Workers of the world

Submitted by Matthew on 6 April, 2011 - 10:37

Following a three-year campaign, Indonesian union SBNIP has finally won a recognition agreement at the Nescafé factory in Panjang, Indonesia.

Nestlé, which owns Nescafé, has traditionally refused to enter into any collective-bargaining agreements in Indonesia – a country seen by multinational corporations as fruitful ground for sweatshop-style exploitation. The union said: “This victory is not for IUF [the international union federation to which SBNIP is affiliated] and the SBNIP only; this is a real victory for all Indonesian workers. This is a very historic victory. From now on, the Indonesian workers will have rights to determine their own wages through negotiation.”

Canada

Members of the United Steel Workers union (USW) are occupying the legislature in Queen’s Park, Ontario after right-wing politicians prevented a second reading of a bill that would have banned employers from using replacement workers during strikes in order to undermine collective bargaining.

Hiring replacement labour is described as a “growing practise” by USW, and the union argues that the blocking of the bill “has set the stage for a Wisconsin-style attack against every unionized worker in Ontario.”

USW’s Ontario director Wayne Fraser has stated that he and his members will continue the occupation until they secure a commitment to move the bill forward.

Bahrain

Trade unionists who took strike action as part of the growing democracy movement in Bahrain have faced serious reprisals, including sackings.

According to the ITUC, about 300 workers have been dismissed for taking part in the strike and in demonstrations, mainly from the aluminium company Alba (Aluminium Bahrain BSC) and the Khalifa Sea Port. Around 40 workers have apparently also been dismissed by Gulf Air.

Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, the president of the trade union at the Bahrain Petroleum Company, has been sacked, and leading members of the Bahraini Teachers’ Association have been arrested.

For more, see tinyurl.com/itucbahrain

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