (with or without papers) are subject to a complete and racist exclusion from the NLRA.

Whether the best way forward for these workers is to come under the ambit of the problematic NLRA or increase their rights through some different reform is debatable and beyond the scope of this piece. Domestic Workers United in New York City, which has organized the largest base of domestic workers in the United States, is fighting for a Bill of Rights in the sector specifically guaranteeing decent wages and working conditions; an approach different than the collective bargaining model of the NLRA. And many scholars have argued that the passing of an NLRA-type law governing California farm worker organizing has been a serious failure in protecting worker free association.
Provision #3: Unshackling workers' right to strike.

The right to strike has been whittled to the bone and exists only in name in the U.S. Or to put it another way and only slightly in jest, U.S. law solely protects the right to wage a losing strike. Because one of EFCA's provisions (the enforcement one) packs in a few related reforms, I'm going to pack a couple of closely related features into this provision making the right to strike real. Since this provision deals with incredibly powerful tools which would benefit workers, it will engender the most employer opposition but a powerful direct action movement in favor of worker freedom of association can overcome that opposition.

First, the Employee Liberation Act will undo the judge-made rule known as the permanent-replacement doctrine. As anyone who has gone on an economic strike knows, that doctrine means you can be permanently replaced, that is, essentially discharged while striking. Employers have the right to continue employing the scabs even after the strike has concluded. The permanent replacement of striking air traffic control workers in 1981 by then President Ronald Reagan is often considered the call to arms for the escalation of union-busting that continues into the present. It's a doctrine repellent to the basic concept of a strike and it's no surprise that permanent replacement has been deemed incompatible with international law and norms.

Second, the Act will undo the Taft-Hartley secondary pressure prohibitions which are varied but I'll lay out the paradigmatic example which also happens to be the most powerful. Say you're working at a meatpacking plant and you're organizing a labor union. Your plant makes a big portion of its revenue by selling hamburger patties to McDonald's. Your boss is union-busting and you need to exert real power to win your demands. Imagine if your union called on McDonald's workers to strike. The strike would put tremendous direct pressure against your boss by shutting down the hamburger patty purchases and put strong indirect pressure on your boss by disrupting business as usual to a major client because of the company's union-busting.
This is class solidarity, this is exponential power, and this is the seed of a General Strike. Under current law, such activity is also the giver of crushing and swift liability onto a labor union and that should change. The right to withhold one's labor is an integral part of being free and should not be curtailed merely because the purpose of the strike is solidarity with workers at another place of employment.

I've got to mention that one of the greatest inhibitors to effective striking actually has little to do with the law of the land. Taft-Hartley does not prohibit unions from striking in solidarity with workers in different bargaining units at the same employer, often referred to as a sympathy strike. So why do we so often see strikes where one set of workers stop work and workers in different units cross pickets lines to continue work as usual? The answer is looking us in the mirror and it's the labor movement itself.

Unions are routinely agreeing to no-strike clauses in contracts with employers that are so broad that they encompass even sympathy strikes. A basic no-strike clause is not held to ban sympathy strikes; only where the waiver of the right to engage in a sympathy strike is clear and unmistakable will a no-strike clause be held to ban a sympathy strike. While even a limited no-strike clause is a serious concession from workers, a clause broad enough to ban sympathy strikes compels workers to scab on their own co-workers! If unions begin to reprioritize their objectives in collective bargaining negotiations toward class solidarity, they can muster the will to defend the right to sympathy strike without any need for law reform.
This is Our Time
The overturning of unjust laws which offend the cherished principle of free association will not happen through a Washington, D.C. lobbying campaign. Bold organizing, solidarity, and action are required on the ground from a multitude of community-based groups, worker centers, and labor unions. In the process, unjust laws that run contrary to fundamental rights and liberties will be defied. Emma Goldman did it. Martin Luther King, Jr. did it. Rosa Parks did it.

Amid this economic crisis, many are recognizing that the past decades of unchecked corporate power have been a disaster for working families. The founding capitalist principle that democracy should not and must not exist in the workplace is being exposed for the myth that it is. Contending with hardships from declining wages and lack of job security, to unaffordable health care and spiraling debt, working people are clamoring for a competing voice to take on the corporations at work and in the public arena.

In that vein, I hope this introduction to the Employee Liberation Act provides a useful framework to discuss and promote the worker self-activity and direct action that can help usher democracy into the workplace and affirm the dignity of every working family.

Daniel Gross is the founding director of Brandworkers International and an organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World. He is the co-author with Staughton Lynd of "Labor Law for the Rank & Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the Law" (PM Press). He can be reached through http://www.brandworkers.org/.

2009-07-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-HAITI:

SOLIDARITY WITH HAITIAN WORKERS:

The following call for solidarity with Haitian workers struggling to raise the minimum wage in that country comes from the newly formed Miami Autonomy and Solidarity group. It came yo Molly's attention via the Anarkismo website.

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Haitian Minimum Wage Struggles: A Call to Action:
Miami Autonomy & Solidarity is asking progressives and revolutionaries to organize in their communities around the Haitian minimum wage struggles.

A Call for Action

For the past five years, combative working class movements have been demanding minimum wage adjustments and hikes. The working class in Haiti is faced daily with the wrath of bourgeois repression. Workers rights to organize and to bargain collectively are constantly being denied and repressed. For the past 10 years, the minimum in Haiti has fluctuated between 15¢ and 30¢ an hour, while the cost of most goods is roughly comparable to their cost in the US. According to a recent Worker Rights Consortium study, a working class family of one working member and two dependents needs at least 550.00 gourdes per day to meet normal living expenses. The current minimum wage in Haiti is only 70 gourdes ($1.75) per day and was last adjusted in 2003. In May of this year, the Haitian Parliament passed a law merely adjusting the minimum wage to 200 gourdes per day ($.62 an hour), still a slave wage. All that is needed for this law to be enacted is for President Preval to sign it, and publish it in the official newspaper Le Moniteur. After more than three weeks of delay, the Préval administration, in step with the Haitian bourgeoisie and imperialism, not only objected to the new law, but also made a counter proposal of 125.00 gourdes.

Combative workers’ organizations and students are standing clear; they will only accept the 200.00 gourdes just voted by both Chambers in the Haitian Parliament. 200 gourdes are insufficient even for a sub standard living, and moreover it is illegal, just like the 70 gourdes wage enacted under the populist administration of Aristide.

The minimum wage adjustment in Haiti is more than 5 years overdue. Based on article 137 of the reactionary labor code, the minimum wage should be adjusted every time inflation goes up by 10 per cent in any year. The repressive Duvalier regime created this law to protect the bourgeoisie by hoping inflation would never go up that high. Now, that law has come back to haunt them. At the time of this law, one US dollar was equal to 1 Haitian gourde. Due to inflation and/also structural adjustment, 1 US dollar is (constantly fluctuating) now approximately 40 gourdes. At the same time, skyrocketing prices have increased the cost of living. Workers are forced to sell their labor power out of sheer starvation and be subjected to near slave-like conditions.

According to Préval, a minimum wage increase above the 125 gourdes proposed by him would be a catastrophe for the nation. For the past 90 years, The Haitian popular masses have been living in a state of abject poverty comparable only to slavery. All that time also, the Haitian masses, under false promises, have been constantly ensnared by the bourgeoisie and their lackeys co-opting their struggles to serve the interests of some fraction of the ruling class. This is true even when they took the streets to elect populists such as Aristide and Preval. Workers are now taught that any improvement in their social condition would be a catastrophe. Yet the popular masses are now learning unity in a battle addressing their own interests.

The students were justified when they took the streets against Duvalier and Aristide, and they were applauded by some sectors of the bourgeoisie in doing so. Yet when students today are occupying the street to demand the enactment of the minimum wage law, they are called crazy, they are labeled goons and vagabonds in the bourgeois press, and the State and the ruling classes repress them.

Besides the workers, students have been protesting daily for that law to be signed and promulgated, and it is a demand they reached independently of any engineered call for class solidarity. They are planning more battles to see it through. Some of these students are potential workers. They have witnessed first hand the slave conditions their parents and neighbors work in, who sadly are lucky enough to find work in the capitalist hellholes called sweatshops. Some of these students themselves, due to the global economic crisis, are destined also to slave away in these same sweatshops.

The workers also are resisting exploitation and repression. Most workers support demands for more than the 200 gourdes just passed. They are resisting different tactics concocted by the bourgeoisie to extract more surplus value from their labor power while at the same time keeping wages very low. Workers are resisting increasing tariffs (“What you do is what you get”), team modules (more sophisticated forms of piece work), and most of the time are forced to work more than an 8 hour day to earn the minimum wage. All cost of living calculations for a minimum wage agree it should be now at least 500 to 600 gourdes a day for an 8-hour workday. Some workers think it should be 2000 gourdes.

Some political organizations think this struggle is futile because it doesn’t encompass any action against the cost of living. They even argue that the capacity of the bourgeoisie to take away any concession of a minimum wage adjustment or hike by raising the cost of living means that workers should not fight for a minimum wage increase. They would rather choose to do nothing, but this inaction is even more in line with bourgeois interests. The argument should not be about what needs to come first. It must be based first on the relations of power between the popular classes and the ruling classes. The struggle for the minimum wage is also a training ground for more struggles to come. It is not an end in itself, but a means to accumulate more forces for later battles. This is an autonomous struggle of workers supported by students. It is a struggle based on the interests of workers as a class. For this reason we need to support it, and we should seek to widen its base and implications.

We, Miami Autonomy & Solidarity, are putting a call for action in support and in solidarity to this genuine autonomous working class struggle. We invite others to act unity with us and coordinate, or to take independent actions in solidarity if coordination is not possible or desired.

We ask that others take action, and offer some ideas below:
***Organize a day of action to picket in front of the Haitian consulate or embassy. There is a list of consulates and embassies in many countries below.
***Send letters, emails, and calls to the Haitian government demanding an end of the repression, and enactment of a just minimum wage, at least 200 gourdes per day, to be adjusted yearly for cost inflation.
***Organize an informational picket in front of a company that does work in Haiti. Groups organizing workers could instead flyer the workers about the need for organization where we are, and for unity with workers struggling under the same company elsewhere. It will not be correct to call for a boycott at this time due to the high level of unemployment in Haiti. Some companies that have factories in Haiti include:
Levi

Disney

Nautica

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Embassy of the Republic of Haiti

2311 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,

20008

City: Washington DC

Phone: 202.332.4090

Fax: 202.745.7215

Web Site: http://www.haiti.org/

Email: embassy@haiti.org

Office Hours: Mon - Thurs: 0900 - 1600 hrs Friday: 0900 - 1500 hrs

Consulate of Haiti in New York, USA

271 Madison Ave.

5th Floor, New York, NY 10016

Between 39th and 40th Streets

City: New York

Phone: 212-697-9767

Fax: 212-681-6991

Web Site: http://www.haitianconsulate-nyc.org/

Email: contact@haitianconsulate-nyc.org

Consulate General of Haiti in Chicago IL. United States of America

202 S.State St., Suite 302 Chicago IL 60604 U.S.A.

Phone: 312-922-4004

Fax: 312-922-7122\

Consulate General of Haiti in Miami FL. United States of America

259 S.W.13th St., Miami FL 33131 U.S.A.

City: Miami

Phone: 305-859-2003

Fax: 305-854-7441

Consulate of Haiti in Boston, MA. United States of America

545 Boylston St. Suite 201. Boston, MA 02116 U.S.A.

City: Boston

Phone: 617-266-3660

Fax: 617-266-4060

Email: Info@consulathaitiboston.com

Embassy of Haiti in Argentina

Av. Figueroa Alcorta

3297-1425

City: Buenos Aires

Phone: 541-807-0211 or 541-802-5979

Fax: 541-802-3984

Embassy of Haiti in Brazil

Shisl QI 17, Conj. 04, Casa 19

70465-900 LAGO SUL

C.P. 08618/71600

City: Brasilia

Phone: 061-248-6860 or 061-248-6437

Fax: 061-248-7472

Consulate of Haiti in Canada

1100, Boul. Rene Levesque Ouest

Suite 1520

Montreal, Canada H3B 4N4

City: Montreal

Phone: (514) 499-1919

Fax: (514) 499-1818

Web Site: http://www.haiti-montreal.org/

Email: consulgeneral@haiti-montreal.org

Embassy of Haiti in Chile

Avenida 11 Septembre

2155 Torre B, Officina 403

City: Santiago

Phone: 562-231-0967

Fax: 562-231-0967

Embassy of Haiti in France

Rue ThÃ©odule Ribot 10

75827 Paris, France B.P.

275, CÃ©dex 28

City: Paris

Phone: 47 63 47 78

Fax: 42 27 02 05

Embassy of Haiti in Berlin, Germany

Meinekestrasse 5

10719

City: Berlin

Phone: (+49) (030) 88554134

Fax: (+49) (030) 88554135

Web Site: http://ayiti.de/himnet/bonn/

Email: haitbot@aol.com

Office Hours: 09.00-16.00

Consulate of Haiti in Guadeloupe

78 Rue Vatable 97110 Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe, W.I

City: Pointe à Pitre

Phone: 590-893-580

Fax: 590-893-555

Embassy of Haiti in Italy

Via di Villa Patrizi, 7 & 7A

00161 Rome

Italy

City: Rome

Phone: 39 06 44 25 41 07

Fax: 39 06 44 25 42 08

Email: amb.haiti@tiscali.it

Embassy of Haiti in Mexico

Cordoba 23A, Colonia Roma

C.P. 06700

City: Mexico City

Phone: 525-511-4390 or 525-511-4505 or 525-511-4506

Fax: 525-533-3896

Embassy of Haiti in Spain

Marques del Duero, 3 1 izq.

28001

City: Madrid

Phone: 34-1-575-2624

Fax: 34-1-431-4600

Email: embhaiti@futurnet.es

Embassy of Haiti in Venezuela

Quinta Flor, 59 Av. Rosas-Urban

San Rafael de Florida

City: Caracas

Phone: 582-747-220

Fax: 582-744-605

2009-07-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO:

STATE AND COMPANY COLLABORATE TO VICTIMIZE MINERS:

The following story about the collaboration of the Grupo México mining company and the Mexican government comes from the International Metalworkers' Federation.

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Defend Union Autonomy in Mexico:
In Mexico, the country's largest mining company, Grupo México, and the Mexican government, first under President Vicente Fox, and now under President Felipe Calderón, have systematically and repeatedly violated Mexican law and international standards to crush the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM). IMF affiliates around the world are mobilising and taking action in defence of basic labour rights and union autonomy in Mexico.

In February 2006, the government illegally removed the union's General Secretary, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, and replaced him with a government appointee, Elías Morales Hernández. Next, the government perverted the Mexican legal system and levelled charges of corruption and embezzlement against Gómez. An independent audit of the union's accounts, commissioned by the IMF, proved all funds were accounted for and exonerated Gómez of any wrong doing, yet the government still refuses to correct this wrongdoing.

When a number of inquiries into theses actions revealed that the government had used falsified documents, concealed evidence, and coerced officials to issue baseless arrest warrants against the union leader, Grupo México and the government moved to divide the union, granting overnight recognition to a procompany union and holding "elections" in which workers were forced and coerced to join its ranks.

Meanwhile, Grupo México enjoys full use of the national army and federal police to break strikes, kill workers and arrest union leaders fighting for safer working conditions in Grupo México-owned mines.

Gómez was officially reinstated as General Secretary on April 11, 2007, after a federal court ruled the Labour Secretariat had overstepped its authority and failed to comply with established procedures.

However, Gómez remains in exile due to unfounded pending charges and intense safety and security threats against him and his family.

Today, it seems Grupo México is able to murder, torture, intimidate and abuse workers with complete impunity while the acts of defending democratic freedoms and workers' rights are deemed illicit. The government has relied on force and violence to resolve the country's labour disputes, while criminalizing trade union activity.

The IMF and its affiliates are calling on the Mexican government to:
***release all union funds illegally seized by the government;
***lift all charges still pending against Napoleón Gómez Urrutia and other members of the SNTMMSRM;
***prosecute in a court of law, immediately and transparently, all those responsible in the corruption of documents and facts; and
***investigate Grupo México's involvement in the murder of Reynaldo Hernández González and the detention and torture of 20 SNTMMSRM members in Nacozari, Sonora.

2009-07-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN LABOUR-SOUTHERN ONTARIO:

CIVIC WORKER STRIKES IN ONTARIO:

The strike of city workers in Windsor Ontario has now now entered the realm of "months" while that of city workers in Toronto is working towards the one month post. The provincial government of Ontario has been reluctant to legislate the workers involved back to work. Molly suspects that this is because, in a climate of economic crisis, the province hopes that the end result of the strike will be the "breaking" of the unions involved. Perhaps the conservative provincial government is more realistic than the so-called "leftist" administration of Toronto who no doubt would welcome any face saving intervention from the provincial government.

As these strikes drag on and more are threatened (see below) Molly's main question is how can the workers involved bring the situation to a successful conclusion, and do more "radical" tactics have to be employed. Molly is a "libertarian socialist". What that means in plain English is that she believe that the majority of the economy should be "socialized", not by nationalization, but rather by converting it to producers' cooperatives. I have often harped on this blog about the utility of "workplace occupations", and there is little doubt that these tactics are much more effective than traditional picketing and strike action in bringing the bosses to heel. can these be used in a 'public service' situation ? I'm agnostic about this, but it is something to consider. On a greater note, is it possible that the public services of various cities could be better delivered by self-managed workers' cooperatives ? Could garbage collection, for instance, be better managed by a cooperative in which the workers are the "shareholders", rather than having it managed either as a government enterprise or a private business ? It may be a thought to consider as these strikes drag on and on.

Could a producers' cooperative be "competitive" with private enterprise. First of all it would be better for the consumer than a government monopoly simply because it would automatically shed hugely expensive layers of bureaucracy. Its costs would also be transparent, unlike present municipal operations. I personally believe that, in the end, it would also be competitive vis-a-vis private contractors because there would be no need to produce profit for non-workers.

Is such a "solution" in the interests of the workers involved. I am not too sure of this. Setting out on your own as a cooperative involves the same sort of willingness to take risks as is involved in setting out in business on your own. Could the benefits so far gained from previous city contracts be preserved ? Maybe yes. Maybe no. The balance of whether taking such a risk is worthwhile depends upon just how savage the city administrations want to be. What Molly suggests, without demanding any ideological certainty from the people involved, is that the workers in these situations do some calculations as to the costs and benefits of trying something quite different. Not being immediately involved it is hard for me to suggest any firm way to go. All that i suggest is that there is an alternative to simply holding out on strike. Should people want to "take the risk" the FIRST action would be workplace occupations.

OK, that's the ideological prologue. Here's the news from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) about the latest offer from Windsor city workers to resolve the dispute in their city.

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CUPE puts settlement to City of Windsor:
Negotiations between locals 82 and 543 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the City of Windsor have been adjourned today.

The union has put forward a proposal to resolve the labor dispute and have requested the employer bargaining committee to bring the proposal for settlement to City council members.
No details of the proposal will be released by either party at this time.

CUPE local 82, representing outside workers, have been on strike since Wednesday, April 15th. Their colleagues of local 543, the inside workers, joined the picket line on Saturday, April 18th.

CLCLCLCLCLCLCL

The antagonism between city administrations and their workers is hardly confined to the cities-Toronto and Windsor- in which there are active strikes. Many other cities, in Ontario and elsewhere are presently in conflict with their workers, either in contract negotiations or in a "propaganda war". The claims of city adminstrations actually have very little to do with the present financial crisis. In some cases, such as here in Winnipeg, they are the long standing result of a "tax freeze". In some cases there is no "crisis whatsoever. In some the "crisis" is the result of civic give-aways to private interests In others there is no "crisis" to speak of, and the "crisis" is only a bargaining excuse. Where there is not a strike situation Molly's "radical remedy" of a producer cooperative obviously has less appeal- to say the least. I would, however, like to implant this idea as an alternative to consider.

Here's another story from CUPE about yet another city in southern Ontario where the city is trying to download a real or fictitious crisis onto its workers.

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Open letter to the Mayor and Council of the City of Brantford:

Dear Mayor Hancock and Councillors Littell, Kinneman, Sless, Bucci, McCreary, Martin, Carpenter, Calnan, Bradford and Ceschi-Smith:

We are writing on behalf of over 500 Brantford city workers who provide vital public services to the residents of our city.

The unions representing public works, housing, welfare, libraries, water and hydro, city transportation and parks and recreation workers have formed a Labour Coalition to stand up to the City’s public positions against unionized workers and their collective agreements.

Collectively we are requesting that city leaders stop using the recession to target workers and our collective agreements. As city workers and long-time residents of our community, we are happy to work with senior elected officials and management to overcome this global economic downturn. But we will not participate in any actions that undermine the collective bargaining process including the City’s request to open up existing collective agreements.

We are fully aware of the global economic downturn that is affecting everyone. We remind you this global recession was not caused by workers. We expect the leaders of this city to show leadership and work with us to find innovative ways to overcome this downturn. Targeting unionized workers and undermining the collective bargaining process is simply a non starter and could set back labour relations for years to come.

As city workers and full-time residents of our community we know intimately the strength, vibrancy and the current and potential growth of City of Brantford. So it came as a surprise and disappointment when senior management shared the City’s ‘Economic Position and Budget Direction’ report with us.

We question the ‘doom and gloom’ picture the report tries to portray. This predominantly negative report seems to be missing important sections including current stimulus activities (such as the approved federal stimulus plan for the re-build of the Wayne Gretzky Arena and others that create local jobs) and a pro-active strategy by the City to combat this economic downturn. Surely a report of this nature should show a full and complete picture including jobs created in growth sectors and what the leaders plan to do to attract new investment to lead us out of this economic wilderness.

As public servants, we are happy to help senior leaders and work with management to outline the current growth in our diversified economy (a pro-active diversification strategy adopted by the City to combat the recession from the early 90’s) that is not identified in the report and help you find savings including bringing back many public services that have been contracted out to private companies that cost more to the city. This is an opportunity to bring these contracted services in-house so the city can have cost savings with more control and greater accountability over public services.

As requested by the City, we are in the process of identifying savings that will help the city finances and will be happy to share this with you once our report is completed.

In closing, this coalition is urging elected officials and senior management to work respectfully with city workers. As city workers begin negotiations on Monday, July 13, 2009 we expect a fair bargaining process that will lead us to fair collective settlements.

Working together, like we have done with our coalition, is the positive solution to move the City of Brantford forward.
Respectfully,
The City of Brantford Labour Coalition
Phil Hotte, President of Amalgamated Transit Union 685

Ryan Hantz, Vice-President of International Brotherhood of Electrical (Power) 636

John Longo, President of International Brotherhood of Electrical (Water) 636

Jeff Van Wyk, President of CUPE 181

Jane Davidson, City Hall Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Angelo Mancini, Parks, Cemeteries and Recreation Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Glen Quackenbush, Public Works Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Karen Gamble, Library Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Shawn MacKeigan, Ontario Works Brant Unit Chair of CUPE 181

Anne Derosse, Housing Unit Chair of CUPE 181
cope491

2009-07-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN LABOUR:

SOLIDARITY WITH QUAD CITY DIE CASTING WORKERS:

The following item came to Molly's attention via the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board. It is originally from an Illinois blog titled 'At Home He's a Tourista'. The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America mentioned below is a member controlled union that is on the forefront of creative labour struggle in the USA. They are the people who won the struggle at Republic Window and Doors in Chicago via an occupation of the Chicago factory. As the signs above say, Wells Fargo is a "roadblock to recovery", and the protesters involved did their own roadblock to demonstrate that.

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UE Workers Block Intersection, Get Arrested In Attempt to Save Jobs:

On Thursday, July 9th, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America members, SDS-Milwaukee and a host of supporters picketed a Wells Fargo branch in Rock Island, Illinois. Twelve people were arrested, cited, and then released after unfurling a banner and blocking an intersection in an act of civil disobedience.

This action is part of a UE driven campaign to pressure Wells Fargo into using some of the $25 billion in government bailout money it received for extending credit to the Quad City Die Casting company in Moline, Illinois. Without the money, the plant will be forced to close and around one hundred workers will be left unemployed.

http://athomehesaturista.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/ue-workers-block-intersection-get-arrested-in-attempt-to-save-jobs/

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Here's the story as told by the UE themselves on their website.

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Workers Arrested in Big Protest at Wells Fargo, As Quad City Workers Continue Fight for Jobs:
10 July, 2009
Rock Island, IL
A big group of UE Local 1174 members and supporters from other unions demonstrated at Wells Fargo’s Rock Island branch on Thursday, July 9. Nearly a dozen workers were arrested after they blocked a street to symbolize how Wells Fargo is a “roadblock to recovery.”

Workers are continuing their fight to keep Quad City Die Casting open and save 100 jobs. The plant is slated to close because Wells Fargo – recipient of $25 billion in the federal banking bailout – has cut off operating credit to the company.

Asked by a TV reporter why she’d been willing to be arrested, Local 1174 Recording Secretary Deb Johann replied, “Because I want to save my job.”

More details on this protest and Local 1174’s continuing struggle at ueillinois.com.

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The protest at Rock island is only part of a continuing campaign on the part of the UE to save the Quad City jobs. Wells Fargo, a recipient of government bailout aid, is being picketed across the country to do the right thing. Here, once more from the UE website, is a report on the 'Day of Action' last June 23.

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EXPANDED COVERAGE: Day of Action Against Wells Fargo:
26 June, 2009
MORE: PHOTOS, VIDEOS and STORIES are at ueillinois.org
In some 20 cities across the U.S. on June 23, UE members and allies took action at branch offices of banking giant Wells Fargo, and in some cases its subsidiary Wachovia, from Boston to Los Angeles. Joined by members of other unions, Jobs with Justice and community organizations, members chanted and carried signs with the message, “You got bailed out, we got sold out!” Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks and the recipient of a $25 billion bailout from taxpayers, is unfairly forcing the closure of Quad City Die Casting, a viable factory in Moline, IL where the members of UE Local 1174 work, by cutting off the normal line of credit the company needs in oder to operate and stay in business.

Here are brief reports from some of the protest sites.
PHILADELPHIA
Some 33 people from UE and Jobs with Justice protested at a Wachovia bank (owned by Wells Fargo) in downtown Philadelphia, and handed out nearly 500 leaflets on the Quad City jobs fight.

Local 155 President Ron McCullough explained to the group – and to hundreds of onlookers – the struggle by Local 1174 to save their jobs and Wells Fargo’s role in forcing the pending plant closing of Quad City Die Casting. Protesters picketed for about 30 minutes, and then a delegation, consisting of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice Chair John Braxton and McCullough went inside to deliver a “notice of default” on Wells Fargo’s obligations to the American people.

McCullough repeatedly asked to see the bank manager in order to deliver the notice, but one bank employee after another refused to summon the manager, ordered McCullough and Braxton to leave immediately, and threatened to call the police. McCullough refused to leave, saying he’d do so after he delivered the document to the manager. The attention of the 30 or more customers in the bank lobby was riveted onto this confrontation. In an effort to silence free speech in the city that's the home of the Liberty Bell and birthplace of the Declaration of Independence, bank managers called the cops. But before the police arrived a bank official, identifying himself as the assistant manager, finally accepted the letter.

The picketing continued for a while after Ron and John emerged from the bank. One young woman stopped to observe the protest. After she read the UE flyer she became so incensed by Wells Fargo’s action that she also went inside to tell bank officials what she thought of Wells Fargo.
LOS ANGELES
At Wells Fargo’s main office center in downtown Los Angeles, activists ranging in age from 11 to 81 conducted an informational picket line. Chants like “Wells Fargo, Shame On You – You Got Bailed Out and Workers Got Sold Out,” echoed off the high-rise building while security guards kept close watch. Hundreds of fliers explaining the struggle of UE Local 1174 workers were distributed and well received, especially by bus riders and building workers, but got a less friendly response from executive types in expensive pin-striped suits. The action was organized by the Los Angeles Bail Out the People Movement.
COSTA MESA, CA
A relatively small UE group picketed Wells Fargo’s branch in Costa Mesa, but their presence and their signs got plenty of notice on one of the busiest streets in Orange County. There were plenty of friendly from passing drivers, and Bryan Martindale of Local 1421 uses a megaphone to lead the group in chants. After about about 25 minutes the members went inside to present a letter to the branch manager. She smiled and did not ask any questions. Local 1421's Brian Barrington presented the letter and we asked that she pass the message on to higher corporate management.
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA
Twenty members of UE Local 893/IUP and Local 896/COGS, along with supporters from the Hawkeye Labor Council and other local groups, picketed and leafleted a Wells Fargo office in Cedar Rapids over their lunch hour, in solidarity with UE Local 1174 members at Quad City Die Casting. Passing motorists honked their horns in support. Two local TV stations and the Cedar Rapids Gazette sent reporters to cover this event.
DAVENPORT, IA
Workers and clergy from the Quad Cities area, including Local 1174 members, confronted Wells Fargo management at its Davenport, IA office and asked bank officials to accept “a plea for justice from the community.” Bank executives called the police, but this did not deter a five-person delegation from entering their building. The bank official they encountered refused to give her name, but accepted the letter handed her by C.J. Hawkins of Interfaith Worker Justice, and agreed to deliver it to the bank’s regional president. UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley told the group, “We can’t let this giant bank default on its obligation to the American people and the people of the Quad Cities. Wells Fargo is a roadblock to economic recovery.”
CHICAGO
In Chicago some 75 protestors from several unions and community groups cordoned off the parking lot of a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage branch with crime scene tape, and traced chalk outlines of the bank’s worker victims on the pavement, charging the bank with “jobicide” and “homeicide.” They chanted, “Wells Fargo, this sucks. Where’s our 25 billion bucks?” The group included UE Local 1110 members and members of UFCW Local 881, Teamsters Local 743, SEIU Local 73, the Graduate Students Organization at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Arise Chicago, Center for a New Community, and South Austin Coalition.
ATLANTA
Barbara Joye of the Atlanta Fighting Foreclosures Coalition reports that some 20 intrepid demonstrators picketed in front of the midtown Wachovia branch today, in punishing afternoon heat. The giant regional bank Wachovia was bought out by Wells Fargo last October, in the midst of the banking industry meltdown. Besides demanding that Wells Fargo extend the credit needed to keep UE Quad City Die Casting workers in their jobs, Barbara writes, “We also reminded the bank that we are still demanding a foreclosure moratorium and reasonable settlements for Atlantans at risk of losing their homes.”
CHARLESTON, WV
Wells Fargo managers in Charleston seemed to know protestors were coming and were waiting for them. The branch manager and his posse met union supporters at the entrance before they had even picked up a sign.

About 20 members of UE Local 170 were joined by activists from the Citizen Action Group and Mountaineers for a National Health Plan. They got a good response from the public as they leafleted, picketed, and chanted, “You got bailed out, we got sold out.” The event received TV and newspaper coverage.
BOSTON
In the midst of a nasty nor’easter storm, 30 picketers marched outside the Boston Wells Fargo Commercial Bank building. Members from UE Locals 204, 262, 279, other unions, Jobs with Justice, housing groups, and students joined the National Day of Action on Wells Fargo locations. An excessive number of security personnel were in place before the picket even began, and they prevented a delegation of UE members and supporters from entering the building to deliver a message to bank executives.
NEW HAVEN, CT
A delegation of UE members and supporters took the Quad City workers’ struggle to the downtown New Haven branch of Wachovia bank, now a subsidiary of Wells Fargo. It included six members from Local 243 at Sargent Manufacturing, Local 222 President Marie Lausch, former Local 299 President Dorothy Johnson, and Bill Collins, a singer with the Rabble Rousers who’s written a song about the Republic plant occupation. A delegation went inside to meet the branch manager, but neither he nor the assistant manager were available. They spoke to a lower-ranking bank operative who took the leaflet and “managed to look very concerned over workers losing their jobs,” reports UE International Rep. Carol Lambiase. She was banned from taking photos inside marble walls of the bank. Marie Lausch and Local 243 President Ray Pompano led chants, using Local 243’s bullhorn. Passersby took leaflets and expressed support.
PORTLAND, OR
A small but spirited group of 20 including Marianne Hart, retired Local 1421 leader and former member of UE's General Executive Board, carried both Jobs with Justice and UE signs supporting the fight of Quad City workers, and received a welcoming response from passersby. The Portland Wells Fargo branch is a large classic bank building in the style of a Greek temple, and the group took over the platform in front of the entrance, at the top of the marble stairs. They shouted a call-and-response chant: “When I say bankers, you say gangsters. Bankers! Gangsters! Bankers! Gangsters!”
LACROSSE, WI
UE Local 1121 President Charlene Winchell blasted Wells Fargo for its failure to use taxpayer bailout money as intended, to make credit available to businesses and save jobs, as a dozen UE members picketed its branch in LaCrosse. “If they don’t keep their jobs, people are going to lose more homes,” said Winchell. “More people on unemployment. It’s going to be awful. It’s going to affect all of us.” A union delegation got inside the bank and spoke to a bank official about the plight of Quad City Die Casting and the 80 members of Local 1174. The event received local TV coverage.
ERIE, PA
A dozen UE members from Locals 506, 618, 683 and 684, as well as Eastern Region Pres. Andrew Dinkelaker, took the case of Local 1174 members against Wells Fargo to the bank’s office in downtown Erie. Two local TV stations covered the action.
WASHINGTON, DC
Over the past several days a UE lobbying team has visited over 100 congressional offices, including every member of both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. The members of Congress were given information on the injustice being perpetrated by Wells Fargo, and asked to intervene. While on Capitol Hill UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend spoke with Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) chair of the House Financial Services Committee, and delivered a detailed letter explaining the situation at Quad City Die Casting to Frank's office. Rep. Frank has assisted UE members numerous times over the years, including his personal intervention on behalf of UE Local 204, Taunton, MA, during a difficult recent round of contract negotiations.

In a brief encounter in a corridor, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) told Townsend, “Everyone is mad at Wells Fargo.” The largest city in her state, Baltimore, is suing Wells Fargo for racially-discriminatory predatory mortgage lending practices that resulted in massive foreclosures and cost the city tens of millions of dollars in taxes and city services.

2009-07-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS-NEW ZEALAND:

ISSUE #4 OF 'SOLIDARITY':

'Solidarity' is the news sheet of the New Zealand Aotearoa Workers' Solidarity Movement. They've now come out with issue number 4, and the following is their announcement as per the A-Infos website. The paper is readable at their website, and is available in a downloadable pdf version there as well.

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New Zealand, The fourth issue of Solidarity, free news sheet of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM):

Download the .pdf (1.79MB) or read the contents online at the AWSM http://www.awsm.org.nz/?p=156#more-156 site.

-- Contents: --

-- * Women workers push for pay equity

-- * Workers on the flu front line: Fight for respect!

-- * Meet the greedy: Rob Fyfe, Air NZ CEO

-- * Super city hikoi in Auckland

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If you want to make sure you don’t miss an issue of Solidarity, you can subscribe to either the print or electronic version.

----

To subscribe to the AWSM announcements list, put your email address in the form on the top right of the page on our website, http://www.awsm.org.nz.

----

Subscribers will be sent pdf copies of Solidarity each month, along with other publications produced by AWSM and occasional information - we promise we won’t spam you with a ton of useless stuff though!

The electronic copy is identical to the print version.

Or, you can subscribe to the print edition to receive a copy of Solidarity in the post. $8 for 12 issues. Mail a cheque to

AWSM, PO Box 6387,

Wellington 6141,

New Zealand,

or contact us to organise an alternative method of payment.

Related Link: http://awsm.org.nz/?p=156

2009-07-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN LABOUR:

IN MEMORY OF AUDON FELIX:

The following appeal from the United Farm Workers is a personal one. It's from the niece of Audon Felix who died of heat stroke on February 9, 2008. She adds her voice to others who support the UFW in their campaign to support legislation in the California Assembly that will make it easier for farm workers to organize and thereby prevent future tragedies.

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Request from Alma Felix on the anniversary of the heat death of her uncle:
Nearly a year ago I remember sitting at my parents’ dining room table. We had just finished having an early dinner when my mom, dad and myself began talking about the Felix brothers and sisters. (How ironic, right?) We were talking about where everyone was now and what had become of the family after the tragic death of my grandfather who had been killed by a hit and run accident. The phone began to ring and none of us had bothered to pick it up since we were so in depth into our conversation.

It's very rare that I pick up my parents’ home phone...but on this particular day that the phone kept ringing. I picked it up. On the other end was my uncle Raudel, whom we had not spoken to in years.

He asked to speak to my mom and after talking to him for a couple of minutes he broke the news to me about my uncle Audon being in the hospital. A minute later he confessed my uncle had just passed.

How could I tell my mom that one of her baby brother had just passed? How did I become the one to break this news to her? I gave her the news of what seemed to be the most dreadful conversation I've ever had with my mother and right then and there IT HIT ME THAT I HAD LOST MY FAVORITE UNCLE...the one who helped raised me while my mother would be at work, the one who would pick me up from school and the one to always give me my "domingo" because I WAS his favorite little niece.

That same day I looked up information about my uncle's death and noticed that the UFW had immediately began with providing information to the public. I e-mailed the UFW to thank them for what they had begun to do. For that MY FAMILIA and I thank you ALL tremendously for what you have done, not only for my uncle, but for those who have died a preventable death.

Thank you all for reaching out to us in a very personal level and know that this has helped us with dealing with my uncle's death. I have made it now my personal mission to educate those who I cross paths with because I have learned that by educating/informing one person I have reached five!The UFW is working on a bill that would give farm workers like my uncle a voice in the fields. It could help stop more preventable heat deaths like my uncle’s so other families don’t have to suffer like ours. The bill SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers passed the Assembly appropriations last week. It can soon be voted on by the full Assembly and then go to CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Governor has talked a lot about how he cares about this issue, but his actions have not shown it. Farm workers like my uncle are dying due to heat. Violations of safety laws--like water and shade--in the fields occur way too much. It has to change. I can't bear the thought of more families dealing with what we had to.

Please help. Send CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger an e-mail today and tell him to pass this bill. GRACIAS for all that you've done!Alma Felix & Familia

http://www.ufwaction.org/ct/2dzuCuF1LQzT/takeaction

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THE LETTER:

Please go to the link above to send the following letter to California Governor Arnold Schwartenegger.

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It is simply unacceptable that 15 farm workers have died due to heat since the summer of 2004. We need your help to do more to prevent unnecessary deaths this year. Having laws on the books that are often unenforced is not enough. Please sign SB789, a bill that will give farm workers the power to protect themselves.

Today I join with the UFW and thousands of others to mourn the anniversary of the passing of Audon Felix Garcia, Ramiro Carillo Rodriguez, Salud Zamudio Rodriguez and Ramon Hernandez.

* Audon Felix Garcia, 42, died July 9, 2008 - Audon died while working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. After loading grapes in 108 degree temperatures, Audon and a coworker were driving the fruit to a cold storage facility when he collapsed. The co-worker called 911 but when the ambulance arrived, Audon was not breathing. He died at the hospital where his body temperature was recorded at 108 degrees. Audon was married and the father of 3 children.
* Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, died July 10, 2008 - The father of two children, Ramiro picked nectarines for Sun Valley Packing in Reedley. After working all morning in temperatures that reached 112 degrees, he complained of feeling ill and was left to rest under a tree for two hours. Eventually the foreman took Ramiro home where he lost consciousness. "Why did no one run over to help him in an emergency?" asked his grieving sister Natividad. "Maybe his life could have been saved." Ramiro died on the way to the hospital.
* Salud Zamudio-Rodriguez, 42, died July 13, 2005 -Salud was stricken while laboring in the pepper fields near Arvin, CA, as he tried to keep pace with a work speed-up in 105 degree heat. On this day, the grower's foreman doubled the usual pace. A few minutes before his shift ended, Salud became delirious, began to shake violently and then walked up to his boss and collapsed.The boss tried to bring him around by fanning him with his hat. Salud was subsequently moved to some shade under an almond tree and workers insisted that an ambulance be called. It took 30 minutes for help to arrive but by then it was too late. "We watched him die in the field," said one of the workers who was there that day.
* Ramon Hernandez, 42, died July 14, 2005- Ramon's desiccated body was discovered in a melon field near the west Fresno County town of Huron in California's Central Valley.

Please support SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers (Steinberg). This important bill will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that California's government is not enforcing.

2009-07-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

BLOGGING:

STUPID COMPUTER TRICKS:
Every once in awhile you just gotta get away from the old political grind. It seems that the folks over at the online magazine Straight Goods feel that way too. The following item comes Molly's way via SG. Its original source is a commercial site called Support.Com. Here, for your entertainment and education is one selection of the ten stupidest things you can do with your computer.
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Top 10 dumbest things PC users do with their computers:
Don't blame the technology if you click on that pop-up that promises to "protect" your PC.
from support.com
Who hasn't received that frantic call from their retired father or kid who's away at college, when their computer suddenly goes on the blink, due in part to something they've done? In the spirit of "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," support.com®, the remote technology service company that makes owning and maintaining technology pain-free, offers its list of the Top 10 Dumbest Things people do with their home PCs.

"We know first hand how frustrating it is when a PC owner finds that his or her computer has been compromised by viruses, malware or some other insidious infection that can leave their computer totally useless," comments Anthony Rodio, COO of support.com. "Yet so many of the problems our customers bring to us are avoidable with just some common sense practices."

Top 10 misconceptions users have about computers.
To keep your computer running smoothly, when you need it most, support.com offers its Top 10 misconceptions users have about computers:
Misconception #1.
Pop-up warnings while you browse the web are all telling the truth.
Fact: More than likely the pop-up you've received that's warning you of an imminent threat to your computer is rogue anti-virus or anti-malware software. At its worst, it's a delivery system for even more viruses and malware. If you install it, whether for free or paid for, try to uninstall it right away. But if that proves difficult, you may require professional assistance in having it removed. The best advice: Ignore those pop-up warnings, and, if necessary set your browser's pop-up blocker to limit or completely refuse pop-ups.
Misconception #2.
Recommendations to install Windows Updates don't apply to you.
Fact: They do, and ignoring them or putting them off is leaving the door open to more problems. These important Windows updates address security holes that have been discovered that allow viruses and malware to get into your system. If you refuse these updates or disable the whole Windows Update system, your system will be vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. Windows Update makes it easy to update your computer automatically in the middle of the night. The best advice: Don't disable the Windows Update feature or ignore when Windows is trying to alert you to something important. If you choose to leave your system un-patched, you could be turning your computer into an open book to hackers.
Misconception #3.
Email attachments are all safe because I have an antivirus program.
Fact: Antivirus programs are only as good as their last update and only if that update contains detection for the thing that just arrived in your email box. Most of the time, antivirus updates lag one to three days behind the release of new viruses. If you don't have the update for a virus, you're not protected from it. When it comes to email attachments, it's better to be safe than sorry. As a general rule, if you were not expecting something to come from someone, don't open it. And don't fall for scary email subjects, such as "is this really a naked picture of you?" If you open it, you won't be exposed, but your computer will be.
Misconception #4.
But that email attachment from my BFF is definitely safe, right?
Fact: Even if you recognize the name of a sender, be wary. Many viruses send themselves out automatically without your friend's knowledge. Viruses will infect your friend's system, go through their address book and send out an email to each of those addresses. In fact, you're MORE likely to get a virus from someone you know. Again, if you were not expecting an attachment to an email, don't open it.
Misconception #5.
Backups are only for big companies.
Fact: Think of backups like this — how important are the files on your computer and how long will it take to replace them? Enough said. You don't need to back up the entire hard drive every time you do a backup. But find a good backup program that backs up only the data that you create. Once you start backing up your data, you'll never again worry that your library of family pictures is gone forever or the novel you've been writing for three years is no longer there.
Misconception 6.
All peripherals work with all computers.
Fact: In a perfect world, all printers, scanners, video cameras, webcams, monitors, etc. would work with all computers. Unfortunately, the computing world just doesn't work that way. Not every version of Windows will handle all new hardware, even though Microsoft does its best to make sure your old hardware will work with their new version of windows. The bottom line is, as you upgrade your operating system, you just might have to upgrade some, if not all, of your peripherals.
Misconception #7.
Microsoft takes care of all my updates.
Fact: As nice as this thought is, it's just not true. There are many other technologies in your computer apart from Microsoft's, including Sun's Java and Adobe Flash, to name a couple. Just like with those Microsoft updates, don't ignore the update requests you receive from other important technologies and software.
Misconception #8.
You can put your faith and belief in everything you read in forwarded emails.
Fact: According to Dughael McLean, the "Godfather of Technology" at support.com, "99.999 percent of stuff that you get forwarded from someone else are bald-faced, dyed in the wool, 100% un-authentic, complete and utter lies." But to be sure, McLean suggests checking the authenticity of forwarded emails at http://www.snopes.com/.
Misconception #9.
You can always believe that an email that appears to come from a company, actually came from them.
Fact: That email from what appears to be a legitimate company, banking institution, or government agency is likely to be the work of a Phishing scammer. Phishing is a process of sending out thousands (sometimes millions) of emails that look very legitimate and that ask you to visit their website and enter your personal data, including your password. If you've followed the instructions, you've just given the scammers the key to your identity. The easiest way to thwart a Phishing scam is to avoid it. But if you're not sure, you can click on the link. Then before you type anything into the webpage, go to the "address bar" at the top of the page which contains the address of the website you're currently at. If, for instance, you expect to be at support.com, the address bar will read http://www.support.com/. If you're not there, you're somewhere else and you're about to reveal your personal information and password to someone else. Identity theft through Phishing is almost always caused by someone getting fooled like this. Be wary of those emails and you'll keep your information safe.
Misconception #10.
Thinking that computers don't need maintenance by a human.
Fact: You take your car in for service every 5,000 miles. So why wouldn't you do that with your personal computer. It too is complex machinery. To be safe, every once in a while have your computer looked at by a professional, human technician, who has years of experience and the tools needed to properly assess and address any problems your computer may be experiencing.
Related addresses:
URL 1: http://www.support.com/
URL 2: http://www.snopes.com/

2009-07-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS-CHINA:

AMNESTY CONDEMNS CHINESE CRACKDOWN IN XINJIANG:

The following statement from the Philippine branch of Amnesty International was recently published at the Manila Indymedia site.

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China: Fair and impartial investigation must be launched in Urumqi:
Date: 6 July 2009
By Amnesty International
Amnesty International today called on the authorities in Urumqi to immediately launch an independent and impartial investigation into reports that 140 people were killed when a protest turned violent late on Sunday.

"The Chinese authorities must fully account for all those who died and have been detained. Those who were detained solely for peacefully expressing their views and exercising their freedom of expression, association and assembly must be released immediately. A fair and thorough investigation must be launched resulting in fair trials that are in accordance with international standards without recourse to the death penalty”, said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director Asia-Pacific.

“There has been a tragic loss of life and it is essential that an urgent independent investigation takes place to bring all those responsible for the deaths to justice”, said Roseann Rife. “Violence and abuses from either the authorities or protestors is in no way justified.”

Amnesty International urged the authorities to respect their obligations under domestic and international law which protect peaceful freedom of expression and assembly, prohibit arbitrary arrest and torture or ill-treatment in custody. The organization also called on the authorities to allow free access for domestic and foreign journalists and independent observers to report on the incident.

Xinhua, an official state news agency, reported that police in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and home to over 8 million Uighurs, have arrested several hundred participants, including more than ten key figures that were accused of instigating the unrest, and are still searching for approximately 90 more.

The protests are reported to have begun with non-violent demonstrations against government inaction after a violent riot at a factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, resulted in two deaths. On 26 June, hundreds of Uighur workers clashed with thousands of Han Chinese workers at a factory where Uighurs had been recruited from the XUAR. Police have reportedly detained the man, a laid-off employee from the same factory, who circulated rumours which provoked the deadly clash. The official response to the violence in Guangdong was to impose an information black-out on the incident, with websites and online discussion boards instructed to delete posts related to the clash.

Beyond responding to the immediate outbreak of violence, authorities need to address issues that have given rise to tensions. Since the 1980s, the Uighurs have been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. These include arbitrary detention and imprisonment, incommunicado detention, and serious restrictions on religious freedom as well as cultural and social rights.

Chinese government policies, including those that limit use of the Uighur language, severe restrictions on freedom of religion, and a sustained influx of Han Chinese migrants into the region, are destroying customs and, together with employment discrimination, fuelling discontent and ethnic tensions. The Chinese government has mounted an aggressive campaign that has led to the arrest and arbitrary detention of thousands of Uighurs on charges of “terrorism, separatism and religious extremism” for peacefully exercising their human rights. http://www.amnesty.org.ph/

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Molly Notes:

This sort of thing, racist and xenophobic violence , as well as heavy handed government repression, is, of course, an all too familiar story. The sad thing is that such feelings of nationalism-on both sides- are an eternal guarantee that a free and egalitarian society is still very far away. All of the "national liberation" movements of the last century, and there were dozens and dozens of them, utterly failed in building a free society of equals. When something has been tried close to 100 times and it never works, one should consider the possibility that it simply cannot work.

As I have expressed earlier on this blog the decades of communist propaganda in countries such as China and the ex-Soviet bloc demonstrably failed to raise a generation which wasn't ready to go at each others' throats over atavistic ethnic identifications. Such "socialist paradises" were, of course, somewhat different in practice than they were in either rhetoric or in the glowing descriptions of them by their leftist sympathizers elsewhere in the world. Never forget that while idiotic leftists in North America and Europe were trumpeting the virtues of Maoism some decades ago the repression against ethnic minorities in China was at least 10 times worse than it is today. The fact that the propaganda of the Marxist regimes was at such variance with the reality of their rule was probably a factor in the inability of their propaganda to "take hold". The same can be seen today in countries such as Venezuela where the quasi-Marxist ruling class trumpets things such as "self-management" while doing its best to sabotage many efforts at same, while, at the same time, allowing corrupt plunder of state revenues on the part of its friends, known in that country as the 'Boli-Bourgeoise'. In the inevitable end the "hangover" will destroy the possibility for any sort of socialism, libertarian or otherwise, in that country for many years.

There is little doubt that the Chinese state is the major offender in the events in their western provinces, just as they were the major offender in Tibet. That recognition, however, shouldn't blind an objective observer from seeing that 1)the pre-communist state in such areas was no paradise either, and that in some ways it was worse than what exists today and 2)any state built by the ethnic minorities should they achieve the almost hopeless goal of succession will probably be no paradise either and may also be worse than what exists there today. Worse from the point of view of everyone besides the ambitious new ruling class of the right ethnicity who would rise to power in such a situation.

The history of the last century has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the idea that a group that is temporarily on the losing side (known as "oppression" in leftist parlance) has absolutely no claim to be morally superior to their temporary oppressors. When the tables are turned the new ruling class raised by "liberations" doesn't just turn the tables on the old enemy. Often they unite in solid bonds with the old "oppressors" when they begin to oppress yet others in their turn. The idea of the moral superiority of the 'losers' is a common myth, held in place by nothing but emotion and virulent intolerance of dissent amongst the left- especially the American left.

Events such as those in Xinjiang, however, should not evoke a "pox on all their houses" attitude. There is a way to oppose the power of a ruling class without demanding a belief in myth- a myth that merely reinforces the probability of the recurrence of such events in the future with different actors. Organizations such as Amnesty tread this line very well. What they try to do is propagandize for "rules" that ruling classes will have to obey because of public opinion.

Is this unrealistic ? I'm not 100% convinced one way or the other. What I do know beyond the shadow of a doubt is that it is far more realistic than opting to follow some party of "revolutionaries" who say they won't repeat the errors of the past because "they are the good guys". THAT is unrealistic almost to the point of insanity.

My own opinion, for what it is worth.... I hate to sound like a Marxist here, but I do tend to agree with a certain lazy, mooching, nasty, over-rated, conspiratorial old German philosopher here when he said that no mode of production (and class rule) passes away until it has exhausted all the possibilities of its development. Modify that in that I a)think the word "probably" should be put in front of "never",b)have totally different reasons for believing this than the pathetic philosophical fashion of one country for a short period of time and c) the completion of a historical "mission" certainly means more than the production of more widgets and pet rocks.

I tend to see the state socialist experiments (and their fascist mirrors) as inferior examples of the transition from capitalism to managerial society. I think that the managerial societies that have been evolved in North America, Europe and parts of east Asia are far more advanced in solving the problems of "oppression" that bedevil the left today. I think that the internal dynamics of developed managerial societies, given their essential meritocratic basis, are capable of either "solving" such questions of oppression or totally defanging them by offering opportunities for the most intelligent and energetic of the "oppressed" to enter the ruling class, thereby depriving the oppressed of their natural leaders. How close this will approximate to a real solution depends, of course, on the particular oppression in question.

I call this "completing the managerial revolution" in the same sense as socialists used to argue for support for "bourgeois democratic demands", as they called them before the Leninist purgatory of dictatorship. Thus I see nothing wrong, and everything right, about supporting demands for such things as "ethnic rights/national liberation" as long as it is bound by enough rules to inhibit any new ruling class from behaving just as it so will. The accumulation of such "rules" is an essential trend of modern managerialism, and, just as "bourgeois democracy" was a great gain for the working classes in earlier times, The historical gains of such struggles are worthwhile struggling for whether or not they lead directly to some sort of socialism.

The whole matter of "oppressions" is a source of endless agony for leftists, anarchist or otherwise. Some try to deny their importance entirely. Some try to desperately concoct some sort of ideological fantasy of ultimate interconnection of such things and a equally fantastic vision of a "movement" that is an alliance of all such things. This often runs aground when the group interests of one oppressed sector run counter to that of another. Be around the left long enough and you'll be able to find multiple examples of such, and they all add to the cacophony that passes for theory amongst leftists. Then there is the "ideological parrot" response that tags onto everything that "it will only be solved with the overthrow of the capitalist patriarchal state. I beg to differ. I would say that the "solution" of such problems is a still distant requirement for socialism and not a consequence of some mystical movement to socialism/anarchism. At least in the USA, and to a lesser degree in other countries-depending on how much they are influenced by American leftism- , this is compounded by what can only be described as a love of guilt. I can hardly object to the weird personal psychology of medieval flagellants or some Shiites today of whipping themselves or the example of Opus Dei with their "self-torture undergarments" on anything but aesthetic grounds, but I am absolutely convinced that it ain't politics.

Honest to Lord Jesus (or whatever your choice of poison is) you can indeed object to the actions of a foreign government against minority ethnic groups without going the whole pig and engaging in some fantasy of "solidarity" that covers up the sins and possible sins of the side you have chosen as the "good guys". Can I raise my tiny little voice to say that I have yet to see any examples in my lifetime where opponents were easily divided into good guys and bad guys. Maybe before I was born, but not since the Second World War.

TO SUM UP:

1)History has shown that "national liberation" is a deadly card to play, with the consequences often worse than the previous domination.

2)This doesn't mean that oppression of any sort should not be protested, but rather that the nature of the protests should be to put as many restraints of the exercise of power rather than mindlessly parroting the aspirations of new rulers who inevitably want to come to power using the emotions of "the oppressed"

3)This means that one can protest and try to modify the actions of power holders without acting like you support the other side totally and without ignoring their faults- however unpopular this may be amongst those who often gravitate to such campaigns.

4)There are parallels between "national liberation" and other struggles against "oppression".

5)The struggle against various "oppressions" is not only possible of resolution via some sort of "revolution" but is rather the struggle for the improvement of our present system of class rule ,such that the transition to a socialist/anarchist society is both possible and easier. These "liberations" precede rather than follow the struggle for a fully egalitarian and free society. They are important for the eventual goal as the laying of a good foundation is for building a good house.

Boy, I've been long winded on this one.

2009-07-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN POLITICS:

CITY MANAGERS BEAT HOMELESS MAN IN TORONTO:

It seems that the managers in the city of Toronto are getting right mean these days. Tomorrow, as the following press release says, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) will be holding a press conference about the recent beating of a homeless man in that city by managerial personnel staffing one of the 'shelters' down there. As the garbage piles up because of the civic workers' strike the boy scout thrill of actually having to work for a living wears a little thing after a few days. I'm sure the managers will be happy to get back to the hour long coffee breaks and the 2 1/2 hour long lunch. It seems that the jolly crew below were on the bottom of the ass kissing pyramid. Work for a change ? Yeah,as long as it doesn't last too long. But the boneyard shift ? This gets bad. Finally, they drew the flophouse (excuse me, am I supposed to say "shelter" in our politically correct society ?) detail. Considering that the city of Toronto is hiring outside contractors to deal with the vermin at the temporary dumps, this particular flophouse watch is probably the worst piece of bad luck a manager could pull. Or maybe not. What about sewers in TO ? Is that being contracted out as well ?

Who knows. One thing is for sure; the boys in the suits are getting right snake mean. One can only imagine what they'd do to their workers if they could get away with it. In any case, here's the story...

CPCPCPCPCPCPCP

Press Conference Thursday: City Management Assaults Homeless Man At Seaton House Shelter:‏
City management assaults homeless man at Seaton House shelter: Man severely beaten and dumped on sidewalk over dispute about a sandwich.

Press Conference

Date: Thursday, July 9

Time: 11:00 am

Location: Seaton House, 339 George Street(east of Jarvis Street, south of Gerrard Street)

Everyone is welcome. Please come out and support OCAP and condemn the assault of homeless man by City management at Seaton House.

Man severely beaten and dumped on sidewalk over dispute about a sandwich.

On June 24TH, 2009, Brian DuBourdieu went to The Seaton House men's shelter in downtown Toronto, to get something to eat and a night's sleep. Instead, he ended up spending the night in the emergency room of St.Mike's hospital.

The assault took place after Mr. DuBourdieu asked for something to eat from the city management who are staffing the shelter during the current strike. Despite his serious allergy to peanut butter, he was told by the managers that was all there was to eat, after which a sandwich was thrown at him. Upset and angry, Mr. DuBourdieu threw the sandwich back at the manager, kicked a steel door (causing no damage), turned and walked away.

“That is when the five city managers that were working, jumped me from behind, tackled me to the ground and three of them held me down while the other two kicked me repeatedly,” said DuBourdieu. The managers then picked Mr. DuBourdieu up. “They carried me down three flights of stairs and outside to the sidewalk where they dropped me on the ground and left me there”, says Mr. DuBourdieu. He was assisted to the hospital by a friend,where he was treated for his injuries, including torn cartilage and ligaments in his knee. There is a strong likelihood he will need surgery to repair the damage to his leg caused by the repeated kicks.

“The shelter system has been in crisis for a long time and sending in untrained managers to work in shelters does not help matters. Shelters are overcrowded, have insufficient food and are infested with mice and bedbugs” says Gaetan Heroux from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

"The shelter system desperately needs more funding and more beds, especially now when we expect an increase in homelessness.” “We call on the City of Toronto to apologize to Mr. DuBourdieu, return his missing property, make restitution towards him, lift the ban against him at Seaton House, and ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. We also demand that the police lay charges against the managers involved in the assault", said Heroux.

Press Conference Speakers:

Brian DuBourdieu

Gaetan Heroux, OCAP

Mike Leitold, Lawyer

For more information call OCAP - 416-925-6939

Visit ocap.ca to read our statement of support of CUPE

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

10 Britain St.

Toronto, ON M5A 1R6

416-925-6939

ocap@tao.ca

www.ocap.ca

2009-07-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS/CANADIAN LABOUR:

CUPE ON THE CRISIS IN HONDURAS:

The following update and appeal for solidarity on the crisis in Honduras is from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

HRHRHRHRHRHR

Democracy threatened in Honduras:
On June 28, a coup d’état organised by the Honduran military in conjunction with the Congress and Supreme Court ousted the democratically elected President, Manuel Zelaya, taking him at gunpoint from his bed to the airport where he was flown to exile in Costa Rica. The international community responded immediately to this surprising move reminiscent of the military juntas and violence that were common in the region in past decades. Messages against the coup leaders and in support of President Zelaya came from neighbouring countries in Latin America, international institutions including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations, as well as other governments around the world.

The OAS Permanent Council has been unequivocal in its demand for the reinstatement of President Zelaya and its refusal to recognise any government that is formed through the coup. To read the entire statement, click here.

The Secretary General of United Nations, Ban Ki-moon condemned the coup and "urged the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives of the country."

The June 28 Canadian government statement by Minister of State, Peter Kent, was more muted, condemning the coup and asking for a peaceful solution to the crisis. There was no mention of President Zelaya nor a request for his reinstatement.

CoDevelopment Canada, members of CUPE 1004, wrote to Prime Minister Harper (see attached letter) asking that the Canadian government take a more robust position in support of democracy in Honduras.

International Attention still required

Hondurans have been in the streets protesting since the coup took place. The trade union movement has declared a general strike. The army and police have responded with tear gas, batons, water cannons and guns. Roads leading to the capital of Tegucigalpa have been blocked to try to prevent people from coming to join in the protests and night time curfews have been put in place. On July 1, the de facto government issued an emergency decree lifting fundamental rights of citizens. Although there have been attempts to control the media, there are many reports circulating, including credible accounts of the arrest of more than one hundred people and reports of arrest warrants against leaders of popular organizations and human rights groups. There have also been reports of some army battalions breaking away from the coup to support Zelaya.

On June 30, President Zelaya spoke to the UN and won support for his return to Honduras. On July 1, the OAS gave the Honduran Congress 72 hours to restore Zelaya to the presidency or face expulsion from the organization. OAS president Jose Miguel Insulza and the Presidents of Argentina and Ecuador agreed to accompany him home. But with the Honduran Congress insisting that Zelaya will be arrested when he arrives in the country, the situation is far from resolved.

Yesterday (July 5), President Zelaya was scheduled to arrive and well over 100,000 supporters gathered to await his return to Honduras. But the leaders of the illegal military junta refused to allow Zelaya's plane to land, blocking the runways with military vehicles. The coup regime also escalated its repression against the overwhelming presence of support for democracy on the streets of Tegucigalpa. This included firing on unarmed protesters. So far there are reports of three killed, including one child, and at least 30 wounded.

Today’s (NB This report was sent on July 6-Molly) demonstration in Vancouver will take place at 5 p.m. at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Robson and Hornby), with live reports from Honduras.

CoDev encourages members and supporters to write to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking that the Canadian government take a clear stand in support of democracy in Honduras. Addresses are included here. Your letter could ask Canada to:
1)Make a clear statement in support of democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and his unconditional reinstatement in government.
2)Communicate to the de facto government in Honduras asking for an immediate end to the persecution of leaders and members of the civil society movement.
3)Suspend bilateral aid to Honduras until the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya is restored.

For more information, see:

Op-ed piece by Maxwell Cameron of June 30 Globe and Mail

A Nation article with good background to the current situation

The Upside Down World website is posting regular updates.

2009-07-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-VIETNAM:

WORKERS' STRUGGLES IN A 'WORKERS' PARADISE':

The days of state socialism are pretty well over and done. About the only adherent to the full blown Marxist dream left in power these days is the increasingly bizarre and vicious ruling class of North Korea. Many countries, such as those of the ex-Soviet bloc, have abolished the old system of class rule lock, stock and barrel. Others have abolished the economic reality of managerial control without any way of gauging prices but have kept the old dictatorial political systems. Even the darling of leftists worldwide, the Castro dictatorship, has advanced very far along this road.

Vietnam is one such country, and like China it has managed to combine what is possibly the worst of both old style Communist managerialism and the so-called 'capitalist' managerial system. Looking at the ocean of debris left floating after the storm that wrecked the SS Marxism, one is generally struck by the extraordinary nastiness that the new ruling class (usually very much the old one with only an exchange of the tools of power) exhibits. So far only the countries of eastern Europe that the EU has been able to bribe into at least a moderate semblance of civilized political behavior have been able to escape this general trend. The old communist corruption, however, has been less touched by this bribery than the political facade has been.

What is the problem here ? Molly submits that the systematic use of the Marxist "propaganda model" failed in its ostensible goals, but "succeeded" in producing some unexpected side effects. Some of the failures are glaringly obvious. Despite decades of propaganda about "internationalism", once the lid was opened on the pot various nationalisms exploded in many such places. The "proletarian brothers" were not just unsympathetic to those in far distant corners of the world. No, they began to slaughter their neighbours. Decades of the propaganda had precisely the opposite effect than that intended. Because the class rule of the managers was built on such obvious lies about the economy, and because it was enforced by state terror, generations grew up believing that all of what the ruling class said was a lie, including their pious proclamations of "brotherhood".

Vietnam is one of those countries that has opened its doors to western management while retaining the anachronistic old political regime. The ruling class retains all of the viciousness that it once had, but this is becoming less and less effective. The working class of Vietnam, just like that of China, is turning its anger to what will hopefully be a more productive end than racial pogroms (though that may be a far shot in China), the defence of its own interests against that of the ruling class. Here's a story from the LibCom site about some of the latest labour unrest in Vietnam.
Vietnamese workers stage walkout over management bullying:
Over 300 workers at a Taiwanese company, Hwata Vina, in Ho Chi Minh City went on strike July 3 after complaining about managers’ draconian rules.

They said that the company, which produces water tanks and Inox appliances for kitchens, had made unreasonable stipulations. For example, workers were permitted to go to the toilet just three times a day for five minutes each. Workers would not get paid for periods when electricity was cut.

They were also asked to be present at the company 20 minutes before work started. Failure to do so, resulted in a deduction of VND100,000 each time a worker is late.

The stipulations were made worse by the bullying and abusive language from managers.

Director of the company, Ly Cheng Yeng said that the company did not have such rules, and it was the managers who set the regulations themselves. He apologized to workers for the bad treatment and pledged to correct the situation.

The managers were also asked by relevant authorities to produce work licenses, they could not.

Although Mr Yeng promised that the company would register the managers, the representative of the management board of industrial zones and export processing zones did not agree. He has asked authorities not to permit the managers to work at the company.

In the early afternoon, workers agreed to return to work.

Ho Chi Minh City authorities recently announced that top executives of two more foreign companies fled the country leaving behind debts, taking the number of such firms in Ho Chi Minh City so far to five. Four of them are Korean and the other Malaysian and the companies have all shut down as a result, leaving 1,246 workers in the lurch.

The companies owe the workers VND2.2 billion (US$129 million) in salaries. Vina Haeng Woon Co.,Ltd tops, with wages owed of VND1.3 billion, followed by Quang Sung Vina with VND553 million.

The companies also owe their customers and the social insurance agency another VND4.8 billion.

2009-07-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SOUTH AFRICA:

FIRED FOR SEEKING SAFETY:

The following appeal for solidarity with 19 shop stewards in South Africa comes from the online labour solidarity site Labour Start.

ILILILILILILIL

South Africa: Shop stewards sacked for safety strike:

At the Enstra paper mill in Sappi's home country of South Africa, 19 shop stewards were suspended from work and now await discipline. They are charged with inciting workers to strike after a worker refused to do unsafe work. That worker is one of 23 other workers who remain on the job, but also face discipline for their roles in 3 short safety strikes. Sappi originally sought to sack 4 stewards, but when the union CEPPWAWU said no, Sappi suspended all shop stewards, leaving the 700-worker paper mill unrepresented. In the aftermath of the strikes, a joint labour-management group filed a report on the causes of the safety breach and subsequent strikes, complete with recommendations, but mill management ignored those recommendations and despite global calls to CEO Ralph Boettger from Sappi workers in 7 countries to drop this matter, Sappi is going ahead with the discipline. Your voice is needed now - write directly to the Industrial Relations people who are handling this matter.

ILILILILILILIL

THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Sappi management.

ILILILILILILIL

Dear Sappi Executive in South Africa:
It is unconscionable that you are going ahead with discipline on elected workplace representatives who have taken on responsibility to protect worker health and safety. I refer to the current conflict at your Enstra mill. This is bad for business, bad for Sappi's public reputation, and sends the wrong message to Sappi employees regarding health and safety. Please drop the charges against the 19 shop stewards and 23 other workers at Enstra, and work toward building a trustworthy relationship with CEPPWAWA in South Africa and other trade unions in other countries.

2009-07-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

PERSONAL LIBERTY-GREAT BRITAIN:

FIGHT AGAINST THE SURVEILLANCE STATE:

This item is particularly for our readers in the United Kingdom, but, in the end, it is for us all. Great Britain has already gone further along the way towards a "total surveillance state" than any other western country, and, in many ways, the ability of the state to gather information on individuals in GB has gone beyond the practices of most communist states during the worst of their Stalinist regimes. It certainly exceeds the practices of such present communist dictatorships as Cuba and China. This spreading dictatorship, in the land that gave us such things as habeus corpus, jury trial and common law is particularly odious. If it is not defeated there then there is less hope for the rest of us who come from less liberal cultures(such as here in Canada). The following is an appeal to join a Facebook group against these laws,to write a British MP and there is also a link to a general website for this matter of personal liberty.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

If you care about fundamental rights and freedoms, privacy and confidentiality, the time to act is NOW.:

*** UPDATE 3rd July 2009 ***

Back in March 2009, Stop Clause 152! and other groups were successsful in getting the UK government to withdraw the unfettered data-sharing powers in Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill. At the time, we said it would try again.

Now it is.

On Wednesday 8th July 2009, the House of Commons will vote on a group of three ID-related Statutory Instruments including one called 'The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Provision of Information without Consent) Regulations 2009'.

This piece of secondary legislation would give powers to the Identity and Passport Service - the bit of the Home Office responsible for 'identity management' across government - to pass on information it holds on you *without your knowledge or consent*. (The ID scheme - and, most importantly, the linked databases on which it's based - is, contrary to some recent media reports, still very much alive.)

This information would include not only official document numbers, your name, addresses and signature (more than enough to facilitate massive identity fraud) but your fingerprints and even - to the police, intelligence services, taxman, and *anyone else they authorise* - details of every time you had had your ID checked, e.g to register with a GP, open a bank account, travel abroad.

Records of what information has been given to whom and why may be destroyed after 12 months or less.

This is precisely the sort of data trafficking we successfully opposed before, but we have very little time and need you to contact your MP straight away - http://www.WriteToThem.com makes it very easy - to tell him or her that you deeply object to having your personal information shared without your knowledge or consent, and ask him or her to vote against 'The Identity Cards Act 2006 (Provision of Information without Consent) Regulations 2009' and the other two ID-related Statutory Instruments on Wednesday 8th July.

Please write to your MP now AND TELL OTHERS - link to this group, e-mail your friends, but don't delay.
Contact Info
Email:

national.coordinator@no2id.net
Website:
http://www.no2id.net/

2009-07-05T15:10:00.001-07:00

ANARCHIST MAGAZINES:

RESISTANCE BULLETIN #114:

Resistance is the bulletin of the British Anarchist Federation, and the latest issue is now in print, readable online and available as a downloadable pdf. Here's the announcement via the Anarkismo website.

@@@@@@@@@@

Resistance Bulletin #114 July/August 2009:
Anarchist Federation (Britain) info at afed dot org dot uk BM ANARFED, London, WC1N 3XX, England, UK.

AF's regular paper is available online and in print
SUMMER OF RAGE

Iran, refinery walkouts, immigration prison struggles, Greece, the European elections, What is Anarchism? part 3, and more.

Download PDF: http://www.afed.org.uk/res/resist114.pdf

Read online: http://www.afed.org.uk/publications/resistance-bulletin....html

Subscribe to receive Resistance in print for a year: http://www.af-north.org/?q=Organise+and+Resistance+Subs...tions

Join one of our free mailing lists to receive PDF or text by email: http://www.afed.org.uk/res/reslist.html

Also available: Organise! magazine no.72: http://www.afed.org.uk/publications/organise-magazine.html
Full contents of the July/August 2009 issue: ·

***Refinery walkouts: the return of solidarity

***· Iran: on the brink?

***· Solidarity wins! – workers beat victimisation

***· On the frontline: workplace roundup

***· Popular protest saves Glasgow park

***· Hunger strike and rioting in immigration prisons

***· SOAS occupation gets the goods

***· Sussex uni students occupy land over job cuts

***· Greece: immigrants and anarchists struggle against racist attacks

***· The BNP: time to panic?

***· What is anarchism part 3 – from capitalism to a free society
Related Link: http://www.afed.org.uk

2009-07-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

RALLY IN SUPPORT OF STRIKING TORONTO CITY WORKERS:

While the garbage piles up, and the city fathers refuse to budge on negotiations city workers of Toronto and their supporters held a strike support rally yesterday. Here's the story from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

CLCLCLCLCLCLCL

Rally for CUPE 79 and 416:
Local community and labour supporters joined striking Toronto municipal workers at the Ted Reeve Arena temporary garbage drop off site in Toronto's East End, for a support line and rally Saturday, July 4th.

A similar rally was held at Christie Pits in the city's West End. The rallies were organized by the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, and John Cartwright, the Council's president, led the line at Ted Reeve Arena.

CUPE 416 and CUPE 79 members walked off the job June 22 to defend their collective agreements from concession demands from the City.

2009-07-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN LABOUR-SASKATCHEWAN:

SASKATCHEWAN WORKERS FIGHT BACK:

Ah, "good" old Saskatchewan, Molly's home province, left long ago and very rarely missed. Time was when Saskatchewan was in the vanguard of socialism in North America, but that time is long passed- mostly Molly feels because of the excessive and single minded devotion of socialists there to the party politics road to socialism. The inevitable happened. The CCF and then the NDP became the be-all and end-all of what socialism meant. The ideology failed to change with the times as the NDP travelled an inexorable trajectory to the right, urged on by so-called "realism" at every step. The only response of "the left", pathetic as it usually was, was to either engage in futile attempts to capture the party or in even more futile, and quite frankly usually ridiculous, attempts to build an electoral sect to the left of the NDP, hampered, as may be expected, by the usual mishmash of Marxists worshipping some foreign power. All this stuff failed, of course, and in the end the electorate began to shift strategically between a corrupt party of the right and a corrupt party of the left. Politics as "revenge".

Since 2007 the governing party in Saslkatchewan has been the (creatively ????) named 'Saskatchewan Party', an ill suited conglomeration of conservative forces patched together to escape the opprobrium of the name of the (stupendously more than usual) corrupt former Conservative party. Since coming to power the SP has done its duty to its class by vicious attacks on working people in that province.

People in Saskatchewan, however, are beginning to fight back, as the following article from the Public Values website details. Needless to say I, as an anarchist, don't agree with the general politics of the Public values site, whose social democracy is exactly what misled socialists in my home province down their long disgraceful road. What I hope, but have little expectation of, is that the "years in the wilderness" will convince unionists and others in Saskatchewan- and elsewhere- to not put all their eggs in the social democratic basket and to build and retain networks that are truly independent of party politics. Still, the Public Values website, along with its sister sites such as the Harper Watch and Straight Goods, are often valuable sources of information. Here's one such example. Go to the original website to view the video associated with this article.

CLCLCLCLCLCLCL

Saskatchewan public servants fight back:
by Ish Theilheimer
A political sea change in Saskatchewan is forcing public servants there to fight back. With the election, November 2007, of Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party, organized labour has had a war on its hands.

"Since 2007 we have seen the introduction of some very regressive pieces of labour legislation," said Barbara Cape, in a YouTube video interview for Straight Goods News. She is President of SEIU-West, a recently-formed amalgamation of SEIU locals in Saskatchewan.

"On the face of it they may sound appealing to the public, but quite frankly the government has declared war on trade unions in Saskatchewan."

She says four pieces of legislation are particularly troublesome. These include:
-- the Public Services Essential Services Act, she says, is "probably the most appealing one to the public in Saskatchewan. The problem is men and women who work in health care in Saskatchewan have always ensured there were essential services in the event of a strike. We are being painted by this government as not caring for our patients, clients and residents. That is 100 percent not true. Health care workers in the province are a special breed of people who would never contemplate taking job action without ensuring that there was some safety for their patients, clients and residents.
-- changes to the Trade Union Act. "Previously we had had card checks for organizing. And Saskatchewan had real good union density (proportion of workers that belong to unions) at 33 or 34 percent. With this legislation, not only do we have to have cards signed by our members, but then we have to go through a vote. (Very much to revert the system of unionization to the thuggish regime prevalent today in the USA, a regime that proponents of the 'Employee Free Choice Act are attempting to change down there-Molly)The government has said a vote is democratic. Our argument has been a vote is democratic, but we use the democratic form of card-signing. People have the opportunity to make their choices in the privacy of their own home. There was no pressure. It was organizing, in the pu rest sense of the word.
-- changes to the Construction and Trades Union Act that "open the door quite widely" for the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) to organize in the trades and in health care. Cape joins with most others in the labour movement in calling CLAC an "employer's union."(Even worse in Molly's opinion. The CLAC is more than just a corrupt union. It resembles communist or fascist "trade unions" more than it resembles the old Teamsters) She says the legislation "lowers the standards for working people across the province."
-- the Trespass Act, which "says that nobody, no union, no organization shall be allowed to gather on Crown property without permission in the province of Saskatchewan. What that does is it takes away our right, as citizens of the province, to gather an assemble on our land, our Crown land. The penalties are quite stiff in all circumstances," $2,000 a day for individuals, $50,000 a day for unions.

"With this kind of legislation, they're pushing our members up against the wall," says Cape.

"Health care workers are going to seeing some dark times ahead in Saskatchewan."

Fightback campaigns
In response, her union has organized campaign such as one called "Essential 365 Days," in support of health care workers. Most recently has come the You've Got Mail campaign. "We marched to the Saskatchewan Party caucus office at the Government of Saskatchewan, and we delivered over 6,000 pieces of mail," said Cape. These were generated in 30 days from workers and concerned citizens. "That's significant," she says. "It has had an effect. We've heard from the Minister of Health that he wants us to redouble our efforts at the bargaining table, and he is challenging us to get a deal sooner rather than later."

Cape says the Wall government has been clever in how it has marketed the changes it has introduced. "Initially when the legislation was introduced, on the face of it it seemed pretty innocuous, however when you read the legislation it has absolutely put our members' backs up. The way that it's written and the punitive nature of it, has really angered our rural members, our long-term care members, our acute care members, people are just shocked that our government, which is supposed to be leading our province, that this is a war they're willing to take on health care workers."

Wall was in Toronto for the launch of SEIU's Member Action Program (MAP), which she sees as "an extension of the kind of work we've been doing right now. Our members are about to see, with the response from the government of Saskatchewan, are already seeing the ability of government to respond to those 6,000 pieces of mail.

"All it took was a signature. You see the immediate action, and you want to go further. And I think our members are going to be really impressed by how quickly we can see some payoff for our efforts in the political realm. Because bargaining is no longer just about sitting at the bargaining table anymore, you need to have some other pieces of the agenda, and I think MAP's been helpful to that."

................................
Ish Theilheimer has been Publisher of the leading, and oldest, independent Canadian online newsmagazine, StraightGoods.ca, since founding it in September 1999. He is also Managing Editor of PublicValues.ca.
Posted: July 02, 2009
Public Values (PublicValues.ca) is a project of the Golden Lake Institute and the online publication StraightGoods.ca

2009-07-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-VANCOUVER:

MORE ANTI-OLYMPICS EVENTS:

Here's the latest calender of events from the Olympics Resistance Movement/No Olympics on Stolen Native Land network out in Vancouver.

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Upcoming meetings/events:‏
-----------

Upcoming ORN general meetings: (Every 2nd Sunday)

Sunday, July 5, 6pm @ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings

(The first meetingof each month includes time for new member orientation and Olympic issues background.)

Sunday, July 19, 6pm @ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings

** If you are interested in ORN, but unable to attend Sunday meetings,consider getting involved in one of the subcommittees planning popular education/outreach, legal defense, fundraising, communications, etc. and contact olympicresistance@riseup.net for more information.

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Upcoming events of interest in Vancouver:

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Saturday, July 4

SAVE SOCIAL HOUSING--

NO OLYMPIC PARKING LOT at LITTLE MOUNTAIN

Saturday 4th July, 1 - 2 pm

Rally at Little Mountain

(33rd Ave & Ontario)

BC Housing is demolishing habitable family homes at Little Mountain. On Wednesday June 24, crews came in without warning, right next door to apartments where tenants are still living. They took chainsaws to the vacant units, ripped out appliances, fixtures and pipes. Why now?Officials admit no construction will happen on the site for years. There are:

No plans or dates for new construction,

No dates for re-zoning

No plans or dates for community consultations.

Thousands of BC families desperately need affordable housing. Little Mountain homes are still solid, can be refurbished at very little cost,and can house hundreds of families.

Information: www.my-calm.info and 604-325-7209

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Saturday, July 4

NO ONE IS ILLEGAL MOVIE MARATHON MADNESS!

Saturday July 4th, 11 am to 5 pm

Room 700, SFU Harbour Centre (515 West Hastings)

Decolonize your mind and join NOII for films screenings exploring the realities of the "Canadian" experience. Reasons to attend an indoor film screening on a beautiful summer day:

a) Canada-day weekend is filled with parades about the false histories and myths of Canadian peacekeeping and multiculturalism.

b) Wow, free movies!

c) I am interested in discussions about colonization, imperialism, oppression and how to ignite revolution!

d) I heard about acclaimed critical documentaries, shorts, and artistic films.

e) All of the above.

SCHEDULE

:==> 11:00 am

Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community (57 mins, Jennifer Hodge and RogerMcTair)

==> 12:30 pm

Writing the Land (7 mins, Kevin Lee Burton )Resist 2010 (15 mins, Burning Fist Media with no2010) You are on Indian Land (36 mins, Mort Ransen)

~ BREAK 2:00 - 2:30 pm ~

==> 2:30 PM

Borderless Me (14 mins, Setareh Mohammadi) Unmapping Desire (6 mins, Sheila James)Checkpoint (12 mins, Alex Mah)

==> 3:30 PM

Minoru: Memory of Exile (18 mins, Michael Fukushima) No Time to Stop (29 mins, Helene Klodawsky) Brown Women Blonde Babies (30 mins, Marie Boti and Malcolm Guy) www.nooneisillegal.org

For more information: email noii-van@resist.ca or call 778-885-0040.

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Tuesday, July 7 (and Thursday July 9 ?)

Vancouver CITY COUNCIL meeting on 2010 issues

Tuesday, July 7 2009,

2pm@ City Hall (12th and Cambie),

third floor Council chamber

[Two 2010 issues July 7: Report on Olympic security and a motion to endorse the Coventry Declaration. (from a UK Sport Conference condemning police harassment and advocating freedom of expression during the Games). The security report will be presented on the 7th but (if you request to speak) public comments would be heard at another date (prob. the 9th)

–the report to Council on the 7th will be available on the City Council’s website. If public comments are allowed on the Coventry Declaration motion, it will be presented with speakers on another date (prob. the 9th).

Interesting that Council would consider making a purely symbolic hollow gesture (like endorsing the Declaration) but willingly accepts the expansions of police powers, surveillance equipment, and Host City agreements that empower the police to act as private security guards to the Olympic interests ...]

A. 2010 Olympics and Paralympics Security Deputy Chief Constable Steve Sweeney, and Bud Mercer, Assistant Commissioner, RCMP / Chief Operating Officer, Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, will provide a Report Reference to update Council on 2010 Olympics and Paralympics security

.B. Motions on Notice

1. Council Endorsement of Coventry Declaration

MOVER: Councillor Ellen Woodsworth

[from the Coventry Declaration: “Participants at Play the Game condemn, in the strongest manner possible, any action in Canada that in any way, shape, or form harasses, intimidates, or threatens any writers or individuals who express ideas through words. Participants at Play the Game ask the city of Vancouver, the province of British Columbia, the Canadian government, VANOC, and the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit, to state in unequivocal language, that all Canadians and those who visit Canada, will have their fundamental right to:

1. Security of the person

2. Freedom of expression

protected, respected and unimpinged ...”]

July 7 schedule (and how to register to speak): http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20090707/regu20090707ag.htm

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Friday, July 31

POLICE BRUTALITY IS NOT A GAME

Friday, July 31, 7pm @ TBA

On July 31st 2009 Vancouver will be hosting the World Police and Fire Games. The games are an international sporting event where police officers, firefighters, customs and correction officers compete against each other in over 65 sporting events. More than 12,000 police officers, corrections officers and firefighters will be in Vancouver for the 10 day event.

The Anti-Poverty Committee is calling for a mobilization against police brutality both locally and internationally, and the violence that the state perpetrates around the world everyday through police and 'correctional' facilities. The APC calls on all those individuals and groups who are against police brutality and the everyday terror and violence caused by the various police forces to participate in actions and events during the police and fire games. The APC will stand to honor those in our community who have been killed, brutalized, and daily harassed by the police and to condemn not only the individual police forces, but the structure that allows them to get away with oppression, intimidation and violence everyday in our communities.

We believe that the police cannot be made accountable, and they will never truly protect those that they purport to, and that police will never make our communities safer, as they continue to harass, target and brutalize poor people, indigenous people, youth, sex trade workers and many others.

The APC is calling for a demonstration during the opening ceremonies of the games on July 31st at 7pm (location TBA).

To get involved in the organizing of the demonstration please contact APC (apc@resist.ca ). If your organization would like to endorse the event please email the APC. We also encourage other groups to organize around these events and denounce the police and fire games. info/contact/organize: apc@resist.ca

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Ongoing Event on Vancouver Island:

-------

July 1 – 7 11th

Annual WILD EARTH! Gathering

July 1 - 7 (on Vancouver Island)

"We're pleased to announce an outstanding lineup of presenters and workshops. It's a thrill to work with such talented folks who are volunteering to share their activism skills, experience and wisdom. Big cheers!

Wild Earth is the only activism training camp on the coast, and this year's focus is media and legal support for social and environmental justice advocates who are speaking out against the 2010 Olympics and the Torch Relay. Possible locations include a couple forest sites on the beaches of southern Vancouver Island. Please register today!"

More info, registration, and volunteer/donation info at:http://forestaction.wikidot.com/wild-earth

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Ongoing:

The Vancouver Renters At Risk group want to collect stories and interviews about some of the housing impacts of the Games; anyone with contacts, personal stories, ideas, etc., please send to: "Renters At Risk Campaign

- Subject: renters on video I'm looking for BC renters who have been affected/experienced evictions, renovictions, and/or huge rent increases in the lead up to the Olympics. If that's you, are you willing to allow me to film you in a short 15-45 sec segment? If you're interested in hearing more, please write: rentersfightback@gmail.com "

-------------------------

Olympic Resistance Network: contact - olympicresistance@riseup.net

http://olympicresistance.net/ http://www.no2010.com

ABOUT THE OLYMPIC RESISTANCE NETWORK

The Olympic Resistance Network is primarily based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories and exists as a space to coordinate anti-2010 Olympics efforts. In doing so, we act in solidarity with other communities across 'BC' - particularly indigenous communities who have been defending their land against the onslaught of the Olympics since the bid itself. Our organizing is largely being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land," while creating an opportunity for all anti-capitalist, indigenous, anti-poverty, labour, migrant justice, environmental justice, anti-war, and anti-colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents.

2009-07-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-VANCOUVER:

BUT IS IT 'ART' ?:

Here's an interesting show from out Vancouver way coming up soon this month. A showing of anarchist propaganda "as an exhibit" put on by the Art and Anarchy group.

@@@@@@@@@@

Archived Resistance: July 17th – August 8th:

Archived Resistance:

July 17 to August 8th

Gallery open Weds-Sun: 5:30 – 8:30

{please contact for daytime showings}

16 E. Hastings. Occupied Coast Salish Territories.

Captured from silence and reconfigured in the detonation of struggle. Archived Resistance is a show of force, of anarchist newsprints and anti-authoritarian/anti-colonial propaganda, collected from various terrains.

Artifacts on display, not to create a prison/museums, but to celebrate the symbols inscribed within the body memory of the Movement.

Articles, not exhumed to be revered and fetishised, -but to reflect our streams of resistance;
Streams, that when converge, form violent oceans beautiful enough to drowned this world of holocausts.

Bring what you can, zines, papers, posters, dreams; donate them to the cause, or- we will make copies of your treasures and pass those copies on to the Anarchist Archive {a digital universe of anarchist press}.

Coincided with an assortment of workshops, films, presentations, happenings. To find out when these take place check out this site or email artandanarchy2010@gmail.com .

@@@@@@@@@@

MOLLY NOTE:

I will not pretend to be an "art critic", and the above exhibit seems valuable in itself. I can see the point of such an exhibit, and it is entirely possible that some of the productions of our movement have more than historical interest ie they can stand alone as aesthetic works. All that being said, and no doubt the exhibit is worthwhile, what I do object to is the idiots who hold university tenure who teach young people that it is not only OK to write in the manner above but that it is somehow "superior" (in a snotty way) to normal grammatical English. Quite frankly you can do a machine translation from a foreign language and often get stuff that makes more sense than the above. I couldn't even begin to correct the grammar above. I have left everything as it was.

Does this seems trivial, nitpicking and school-marmish ? Does it interfere with the beautiful poetry of the free associations presented ? Maybe yes, but I would submit that you could express the metaphor of something like a "flowing stream" of anarchist propaganda without resorting to sophomoric distain for the English language and the plebs who speak it. I also say that the thought would be clearer and more beautiful without this little bit of inverse snobbery. Sloppy language, sloppy thought. Put your thoughts into real English, for instance, and you will realize just how silly the metaphor of a "body memory of the Movement" is, and why your thoughts should flow, in the proverbial stream, towards more productive metaphors.

I really and truly think that something has to be said about such a misuse of the language. Sad to say anarchists whose first language is not English and those who have never been indoctrinated in certain university departments usually express themselves much better than many of the supposedly "educated". Maybe it's that they really and truly want to make themselves understood rather than showing off their "rebelliousness".

Yes, this is mean spirited, and I have no doubt that the exhibit will be quite interesting. Still...it is several orders of magnitude less mean spirited than those who want to display signs of superiority via mangling the language. It also has the virtue of humility, which those who are carried away by their self-defined division from ordinary people cannot achieve. Incoherent thought is far too often the womb of delusions of grandeur.

2009-07-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN LABOUR-LANARK COUNTY ONTARIO:

LANARK COUNTY COMMUNITY LIVING WORKERS NOW ON STRIKE:

The following news item and appeal for solidarity is from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Molly has previously blogged about the bargaining situation of these workers, and now they are on strike, and they need your further solidarity.

CLCLCLCLCLCLCL

Support ACL workers on strike in Lanark County:
90 frontline workers at Community Living Association Lanark County are on strike for a fair contract.

Our employer pushed us into a strike by refusing to offer us a fair deal that includes a pension plan that’s available to other Association for Community Living (ACL) workers across Ontario.
In addition to saying no to every no-cost proposal that we tabled to start a pension plan, management demanded concessions from frontline workers.

We had no choice but to go on strike.

We help people with intellectual disabilities. Unfortunately, they are the ones that will hurt the most from this strike.

Please help us in our struggle to seek a fair contract by sending a message to our employer and tell them – Fairness. It’s not a lot to ask for.

CLCLCLCLCLCLCL

THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the bosses at Lanark County.

CLCLCLCLCLCLCL

Why are you not respecting your workers’ wishes to have a pension plan that’s available to other ACL workers in the province?

Refusing every no-cost proposal for a pension plan has pushed your workers to the picket line. This will hurt the very people that you are mandated to help.

It’s time for you to show true leadership and respect your workers by offering them a fair contract with a pension plan that will end this strike.

2009-07-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

POPULAR CULTURE:
THE MICHAEL JACKSON DEATH CIRCUS:
Sigh!!!!!! I guess it's inevitable. Everyone has to have their two cents worth about the death of Michael Jackson, and Molly has joined the crowd. To be honest I never though much about Michael Jackson one way or the other before his death. He was lumped into the category of "celebrities whose names I was unfortunately unable to forget". I've spent years working towards the goal of being unable to recognize the name of any celebrity, music, sports, film, TV, etc.. I do this because I really and truly don't like having my thoughts manipulated. The thing about celebrity is that all so-called "facts" about them are absolutely unverifiable. This applies equally to "good Prole-feed" as it does "bad Prole-feed". Jackson may or may not have been a "great artist", but there are no objective criteria to judge this. He may or may not have been a child-molester. Probably, even though he has never been convicted. Not having been on a jury where all the facts were presented I, however, have no basis for a firm opinion one way or the other.

What I do have a firm opinion on is the obvious- that, like all objects of the "celebrity industry", Jackson was an occasion for making profit by an industry where the concept of "truth" is even more degraded than it is in the aphasic ramblings of post-modern "scholars". I often like to say of any celebrity that, "they don't exist", and in one way this is very true. Like the others the Michael Jackson that some (now a great number) worshipped and the Michael Jackson that some (temporarily a small number) hated never existed in the same sense as you and I and the others we meet in real life "exist". Whatever highly developed primate who was given the identity tag in the verbal system of the pair of mammals whose DNA united to form his fetus bears only a chance relationship to the 'Michael Jackson' that was produced for entertainment by the media.

I'm actually quite slack jawed in amazement about the circus that has been going on about his death, and the points of interest are many and various. The actual quantity of interest that I have, however, is quite limited. I hope to be able to forget all the hype, both good and bad. before I die. I have, however, opened up a poll over at our sister site Molly's Polls so that you can have your say about the matter. I guess that I'll have to place a post there so there is room for any ranters. A painful process actually as, comparing things, I definitely think more about the squirrels in my backyard and all their ramifications than I do about Michael Jackson. By a factor of about 100,000 to one actually. Not a day goes by that I don't think of them. They exist for sure. Whatever may be the primate designated by the term 'Michael Jackson', well, I'm not too sure.

See Molly's Polls for the question, "What Do You Think of the Michael Jackson Death Circus ?'.
WWWWWWWWWWW
By the way, for those of you with a taste for the weird, as I have, check out the "evolution of Michael jackson's face at http://www,uglychart.com/archives/2005/03/a_history_of_mi .

2009-07-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN LABOUR:

THE 'INDUSTRIAL WORKER', JULY 2009:

The following announcement of the July (Issue #1717- yes, it has been going for a long, long time) issue of the 'Industrial Worker' is from the website of the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World. The IWW is active in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and Germany. While many may think that the printed word is a fossil in the age of the internet there is still much to be said for holding your reading material in your hands. For over a century the Industrial Worker has been bringing news of the class struggle worldwide. Check it out.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Industrial Worker - Issue #1717, July 2009:

Headlines:
***UE Workers in Chicago Facing Another Plant Closure
***PIDC Hunger Strike Leader Assaulted & Threatened
***Indigenous People Massacred in Peru
Features:
***Recession: Time To Organize
***Special: Wobbly Art & Poetry
***Post-Fordism in Northern Ireland

Download a free PDF copy of this issue.
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