Greeks strike against neoliberalism

  
GREEK unions have called a 48-hour strike in protest at the latest punitive measures imposed on the country by the IMF and EU.

The minimum wage will be cut twenty two percent, pensions will be slashed and yet more jobs will go in the public sector.

Says From The Greek Streets: " On Tuesday, Eurostat announced that 27.7% of people in Greece already live below the poverty line.

"On Wednesday, the country’s official statistical service, Hellenic Statistics, announced that in November 2012 unemployment reached above 20% — all this only two years after the original loan agreement between the Greek government and IMF/EU/ECB."

For latest updates on Friday's strikes and protests against neoliberalism, see From The Greek Streets, ContraInfo  or Athens Indymedia.

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Occupy activists aim to shut down US ports

 
A BID to block the West Coast ports of the USA is being launched by Occupy activists on Monday December 12.

Says the West Coast Ports Blockade site: "The ports play a pivotal role in the flow and growth of capital for the 1% in this country and internationally.  

"For that reason alone it is the ideal place to disrupt their profit machine. The workers on these ports have always understood that; they have consistently staged shutdowns for political reasons, honored community picket lines, and led the labor movement.  

"A general disruption of commerce, in protest of the nationally coordinated attacks on Occupy movements alone is warranted, but additionally, the specifically targeted attacks on workers at these ports by the 1% further necessitate this call to action."

Adds the Occupy Los Angeles site: "As part of the Dec. 12 Boycott and March for legalization and good jobs, the Occupy movement will protest at one or more facilities belonging to SSA Marine, a shipper owned by Goldman Sachs, with 5 terminals and a warehouse in the Harbor area.   

"SSA Marine was recently fined for building an illegal road to the site of its massive, dirty coal terminal project in WA. It was also caught recently not alerting workers to the threat of explosive cargo in Oakland. 

"SSA/Goldman Sachs symbolize the ruin that corporate greed has brought into our lives. The 1% are depriving port truck drivers and other workers of decent pay, working conditions and the right to organize, even while the port of LA/LB is the largest in the US and a huge engine of profits for the 1%. 

"The 1% have pursued a conscious policy of de-industrialization that has resulted in 'trade' at the port meaning that there are 7 containers coming in for every one going out. The 1% have driven migrant workers into a 'grey market' economy and repression. 

"The 1% use police brutality and repression, jails and prisons to suppress, divide and try to silence the 99% and all who oppose their insatiable greed. To put an end to all that, we call on the 99% to march, boycott, occupy the ports, and STRIKE." 

For latest news, the Twitter hashtag is #occupytheports 

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Day of resistance for UK

BRITAIN is preparing for its biggest day of union resistance for many years.

Report direct action news source SchNEWS: "Wednesday 30th November will see the first mass strike in the UK for four decades.

"17 unions, including the biggest ones Unite, UCU, Unison, various teaching unions and PCS, have balloted to strike on pension reform which will see an estimated 3 million off work and, hopefully, cause massive disruption. Demonstrations and pickets are planned across the country – see http://www.n30strike.org for a complete list.

"While the ‘official’ pensions reason is a biggie,  the day will be one of anti-austerity action on the whole. It was obvious a year and a half ago that austerity measures were going to cripple the public sector, but it’s only over the issue of pensions that unions have been able to come together in co- ordinated action.

"The government’s various cuts bills have been sector specific until now, and Tory anti-strike legislation forbids solidarity action – effectively making mass, cross-sector strikes illegal. This, combined with the timidity of the unions and their own stifling legal processes have delayed action until the shared pension cuts could become the focal point for general civil unrest.

"Which is rich, considering unemployment is at a 17-year high thanks to government policy. They’re also attempting to rebrand it as a 'take your child to work day' in an effort to avoid parents taking the day off to look after children turned away from closed schools.

"It’s not only the government who want to break the strike: One particularly bizarre measure is being taken by an academy school headteacher in London, who is bringing in ex-Army personnel, police dog handlers and CSI teams to teach classes next Wednesday.

"The tactics for the day are to keep demonstrations and marches focused in local communities and for many dispersed actions as opposed to a mass gathering, but if you fancy hitting the road to get in on the action, the most fun place to be looks set to be London.

"Occupy have issued a call-out to congregate in the capital and ‘Shut down the city’ – the plans for which are to be confirmed..."

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Defiant Dallas in general strike call

ANTI-CAPITALIST protesters in Dallas have called for a general strike on November 30 after being attacked by police in the Texan city.

Reports Press TV: "What began as a peaceful protest at Occupy Dallas has turned into an event with multiple arrests and video of officers assaulting a protestor.

"Pepper spray was also blasted into the protestors after a protestor was pushed off a four-foot wall by police officers. Protestors questioned the officers about their motives and in return where blasted with pepper spray.

"The Occupy Dallas protesters were marching to the Bank of America Plaza in support of Bank Transfer Day, a national event which calls for supporters to close their bank accounts with large corporate banks and move their money into community credit unions.

"Occupy Dallas spokesperson Michael Prestonise told NBC 5 via email that an off-duty Dallas officer working security at the bank shoved a protester and that is what sparked the violence." 

The General Assembly of Occupy Dallas has issued a statement calling upon all people to engage in a General Strike on November 30th, 2011, and imploring them not to buy anything, make bank transactions or go to work between 12:01 am and 11:59pm on November 30th, 2011. 

Its statement condemns "incredible income disparity between management and employees,  active discouragement and intimidation of unionization of the workforce, engaging in unethical business practices that jeopardize the long term financial stability of the country and viewing financial profit as more important than the individual worth of a people."

Greek shuts down in defiance

GREECE is getting close to becoming ungovernable, as resistance to neoliberal 'austerity' hardens.

A two-day general strike on October 19 and 20 is set to bring the whole country to a standstill, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets in defiance of the bankers, their political puppets and their hired thugs.

From The Greek Streets comments: "Mapping out the sectors striking in Greece this week is a rather formidable task; nearly everyone is on strike."

However, those involved include dock workers, tax office workers, workers at the ministry of finance, lawyers, municipal workers, workers at the Agricultural Bank, railway workers, public sector doctors, public sector mechanics, air traffic controllers, bank staff and journalists.

Says the blog: "There is a huge amount at stake in this general strike. But whatever we see and do in the streets of Athens is a mere glimpse of our fast-forward trajectories, of our willingness and our collective ability to push through into the future.

"Whatever repression we might endure, whatever stubbornness we face from the side of a power still unable to comprehend its time is over, this is our own history that is playing into fast-forward, these are our bright, our vivid, our spotless days that have come."

Latest updates at From The Greek Streets.

Uprising intensifies in Chile

REBELLION against neo-liberalism in Chile has intensified, with trade unions backing the long-running student rebellion.

Reports MercoPress: "The Chilean capital Santiago was witnessing another tumultuous day on Wednesday as protests started to sweep the nation’s capital and unions called for a two day nationwide shutdown to protest the educational system.

"Protesters barricaded roads and burned tires as the two-day national strike began against unpopular President Sebastian Piñera.

"On the last two months mass demonstrations emerged in Santiago - along with other important Chilean cities – calling for improvements in Chile’s educational system. Demonstrations have drawn over 100,000 supporters to the streets of Chile’s capital.

"One union official stated 'this will be the biggest national strike of the last decade'; others have threatened to block roads (including those to the airport). Transportation workers and day-care providers also plan to strike, stranding millions of other Chileans.

"While previous governments have faced one-day national strikes, it was the first 48-hour national strike since the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship."

Protests and strike hit Bangladesh

RIOT police patrolled the streets of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Monday as angry opposition to the regime grows.

Rising food prices and a stock exchange crisis have fuelled popular discontent.

Passions have also been raised by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's plans for a new airport to be named after her father.

The original scheme has now been abandoned following passionate protests and the death of a policeman.

Al Jazeera reports: "Bangladesh police said that at least eight buses were set on fire on Sunday night, just hours before the strike was enforced.

"A homemade bomb reportedly exploded on the campus of a Dhaka university, injuring two people.

"Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of angry investors had also gathered to protest outside the Dhaka Stock Exchange, following the latest in a series of stock exchange collapses."

UK unions ready for resistance

UK UNION leaders warned of strike action as they urged the public to join millions of workers in a campaign to halt government plans for the deepest budget cuts since World War II.

Unions representing more than 6 million workers voted today to coordinate industrial action and build support for public demonstrations, reports Bloomberg.

The unions, which are meeting at the Trades Union Congress’s annual convention in Manchester, want to be ready to act as soon as cuts are announced next month.

“Industrial action is inevitable unless the government is prepared to change direction,” Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the 301,000 member Public and Commercial Services Union, told delegates.

“If all the public and private sector unions stand together not only can we win but we can offer hope and inspiration to people who are looking to us to stand up for them and protect their public services.”

Widespread public support for the unions’ campaign would threaten to derail Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s program that has so far won the backing of bond investors and rating companies.

Meanwhile, state propaganda in support of the neoliberal 'austerity' measures may also be under threat.

Reports The Guardian: "The BBC's coverage of chancellor George Osborne's spending review on 20 October faces disruption after broadcasting unions today announced strike dates in their dispute over pension scheme changes.

"The National Union of Journalists, Bectu and Unite today rejected BBC director general Mark Thompson's latest revised pension reform offer, communicated to staff by email earlier in the day, and confirmed two 48-hour strikes designed to cause maximum disruption to the corporation's coverage of key political events this autumn.

"They intend to strike on 5 and 6 October, which would disrupt coverage of the final two days of the Conservative party conference, and 19 and 20 October, to coincide with Osborne's announcement of the scale of government cuts in the Treasury's public spending review."

Wildcat strikes in Cambodia

WORKERS in Cambodia have rebelled against capitalist employers and union bureaucrats by staging wildcat strike action, reports Infoshop News.

In the past few days, a garment workers' strike has found itself in conflict with bosses, local authorities and union officials while last week, construction workers struck in solidarity with sacked workmates.

Around 160 garment workers continued to strike on Monday (22nd August) outside the gates of a factory in Meanchey district, where they have camped out day and night since Thursday to agitate for improved working conditions.

Ien Pov, a union representative at the Sun Lu Fong factory, said workers had made eight demands to the factory’s management, including a request that workers receive US$80 in severance pay for every year they have worked at the factory.

“Most workers want me to continue to hold the strike after learning that the factory owner has violated their rights and the law,” he said.

But union officials and local authorities say the demands of the workers may not reflect their rights under labour laws. Som Aun, president of the Cambodian Labour Union Confederation, said that the severance pay demand especially was a step too far: “Their demands cannot be settled in just a short time because what they have demanded is illegal,” he said. “This condition is not mentioned in the Cambodian Labour Law.”

Som Aun issued a letter on Saturday calling the strike “illegal” and said that the confederation had decided in a meeting on August 16th not to sanction the strike because he wanted to meet with the factory’s management to discuss the workers’ demands.

Last week, the Arbitration Council dismissed a complaint filed in July by 160 workers from the factory, citing the illegality of the resignation clause.

“The factory will discuss their demands and try to solve the problem outside the court system if the approximately 20 percent of workers who are on strike agree to go back to work,” Som Aun said.

Meanwhile, Keo Sareoun, the chief of Chak Angre Leu commune, said authorities planned to crack down on the striking workers today: “It is difficult for us to maintain order and safety at night when such an anarchic strike is happening,” he said. “On Monday, I will not allow them to protest in the area any longer.” He declined to say what measures would be taken to disperse the protesters.

Ien Pov said that about 20 local police officers had already warned the protesters. “The police have told us that if we continue to protest our security cannot be guaranteed,” he said.

South African workers rise up

SOUTH African workers are rising up against the corrupt ANC regime.

Reports The Guardian: "South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, is facing one of the biggest tests of his presidency as tens of thousands of striking workers took to the streets and relations with his union backers neared breaking point.

"There were demands for Zuma, who was thousands of miles away at the World Expo in Shanghai during a state visit to China, to return home as cities were paralysed by marching public sector workers.

"The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) warned that its historic alliance with Zuma's governing African National Congress (ANC) had reached a critical low.

"Zwelinzima Vavi, secretary general of Cosatu, said government corruption had derailed the alliance's agenda. 'The emergence of a 'new tendency' focused on taking over the ANC and using access to the state for a selfish accumulation agenda disrupted the emerging unity of purpose, which has led to a paralysis in both the alliance and government,' he said.

"Vavi recently told an angry crowd demonstrating over low pay that Zuma earns more than R2.2m (£193,000) a year.' 'He has blood like we have blood,' he said. 'He has a big family like we do. He has children to feed like we do. Our needs are the same.'

"Cosatu, which says it has 2m members, has warned of a "total shutdown" of the South African economy next week if the government does not meet its demand for an 8.6% wage rise and 1,000 rand (£88) monthly housing allowance.

"Cosatu said it had filed seven-day strike notices for members to join the state workers in a stoppage that would then hit mining and manufacturing. Police and army medics could also join in, bringing the country to a standstill."

Spanish workers to call general strike

SPAIN'S largest union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) could call a general strike to protest against planned austerity measures, its head said on Friday.

Report Reuters: "CCOO head Ignacio Fernandez Toxo said he would 'probably' invoke a general strike over the Socialist government's 'right-wing economic policy, financial speculation and the markets'.

"Spain has the highest levels of unemployment in the euro zone at 20 percent, up from a 2007-low of 8 percent, after a burst property bubble and consumer spending slump left millions from the construction and service sector without work.

"After protests in Greece turned violent in early May, there are concerns Spain could follow the same route, as the government makes drastic spending cuts in an effort to convince markets its public finances are under control.

"Investors fear Spain's Socialist government will be unable to reduce its budget deficit, from 11.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2009.

"United States President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have called on the Spanish government for reforms over concerns of potential contagion from the failure of an economy more than three times the size of Greece's."

Nepal revolutionaries up the pressure

REVOLUTIONARIES in Nepal are upping the pressure on the government.

Sify news reports that almost 8,000 schools were forced to close by the All Nepal National Independent Students' Union (Revolutionary) in protest at fee hikes of up to 25 percent.

It adds: "The Maoist students went on the warpath, padlocking the accounts offices of private schools and on Friday, vandalising nearly a dozen school buses, demanding that the fees be rolled back.

"The student organisation has said it will not allow the schools to re-open till they revert to the old fee structures. "

The strike comes in the run-up to a massive workers' protest announced by the Maoists in the capital on May 1.

Strikes, revolt and tension in Mexico

PARTS of Mexico are in revolt during widespread angry national strike action.

Reports My World Is My Weapon: "The town of Juandho, Hidalgo, has been under siege since yesterday, when members of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) hung strike banners on their former workplaces as part of the national strike in support of the SME.

"The SME reports that the town's electricity went out last night. During the night, hundreds of federal police arrived. There are now between 1,000 and 1,500 federal police surrounding the town. The police presence is overwhelming: Tetepango county, where the Juandho community is located, has about 9,000 residents.

"At approximately 3am this morning, federal police began raiding houses in search of SME leaders. SME Central Committee member Gregorio Paredes and his family are in hiding because federal police have burst into several homes looking for him. SME members Diego Sánchez Mendoza, Sergio Mendoza Rivera, and Adrian Monroy Mejía have been detained and beaten. The SME reports that dozens of people have been disappeared."

Writes Axis of Logic: "SME members and supporters blocked the entrance to the Juandho LyFC complex with piles of dirt. According to El Universal, "This angered the federal police, leading to a confrontation." The police fired tear gas and pepper spray at the crowd, and fired live rounds into the air. El Universal reports that following the repression, approximately three police helicopters and 400 federal police arrived on the scene to drive back protesters.

"Following the police repression, floodgates that guard a canal of raw sewage were opened, flooding the LyFC complex and the police inside. At the time of publication, it has not been confirmed how the floodgates opened. However, the flood seems to have incapacitated the police--reports from Juandho indicate that the SME still holds its blockade of the LyFC complex there.

"The SME continues to blockade key LyFC buildings, and will do so indefinitely. The workers have organized themselves into shifts that will maintain the picket lines around the clock. As nighttime fell, a "tense calm" fell over the blockades. Police continue to attempt to penetrate the blockades, particularly in Nexaca, Hidalgo, and there is fear that police will attack in the night while the majority of the region is asleep.

"Actions in support of the SME reportedly occurred in about 25 states."