Sweatshops
Why we picket Tesco
Submitted on 14 April, 2008 - 07:16
Since October last year, London No Sweat, has been holding regular pickets of Tesco stores in the East End, exposing the exploitation that lies at the root of Tesco’s bumper profits and focussing particularly on workers’ struggles in Bangladesh.
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No Sweat Solidarity with Bangladeshi Textile Workers Action
Submitted on 5 April, 2008 - 12:07
Tesco, Bethnal Green (opposite Derbyshire St), London
The Bangladeshi Textile Workers have shown enormous courage and resilience in fighting back against sweatshop conditions in the face of mass sackings, state repression and police brutality. The situation in Bangladesh is very bad with trade unionists and labour rights activists being arrested under emergency power legislation. This draconian crackdown seems to be getting worse. Last January, Mohammad Khokon, a worker at World Dresses Ltd. was beated to death by his employer. They deserve our solidarity. Join us outside Tesco to demand the release of all Bangladeshi labour movement activists and for free independent trade union!
The Beijing Olympics and class struggle
Submitted on 20 March, 2008 - 20:59
The Olympic spectacular in August this year is likely to be another step on China’s march towards great power status. For sure the media will marvel at the incredible stadia, the clean streets of the capital and the immensity of the country.
So spare a thought for the workers on Beijing’s Olympic construction sites,
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London No Sweat Forum - Solidarity with Bangladeshi Textile Workers
Submitted on 3 March, 2008 - 17:22
Oxford House, Bethnal Green
Public meeting to discuss recent labour struggles in Bangladesh and ways that we can organise practical solidarity for textile workers facing severe state repression.
Organising young workers: it can be done!
Submitted on 22 February, 2008 - 14:57
New Zealand union organiser Mike Treen and French union activist Axel Persson spoke on organising, unionising and fighting for the rights of — mostly young — workers in the fast food industry.
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Temporary and agency workers fight
Submitted on 22 February, 2008 - 12:35
Last week a group of cleaners at Stansted airport were told not to come to work the next day as they were no longer required. Most are from Eastern Europe and Africa. All are agency workers.
Temporary and agency workers are in a particularly precarious position. They can be hired and fired almost at will. They have no guaranteed hours or permanent contract of employment. They often work for lower wages and receive less favourable sick pay and other ‘perks’ than the directly-employed colleagues they work alongside. Added to this, scams and abuse such as categorising these workers as “self-employed” contractors in order to avoid holiday pay and other rights, are widespread.
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No Sweat action outside Starbucks
Submitted on 15 February, 2008 - 13:22
Outside Starbucks, 114-116 New Oxford Street, London
No Sweat action in solidarity with Bangladeshi textile workers
Submitted on 15 February, 2008 - 13:20
Outside Tesco, Whitechapel: http://www.tesco.com/storelocator/access/details.asp?bID=5418&l=W
How the first Starbucks strike was made
Submitted on 9 February, 2008 - 20:25
Mike Treen, National Director of the New Zealand union Unite, will be touring the country in February as part of a No Sweat national week of action. [Details here]
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Assessing anti-sweatshop campaigns
Submitted on 9 February, 2008 - 20:01
Today’s globalised clothing industry involves transnational networks of production and sales in which manufacturing is subcontracted to producers, usually in developing countries.
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Would you like a certificate with that?
Submitted on 9 February, 2008 - 19:59
You’ve tasted the Big Mac, you’ve probably had some McNuggets in your time but how about getting your chops round a McA-Level? Sceptical? Me too.
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Super Size My Pay: Young workers get organised
Submitted on 1 February, 2008 - 14:23
Mike Treen of New Zealand's Supersize My Pay campaign and Axel Persson, a young fast food worker and CGT union activist from Paris, will do a speaking tour as part of No Sweat's 2008 week of action (11-18 February). Details here.
Reception for Mike Treen and Axel Persson, speakers on "Super Size My Pay" tour
Submitted on 1 February, 2008 - 14:16
Bread & Roses, 68a Clapham Manor Street, London (Clapham Common tube or Clapham High Street rail)
For other events in this tour, click here.
No Sweat London forum: "Super Size My Pay", with Mike Treen and Axel Persson
Submitted on 1 February, 2008 - 14:14
University of London Union, Malet St, London WC1
For other meetings in this tour, click here.
London socialist-feminist dicussion group: Pornography, sexual explicitness, and women's oppression
Submitted on 24 January, 2008 - 00:03- Issues and campaigns
- 'No Sweat' events
- Abortion rights
- Academies
- Animal welfare
- Anti-Capitalism
- Anti-deportation campaigns
- Anti-Fascism
- Anti-Racism
- Aspland & Marcon estates
- Benefits
- Children
- Christianity
- Crime and Justice
- Democracy
- Disability rights
- Drug use
- Education
- Fighting anti-semitism
- Fighting global capitalism
- For equality, against bigotry
- Globalisation
- Housing
- Immigration & Asylum
- Islamism
- Left anti-semitism
- Lesbian, Gay, Bi
- Local Councils
- NHS and health
- Nuclear weapons
- Pensions
- Poverty
- Pre-school education
- Public services
- Religion & politics
- Religion and schools
- Schools
- Science
- Secularism
- Social and Economic Policy
- Social Forums
- Sweatshops
- Terror attacks
- Testing and tables
- The environment
- The media
- Travellers
- Utilities
- War and Terror
- Women's rights and Feminism
- Youth
- Further Education
- Universities
- Imperialism
- Marxism and women's liberation
Lucas Arms, 245A Grays Inn Road, near Kings Cross
In this meeting we will examine and critique different feminist views of pornography Some feminists argue porn is an expression of an exploitative “male culture” and is irredeemably oppressive to women At the other extreme some say that porn as sexually explicit material can benefit women’s sexual liberation What’s wrong/right about these views and the all the others in between?
Suggested reading:
Book
Latest (against porn): Pornography: Driving the Demand in International Sex Trafficking (2007) edited by David E. Guinn and Julie DiCaro; Captive Daughters Media
On the net
http://www.wendymcelroy.com/
author of the book XXX a Woman’s Right to Pornography available on her website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Against_Pornography: history of radical feminist anti-pornography campaign
www.fiawol.demon.co.uk: Feminists Against Censorship
https://www.againstpornography.org: loads of stuff against porn!
No Sweat comedy night: Rob Newman and Michael Fabbri
Submitted on 16 January, 2008 - 10:16
The Cross Kings, 126 York Way, near Kings X, London
£6/£4. Tickets from wegottickets.com or 07754 088 989.
No Sweat student week of anti-sweatshop action, incl. speaking tour by NZ fast-food workers' organiser Mike Treen
Submitted on 16 January, 2008 - 00:21
various
Speaker tour as part of No Sweat's 2008 week of action (11-18 February), with Mike Treen of New Zealand's Unite Union and Supersize My Pay campaign and Axel Persson, a young fast food worker and CGT union activist from Paris. Mike will be speaking a meetings until Saturday 16th; Axel will be speaking at meetings from Thursday 14th February (i.e. they will overlap).
Monday 11th February lunchtime: Oxford University
1pm, Lecture Room 23, Balliol College, Broad Street, Oxford
Sponsored by Oxford No Sweat, Oxford Uni Living Wage Campaign and Oxford Uni Labour Club
For more information ring Mike on 07711 808 435 or email daniel.rawnsley@keble.ox.ac.uk
Monday evening: Brighton
7pm, Conference room (top floor, South Wing) Community Base, North Road, Brighton
Organised by Brighton No Sweat
Ring Mark on 07811 347 486 or email marksandell1@yahoo.co.uk
Tuesday 12th February lunch time, University of East Anglia, Norwich (details soon)
12-2pm, UEA Room 131
Sponsored by UEA Socialist Society
Email patyarker@aol.com
Tuesday evening: Cambridge University (details soon)
Sponsored by Cambridge University Education Not for Sale
Ring Richard on 07905 060 469
Wednesday 13th February lunchtime: Hull University (details soon)
Ring Stephen on 07791240733 or email wideload.wood@gmail.com
Wednesday early evening: Nottingham University (details soon)
Sponsored by Nottingham Uni Environmental and Social Justice campaign
Email Teodora at lqzytat@nottingham.ac.uk
Wednesday evening: Nottingham
7.30pm, International Community Centre, Mansfield Road, Nottingham
Ring Tom on 07779 328 418 or email thomas.unterrainer@talk21.com
Thursday 14th February lunchtime: Sheffield GMB union
12.30-2.30pm, Sheffield GMB HQ, Thorne House, 188/190 Norfolk Street, Sheffield
Ring Daniel on 07961 040 618 or email skillz_999@hotmail.com
Thursday evening: Sheffield University
7-9.30pm, Lecture Theatre 1, Arts Tower, Sheffield University
Organised by Sheffield University No Sweat group
Ring Louise on 07746 759 773 or email lougified@hotmail.com
Friday 15th February lunchtime: London School of Economics (details soon)
Ring Aled on 07817 588 923 or email a.d.fisher@lse.ac.uk
Friday 15th February evening: London reception sponsored by Battersea and Wandsworth Trades
Council.
6pm, the Bread & Roses, 68a Clapham Manor Street, London (Clapham Common tube or Clapham High Street rail)
Food and drink will be available!
Ring Paul on 07984 356 110 or email paul@hampton1968.freeserve.co.uk
Saturday 16th February: London
2pm at University of London Union, Malet Street, Euston, London
Email admin@nosweat.org.uk
Monday 18th February: Leeds
7.30pm, Swarthmore Centre, Woodhouse Square, Leeds
Ring Mike on 07814 896 517 or email mjw501@york.ac.uk
Tuesday 19th February evening: Glasgow
Sponsored by Glasgow University Socialist Society and organised by activists from groups including the SSP/SSY, IWW, Iraq Union Solidarity and Workers' Liberty
Email darcyleigh@gmail.com
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What else you can do
We will be targeting Starbucks and other companies during the week of action. More information on this site soon.
- Organise a meeting with a No Sweat speaker and film. We have a variety of DVDs and are happy to send speakers.
- Organise a local picket of a Starbucks or other anti-union shop or company. We can send you model leaflets, stickers etc.
- Organise a fundraising event like a benefit or anti-sweatshop fashion show.
For more ideas, to find out what's happening in your area, or to let us know what you're doing - get in touch: admin@nosweat.org.uk/ 07811 347 486
No Sweat plans action
Submitted on 7 December, 2007 - 09:22
Over 100 anti-sweatshop and workers’ rights activists gathered in London on the weekend of 1-2 December for this year’s No Sweat conference. The theme chosen for this year’s conference by the campaign — which works within the anti-capitalist movement to argue for solidarity with workers’ movements at home and abroad — was “Beating Big Brand Exploitation”.
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London No Sweat action in solidarity with textile workers' struggles in Bangladesh
Submitted on 6 December, 2007 - 13:44
Outside Tesco, Commercial St, London E1 (nearest Tube: Aldgate East or Aldgate)
NO SWEAT ACTION - SATURDAY 8TH DECEMBER 10:30-11:30 - TESCO, COMMERCIAL STREET (NEAREST TUBE: ALDGATE EAST/ALDGATE)
This is our second solidarity action in support of the textile workers' strikes/riots that have swept through Bangladesh this autumn.
My life as a “precarious worker”
Submitted on 22 November, 2007 - 13:03
I’m a second year university student working part-time in a service-sector job (a nightclub). Having the job means I never have to choose between buying books or buying lunch.
Although elements of the job are enjoyable and positive (interaction with customers is sometimes very rewarding, and benefits such as free tickets to events held in the club are worth having as a student) the amount of casual and not-so-casual exploitation that takes place is outrageous.
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Women workers get wage cut
Submitted on 12 October, 2007 - 09:26
As of 1 October 2007, the national minimum wage for over 21 year olds will go up 17p, to £5.52 an hour. Working an average of 35 hours a week, this would leave you with £9,063.77 take home pay a year. This 3% rise is less than inflation, meaning the minimum wage change is actually a decrease in real terms.
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Organising Tube Cleaners
Submitted on 12 October, 2007 - 08:24
London Underground cleaners in the RMT continue to organise. About three weeks ago, cleaning staff at Morden Underground depot succeeded in fighting their management's imposition of a new 7-day a week roster, which would have allowed them no days off!
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Organising fast food workers
Submitted on 27 September, 2007 - 13:45
Mike Kyriazopolous interviews Jared Phillips, a Unite Fast Food Organiser and Workers Party activist in New Zealand.
MK: How did Unite plan its organising in fast food?
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London No Sweat forum on the fishing industry
Submitted on 6 September, 2007 - 13:22
The Plough, Museum St, London WC2
Organising Starbucks
Submitted on 22 August, 2007 - 10:40
Over the summer anti-sweatshop group No Sweat will be running a campaign highlighting the highly exploitative conditions for workers at Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, particularly their anti-union record. On Saturday 18 August there will be a national day of action — get in touch with admin@nosweat.org.uk for details of how to get involved. Here, Harriet Parker gives some background.
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Defending Labor Rights in Haiti
Submitted on 14 May, 2007 - 18:55
By Ben Terrall - HaitiAnalysis.com
New legislation in Washington D.C., under the acronym H.O.P.E. – short for “ the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act,” has the goal of promoting the garment industry in Haiti. But the legislation falls noticeably short in protecting labor rights or promoting long-term sustainable economic development that will benefit the poor as well as the rich.
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Hazel Blears and Sweatshops
Submitted on 30 April, 2007 - 11:50
The freebie Metro newspaper today informs us that beloved-of-this-blog Hazel Blears has been caught out being dodgy again. And here is the story in the Manchester Evening News.
- Janine's blog
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Women's TUC: Sweatshop Labour policy
Submitted on 10 April, 2007 - 10:06
The TUC has still not deemed to post on its website the resolutions passed at Women's Conference over a month ago. Instead, we get a decidedly unhelpful "no documents available".
- Janine's blog
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Picketing, leafleting and dancing
Submitted on 23 February, 2007 - 10:39
By Heather Shaw
The highlight of No Sweat and Students Against Sweatshop’s Week of Action (18-23 Feburary) was welcoming Andreas Aullet, a lawyer working with political prisoners and their families in Oaxaca, Mexico, and taking him on a tour of the UK.
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No Sweat week of action
Submitted on 4 February, 2007 - 14:09
February 12th sees the beginning of a Week of Action for No Sweat and Students Against Sweatshops. At university campuses up and down the country our students will be inviting others to take a stand against sweatshops and the worldwide exploitation of workers.
Various
