Glenn Thompson

Glenn Thompson

Monday, 22 January 2018 21:26

Democracy is under attack in Brazil

Democracy is under attack in Brazil. After deposing the democratically elected president Dilma Rousseff, a group of corrupt politicians took power to implement anti-union measures - including dismantling of workers’ rights, threats to public pensions, attacks on social protection and the cash transfer programmes; it has attempted to legalise forced labour by changing the definition of slavery and now it is trying to prevent former president Lula from running for office in the coming elections.
 
On 24 January, a regional appeals court will decide on politically motivated and false charges against Lula. They want a guilty verdict to stop him standing for election again, destroy his reputation and remove his influence.
 
While trying to find a crime - any crime - to convict Lula in the courts, opponents of Brazil’s most important political leader engaged in a trial by media, in the most extraordinary defamation campaign against a public figure in the history of the country.
 
Lula’s lawyers have listed a number of violations of fundamental rights in the campaign against him, including deprivation of liberty, illegal phone tapping and leaking of correspondence, interception of his communications with his lawyers, the presumption of guilt without any evidence or trial, and the absence of an unbiased judge and of fair legal proceedings.
 
Powerful forces in Brazil are seeking to turn the clock back, undoing the progress his government made and returning the country into the hands of a small but all-powerful elite.
 
The prospect of Brazil returning to its infamous past is a threat to the people of Brazil and the rest of the world.
 
 
Solidarity Letters
Online camapign attributed to: ITUC
 
 
Violent repression against social protest has become the norm in Argentina ever since the government attempted to pass legislation that reduces social benefits, retirement benefits, and directly affects the social security system. 
 
repre4
 
On Thursday December 14, and again on Monday December 18, the federal police, in conjunction with the military police and other security forces  have violently repressed social protests against the reforms, both in the capital city of Buenos Aires, as well as in the city of La Plata, capital of Argentina’s largest province.
On the 11th December the WTO Conference took place in a militarized Buenos Aires where the CTA Autónoma among  other organisations and social movements of the country expressed our rejection to this organisation that represents the greed of the biggest transnational companies in opposition to the workers economic and social rights. 
 
 fEDIO CTA
 
In the context of the Argentine Government revocation of World Trade Organization’s Accreditation to key Civil Society Organizations just days before Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, CTA and social movements  marched on the International rights day to shout against the liberalisation promoted by the WTO, which has driven the rise of appalling export processing zones in the global South, often with no right to unions and strikes, no job security and low wages. 
 
The demonstration determined to continue building up resistance to the WTO as one of the biggest promoters of the neoliberal and imperialist attacks on people’s political and economic rights. 
 CTA 2
 
Now people are under threat through MC11 talks on agriculture, fisheries subsidies, domestic regulation and e-commerce rules and we won't remain silent while it happens.
NEWS RELEASE - EILER
December 14, 2017
Reference: Ms. Rochelle Porras, Executive Director
 
On December 13, 2017, the supermajority in the 17th Congress and the Senate approved President Rodrigo Duterte's extension of martial law in Mindanao for another year. The decision is far from the promised promotion of a stable socioeconomic growth and development in Mindanao after Marawi siege, according to a labor non-government organization.
 
The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) said the extension of martial law is an orchestrated attack on trade union and human rights enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. Citing data from Center for Trade Union and Human Rights show an increased number in cases of threats, harassment and intimidations towards workers and the urban poor: from 88 in former President Noynoy Aquino’s six-year term to 500 in the first year of President Duterte alone. There also have been 602 documented cases of assaults in the picket lines of workers with 86 arbitrary arrests and detentions (2017 CTUHR Monitor).
 
“We strongly condemn the killings of 21 trade unionists under the Duterte regime. With the extension of martial law, it could only get worse. The government should address gross trade union and human rights violations and not promote it,” EILER executive director Rochelle Porras warned in a statement on Thursday.
 
The labor NGO also stressed that Duterte regime’s extension of martial law, easing of investment restrictions and implementation of neoliberal 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda, Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, and AmBisyon Natin 2040 are consolidation of socio-political and economic plans that remain favorable only to foreign investors that continue to exploit the cheap labor cost in the country at the expense of workers’ wages and job security, and their trade union rights.
 
“The extension of martial law and the neoliberal economic policies of Duterte regime will not solve the roots of armed conflict in the Philippines. Instead it will promote further attacks to workers and the urban poor, against their rights to freedom of association, to peaceably assemble, and to strike,” Porras said.
 
 EILER also condemned the President’s stigmatization of transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON), militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and human rights network Karapatan as legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the subsequent declaration of the latter as terrorist organization under Proclamation 374 on December 5.
 
“The President is hell-bent on suppressing civil and political rights. PISTON, KMU and KARAPATAN have consistently fought for the rights and welfare of marginalized Filipinos and still continue to launch massive protests against President Duterte’s tyrannical rule. The perverse statements from this regime only aim to demonize their members, including passionate citizens and activists to the public and shut down dissenting opinions and criticisms by progressive groups and individuals,” Porras said. 
 
“We encourage our fellow activists and human rights defenders to be more vigilant against state fascism. We reiterate our call to stop trade union and human rights violations, stop the killings of our trade unionists, and end the culture of impunity,” Porras concluded. 
Sunday, 08 October 2017 01:49

FIGHT FOR 8

Workers in the Philippines are fighting to protect the eight-hour workday. 
 
"Multinational and big local corporations already score huge profit from eight hours of labor. Forcing workers to toil for more than eight hours only serves corporate greed."
 
Filipino workers led by Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) held a nationwide protest against the iron-fisted policies of President Duterte. One of the policy changes being railroaded by the government is a bill seeking to change the eight-hour workday to 12 hours. The bill packaged as Compressed Workweek (CWW), will result to wage cuts, massive lay-offs, heavier workload and increased health and safety violations.
 KMU Save 8 1
 
Longer working hours and labor flexibilization schemes have been pushed by previous presidents adhering to US neoliberal policies. Multinational and big local corporations approve labor flexibilization because it will increase their profit. Such economic policies are likely to be given passage by Pres. Duterte whose brazen and erratic policy moves gravely affect workers and people.
 
 
MWAP-IndustriALL participates in the Oct 7 global day of action by joining the series of protests held nationwide in the Philippines since yesterday against the passage of the Compressed Workweek Bill.
 
 
" We cannot bring back the time lost for our children. If we workers spend longer working hours in the factory, how are we supposed to take care of and guide our children. We must protect the 8-hour workday."
 
The Philippine government's fast-track efforts to institutionalize the 12-hour work day in a bill called the Compressed Workweek (CWW) meets the ire of Filipino workers.
 KMU Save 8 3
 
Export-processing zone workers stress that longer working hours would lead to redundancy and lay-offs. It would also mean longer exposure chemicals which could be affect workers' health. 
 
#WDDW
#EndCorporateGreed
#Fightfor8
Trade union confederations from 9 countries met in Bangkok on July 6th and 7th  for the Regional Coordinating meeting of the Southern Initiative on Globalization and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR). The meeting was attended by unions from Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea and India. 
 
Conference Photo 1
 
The challanges of the trade union movement in these countries was discussed, with a common context of advancing neoliberal policies that affect workers’ rights in particular. The struggles carried out from the trade union movement were presented by each member country,  reinforcing the need to connect these fights between organizations throughout the global south. 
The Futures Commission was launched in June 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa, by the Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR), a network of trade unions in the Global South. the meeting was hosted in partnership with the Chris Hani Institute (CHI), a left think tank based at Cosatu House in Johannesburg. Consisting of labour academics and trade union representatives from SIGTUR affiliates and supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung,
The Futures Commission was entrusted with the task of developing economic, social and political alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation. That first workshop began the process of developing ideas and strategies to achieve such an alternative future.
 
Subsequently, at its Congress in Perth, Australia, in December 2013, SIGTUR identified four key themes as common challenges for all of its affiliates. The goal of the Futures Commission thus was to formulate 
proposals with an initial focus on the following key areas: 
 
1.  labour and tax justice, to ensure that transnational corporations pay their taxes; 
 
2. a fair trade regime which includes a national policy space allowing countries to develop their own industrialisation strategies, and is based on the principles of food sovereignty, resource sovereignty and self-determination; 
 
3.  a democracy-driven, public sector transformation as an alternative to privatisation; and 
 
4. in response to the climate crisis, a proposal for a just transition from fossil-fuel capitalism towards an eco-socialist future as an alternative to capitalist concepts of a green economy. 
 
These key areas became the themes of the second meeting of the Futures Commission held in March 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. Attended by academics, trade unionists and activists from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and the United Kingdom, the discussion at the three-day workshop was wide-ranging and stimulating.
 
It was understood that such a workshop could not solve the problems associated with neo-liberalism, nor could it produce a detailed blueprint for an alternative future. Such alternatives can only result from concrete struggles against neo-liberal exploitation. Rather, the aim of the second workshop was to develop proposals for further discussion within SIGTUR affiliates. To help make this possible, it was decided to produce an educational booklet based on the four key papers presented at the workshop. This booklet could then be distributed to and discussed by members of the various trade unions affiliated to SIGTUR. 
 
The hope is that this would begin a process in which a conversation about alternatives is broadened and deepened, ultimately resulting in concrete change towards a more just and sustainable future.
This booklet is the result of that decision. It brings together the proposals in the four key areas listed above. Its purpose is to promote educational work in the labour movement across the Global South. We hope that the papers will form the material for study groups. To encourage debate at such groups, we have added a list of discussion questions to each chapter. We also intend to translate this booklet into the languages of the SIGTUR affiliates so that it can be made as widely available as possible. 
 
1.  You can find out more about SIGTUR at www.sigtur.com
 
 
We extend our thanks to everyone who made the workshop possible, especially the CHI and SIGTUR members who laboured to make our travels and our discussions take place in an orderly manner. We are also very grateful to the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in South Africa for its financial support which permitted us all to meet in Cape Town, and without whom the production of this booklet would not have been possible.
 
Andreas Bieler
Robert O’Brien
Karin Pampallis
 
Australia’s trade union movement has swung behind 55 skilled brewery workers whose jobs were sacrificed in a cost-cutting bid by the nation’s largest beer producer, a subsidiary of global alcohol conglomerate SABMiller.
 
 Unionists have protested loudly outside the Melbourne brewery of Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) for over three months after the company changed contractors employing its maintenance workforce, resulting in them being replaced by non-union labour on inferior wages and conditions.

September 2, 2016 will see one of the largest coordinated labour strikes ever in India, possibly in the world. Trade unions cutting across political affiliations will shut down key sectors of the Indian economy against the pro-corporate anti labour Modi Government.

Since India embraced what trade unions call the LPG route to growth (that is liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation) in 1991, the country has seen 16 general strikes. And the 17th all India workers’ strike falls on 2 September. The last general strike, observed on 2 September 2015, saw participation from nearly 150 million workers – that’s half the population of the entire US, or more than the combined population of the UK, Canada and Australia. This year, the unions expect a better turnout given the controversial labour policies pursued by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

Bank Unions (UFBU), the umbrella organisation of 9 Unions of Workmen and Officers of the Banking Industry of the country, the Workmen and Officers of Banks all over the country, including those of the Co-operative Banks, took strike action on the 29th July to ventilate their unequivocal protest and opposition to the neo-liberal reform of the Banking Sector being pursued by the Central Government. It is worth noting that the STRIKE was not to press for any financial demand of the employees.