Workers' Liberty

By Pablo Velasco

• South Africa Charges against Anti-Privatisation Forum dropped

• Solidarity with Cambodian hotel workers!
• Support Argentinian food workers
• Criminal trials of Chinese workers begin

South Africa Charges against Anti-Privatisation Forum dropped

Anti-privatisation activists in South Africa arrested in March had the charges dropped last week, in a climbdown by ANC-led authorities.

52 members of the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) had been arrested in the run-up to the recent election on charges of participating in an illegal gathering. But before the APF activists could actually appear in court, the state prosecutor dropped all charges.

The APF says the arrests were completely unwarranted and were "driven by a politically motivated desire by the ANC to criminalise the APF and its collective expression of legitimate public protest and dissent".

The arrests of the activists, accompanied by teargas and shootings, came after APF representatives from several affiliates in communities around Johannesburg were forcefully prevented from getting onto the buses that would have transported them to a demonstration.

The APF says: "The violent repression, arrests and charges are simply the latest example of how the ANC-controlled state continues to use its repressive apparatus and the legal system to try and disrupt, caricature and criminalise the APF's (and other social movements) legitimate struggles and tie us up in endless legal battles and expenditure of limited resources."

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Solidarity with Cambodian hotel workers!

Hundreds of members of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers' Federation (CTSWF) have been sacked after a strike in six luxury hotels held from 5 to 12 April.

Employers had refused to pay workers hotel service charges, which have traditionally been part of their wages. In January employers announced they were discontinuing the payments.

Employers have ignored rulings favouring the workers from the government's Arbitration Council. Quite simply, they are out to smash the unions.

The hotel unions are among the few organisations in Cambodia's labour movement that have succeeded in gaining both recognition and collective bargaining agreements.

The Singapore-based Raffles hotel group is leading the drive against the union. Raffles' two hotels have dismissed hundreds of workers.

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Support Argentinian food workers

The Quickfood meat processing plant in Argentina, which makes best-selling "Paty" burgers, has sacked one of its workers, Camilo Mones, for participating in factory gate meetings.

Workers at the factory had demanded the correct implementation of a government decree on wage rises. Large gatherings took place outside the factory gates.

On 30 April, Mones was prevented from entering the factory and was told the firm "no longer required his services", because of his participation in the meetings.

• Readers can send messages of support to: trabajadoresdepaty@yahoo.com.ar

Criminal trials of Chinese workers begin

On 22 April Chen Kehai and Zhao Yong, two workers from the Tieshu Textile Factory arrested after workers' demonstrations in February, were tried on charges of "disturbing public order" in Suizhou.

According to the China Labour Bulletin, Zhao and Chen were tried under "summary procedures" - a form of trial in which defendants have reduced rights to legal defence as their sentence will be no more than three years of imprisonment.

Two other Tieshu workers detained after the February protests - Zhu Guo and Yang Yongcai - are likely to be tried on similar criminal charges.

The Suizhou court alleged that Chen Kehai was one of "more than 1,000" laid-off Tieshu Textile Factory workers who forced their way into the factory to prevent a new company (set up when the original factory went bankrupt) from beginning operation.

Zhao Yong was alleged to have participated in the protest march that went from the gates of the former Tieshu Textile Factory into the city centre, and to the main railway line, which the workers blocked for several hours. Zhao has been singled out because he is alleged to have stated during the march: "There's an alley here; it leads up to the railway line".

Four other Tieshu Textile Factory workers detained have been released. A fifth detainee, Chen Xiuhua, was sent home by police in late February because of illness. At least four of these five workers were given terms of "re-education through labour", an administrative punishment which bypasses the criminal justice system. They still may face criminal proceedings.

The China Labour Bulletin is calling for the immediate release of the four workers now facing criminal sentence or trial.

• China Labour Bulletin