International unions

Trade union struggles outside the UK

Workers’ control and socialism

By Paul Hampton “Control lies in the hands of the workers. This means: ownership and right of disposition remain in the hands of the capitalists. Thus, the regime has a contradictory character, presenting a sort of economic interregnum… “In a developed form, workers’ control thus implies a sort of economic dual power in the factory, the bank, commercial enterprise, and so forth. “If the participation of the workers in the management of production is to be lasting, stable, ‘normal’, it must rest upon class collaboration, and not upon class struggle. Such a collaboration can be realised only...

All together! General strike!

Nico Dessaux reports from the 1/2 April meeting of the National Co-ordination against the CPE. THE meeting of the National Student Co-ordination against CPE gathered more than 300 delegates from 110 universities and colleges. As a delegate from the “Cross-Struggle General Assembly”, the labour movement liaison committee in Lille, I was allowed to stay as an observer for the whole debate. It began at 2pm and I left at 8am the following morning, at which point there were several votes still to take. Our delegation (from the “Cross-Struggle General Assembly”) met beforehand to prepare our speech...

Students and workers united against neoliberalism

Yves Coleman and Nico Dessaux report on the 28 March day of action against the CPE [Contrat Première Embauche, the French government’s plan to cut job security]. As we go to press, the latest day of action in France against the government’s plans to cut job security for young workers on 4 April has seen an even bigger turnout than the huge protests of 28 March, which saw millions of workers and students demonstrate and take industrial action across the country. Across the country, between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 workers and students took part in activity on the 28th. As on 18 March, the first...

From the local committees

Declaration of the inter-union committee of Loire-Atlantique (CFDT-CFTC-CGC-CGT-FO-FSU-SOLIDAIRES-UNSA-UNEF-UNL) Following a meeting on 29 March, the regional organisations of eight trade unions and two student organisations celebrate the success of the mobilisation that brought together sixth-formers, students and public and private sector workers in a day of national, cross-sectoral strike action on 28 March. Despite the impact of strikes and demonstrations, Prime Minister de Villepin continues to refuse to withdraw the CPE. In this context, this gathering of union organisations reaffirms...

Women and solidarity

Amina Saddiq tuned in to the Radio 4 Women’s Hour special on Poland. From the half dozen times I’ve managed to catch it, Radio 4 Women’s Hour seems pleasant, if not particularly earth-shattering. The general tone is a sort of leftish liberal feminism, with quite a bit of politics if you’re willing to sit through presenter Jenny Murray sounding like she feels a bit naughty as she discusses how to make plum gin or whatever. The 5 April Women’s Hour special on the lives of women in Poland wasn’t entirely free of this sort of problem, but it nonetheless made extreme interesting listening. Jenny...

Save and extend workers’ rights - French students and workers show how to fight back

Sofie Buckland, Daniel Randall, David Broder, Sacha Ismail and Laura Schwartz were in Paris on 18 March for the demonstration against employment reform. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Paris against the French government’s “Contrat Première Embauche” (First Employment Contract, CPE) proposal, which will allow employers to summarily sack workers under 26. The demonstration was part of a national mobilisation that brought more than a million protesters onto the streets across France, and part of a national campaign that shows no sign of ebbing. Although we were aware...

Lessons from France

The French CPE-CNE law will extend the casualisation of labour in order to subvert all workers' rights to the needs of “flexibility” demanded by French bosses. This is not an issue just for young French workers. The Irish Ferries and Gate Gourmet disputes last year both demonstrated that across the world jobs are more and more insecure and workers' rights increasingly ignored. “Precarité” is the dynamic of globalised capitalism. The demonstrations and strikes in France show that the whole working class, not just students, see standing up to capitalism's attack on young people as their own...

Women's TUC - Iraqi visit

From a report by Pauline Bradley About 320 delegates, from all the major unions and some of the smaller ones, attended the Women’s TUC Conference this year. Only a few motions caused any contention. One on “Artistic freedom of expression” proposed by Equity, which raised concerns about the cancellation of the play Behzti, depicting a rape in a Sikh temple, caused a discussion. There were several good motions on pensions and equal pay (which were what we sung about at the social!) and a good one on trafficked women and children too. We were graced with the presence of Tessa Jowell MP, who has...

Mexican miners’ strike

By Dan La Botz More than a quarter of a million miners and steelworkers walked off the job between 1-3 March in wildcat strikes at 70 companies in Mexico, virtually paralyzing the mining industry. While the strike has ended, there are reasons to believe that this could be the first act that could challenge Mexican employers, the corrupt “official” unions, and the conservative Mexican government. The strike resulted from an attempt by the government to remove the Mexican Miners’ Union’s top officer, general secretary Napleón Gómez Urrutia, and replace him with Elías Morales Hernández, a union...

New Zealand students learn French

In the New Zealand city of Auckland, more than 1,000 secondary school students walked out of classes in protest at low pay for young workers, explicitly linking their protest to events in France. A rally demanding equal pay with adults ended in scuffles with the police and two arrests after “Radical Youth” student representatives attempted to protect the demonstrators’ safety during a sit down at a major road junction. One of those arrested, 17 year old Omar Hamed, said: “I was going to move from the road as soon as I had accounted for the safety of the other demonstrators. But the officers at...

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