The Solidarity Report

							The Solidarity Report


April 4, 2010



(BA)
The management of British Airways seems to be even more determined to break the
union that represents its 13,000 crew members. The workers have recently staged two
strikes . British Airways management is trying to intimidate the workers to break ranks
and stop supporting their union. Steve Turner, a spokesperson for the union – UNITE -
comments.

:21 :34


(AIDS)
Labour organizations around the world lobbied Canadian embassies last week. They
were putting pressure on the Canadian government to make HIV-AIDS a top issue at
the up-coming G8 and G20 meetings to be held in Canada in June. The G8 and G20
are groups of countries which come together on a regular basis to discuss economic
and social matters. The lobbying campaign was organized by a partnership of the
regional organization of the International Trade Union Confederation in Africa – ITUC-
Africa – and the Canadian Labour Congress – the CLC. Canadian embassies were
lobbied in the UK, France, Denmark, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.
The labour organizations want the G8 and G20 countries to renew and seriously
implement their commitment to Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care
and Support. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is extending the action
of the labour organizations by running a petition on its web site. CUPE is hoping to get
thousands of signatures on the petition before the G8/G20 meetings. You can visit
CUPE’s web site at www.cupe.ca

1:33


(Sudbury)
Workers at the Vale metal operations in Sudbury Canada are continuing their nine-
month-old strike with defiance. They recently rejected a company offer by a higher
percentage vote than their original strike vote. However, Vale, the second largest mining
company in the world seems determined to break the union. It has announced that it will
now start running the operations with replacement workers, scabs. Here is a report
prepared by the Real News Network.

:27 Vale 1:50

For the full report visit www.the realnews.com




(Mexico)

The International Labour Organization – the ILO - has condemned the government of
Mexico for its attacks on the country’s mining union. The Organization’s Committee on
Freedom of Association has ruled that the Mexican government has acted in ways that
are incompatible with ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association. Freedom of
association is the term used to describe the rights of working people to join unions. The
ILO committee was especially disturbed by the way the Mexican government forcefully
removed Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, the democratically elected general secretary of the
National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico. Mr. Urrutia had spoken out against
the Mexican government and the mining company Grupo Mexico when 65 miners died
in a mining accident in 2006. That incident led to the current strike by miners at the
Cananea mine in Northern Mexico. Mr Urrutia is living in exile in Vancouver Canada
because of threats on his life. Here with an explanation of the situation is Mr. Urrutia.

1:13 2:05


(Ireland)

Workers in Ireland have won a contract deal which includes major concessions from the
government. The agreement was reached after a series of protests, strikes and work-to-
rule campaigns. The deal guarantees the workers job security and no further wage
cuts. Tom Geraghty the public services committee secretary of the Irish Congress of
Trade Unions comments.

:22 :20 :


(Burrow)
The president of the International Trade Union Confederation Sharan Burrow has been
nominated unopposed for election as the ITUC’s General Secretary. The ITUC is the
organization which represent s working men and women at the global level. It’s
affiliated national trade union centrals represents 175 million workers from 155
countries and territories. Ms Burrow has been President of the ITUC and its
predecessor, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, since 2004. She
has also been president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions since 2000. She is
recognized as a tireless advocate of human and workers rights in the world.

:45 1:45


(India)
In India millions of children do not have access to education. This is especially a
problem amongst families with temporary or contract workers. However, last week the
Indian government passed legislation called the Right To Education RTE Act. Karthik
Shaeker reports.

0:10 1:00


(Tekel)

Tekel workers in Turkey converged on the country’s capital yesterday, April 1, to
continue their protest against job losses. They were met by a police blockade and
sprayed with pepper gas. The workers had planned a one-day protest after having
taken a three-week break from their two and a half month strike. The 10,000 Tekel
workers lost their jobs when the government shut down its alcohol and tobacco
monopoly.

:27


(ILO)

The International Labour Organization – the ILO - is providing 2 million dollars US to
improve trade unions and government labour bodies in Vietnam. The money will help
the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour – the VGCL – to strengthen trade unions
at the local level. It will also assist the Vietnamese government in creating effective
labour institutions. The VGCL estimates that in the past 15 years there have been
nearly 4,000 strikes - all of them spontaneous and illegal. Almost 72 percent of the
strikes were about the low wages being paid by foreign companies operating in the
country.

0:40



(IFJ)
The International Federation of Journalists – the IFJ – is the global union which
promotes the rights of journalists. It works to protect journalism from excessive
commercialization, political pressure, falling standards, poor working conditions and
violent attacks against journalists around the world. The Federation has about 600,00
members in more than 100 countries. Aidan White, the General Secretary of the IFJ
explains why it is important to stand up for journalism.

:26 1:05


(Korea)

In South Korea four public workers' unions affiliated with the Federation of Korean
Trade Unions (the FKTU) have left the Federation to create a new alliance of their own.
The membership of the four unions totals close to 11,000, making up 25 per cent of the
FKTU's membership. The unions include the Highway Workers' Union and the Korea
Land and Housing Corporation Workers' Union. The FKTU – the largest trade union
confederation in the country - has a reputation of being more moderate than the second
national union federation – the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (the KCTU). Both
confederations are affiliated to the global labour body – the International Trade Union
Confederation.

:45


(Denmark)

A ground-breaking agreement between a transport union and employers in Denmark is
aimed at helping stop discrimination against foreign workers. The Danish union 3F has
negotiated an agreement with employers’ representative Dansk Industri. The settlement
is unique in that it entitles shop stewards to have access to wage slips and other
information if the union believes that overseas workers are being paid less than their
Danish counterparts. The new clause is likely to be inserted into the majority of
collective bargaining agreements across the transport sector in the country. The Danish
union is an affiliate of the International Transport Federation – the ITF.

:45


(Trumpka)

Fresh off a victory for health care reform in the United States the AFL-CIO – the
country’s largest labour confederation - is now aiming at Wall Street bankers. These
bankers are paying themselves huge bonuses for the work they’ve did in mis-managing
the economy so that millions of jobs disappeared. The AFL-CIO has called for a
massive demonstration on Wall Street for April 29. Here is AFL-CIO president Richard
Trumpka.
:30 :52


(Korea)

A group of workers at the Marriot Renaissance Hotel in Seoul Korea has won a major
victory. The workers were fired nine years again when they protested the outsourcing of
their jobs to a contractor. The contractor was planning to cut their wages by 40%. After
a long legal battle and an international campaign on their behalf 6 housekeepers have
been given their jobs back. The courts ruled that the direct employer of the workers was
the hotel not the contractor. The union confederation representing the workers is
affiliated to the International Union of Food, Farm and Hotel Workers - the IUF. The
union said international support organized by the IUF was crucial to the victory won by
the workers.

:50


(Climate change)

Like many organizations trade unions in the past have not had a very good record for
addressing the effects of climate change. The priority has been placed on protecting
jobs. But things are changing. Trade unions are now actively engaged in discovering
how we can protect the environment while at the same time creating jobs. The general-
secretary of the ITUC Guy Ryder explains

:27 1:50


(LabourStart)
And now here with his regular report of stories on LabourStart – the labour movement’s
news service – is Derek Blackadder

0:8 2:40


(Roff)
When we consider the recent protests in Greece, Panama, France and many other
countries we should remember that working men and women have always had to fight
for their rights. During the Great Depression for example working people had to fight
back as best they could. Here with a report on thousands of workers marching towards
Canada’s capital in 1935 is Robin Jane Roff.

:24 2:45
(Russian picket song)

2:15

Chants, yells and screams...that’s usually what you hear when the mainstream media
reports about picket lines. But workers have a rich tradition of music and song. This
song, from Russia, tells of a young man who was hired at a plant. He quickly finds out
that the workers are poorly paid and sometimes not paid at all.



He helps organize a strike. The workers elect him to the union. And he becomes, as he
says, proud to be just an ordinary shop steward.



The song was written by Vadim Borisov from the Moscow office of the International
Metal Workers Federation, music by Alexander Ermolov, and the singer is Vladimir
Doobski (Dybskii.) The song has became very popular in Russia and other Russian-
speaking countries. Trade unions use a record of the song during their protest actions.


(Ending)


And that’s it. This week’s labour news you can use - and sometimes sing.

On behalf of myself, Marc Bélanger, and the rest of the team at RadioLabour, thank you
for listening. You can contribute to RadioLabour by sending audio reports or making
suggestions for stories. Consult the RadioLabour website to find out how you can
become a RadioLabour correspondent. And remember: Global. Solidarity Forever.

(1:00)




(Headlines)

British Airways tries to break the union

The ILO condemns Mexico for anti-union activity

The AFL-CIO plans a massive demonstration on Wall Street

Canada is pressured to support HIV/AIDS programme at the G20
Unions tackle climate change.

Sharan Burrow nominated for ITUC General-secretary

Division in Korean labour confederation

Workers in Ireland win new deal

Children of workers in India to be given free education

Tekel workers in Turkey re-start their strike

And more.