News
UK Budget 2015
An economist's comment thenextrecession.wordpress.com
Ukrainian Miners Killed in Donetsk
33 dead or "missing" and the nationalists won't cooperate over the rescue mission.
Polish Workers Fight Off Mine Closures
Proposals to shut 14 mines in Poland have come up against strong resistance with miners taking to blocking railways and getting the threat of solidarity action from other workers as the following links show.
A correspondent from Poland adds that
“As usual with miners or nurses, there were attempts at pitting other workers against them as a "privileged" group that lives like kings for taxpayers' money. But it didn't work – many people expressed their solidarity with them.”
The strike ended at the weekend with what “appears like a victory” for the miners. Our correspondent adds
“The protests have just ended with trade unionists signing an agreement with Prime Minister Kopacz yesterday. Apparently, no mine will be closed and no one will lose their job. Of course we yet have to see what will come out of that. Kopacz seemingly hadn't much choice – there are parliamentary elections in autumn this year, PO (Civic Platform – the right wing governing party) lost a lot of support in Silesia and Kaczyński (leader of the even more right wing Law and Justice Party) of course went there to feed on that (the "Solidarność" trade union is close to his party). And obviously, the main point of this deal seems to be the desire to base "Polish energy security on Polish coal".
Nikos Romanos Lives
Report from Engymo
Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Nikos Romanos is not only alive but he is also the final winner.
Nikos Romanos has ended his hunger strike following the passage in parliament of an amendment that will allow him to leave prison fitted with an electronic bracelet provided he completes the first six months of his course behind bars.
Prior to the measure being adopted, the President of the Republic spoke on Wednesday morning with the Prime Minister via telephone after speaking with the opposition leader Alexis Tsipras.
The amendment submitted by the Justice Ministry was accepted by all opposition parties in parliament with the first being SYRIZA when Zoe Konstantopoulou announced that the party was withdrawing its demand for a roll call vote on the amendment.
According to the final amendment that was supported by all parties in parliament, students who are imprisoned following convictions or who are remanded in custody on charges including belonging to terrorist groups (as are pending against Romanos who is accused of participating in the domestic anti-establishment group ‘Conspiracy of Fire’) can be granted educational leave and fitted with electronic bracelets provided they have completed the first third of their studies by distance learning.
During a debate in parliament last night, Athanasiou initially rejected proposals submitted by SYRIZA and DIMAR that would allow Romanos and other inmates to leave prison to attend university provided they were fi...
Brussels demonstration against austerity
According to some reports the demonstration may have numbered much more than this
Anyone got more info?
Ten thousand factory workers are blocking the city of Gijón
Thousands of people occupied the centre of Gijon in Asturias yesterday. Although it was not called a strike, about ten thousand people marched under the slogan "No more layoffs or shutdowns in Asturias ."
At the centre of the concerns for drawing up the platform was the issue of firms in difficulty and the march went onto the City Hall. Leading it were the workers of Gijon Tenneco.
For months, many workers in this northern region of Spain have been invited to attend meetings of the self-organised to defend their jobs and their rights.
Asturias are beginning to pursue a different kind of trade unionism . "We want the workers to take their decisions directly," said Isaac Perez of the Tenneco factory committee reading from a list of demands, adding that " no one can negotiate or sign anything on our behalf ."
From the Tenneco plant, located in the district of Upper Pumarín, a long column of protesters set off. Then a barricade of tyres blocked traffic on the main thoroughfare Sanz Crespo . Riot police protected the headquarters of the Partido Popular in Garaya Alvarez , however the protest passed without incident.
In the Plaza Mayor were the platform was read out by the members of by the various factory committees of various companies in crisis in Asturias : Coca Cola , Kitchens Asturiana , Benito Systems, Subcontracting Hunosa , Zebrano , Central Abattoir , Laundry Cabuenes , General Dynamics , Rubiera Predisa , Starglass , CajAstur but also the Assembly of the students. ...
China: IBM workers strike against Lenovo takeover terms
In the latest of a series of wildcat strikes in China Lenovo workers have ignored the dead weight of the official union and organised their own action against sackings and lower wages and conditions. It is important that workers remain focussed on how to combine, extend and fight their own battles and not get sidetracked into calling for ‘independent unions’. theglobeandmail.com
Slave -ation Army and Workfare
Just got this via the Edinburgh Campaign against poverty
Bangladeshi Textile Workers Win 77% Pay rise
libcom.org Apparently some workers are still out.
Riyadh: Deadly Clashes Between Police and Migrant Workers
RIYADH (TAP) - Two people have been killed and nearly 70 others wounded as Saudi police clashed with protesting foreign
workers in a district of the capital, Riyadh.
Officials said some 560 people were arrested as well in the Manfuhah district.
Police intervened on Saturday after foreign workers rioted, attacking Saudi and other foreign residents with rocks and
knives, they said.
According to a video posted on social media websites, security forces in riot gear used truncheons to disperse large crowds.
Manfuhah is home to many migrants, mostly from east Africa.
Violent Bangladesh garment pay clash shuts over 100 factories
BUSINESS NEWS Reuters | Monday, 11 Nov 2013 | 4:54 AM ETDHAKA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Bangladeshi police fired water cannon and rubber bullets on Monday tobreak up a protest by garment workers demanding a higher minimum wage, forcing the closure of morethan 100 factories.Bangladesh's official wage board proposed a 77 percent rise in the minimum wage for garment workerslast week after a string of fatal factory accidents this year thrust poor pay and conditions into theinternational spotlight.The present minimum monthly wage of $38 is around half that of rival Asian exporters Vietnam andCambodia and just over a quarter of the rate in top exporter China, according to International LabourOrganisation data from August.But factory owners said they could not afford 77 percent.Police also fired tear gas to disperse the stone-throwing demonstrators in the Ashulia industrial belt, onthe outskirts of the capital Dhaka, that accounts for nearly 20 percent of total garment exports."Owners are indifferent to our demand. They are not even ready to pay what the wage board proposed,"a protester said, adding that there was no other option but to take to the streets.Garment factory staff went on strike over wages for six days in September, hitting production at almost20 percent of the country's 3,200 factories. The strikes followed similar protests over the summer.The new protest coincided with a four-day nationwide strike led by the m...
Brazil burns
Protesters demonstrating in support of teachers receiving better pay in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have clashed with police.
But as it got dark, some protesters threw firebombs at public buildings and riot police responded with tear gas.
A similar protest in Sao Paulo also ended in violent confrontation with police after many banks were ransacked by hooded protesters.
Brazil's security situation is a challenge to cities that will play host to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
The latest demonstration took place over several hours and was peaceful at first.
But once night fell, violent incidents broke out as at least 20 "black bloc" anarchists smashed a City Hall gate while others broke into banks and tried to break break into ATMs. Some banks were set alight.
Demonstrators also torched a bus on busy Rio Branco Avenue, and took furniture out of banks to use in barricades as the stand-off off with police continued.
Authorities used tear gas to restore order.
Teachers have been demanding a pay increase for two months. About 50,000 people were estimated to have marched to support them before the violence broke out, but police would only confirm the 10,000 estimate.
Greek Anti-fascist murdered by Golden Dawn
34-year old Antifascist Pavlos Fyssas murdered by Golden Dawn member in Athens
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
UPDATE, 13:00. The name of the 45-year old Golden Dawn member and murderer of Fyssas appears to be Giorgos Roupakias. This is unofficial, since the Greek has police has up to this point refused to release the name of the self-confessed murderer.
On the night of September 17th, the 34-year old antifascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas (aka Killah P) was murdered by a 45-year old, who openly admitted to the police to being a member of the Golden Dawn.
Fyssas had been with two friends in the area of Keratsini, in Pireaus. He was attacked by approximately 25 members of the Golden Dawn, one of which stabbed him. Fyssas was taken to the hospital in Nikaia, where he died soon thereafter.
Originally, the Golden Dawn had refused any link to the 45-year old. However, in a police raid in his house, his Golden Dawn Party member ID was retrieved from the garbage, as allegedly he had tried to discard it. Up until now, twelve hours after the arrest, the police have yet to release the name or other information about the self-confessed murderer.
Protest gatherings have been called today (18.09) in all major cities in the country
Chemical weapons bad, cluster bombs good....imperialist hypocrisy
The international community is not happy with the United States and Saudi Arabia amid news that they have inked a deal for hundreds of millions of dollars of controversial and potentially unethical cluster bombs
The $641 million deal would send 1,300 cluster bombs to America's closest ally on the Arabian Peninsula, through U.S. defense contractor Textron, according to a Pentagon release on the contract.
Cluster bombs are controversial because they are by nature less accurate than more modern munitions. The Human Rights Watch page on cluster bombs puts it this way:
(Cluster munitions) pose an immediate threat during conflict by randomly scattering thousands of submunitions or "bomblets" over a vast area, and they continue to take even more civilian lives and limbs long after a conflict has ended, as hundreds of submunitions may fail to explode upon impact, littering the landscape with landmine-like duds. Presently, a treaty banning cluster bombs has been signed by 112 of the 192 member U.N. states. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are not signatory.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-to-sell-cluster-bombs-to-saudi-arabia-...
Capitalist recovery an illusion - German evidence
German exports saw their sharpest fall since 2009 as demand in China eased off and eurozone exports fell by 9.6%.
Germany exports around 40% of its goods to the 16 other countries that use the euro, many of which are in recession.
Overall exports, according the Federal Statistics Office, were 2.4% lower in May, while imports rose by 1.7% as domestic demand remained steady. Exports to countries outside of Europe fell by 1.6%, with the slowdown in China affecting demand.
The German economy was robust in the early years of the euro crisis but has slowed down sharply in recent months, even shrinking in the last months of 2012 before recovering to show a modest expansion in the first quarter of this year.
Germany's economy shrank by 0.7% in the final quarter of 2012, and grew just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2013.
The eurozone as a whole - comprising the 17 European countries which adopted the euro currency - contracted in the first quarter of 2013, its sixth consecutive quarterly fall, bbc.co.uk
Dante's Eurozone
Eurozone unemployment reaches new record high in April
The seasonally-adjusted rate for April was 12.2%, up from 12.1% the month before.
An extra 95,000 people were out of work in the 17 countries that use the euro, taking the total to 19.38 million.
The highest jobless rates are in Greece (27.0% in February 2013), Spain (26.8%) and Portugal (17.8%).
In France, Europe's second largest economy, the number of jobless people rose to a new record high in April.
Youth unemployment remains a particular concern. In April, 3.6 million people under the age of 25 were out of work in the eurozone, which translated to an unemployment rate of 24.4%.
Figures from the Italian government showed 40.5% of young people in Italy are unemployed.
In the 12 months to April, 1.6 million people lost their jobs in the eurozone.
While the jobless figure in the eurozone climbed for the 24th consecutive month, the unemployment rate for the full 27-member European Union remained at 11%.
The eurozone is in its longest recession since it was created in 1999.
Earlier this week, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted that the eurozone economy would contract by 0.6% this year.
Nike Workers Hurt in Cambodia
At least 23 workers in a factory which produces clothing for Nike have been wounded by a police assault in which they used electric batons in order to break up protests which had lasted for over week outside the firm's place in Kampong Seu, west of the capital Phnom Penh". On the Itlain part of our site it adds that they were protesting at appalling working conditions. For more see today.it
UK - unemployment up, pay down
UK unemployment has risen to 2.52 million, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
ONS figures showed 15,000 more people were unemployed in the three months to the end of March, with the unemployment rate now at 7.8%.
Jobseeker's Allowance claimants fell by 7,300 last month to 1.52 million.
But despite this an ONS spokesman told the BBC the figures suggested the recent period of falling unemployment "seems to have come to an end".
The total number of people in employment fell by 43,000 to 29.7 million, although the number of vacancies was at its highest level since 2008.
The figures also reveal the degree of the slowdown in pay growth.
Average earnings increased by 0.4% in the year to March, compared with a rate of 0.8% in the year to February.
That is the lowest rate of growth since 2009, and means wages are continuing to fall in real terms, with inflation still well above the target rate of 2%.
When bonuses are stripped out, the picture appears even worse. Earnings grew by 0.8% over the year - the lowest rate of increase since the ONS began reporting the figure in its current format 12 years ago.
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