Here's a quick update from the facebook group for the ASI-ZSP. We also added a banner at the bottom of the page that links to the support website, so check that out.
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News from Belgrade

The investigative phase of the case was meant to come to a close on the 28th, however people are still being questioned. Greek Embassy people who were supposed to testify did not show up.

A member of ASI was interrogated and the police are calling more of them in.

If the investigation concerns a crime which carries a sentence of more than 10 years in jail, the comrades may be held up to six months.

Although things are not certain, it looks as if the police have decided to prolong the case as long as possible. In this case, we call for the escalation of protests.

This message comes down from the iww-lists (thanks goes to Fellow Worker Kenneth M). Please take a moment to read and then sign the petition:

PITT Alumni and supporters of the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance,

We have launched www.PITTSWEATSHOPS.org and we need your help reaching out to Alumni, Faculty, Staff, Sports Fans and Students Against Sweatshops. Sign the online petition now.

Please use your all of your online organizing skills and passion for Human Rights to help us reach 500 signatories as soon as possible… face book/twitter/all that stuff.

Our friend Tom Keough, a cartoonist who has done a lot of artwork for PASCA, recommends this video of the workers.

A big thanks to Rich Connamacher, Quelle Diggs, Celeste Taylor, and Chad Lenchner, all folks who have been helping to fine tune PASCA's online organizing strategy. We are on a path towards continuous improvement. Please email suggestions to nosweatshopsbucco at yahoo.com

As this petition approaches 500 signatories we'll be sending out campaign updates and preparing a press conference to announce our first 500 and setting a new goal. PASCA focuses on the similarities between workers in different parts of the world.

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL.

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THE PETITION: Click Here to go to the website with the petition on it.

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Chancellor Nordenberg,

Russell Athletics has been part of Pitt's collegiate licensing program for many years. In Honduras, Russell is operating sweatshops. In response to workers standing up for their basic rights (clean drinking water, fair wages, an end to verbal abuse), Russell's answer was to close down the factory rather than improve working conditions.

The PITT Panther logo appears on our diplomas and is identified around the world with our prestigious university. We are disappointed that you have not represented our concern for Human Rights by terminating the apparel licensing agreement with Russell Athletics and coordinating activities to enforce our University Code of Conduct with the Workers Rights Consortium.

Now is the time to start listening to the workers and not Russell's PR campaign!

From Black Mask: Frequency of Resistance:

This past Monday marked the 82^nd anniversary of the state-sponsored murder of Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. To commemorate this event Black Mask is playing a 1996 documentary produced by the late Judi Bari, an IWW timber worker organizer and Earth First! activist.

Click Here to Listen (Mp3)

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Black Mask is an anarchist radio show that has been broadcast since 1999, hosted by a member of the branch.

Listen to Black Mask live every Wednesday at 5pm in Winnipeg, Canada on CKUW 95.9FM.

Right now, the political elites will be gathering in Pittsburgh to push policies that harm workers, human rights, the environment and local quality of life. People have been organizing resistance agienst the G20 summit in hopes of disrupting and possibly shutting down the summit.

Here are some, live, first hand accounts of people on the street opposing the G20:

Pause in Marching downtown
http://tweetphoto.com/6wucatg8

Speeches are being held, and a tense moment is had as a roll of yellow caution tape is thrown at the police-- alleged to be the first object launched by the peaceful protesters.

activity in SW of triangle
crowd 30-50 on 5th approaching William Penn from W.

Cavalry approaching Forbes from S on Smithfield & William Penn


scanner
70 protesters have broken through the barricades

Fri 9/25/2009 1:37 pm

Mass protest
About 400 protesters are making their way up Darlington to meet at the corner of Forbes and Murray where they plan to sit in the middle of the street and block traffic.Some of the protesters are clad in black army suits with what looks like military-style machine guns and red flags. Others have their faces painted like clowns.They're supposed to be at the intersection at 3 when the main march hits Downtown.

Fri 9/25/2009 1:25 pm
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Take a moment and check out the G-infinity coverage with more real-time field reports, photos, audio, and video recordings.

Please write immediately to the UN missions members of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and others, IMMEDIATELY. The contact information for all the listed missions is below the sample letter.

Demand that the United Nations immediately impose an economic blockaid on Honduras, a demand of the National Front of Resistance to the Coup against Honduras. The United Nations initiated a session today.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya yesterday arrived in Honduras, and is in the Brazilian Embassy. The defacto government is attacking protesters who have gathered around the Brazilian Embassy to protect the constitutionally elected President Manuel Zelaya. Dangerous quantities of tear gas are being used around the Brazilian embassy at a level that puts in danger the lives of the Brazilian diplomatic corps, President Zelaya, and neighbors of the Embassy.

According to radio reports in Honduras, protesters are being rounded up and held in stadiums. Live ammunition has been used against protesters along with extreme beatings. Masked men accompany police and military. Deaths of protesters are rumored. The offices of leading Honduran human rights organization COFADEH was attacked with tear gas. A curfew is in effect and scheduled to begin at 4 pm, and extreme repression during the curfew is expected.

Over the past 88 days the Resistance Front has maintained constant protests of thousands of protester daily.

SAMPLE LETTER

Esteemed Ambassador:

I write to request that in your capacity as a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council you propose a resolution to obligate members of the United Nations to impose a trade bock aid against Honduras. In this way the non recognition of the de facto regime that came to power through a military coup on June 28, 2009 will be made effective.

Today the coup regime is undertaking a direct attack on the Embassy of Brazil, where the constitucional President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya is located. They are using dangerous levels of tear gas, and have fired live ammunition; acts that put at risk the lives and wellbeing of hundreds of members of Brazils diplomatic corpse and thousands of people in the street and homes around the embassy. This repression is the latest in 88 days of repression by the coup government.

For this reason it is urgent that an economic blockaid be imposed and that the possibility of a peace keeping mission be discussed.

Sincerely,


United Nations Missions in the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations

Canada
E-mail: canada@un.int or prmny@international.gc.ca
Telephone:
212-848-1100
Fax: (1) 212-848-1195, -1192, -1128

United States
http://www.archive.usun.state.gov/Issues/contactus.html
Telephone212-415-4062
Fax: 212-415-4053

United Kingdom
UK@UN.int
Telephone: (1) (212) 745 9200
Fax:1 (212) 745 9316

France
france@franceonu.org
Telephone : 1 (212) 702 4900
Fax : 1 (212) 421 6889

Germany
http://www.new-york-un.diplo.de/Vertretung/newyorkvn/en/Kontakt.jsp

India
India@un.int
Tel: 212-490-9660
Fax: 212-490-9656

Netherlands
Tel: (212) 519-9500
Fax: (212) 370-1954
netherlands@un.int

New Zealand
Tel: (212) 826 1960
Fax: (212) 758 0827
Email nzmissionny@earthlink.net

Norway
Phone: 212-421-0280
Fax: 212-688-0554
E-mail: delun@mfa.no

Sweden
sweden@un.int
Telephone: (212) 583-2500
Fax: 212 583 2549

This Alert was prepared by the Campaign for Labor Rights.
We can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355 or 520-243-0381. You can also email james@afgj.org for more information.
Visit our website at: http://www.clrlabor.org/wordpress/
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Thanks to Rebel Youth Magazine for bringing this to our attention.

From Labour Start, this appeal for solidarity comes from the British National Union of Rail, Marine and Trasport Workers (RMT) . Please scroll down to the link above the letter of support to send in your letter. First, some more information from the RMT site:

Support Eurostar Cleaners on Strike!
over low pay, jobs and bullying

RMT CLEANERS working on the Eurostar contract for the Carlisle Group at St Pancras International are rock solid this morning in their support for a 48 hour strike which started at 21.59 hours last night.: The cleaners - who are fighting a pay freeze, a threat of redundancies, the introduction of Orwellian finger-printing machines and the victimisation of a union rep – have mounted a noisy mass picket at St Pancras International this morning. Carlisle Group have recruited a temporary, scab workforce on a higher rate of pay to try and break the RMT strike. Despite that, trains had to be sent back to the depot last night to try and get them cleaned for this morning.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said today: “Despite a campaign of intimidation our members have stood rock solid in this strike and have shown that they will not be bullied into submission.

“The treatment of these cleaners, who are mainly from black and minority ethnic communities, by the Carlise Group is nothing short of a scandal.

“Staff working for Carlisle Group, cleaning the modern and high tech Eurostar trains at St Pancras International, have been subjected to some of the most draconian working conditions in the entire UK transport industry. It’s like a cross between the Dark Ages and 1984.“We cannot have a situation where cleaners preparing the high profile, flagship Eurostar fleet of trains are treated by the private cleaning company engaged by Eurostar in this disgraceful way. “These are first class cleaners treated like third class citizens and we will be turning up the heat in this fight for justice for Carlisle Group staff carrying out essential services on the Eurostar.”
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THE LETTER: There is a link on the RMT website for you to send a protest to the Carlisle Group management, but you can also send the following letter via THIS LINK at Labour Start. -----
I am emailing in support of the RMT Eurostar cleaners employed by the Carlisle Group and their fight for the London Living Wage, justice and respect. I am calling on Eurostar to intervene in this dispute, which is now a global trade.
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Special thanks to Molly at Molly Blog for bringing this to our attention.

Please take a moment of your time sign this appeal from Unite the union:

Keep Diageo jobs in Scotland

Diageo, the immensely wealthy and highly profitable drinks transnational, has announced in excess of 900 job losses in the Scottish home of the famous Johnny Walker brand with the closure of the Kilmarnock packaging plant and the distillery in Port Dundas, together with redundancies on other sites and outsourcing of part of their logistics operations. Last year, Diageo made a cool £2,226 million in profits and CEO Paul Walsh walked home with a fat £5 million in his pay packet, yet now they want to cut Scotland's jobs to make more profits. Unite, together with GMB, have launched a major campaign against the job cuts and trade unionists everywhere can help by writing to CEO Paul Walsh to urge him to think again. Visit the campaign website to see how else you can make a difference and show solidarity with Diageo workers in Scotland and click here to send a message to Diageo CEO Paul Walsh through labourstart's support page.
--------------------------------
Dear Paul Walsh
We are deeply concerned to learn of the major job losses you have recently announced as a result of the proposed closures of both Kilmarnock packaging plant and the Port Dundas distillery and cooperage, together with rest of the package of redundancies and outsourcing on other sites at Shieldhall, Hurlford and Elgin. With profits in excess of £2bn last year, there can be no justification for these measures which will decimate the affected communities in Scotland and by so doing, will cause irreparable damage to the reputation of the Johnny Walker brand. We therefore urge you to reconsider your proposals and to work closely with the trade unions to agree an alternative business plan that will guarantee a sustainable future for all.

Check out the inaugural issue of our newsletter, the Winnipeg Wobbly! Included in this edition:

• Worker’s Power: Build A Ship
• Statement of the Starbucks Workers Union on its Fifth Anniversary
• Rebel Workers’ Guide Part 1: Organizing at work – the basics
• Committee Report: Events update from the Winnipeg IWW

Click here for the Winnipeg Wobbly volume 1 issue 1!

From Dissident Voice:

Justice Follows Direct Action: Former Boss of Occupied Chicago Factory Jailed

by Benjamin Dangl / September 16th, 2009

Richard Gillman, the former CEO of Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors factory where over 200 workers organized a victorious sit-in last year, has been sent to jail on eight charges including felony, theft, fraud, and money laundering. After the judge announced the $10 million bail, the shocked and dazed Gillman, dressed in a pinstriped suit, was hauled away to the county jail.

Republic workers captured the attention of the world when they occupied their plant on December 5, 2008 calling for the severance and vacation pay they were due. The sit-in ended six days later when the Bank of America and other lenders to Republic agreed to pay the workers the approximately $2 million owed to them. Recently, the workers won another victory with the arrest of Gillman.

The prosecutors charge that Gillman defrauded creditors of over $10 million, and then went ahead to use company money to complete payments on leases for two luxury cars — while his employees went without pay.

According to court records Gillman also secretly sent three semi-trailers full of equipment from the Republic factory to a non-unionized factory in Iowa without the consent of Republic board members and creditors. Luckily, however, the organized Republic workers followed the trailers, and during the occupation, prevented executives from entering the factory to take company documents that now make up much of the case against Gillman and other Republic officials.

“Gillman and others knew this company was headed for closure,” Anita Alvarez, the Cook County state’s attorney, told reporters. “And instead of fulfilling their legal obligations to their creditors and their moral obligations to their employees, they devised a scheme to benefit themselves.”

“We knew Gillman was lying to us for a long time, now the rest of the world knows it too,” said Armando Robles, the President of UE Local 1110, the Republic workers’ union. “Workers suffer with bad bosses all the time so this is a victory for all workers.”

Gillman’s arrest is just one of the results of the Republic workers’ actions. In February of this year, Serious Materials ended up buying up Republic for $145 million, promising to put the unemployed workers back on the job. The California-based Serious makes heating efficient windows.

“Having another company reopen the factory was always our hope when we occupied the factory in December,” Robles told the New York Times.

Kevin Surace, the chief executive officer of Serious, was drawn to the Republic workers’ story, leading him to eventually acquire the bankrupt factory. “It was very sad to see what looks like it could be a world-class operation just fall on terrible hard times and then all of the workers quite abruptly laid off,” he said. “We saw a great opportunity with a great facility and great workers.” Another thing that attracted Surace to the Republic plant was that 90% of the equipment was still there — thanks to the workers who prevented the bosses from hauling it away.

However, only fifteen former Republic employees have been rehired so far. According to Chicago-based journalist Kari Lydersen of In These Times, the delay in hiring more workers could have to do with the fact that Obama’s federal stimulus for green jobs and heating efficient windows has been slower in producing results than people had hoped. Yet Lydersen points out that the Republic workers “know they can’t just sit back and wait for the stimulus or the factory’s new owner to make everything all right.”

Meanwhile, Gillman is facing justice thanks to the workers’ actions. Melvin Maclin, a former Republic worker who is currently unemployed and the father of six children, commented on Gillman’s arrest in a UE statement, “We feel like justice has finally come and we all hope that this is the beginning of more bosses being held accountable for their crimes against workers.”

From the IUF. Please take a moment to read this article and follow the links to write a statement of solidarity:

Two Haft Tapeh Sugar Leaders Still Facing Lengthy Prison Terms in Iran - Act Now!

Three of the leaders of the Haft Tapeh sugarworkers' union in Iran sentenced to prison earlier this year have had their sentences overturned on appeal.

However, Union president Ali Nejati and communications officer Reza Rekhshan still face prison sentences while their appeal process drags on - and their imprisonment would be a severe blow to the sugarworkers' struggle for an independent union. The charges against Rekhshan include providing information to foreign trade unionists on the horrendous working conditions at Haft Tapeh.

Ali Nejati has been denied work at Haft Tapeh since his April release from over a month's solitary confinement in an Intelligence detention center. Nejati has been generally blacklisted from all work in the city of Shush and the situation for him and his family is becoming increasingly desperate.

Thousands of trade union rights supporters around the world have protested the repression against the Haft Tapeh union and its leaders. Ali Nejati was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International following the Haft Tapeh court convictions. International protests presumably played a role in influencing the decision of the appeals court to dismiss the ludicrous charges including "undermining national security."

Pressure is now urgently needed on the Iranian authorities to overturn the convictions of Ali Nejati and Reza Rekhshan - CLICK HERE to send a message to the Iranian state and judicial authorities, calling on them to immediately and unconditionally annul the sentences against the Haft Tapeh unionists and immediately reinstate Ali Nejati at his job! Some intended recipients' messages may be rejected due to server overload - others will get through, however.

You can also send a message to the Iranian embassy or diplomatic representation in your country - or pay them a visit! A complete list of embassies/consulates is available here, and you can generally find e-mail addresses by searching the internet for the individual representation in your country.

From IWW Starbuck Workers Union:

Starbucks Workers Union Gains Momentum as Campaign Expands to Canada

Quebec City Starbucks Baristas Steamed over New Scheduling Demands

Quebec City, Canada – Steamed over unreasonable new scheduling demands and deteriorating working conditions, baristas at the Germain-de-Prés Avenue Starbucks filed for union accreditation Monday, becoming the first store in Canada to affiliate with the Starbucks Workers Union, a campaign of the Industrial Workers of the World labor union. The Labor Relations Commission of Quebec will grant the union accreditation after verifying their authorization cards in the next few days.

Policy changes related to Starbucks’ new “Optimal Scheduling” program, one of a slew of recent schemes intended to slash labor costs, provided the main impetus for unionization. Under the new policy, Starbucks requires nearly around-the-clock availability from workers, while refusing to guarantee a single work hour each week.

"Starbucks workers have no job security and make a poverty wage, but at least until now, the hours were flexible, which was convenient for the many students who work here," said Simon Gosselin, a member of the union in Quebec City. "These policy changes would force our six shift supervisors, who are students as well, to take demotions, and a 10% pay cut.”

Once seen as a paragon of socially responsible business, the coffee giant’s image has been tarnished in recent months as executives have gutted workers’ benefits packages, decreased staffing levels, and increased demands on baristas in an attempt to shore up sagging profits amidst sharpening market competition and declining sales.

"For many Starbucks workers, the anti-student, anti-family requirements of so-called ‘Optimal Scheduling’ are the straw that broke the camel's back," said Erik Forman, a barista and member of the Starbucks Workers Union in Minneapolis. “Our campaign for secure work hours, fair pay, and a voice at work is gaining momentum. We welcome our sisters and brothers in Quebec to the union with open arms.”

The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is an organization of over 300 current and former employees at the world's largest coffee chain united for secure work hours, a living wage, and respect on the job. The union has members throughout the United States, and now Canada as well, fighting for positive change at the company and defending baristas treated unfairly by management.

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Also See Campagne Starbucks at the IWW Montreal site.

Courtesy of Molly Blog. Please take a moment to send the letter of solidarity to the Serbian embassy (links bellow):

SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN WITH ARRESTED SERBIAN ANARCHOSYNDICALISTS:

Since Molly lasted blogged on this matter, with material from the Greek ASI Solidarity site, there have been several solidarity demonstrations with the six Serbian comrades who are in a one month detention awaiting trial. The Polish Union of Syndicalists (ZSP)has undertaken further solidarity work, and there is a protest letter to the Serbian authorities that you can sign at their solidarity site. The last time that Molly looked there were 2,841 signatories. Here is the call for Solidarity from the ZSP.

@@@@@@@@@@

Political Arrests in Belgrade:

On Saturday, Sept. 4, five* political activists were arrested in Belgrade on trumped up charges. The five, Tadej Kurep, Ivan Vulović, Sanja Dojkić, Ratibor Trivunac and Nikola Mitrovic, are activists in or associates of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, the Serbian section of the International Workers’ Association (IWA). (* The sixth person sought by police, Ivan Savic, was also arrested some days later.)

The arrests are allegedly related to a direct action which took place at the Greek Embassy on Aug. 25. Negligible damage was done; a crack in one window, a tiny burn mark on the facade and a circled A graffiti on the embassy as a act of symbolic solidarity with Thodoros Iliopoulos. The prosecutor however imagines this as an act of “international terrorism” and would like to charge our comrades with such. If the state allows such charges to be pressed, they could be facing 3-15 years in prison.

As it is, the five were arrested, harassed and are to be held in custody for at least one month while the case is organized.

Although one of the accused, General Secretary of the IWA Ratibor Trivunac clearly and publicly declared that he knew nothing of the action, he was arrested. It is not the first time that authorities have come after him or his comrades for no other reason than the fact that they are radical critics of the state.

We are calling on people around the world to take action now!

If you can organize a protest at a Serbian Embassy, Consulate or other Diplomatic Mission, please do so ASAP. Rather than one day of action, we think actions can be spread out over a few days, but we think it’s best not to wait! Try to make an action by Sept. 15-16.

Also, send faxes and protest letters! We are including a list of addresses on this page. If you like, you can also send a letter to the government through this page. You can write your own text or use out sample text. Our page can keep a log of signatories so we may pass them on to the comrades in Serbia so they know which organizations and people have sent protests.
Please send us information about your demos, protests or articles on the case!

FREE THE FIVE NOW!
ADDRESSES OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA:
http://www.mfa.gov.rs/Worldframe.htm
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THE LETTER: Please go to the Solidarity Site of the ZSP to send the following letter to the Serbian government.
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We are writing to demand the immediate release of Tadej Kurep, Ivan Vulović, Sanja Dojkić, Ratibor Trivunac and Nikola Mitrović, arrested Sept. 4 in Belgrade on absurd grounds. The prosecutor's assertions are clearly ridiculous. It seems perfectly clear that this case has been politicized and a show case is being made out of a minor incident.

In the meanwhile, the state continues to deflect attention away from the institutionalized violence inflicted daily through war, policing and exploitation, which is the real terror of daily life for millions around the globe.

We will not stand by idly as people who fight for social justice are repressed based on their history of political activism. We will campaign for the release of these activists and for the end of state repression.

From LabourNotes:

Bronx Cookie Bakers Fight Runaway Owner, Think Big to Save Jobs

— Micah Landau

Two months after returning to their jobs on the heels of a victorious 11-month strike against deep concession demands, the defiant workers at the Bronx-based Stella D’oro Biscuit Co. are at it again. This time, however, they are not walking out of their plant—they are trying to stay in it.

On Wednesday, the company’s union-busting owner, the private equity firm Brynwood Partners, said it had reached a deal to sell Stella D’oro, and that production will be relocated to Ohio by early October.

If successful, the move will leave the plant’s 136 union workers out on the street. But the workers, long aware that Brynwood Partners might try to shut down the facility, say they have come too far to leave without a final fight.

And they are not alone. While management was meeting with workers on Wednesday morning to break the news, community supporters—organized in the Stella D’oro Solidarity Committee—held an impromptu rally outside the plant gates. Workers and supporters will march together toward the front of this year’s Labor Day March on September 12 (a week later than the rest of the country, timed not to conflict with a Caribbean festival). The supporters will also hold a rally in Manhattan on September 25.

Brynwood Partners, which bought Stella D’oro from Kraft in 2006, has been itching to leave the bakery business ever since losing the workers’ 11-month strike there this summer.

The workers, members of Bakers (BCTGM) Local 50, walked off the job in August 2008 against massive concession demands, including a 26 percent cut to wages.

A stunning decision by the National Labor Relations Board, which found that Stella D’oro had bargained in bad faith, returned the strikers to work—with back pay and no concessions—in early July. The strikers had offered to return to their jobs under the terms of their old contract in May, but management, intent on breaking the union, had refused.

However, on the same day workers returned, Brynwood Partners announced its intention to shutter the plant in 90 days. Ninety days has not passed yet, but Brynwood Partners has made its move—making real its threat to close.

Fortunately, the workers at Stella D’oro and their allies have a demonstrated capacity to fight, and to break up deals they don’t like.

Lance, Inc., the North Carolina-based food manufacturer that plans to buy the company, has been down this path before. Its first effort to buy Stella D’oro went bust earlier this year when workers and supporters picketed Goldman Sachs, one of Lance’s high-profile investors. The action drew media coverage from "Fox Business News," and apparently the prospect of militant workers badmouthing the company on national television was too much for Lance, which has tried to cultivate a reputation as a kind, if paternalistic (and non-union) employer.

With a little bit of luck—and a lot of good organizing—the workers at Stella D’oro just might be able to force Lance’s hand again. But what strategy do the workers have to go on the offensive? In the absence of a union-friendly buyer, some supporters have floated the idea that the workers could form a co-operative and buy the plant themselves, a suggestion echoed by the union’s lawyer.

Peter Ranis, professor emeritus at the CUNY Graduate Center, has taken this line of thinking one step further. In a recent article in the local Indypendent paper, Ranis, who has written extensively on the recuperated factory movement in Argentina, argued that the workers should call on the city to use the power of eminent domain to expropriate the plant with compensation and turn it over to them to run. The workers would then pay the city back over time, Ranis says.

If successful, the effort would be the first of its kind in this country, and would demonstrate that although eminent domain is typically used in the interest of private development, it is a tool that can also be used by labor to stem the flow of factory closures and job losses.

Political leaders already have shown sympathy, at least on paper: The City Council in July passed a resolution supporting the workers.

Taking the factory may be a long shot, but so was winning the strike. In a campaign as unlikely as Stella D’oro, anything can happen.

From notes from the Swedish workers' movement:

The basis for successful workplace struggle

From LaborStart:

Last November LabourStart launched an online campaign with the title "Turkey: DESA leather workers fight for the right to have a union". Nearly 6,000 of you sent off protest messages to the company and today I'm very pleased to report that we have won a huge victory.

The company has signed a protocol with the union which recognizes Deri Is as the sole representative of the workers, reinstates sacked workers, and even guarantees that every worker will be given a document explaining that it is their legal right to join a trade union.

For full details of this victory, go here:

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/campaigns/urgent/desa/282-desaprotocolsigned

Online campaigns work! Make sure you have signed up for all the current LabourStart campaigns here:

http://www.labourstart.org/actnowen.shtml

Please share this message with your friends and co-workers. And have a great weekend.

Eric Lee

For those people who recognize we need democratic unions built at the roots of our community.

We need to struggle against the way our bosses and managers mistreat us on the job.

We need to show other workers outside our workplace constant support.

For people who want one union that is aiming at giving complete control to working people and their families.

We cannot only be concerned about what happens on our job, we have to take care of our friends and families...

This means paying attention and working on issues such as health and the environment as well as many other government and business policies that impact our life and end up hurting us.

Interested in organizing your workplace or supporting others fight their boss; tired of cynical politicians pretending to advocate for you?

Well lets do it ourselves, join up.

If you are a working person or unemployed you're encouraged to join.

Those with the ability to hire and fire or who employ others are not welcome, similarly no police or security services allowed.

Every Worker Needs a Union

Having a union could make your job better. When you are
organised with the other people at your work, you can talk about problems and find solutions.
Sometimes bosses will agree with the problems and solutions. Many times they will not, and you will need to enforce them yourselves.
Starting a union at your job is not easy, but the rewards are worth it. Whether you have been at your job for two months or twenty years, you can fight to put yourself in control of your working conditions. With the help of other employees, you can win.

The next step
✔ To talk to one of our organisers, see
contact details on the side bar
✔ You are under no obligation
✔ We exercise discretion and will not tell
your boss or coworkers
✔ We will support you if you decide to
organise

Join the I.W.W. today

Who can be in the I.W.W? Anyone who is a member of the working class can claim their membership in the I.W.W. The only people who are excluded are those who are bosses themselves. The unemployed, or those employed informally are also welcome here. If
you are already in a union you can still join the I.W.W. and be in both.

Dues
Dues are paid monthly directly to a delegate and are geared to income. The lowest is $5 and the highest is $27.

Do you want...
Shorter Hours? Higher pay?
Better conditions? Respectful
managers?
Don't agonize . . . Organise!

Your boss will never make your job better. If you find yourself complaining to your friends and family about how badly you get treated, now might be the time for you to organise on the job.

What is a union?
In its most basic form, a union is a group of workers who come together to make their lives better. It can be all the workers on a job, or only a few. The I.W.W. is not a “service” union who will promise to come in and solve your problems for you. We are a “do it yourself” union that empowers workers to discuss and enforce changes on their own job.


So what do we do?
The IWW can help you out with:
✔ Bargaining and legal skills
✔ Outside organising
✔ Strategy and ideas
✔ Putting you in control of your job

If you don't think the time is right for organising, there is still a place for you in the I.W.W. We need dedicated people to support others who are doing on-the-job organising.


The I.W.W. is a different sort of union. We consider both short and long-term solutions to the many problems plaguing the people of the Earth.

In the short term we fight for:
✔ Improvements in pay
✔ Livable hours, chosen by workers
✔ Better, safer working conditions
✔ On the job democracy

Union democracy
A strong emphasis is always placed on democracy within the union. You will never be sold out by an I.W.W. union boss because there aren't any. All branch decisions are made by the branch itself.

Tomorrow
We think not only of today, but also of what may come. We envision a world where there are no bosses to interfere with our lives or our jobs. Unions should be breeding grounds for the essential skills of independent critical thought, community self-organisation and action.