Labor

Newsletter: Time For Boldness, Clarity & Assertiveness

November 11, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Bigotry, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Climate Change, Democracy, Donald Trump, Fair Trade, Hillary Clinton, Immigrant Rights, Labor, Living Wage, oligarchy, Racism, TISA, TPP, Trade, TTIP, War crimes, Wars and Militarism, Women's Rights, Worker's Rights

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. In this moment, the movement for economic, racial and environmental justice needs be bold, clear and assertive in putting forth an agenda that will serve the economically dispossessed, those under attack by militarized police, immigrants facing detentions and deportations and demonstrate policies that ensure economic security. Where Trump is right, as in detente with Russia, the movement will support him against the neocons and humanitarian war supporters; and we will push him further for an end to war as the primary tool of foreign policy. Both parties are confronting major fissures, leadership challenges and questions about where they go from here. Their confused leadership provides an opportunity for the popular movement to fill the leadership void with policies that put people, planet and peace over profit.

Prison Labor Is Slavery By Another Name

October 13, 2016 Olivia Alperstein, www.otherwords.org Educate! Labor, Prisons, Slavery, Strikes

By Olivia Alperstein for Other Words - Across the country the largest prison strike is taking place, vowing to "finally end slavery in 2016." Right now there’s a national movement mobilizing to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour. But imagine if instead of earning even that much, you could only earn a few cents an hour. If that sounds like something from the developing world, think again. The reality is our prisons are perpetuating slave labor.

Jeremy Corbyn Wins Convincing Victory Over Owen Smith

September 24, 2016 Heather Stewart and Rowena Mason, www.theguardian.com Create! Europe, Labor, Politics

By Heather Stewart and Rowena Mason for The Guardian - Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to “wipe the slate clean” after winning a convincing victory in Labour’s bitter leadership battle, securing 62% of the vote. Speaking after the result was declared in Liverpool, Corbyn thanked his rival, Owen Smith, and urged the “Labour family” to unite after the summer-long contest. “We have much more in common than that which divides us. Let’s wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we’ve got to do as a party together,” he said.

France And The Struggle Over Labour Reforms

September 24, 2016 Maxime Benatouil, www.socialistproject.ca Educate! France, Labor, Reform

By Maxime Benatouil for The Bullet - The so-called Labour Law, passed en force by the French government on 20 July, is the most serious attack against the “Code du Travail,” already undermined for the past thirty years. A short historical overview is necessary to better grasp the destructive scope of this law, promoted and enforced by a socialist government – cruel irony!

Largest Prison Strike In U.S. History Enters Its Second Week

September 23, 2016 Alice Speri, www.theintercept.com Resist! Labor, Prisons, Strikes

By Alice Speri for The Intercept - THE LARGEST PRISON strike in U.S. history has been going on for nearly a week, but there’s a good chance you haven’t heard about it. For months, inmates at dozens of prisons across the country have been organizing through a network of smuggled cellphones, social media pages, and the support of allies on the outside. The effort culminated in a mass refusal to report to prison jobs on September 9, the anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison uprising.

Nationwide Prison Strike Draws Attention To Unpaid Labor

September 21, 2016 Rebekah Barber, Resist! Labor, Prisons, Strikes

By Rebekah Barber for Facing South - On Sept. 9, exactly 45 years to the day after the uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York, prisoners across the United States went on strike. The full scope of the protests is unclear, in part because of the lack of media coverage. But what is evident is that prisoners in as many as 24 states including Alabama, South Carolina and Texas took part in simultaneous nonviolent protests to demand basic human rights.

“We’re Freedom Fighters”: Story Of The Nationwide Prison Labor Strike

September 20, 2016 James Kilgore, www.truth-out.org Resist! Labor, Prisons, Strikes, Workers Rights and Jobs

By James Kilgore for Truthout - The first national prison labor strike in US history launched on September 9. Billed as a "Call to Action Against Slavery in America," the spark for the action came from the Free Alabama Movement (FAM), a prison-based organization that has been mobilizing across the state since 2012. Alabama has one of the most overcrowded prison systems in the country. Reports from FAM's base within Holman Prison indicated a universal refusal of the population to go to work on September 9.

French Police Fire Tear Gas At Labor Reform Protesters

September 17, 2016 Brian Love, www.reuters.com Resist! France, Labor, Police, Protests

By Brian Love for Reuters - Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters marching on Thursday in France against labor reforms in what unions say will likely be the last demonstrations to try to overturn the law. Scuffles broke out in cities including Paris, Nantes, Toulouse, Rennes, Grenoble and Montpellier, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Hooded youths hurled bottles, beer cans and on occasion makeshift firebombs on the fringes of marches against the law that will make hiring and firing easier.

Can ‘New Economy’ And Labor Movements Come Together

September 11, 2016 Erin Dirnbach, www.wagingnonviolence.org Create! Cooperatives, Economic Democracy, Environment, Labor, New Economy

By Erin Dirnbach for Waging Nonviolence. California - Activists in Oakland have been campaigning for new city policies that would assist worker cooperative development. After successfully winning passage of a city resolution in support of cooperatives last fall, they are now pushing for a new law, the Oakland Worker Cooperative Incentives for Growth Ordinance. Supporters will speak in support at the upcoming hearing at City Hall on September 27, and the ordinance is likely to pass in October. It would grant a variety of benefits for registered worker cooperatives including procurement preferences, development funding, tax incentives, streamlined permitting and promotion of business conversion to cooperatives. The Sustainable Economies Law Center, one of the key promoters of the ordinance, says that it will be the first of its kind to offer this level of assistance for cooperatives.

The South Is Organizing — And There’s No One To Cover It

September 6, 2016 Mike Elk, www.psmag.com Educate! Labor, Organizing, South

By Mike Elk for Pacific Standard - The striking thing about being a recent northern immigrant to the South is how often I walk into a bar and hear people talking about Bernie Sanders. As an outsider to the region (I’m a native of the East End of Pittsburgh), I sometimes find it incredible: Go into any bar in the South and all the young folks are feeling the Bern. While Sanders lost big in these states, he did win among southern Millennials — yet another indication that the South is changing a lot faster than some folks realize.

Tens Of Millions Of Indian Workers Strike For Higher Wages

September 4, 2016 Michael Safi, www.theguardian.com Resist! India, Labor, Strike, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Michael Safi for the Guardian. A nationwide strike by tens of millions of Indian public sector workers has been hailed by union officials as “the world’s largest ever” industrial action, and cost the economy up to 180bn rupees (£2bn), according to an industry group. Last-minute concessions by the finance and labour ministries, including a 104-rupee rise in unskilled workers’ daily minimum wage, could not ward off the strike against what unions said were the “anti-worker and anti-people” policies of Narendra Modi’s government. State banks and power stations were shut and public transport was halted in some states on Friday, and 20 protesters were arrested in West Bengal after allegedly damaging government buses, police official Anuj Sharma told the AFP news agency. Schools and colleges in Bangalore were closed as a precautionary measure, and 4,200 buses sat idle in Haryana. Mumbai and Delhi avoided major disruptions but surgeries were delayed at a major hospital in the capital while nurses demonstrated outside.

iPhone Or iExploit? Rampant Labor Violations In Apple’s Supply Chain

August 27, 2016 Nicki Lisa Cole, www.truth-out.org Educate! Apple, Exploitation, Labor

By Nicki Lisa Cole for Truthout - Right now hundreds of thousands of young Chinese workers are laboring on iPhone 7 production lines. With these products set to launch in September, the final assembly is happening in a series of Foxconn and Pegatron factories across the country. Foxconn is likely a familiar name to readers, as it became the focal point of international media attention in 2012 after widespread legal and ethical labor violations were revealed by This American Life and The New York Times.

Global Labor Movement Called On To Support Shipyard Workers

August 23, 2016 Staff, www.egyptsolidarityinitiative.org Resist! Egypt, Labor, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Staff of Egypt Solidarity - Leading Egyptian trade unionists have launched an open letter calling on the global labour movement to mobilise solidarity for the Alexandria Shipyard workers, as the military court postponed the verdict in their trial for a second time until 18 September. The workers will face another month in horrific detention conditions without knowing whether they will face a jail term for organising to improve their pay and conditions at work.

France Forces Through Labour Bill Amid New Protests

July 6, 2016 Staff, www.thelocal.fr Resist! France, Labor, Protests

By Staff of The Local France - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday invoked a constitutional measure to force through contested labour laws, bypassing parliament. "This country is too used to mass unemployment," Valls told parliament, saying he was acting in the "general interest" of the French people. "It is not posturing, it's not intransigence," he said

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