Oaxaca Solidarity social
Come and support the workers and students of Oaxaca fighting back against police repression, by coming to the Oaxaca Solidarity social on Saturday night..
Saturday 16th December, 8pm-2pm; Latin American food and music (and some English bands), bar. �5 suggested donation.
Rampart Social Centre 15-17 Rampart St
off Commercial Rd E1 - nearest tube Whitechapel
Protest against JJB sackings, Sunday 10 December
LONDON PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH JJB WORKERS AND AGAINST THE SACKING OF CHRIS RILEY organised by No Sweat
Sunday 10 December 2006.
Outside JJB Sports, 8 The Broadway West, 12 Shopping Centre, London W12 8PP.
Meet 1pm, outside the shopping centre opposite the Shepherd’s Bush Central
Line tube station (this is about ten minutes from the separate Hammersmith
& City Line station of the same name).
For more information call Sofie 07815 490 837.
Solidarity with the Purdue Student Hunger Strike!
Students at Purdue University in Indiana are about to enter their 19th day of hunger strike! The 15 participants are continuing their fight for clothing carrying their university logo to be made according to the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP).
The DSP stipulates that university logoed clothing must be made in factories:
1) Where workers have a democratic union or are free to form one
2) Where workers can bargain toward a living wage
3) Where Purdue’s already established Code of Conduct is followed
You can see a picture of the occupied building here: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ahanna/hs/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/dsc04238.JPG
Mark, one of the participants in the hunger strike sent us this message this morning:
“We’d like to say that the support we’re getting from everyone is amazing. It’s the key reason that we’ve been able to keep it up”
They will be meeting with the university admin tomorrow (december 6th) and taking along a rally of supporters in the hope of forcing the university to sign the DSP.
For the most up to date info check out www.perduehungerstrike.org and sign the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/nosweat/petition.html and for any Facebook users, join the group at http://leedsac.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2220276342.
Please send messages of solidarity to purdue_ole@yahoo.com as they are very much appreciated!
No Sweat conference 2006 - only a few days left!
“Sweatshops, workers and international solidarity” at SOAS on November 25th, �4 reduced price ticket for unwaged.
* No Sweat annual conference is held at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), off Russell Square, just south of Euston and Kings Cross, London, from 12.00 � 6.00 on Saturday 25 November.
Discussions and Workshops include:
* WalMart + film + discussion about the behaviour of the supermarket chains. With War On Want
* Debate on workers and Cuba, with the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and Paul Hampton from No Sweat
* Jean production in China + film, �China Blue�
* ‘Homeworkers: The hidden workforce in global supply chains’, plus film, �Homework in China�. With National Group on Homeworking and HomeWorkers Worldwide
* The Corporations and climate change with the Climate Change Campaign and others
* WTO and the Doha suspension with the Bretton Woods Project and others
* Running urgent appeals over the web, email with Labour Behind the Label and Eric Lee from LabourStart
* The new Iraqi unions + film clips
* Migrant workers in UK, rights and unionisation with activists from the RMT and TGWU
* Living wage and ethical campaigning on UK campuses with speakers from People and Planet, the Queen Mary L.W. campaign and Sofie Buckland from NUS
Plus John McDonnell MP and others in plenary sessions
* Creche (you need to register in advance); stalls
* Social on Saturday evening
* Activists� training day (free, details to follow) on Sunday 26 November
Price: �4.00
BALLS to JJB SPORTS - Pickets start this Saturday
Come and join us this Sat to protest at JJB Sports withdrawal of a pay rise, for its already low-paid workers, right here in the UK.
Their multi-millionaire owner has withdrawn a pay offer and dismissed the GMB union as “communists” for insisting on a rise to catch up with inflation.
Join us to say Balls to JJB, this Sat (Nov 11).
Make your own ball-shaped placard / come dressed as a ball (or balls) or just come along.
So far confirmed actions will take place at:
* Birmingham - 82 High Street, Birmingham B4 7TE (more info from Alan - 07739 896 679).
* Brighton - 145/147 Western Road, Brighton BN1 2DA (more info from Mark 07811 347 486).
* Bristol - 89/97 Horsefair, Bristol BS1 3JR (more from Kev - kevicious@hotmail.com).
* Edinburgh - 88 Princess Street, Edinburgh EH2 2ER.
* Leeds (this will not be on Saturday due to a Save the NHS demo in Leeds) - Unit 1 Albion Arcade, Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5ES. (JJB Sports Street entrance) (more details from Pat 07971 990 365).
* Leicester - Unit 4, Haymarket Towers, Humberstone Gate, Leicester LE1 1WA (more from Chris - 07887 688 838).
* London - 8 The Broadway West, 12 Shopping Centre, London W12 8PP (more from Mark - 07903 584 278).
* Manchester - 58/66 Market Street, Manchester M1 1PW.
* Newcastle Upon Tyne - 1st Floor Monument Mall, Northumberland Street, Newcastle NE17 (more info from the GMB - 0191 233 3930).
* York (3pm Sat) - Unit 1, 1-5 Davygate, York YO1 8QR (more from Mike - 07814 896 517).
Thousands of janitors on strike in Houston, Texas
Houston USA: Justice for Janitors campaign needs your active support NOW.
Thousands of migrant cleaners are on strike in Houston, the 4th most important city in the US - and Bush territory. The cleaners, many of whom are undocumented migrants from Mexico, clean the majority of Houston’s office buildings. They receive the lowest wages and benefits of any major city in the U.S — only $4,16 per hour and no health insurance coverage while cleaning the most important oil companies’ headquarters in the world and the most important global real-estate corporations.
New anti-sweatshop DVD
Students Against Sweatshops and No Sweat are producing a new DVD putting “The Case for Solidarity” with workers’ struggles against exploitation and privatisation.
The film, which is about 15 minutes long, also outlines our role in supporting trade unions and intervening in the anti-capitalist movement.
You can get a copy of the film on DVD - email admin@nosweat.org.uk - or download it on the No Sweat website. You need to register in order to download it.
Chilean police and students clash
(From BBC)
Chilean police have fired water cannon and clashed with high school students who were protesting in the capital, Santiago, over education reforms.
More than 100 were detained after rocks were thrown at police, officials said.
Huge protests in May and June had led the government to meet most of the students’ demands, including scrapping a college entrance exam fee.
But the students say they are angry at the slow pace of President Michelle Bachelet’s promised reforms.
Mugabe regime attacks trade unionists
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, says trade union leaders, who say they were severely assaulted by police after trying to stage a protest over wages, had defied authority and deserved the beating.
A Harare magistrate has ordered a probe into charges that a dozen leaders of the main Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were tortured and “excessively and brutally” assaulted in detention after police stopped their September 13 demonstration.
Click here for a report on torture of trade unionists in Zimbabwe
Support Robin Sivapalan - defend workers’ right to protest
On 7 September, Tony Blair and Education Secretary Alan Johnson visited Quintin Kynaston school in north London to announce the first wave of 28 “trust schools” run by business, charitable and religious organisations - of which QK will be one of two in London. They were met by a demonstration, supported by Unison and NUT locally and School Students Against the War, and composed mainly of students from the school, expressing opposition to government policy on trust schools, privatisation and the wars in Iraq and Lebanon.
The initiator of this demonstration, QK classroom assistant Robin Sivapalan, has now been suspended from his job for “insubordination” and “breaching confidentiality” by informing people of Blair�s visit.
The attempt to victimise Robin is an attack on freedom of speech and the right to protest. We are not prepared to see public service trade unionists silenced when they dare to express opposition to government policy.
We the undersigned call on the management of Quintin Kynaston to immediately reinstate Robin Sivapalan and drop all disciplinary charges against him.
* To sign email david_broder88@yahoo.co.uk. A list of signatories will appear shortly, along with more information on Robin’s dispute.
New Zealand: Support locked-out Woolworths workers
Over 500 New Zealand union members at Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch Distribution Centres supplying Countdown, Foodtown and Woolworths supermarkets (half of NZ supermarkets) have been locked out by their Australian-owned employer, Progressive Enterprises (owned by Woolworths Australia.)
The company will not let them return to work until they agree to abandon their claim for a national collective agreement. Woolworths Australia is the largest retailer in Australasia and recently announced a 24.3% increase in profits of $1.2 billion dollars (A$1.1 billion) and expects sales to increase by 8-12% next year. New Zealand distribution workers earn around 35% less than their Australian co-workers despite food prices being generally lower in Australia.