The British section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are in full force this news cycle, fighting for workers' rights at both Pizza Hut and Guildhall.
The Britain and Ireland Regional Administration of the IWW recently received its "Certificate of Independence," which gives them the same rights as other unions in Britain.
Pizza Hut workers in Sheffield are fighting for better pay and better working conditions, especially for delivery drivers. Among their demands are safer scooters and better maintenance.
“Working conditions at the company are very bad, the hourly rate is £5.83,” said one employee.
“Delivery drivers who have no license for the scooters have to use their own vehicle, but they are only reimbursed £0.6 per delivery. It’s a total rip off! We have filed a collective grievance against this situation.”
So far, the IWW has forced management to admit that commission for delivery drivers could be better. They have also won new scooters.
The union is now trying to expand to more Pizza Huts in the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, London cleaners (janitors) in the IWW Cleaners and Allied Industries Branch have won a series of victories at Guildhall, their workplace at the Corporation of London. The Corporation of London is the municipal governing body of the City of London. The cleaners are employees of Ocean Contract Cleaning, a company with a history of frequently underpaying, or not paying, its workers.
Many of the cleaners of Guildhall are immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and are subjected to abuse in the workplace because of this. They were constantly underpaid and some workers had to wait for months just to get wages that were owed to them. They are condemned to a strict attendance policy where if somebody is five minutes late, they are sent home, and they are fired if they are late again. The 34 cleaners of Guildhall organized in June, refusing to work until they were assured they would be paid properly. Despite the promises of their employer, they were left with two weeks worth of wages unpaid. The workers filed a collective grievance against the contractor via the IWW.
On July 15th, the IWW cleaners held a day of action by protesting outside of Guildhall. They were joined in solidarity by other IWW members, cleaners from other job sites in London, other labor unions from a variety of trades, and students.
This effectively forced the management of Ocean and the Corporation of London to invite the union to negotiations. In the end, the IWW secured the payment of wages owed to its members at Guildhall.
The Industrial Workers of the World, formed in the United States in 1905 by Marxists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists, is an anti-capitalist, militant labor union for all workers. It organizes both skilled and unskilled workers, as well as the unemployed.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott Lies About Drugs, Profits from Prisons
Recent test results from Florida show that only 2 percent of temporary cash assistance applicants use drugs. This proves that Florida Governor Rick Scott was completely wrong in his bigoted claims that welfare recipients use drugs at higher rates than other people.
The Florida legislature passed a law earlier this year requiring all temporary cash assistance applicants be tested for drug use. Ninety-six percent were clean, while only 2 percent withdrew their applications for unknown reasons. The state will save only $60,000 at best from the rejected applicants.
This only shows that right-wingers are telling lies to demonize workers and the unemployed so they can cut social programs that help the poor.
In other Rick Scott related news, he wants to privatize Florida's prisons. This has lead the Teamsters Union to file an ethics complaint against him.
The union stated that Scott received $1 million in campaign funds from two private prison companies, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America. In return, Scott is now advocating for the privatization of prisons in Florida.
They contend that this will result in the loss of 3,800 jobs and decrease public safety. The Partisan contends that it will increase the amount of people behind bars who shouldn't be locked up. These prison companies clearly want to profit from the captivity, enslavement, and misery of other human beings.
The Florida legislature passed a law earlier this year requiring all temporary cash assistance applicants be tested for drug use. Ninety-six percent were clean, while only 2 percent withdrew their applications for unknown reasons. The state will save only $60,000 at best from the rejected applicants.
This only shows that right-wingers are telling lies to demonize workers and the unemployed so they can cut social programs that help the poor.
In other Rick Scott related news, he wants to privatize Florida's prisons. This has lead the Teamsters Union to file an ethics complaint against him.
The union stated that Scott received $1 million in campaign funds from two private prison companies, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America. In return, Scott is now advocating for the privatization of prisons in Florida.
They contend that this will result in the loss of 3,800 jobs and decrease public safety. The Partisan contends that it will increase the amount of people behind bars who shouldn't be locked up. These prison companies clearly want to profit from the captivity, enslavement, and misery of other human beings.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Nothing is as sure as U.S. debt payments
This was originally written by Dean Sayers of The Thin Red Line and published on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website as a letter to the editor.
For all the hype about fiscal deficits, the numbers don't add up to any significant threat to the U.S. economy: The U.S. is highly unlikely to default on its debts, and debts are mostly held by private and public U.S. firms and individuals.
As Ludwig von Mises famously argued, if you print money (or create loans) you'll get inflation, and whoever gets the money first benefits from it most. But whom does inflation hurt? In a global economy, it is the relative debt/capital holdings that matter. These are called "net account balance" and "capital account balance." The U.S. far supersedes other nations in terms of net debt and net capital. What will expanded government purchases do to this dynamic? It depends on where those purchases go. If we look at the current data from the U.S. Treasury, we see that U.S. debt goes primarily to U.S. interests: 70.7 percent of U.S. debt is owed to U.S. firms or individuals.
If we decide to take Rep. Paul Ryan's advice, we will be reducing government purchases that expand net capital in the U.S. and net debt to entities in the U.S. If we follow these plans, the U.S.'s place in the global economy will contract: Capital will leave the nation.
In a nation with fiat currency, the government can simply create money. The trend in government borrowing is a testament to this fact; as Binyamin Appelbaum noted on "NewsHour": "Nothing is as sure in financial markets than that the United States government will repay its debts. And so the government gets the cheapest rates available."
For all the hype about fiscal deficits, the numbers don't add up to any significant threat to the U.S. economy: The U.S. is highly unlikely to default on its debts, and debts are mostly held by private and public U.S. firms and individuals.
As Ludwig von Mises famously argued, if you print money (or create loans) you'll get inflation, and whoever gets the money first benefits from it most. But whom does inflation hurt? In a global economy, it is the relative debt/capital holdings that matter. These are called "net account balance" and "capital account balance." The U.S. far supersedes other nations in terms of net debt and net capital. What will expanded government purchases do to this dynamic? It depends on where those purchases go. If we look at the current data from the U.S. Treasury, we see that U.S. debt goes primarily to U.S. interests: 70.7 percent of U.S. debt is owed to U.S. firms or individuals.
If we decide to take Rep. Paul Ryan's advice, we will be reducing government purchases that expand net capital in the U.S. and net debt to entities in the U.S. If we follow these plans, the U.S.'s place in the global economy will contract: Capital will leave the nation.
In a nation with fiat currency, the government can simply create money. The trend in government borrowing is a testament to this fact; as Binyamin Appelbaum noted on "NewsHour": "Nothing is as sure in financial markets than that the United States government will repay its debts. And so the government gets the cheapest rates available."
Friday, May 27, 2011
Spaniards Protest, Clash with Police
The people of Spain, taking a page from the Tunisian and Egyptian playbooks, have been protesting around the clock and occupying the streets of major Spanish cities since May 15. Angered by austerity measures, a 21.3 percent unemployment rate, and a corrupt two-party government, the Spanish people are demanding "real democracy."
The country-wide protest began in Madrid, in the plaza of Puerta del Sol, a week before the country's elections. The protests then spread to other cities, including Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Seville. The government attempted to stop the protests by banning demonstrations and giving orders to disband, but the youth of Spain have defiantly persisted with their protests.
Riot police clashed with the protesters in Barcelona today in an attempt to remove camps from the protest site. 84 protesters and 37 police were injured in the clash. Clashes also took place in the city of Lleida.
Faced with youth unemployment at over 40 percent, a lack of jobs for college-educated people, pay freezes for workers and the raising of the retirement age by the Spanish government, the Spanish people are fed up. While the rest of the world faced the Great Depression of the 20th Century, the Soviet Union saw industrial growth and everyone had a job. In Cuba, the unemployment rate was, until late last year, only around 2 percent. Communism is the answer to the problems of Spain. Time for a people's revolution!
The country-wide protest began in Madrid, in the plaza of Puerta del Sol, a week before the country's elections. The protests then spread to other cities, including Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Seville. The government attempted to stop the protests by banning demonstrations and giving orders to disband, but the youth of Spain have defiantly persisted with their protests.
Riot police clashed with the protesters in Barcelona today in an attempt to remove camps from the protest site. 84 protesters and 37 police were injured in the clash. Clashes also took place in the city of Lleida.
Faced with youth unemployment at over 40 percent, a lack of jobs for college-educated people, pay freezes for workers and the raising of the retirement age by the Spanish government, the Spanish people are fed up. While the rest of the world faced the Great Depression of the 20th Century, the Soviet Union saw industrial growth and everyone had a job. In Cuba, the unemployment rate was, until late last year, only around 2 percent. Communism is the answer to the problems of Spain. Time for a people's revolution!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Minnesota Activists Win $50,000 from Local Police, FBI
Sarah Coffey, Erin Stalnaker and Kris Hermes, three activists from Saint Paul, Minnesota, won a $50,000 settlement in their lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Saint Paul Police Department on Thursday. The lawsuit was filed in August 2009 and stated that the FBI and police violated the plaintiffs' First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The homes of the three activists were raided on the eve of the massive demonstrations against the 2008 Republican National Convention. The police carried out several other operations to repress other left-wing activists in the days leading up to the Convention. This is the largest settlement related to the RNC protests.
"The City of Saint Paul and the federal government were forced to pay for their politically-motivated attack on organizers," said Sarah Coffey. "Rather than spend years in court fighting the government over its political surveillance program, we decided to use settlement money to invest in projects that oppose such repressive tactics."
The trio of plaintiffs is donating most of the $50,000 to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Institute for Anarchist Studies, the Impact Fund, and to create a national legal defense fund for political activists.
The raid drew national attention when the police tried to enter the living quarters of the 10 activists and residents without a search warrant. They were refused entry, leading to a several-hours-long standoff. After getting a verbal go-ahead from a judge, the police forcefully entered one of the homes and detained everyone inside including the owner, tenants and the activists. Nobody was arrested, no illegal items were found, and nothing was seized, but computers and cameras were searched.
The police accused the owner of a nearby home of receiving weapons in the mail and illegally searched that home as well. They attempted to tie that home owner to the now defunct Symbionese Liberation Front (an "urban guerrilla" group from the 1970s). No weapons were found.
"We hope this sends a message to law enforcement officials who would enter homes illegally or suppress political dissent," said Coffey, "there is a cost to their actions."
The police and FBI are still continuing their work to stifle political dissent in all its various forms across the political spectrum. Although this is a significant victory, there is still much work to be done.
The homes of the three activists were raided on the eve of the massive demonstrations against the 2008 Republican National Convention. The police carried out several other operations to repress other left-wing activists in the days leading up to the Convention. This is the largest settlement related to the RNC protests.
"The City of Saint Paul and the federal government were forced to pay for their politically-motivated attack on organizers," said Sarah Coffey. "Rather than spend years in court fighting the government over its political surveillance program, we decided to use settlement money to invest in projects that oppose such repressive tactics."
The trio of plaintiffs is donating most of the $50,000 to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Institute for Anarchist Studies, the Impact Fund, and to create a national legal defense fund for political activists.
The raid drew national attention when the police tried to enter the living quarters of the 10 activists and residents without a search warrant. They were refused entry, leading to a several-hours-long standoff. After getting a verbal go-ahead from a judge, the police forcefully entered one of the homes and detained everyone inside including the owner, tenants and the activists. Nobody was arrested, no illegal items were found, and nothing was seized, but computers and cameras were searched.
The police accused the owner of a nearby home of receiving weapons in the mail and illegally searched that home as well. They attempted to tie that home owner to the now defunct Symbionese Liberation Front (an "urban guerrilla" group from the 1970s). No weapons were found.
"We hope this sends a message to law enforcement officials who would enter homes illegally or suppress political dissent," said Coffey, "there is a cost to their actions."
The police and FBI are still continuing their work to stifle political dissent in all its various forms across the political spectrum. Although this is a significant victory, there is still much work to be done.
Brazil demonstration in support of Indian Maoists
On May Day of this year, the Brazilian Liga dos camponeses pobres (League of poor peoples)held a demonstration in Sao Paulo, Brazil to show solidarity with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the oppressed Adivasi peasants of India. The Maoists have a deep support base among the Adivasis, the poor tribal people, and are currently waging a guerrilla war against the Indian government.
Mahdi Resistance Rally Against Occupation in Baghdad
Supporters of the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad today. Members of al-Sadr's Mahdi army gathered in northeastern Baghdad early in the morning, leading up to a peaceful protest, rally, and march.
The Mahdi resistance soldiers marched through the capital without weapons, but still intended the march to be a display of force and a warning. Their message was simple, they want the United States and its allied forces to leave Iraq by December 31 (the deadline set by the SOFA agreement). If the occupation forces remain, the Mahdi resistance will resume its combat operations against the US military.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has expressed his hope that the Iraqi puppet regime will request that Western armed forces remain in the country beyond the year-end deadline. There are around 45,000 US soldiers remaining in Iraq. Some of them are still being killed while on patrol, despite the false claims of the Obama administration that the Iraq War is winding down.
The only way to minimize, and hopefully prevent, further death and destruction in Iraq is for the United States and its allies to leave Iraq entirely.
The Mahdi resistance soldiers marched through the capital without weapons, but still intended the march to be a display of force and a warning. Their message was simple, they want the United States and its allied forces to leave Iraq by December 31 (the deadline set by the SOFA agreement). If the occupation forces remain, the Mahdi resistance will resume its combat operations against the US military.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has expressed his hope that the Iraqi puppet regime will request that Western armed forces remain in the country beyond the year-end deadline. There are around 45,000 US soldiers remaining in Iraq. Some of them are still being killed while on patrol, despite the false claims of the Obama administration that the Iraq War is winding down.
The only way to minimize, and hopefully prevent, further death and destruction in Iraq is for the United States and its allies to leave Iraq entirely.
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