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A03647

Articles : Civil Liberties

Stockton truckers strike

By Nathan Coe

Anti-privatization strikes in Greece; The CGT vs. Ford in Spain; Mass strike over French job cuts; Dems vs. labor in U.S. election; Truckers strike over freight rates & fuel prices

Ahoy, fellow workers & filthy bourgeoisie! Welcome to the twenty-first edition of GNN’s exclusive Labor News Roundup. Though labor-related news is neglected in both the mainstream and “alternative” news services, important labor stories are breaking all over the world every day. This roundup is but a small sampling. For more international labor news, check out Labor Notes, LibCom, and LabourStart.

Burger With a Side of Spies: Eric Schlosser reports: “While the Patriot Act has raised fears about government spying on ordinary citizens, the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying has received much less attention. During the late 1990s, a private security firm spied on Greenpeace and other environmental groups, examining activists’ phone records and even sending undercover agents to infiltrate the groups, according to an article in Mother Jones. In 2006 Hewlett-Packard was caught spying on journalists. Last year Wal-Mart apologized for improperly recording conversations with a New York Times reporter. And now it turns out that the Burger King Corporation, home of the Whopper, hired a private security firm to spy on the Student/Farmworker Alliance, a group of idealistic college students trying to improve the lives of migrants in Florida. The Student/Farmworker Alliance and an affiliated nonprofit, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, have for years been urging the fast-food industry to accept some responsibility for the plight of Florida migrants who harvest the tomatoes for its hamburgers and tacos. I am a longtime supporter of their work. The wages of these farm workers, adjusted for inflation, have declined by as much as 70 percent since the late 1970s. And hundreds, perhaps thousands, of migrants have been enslaved by labor contractors and forced to work without pay. The McDonald’s Corporation and Yum Brands (which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) have agreed to subsidize a modest pay raise for their tomato pickers and work closely with the coalition to eliminate slavery from the fields. Burger King, however, has pursued a different strategy.” (Infoshop News / The New York Times, 05/07/08)

Indian Workers go on Hunger Strike in Front of the White House: Arun Kumar writes: “A group of five Indian workers have launched a hunger strike in front of the White House demanding a US Congressional investigation into their “exploitation” by American companies. The five workers who began the “water only” protest at Lafayette Park opposite the US presidential mansion on Wednesday were among more than 500 Indian welders and pipe-fitters who allegedly paid up to $20,000 apiece for false promises of green cards and work-based permanent residency in the US.” (Howrah, 05/15/08)

Spain: The CGT Versus Ford: The Spanish anarchist magazine Rojo Y Negro reports: “In the week of May 19 to 23 the CGT will launch a strike at Ford Almussafes against the cutting of rights. The CGT trade union section at Ford Almussafes, which was present at the two meetings held last Friday at the factory , today felt that “the management has not expressed any interest in solving the serious problem that the announcement of cuts to workers’ rights has led to in the plant”, so it has called a work stoppage for the week of 19 to 23 May, failing to identify a particular day, informed sources said in an union statement.” (Infoshop News, 05/13/08)

Greeks Strike Against Privatisation: The Oread Daily reports: “Greek workers are noted for their militancy and they’ve demonstrated that again as they’ve pretty much closed the place down in protest over government privatisation schemes. The worker actions and strikes disrupted air transport, bank and state services on Thursday. The partial sale of phone company OTE was just one of the privatisations that thousands of Greek workers protested against when they went on strike and took to the streets. That sale is the centerpiece in the privatization plan of the governing conservatives, who won re-election last September and now hold a small majority among the 300 seats in the Greek Parliament.” (Oread Daily, 05/15/08)

Dozens of high school students block a train in Lyon [AFP]

Mass strike over French job cuts: Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, faced the latest test of his resolve to tackle the country’s public sector as hundreds of thousands of teachers and civil servants went on strike to protest against job cuts. Across France, workers marched in the streets in what unions said was a dress rehearsal for broader strike action next Thursday. Sarkozy plans to cut 22,900 civil servant jobs including 11,200 in education this September, and another 35,000 next year. Francois Chereque, head of the CFDT union, said: “This is a major day of protest. The only vision that the government has for the public service is an accountant’s vision.” (Al Jazeera, 05/16/08)

Stockton Truckers strike once again: “Once again, a step ahead of intermodal truckers across the US, Stockton truckers, led by the majority Sikh drivers, launched a strike over the issue of fuel prices on Monday, May 5, 2008. While many truckers participated in various protest shutdowns on either April 1st or May 1st this year, the 300-400 Stockton truckers working out of the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railyards have shut down their industry until their demands have been met. Rather than demand the fuel surcharges paid by shippers but often pocketed by companies rather than passed along to drivers, the Stockton truckers are asking for a dramatic increase in the rates paid in order to keep up with increases costs such as fuel.” (IWW.org, 05/08/08)

Truckers park rigs in protest of freight rates, diesel prices fuel strike: Reed Fujii of the San Joaquin Record writes: “For the second time in four years, hundreds of independent truck drivers went on strike Monday against companies that hire them to haul cargo containers out of railroad terminals near Stockton. And again, as in 2004, the issue was the failure of freight rates to keep up with rapidly rising fuel prices. Ajit Gill of Stockton, a truck owner-operator and a spokesman for strikers, said the truckers face fuel costs that have more than doubled since 2004, as well as higher costs for insurance, stiffer inspection fees and more. But freight rates have not kept pace.” (The San Joaquin Record via Infoshop News, 05/06/08)

Bus workers wildcat in Liverpool: According to LibCom, “More than 100 bus drivers staged an unofficial strike at Arriva’s Speke depot yesterday (May 7th) hitting hundreds of services. At 6am when the wildcat strike was called, the entire 120-strong bus fleet at the Shaw Road depot was grounded. Drivers returned to work at 10.30am and normal services were resumed on all routes by lunchtime. The drivers walked out in protest against revised working hours proposed for the end of May. Arriva intends to extend its services to the Liverpool One shopping centre to provide transport for shoppers and workers throughout extended shopping hours.” (LibCom.org, 05/08/08)

Democrats’ Colorado Dilemmas: Stephanie Simon, The Wall Street Journal, says that “A labor union campaign in Colorado to tighten restrictions on layoffs and crack down on corporate fraud could put Democrats in an awkward position as they gather here in August for their presidential convention. Unions are pushing to get a total of six measures on the fall ballot, all of them opposed by small-business owners and corporate interests.” (The Wall Street Journal, 05/13/08)

Jamaican electricity workers wildcat strike: LibCom reports: “Wildcat industrial action by employees of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) yesterday led to power cuts affecting some 58,000 customers in seven parishes around the country. The JPS reported last night that customers in sections of Clarendon, Manchester, St Ann, St Catherine, St Elizabeth, St James and St Thomas had lost their supply up to last night because of the action. However, the unions agreed to instruct a resumption of work to facilitate a continuation of the ministry’s conciliatory efforts today. Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles said he will be meeting again with unions at 10am today at Jamaica House to attempt to resolve all the issues surrounding the controversial reclassification issue which dates back to 2001. The strike was triggered by the company’s decision to terminate the services of two teams of consultants working on a job evaluation and compensation review project – Trevor Hamilton and Associates and FocalPoint Consulting Limited. The consultants had been engaged over the last few months in the computation of amounts due to individual JPS employees for the period 2001 – 2007 under the reclassification exercise. For seven years the workers have not been paid the now $2 billion owed to them. Strikes by workers in the essential services, including the JPS, are illegal under the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act.” (LibCom.org, 05/05/08)

G-8 Labor Meeting Calls for Work-Life Balance: According to the Japan Economic Newswire, “Senior labor officials from the Group of Eight nations on Monday shared recognition of the need to support a better work-life balance and promote lifelong career development amid increased life spans. But opinions were split in discussions over a flexible working style among the participants from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, a Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official told reporters after the morning session of the second day of their three-day meeting in Niigata. Some addressed the importance of encouraging flexibility in ways of working in order to secure stable employment throughout life, while others said too much flexibility may give rise to a further increase in part-time employment among young people, the officials said.” (Japan Economic Newswire, 05/12/08)

Go to Work, Go to Jail: Ron Jacobs writes for Z Net, “Recently, more than 100 workers in Pascagoula, Mississippi walked off the job at a Mississippi shipyard last week to protest conditions similar to slavery. The workers, were protesting the conditions they have been living and working in since being hired from India after Hurricane Katrina. According to the lawsuit filed in the workers’ behalf, the workers were offered jobs, green cards and permanent residency in exchange for as much as $20,000 each that they paid to recruiters working for a Northrop Grumman subsidiary in Bombay. One of the organizers of the march was quoted in a press release put out by the New Orleans Worker Justice Coalition, saying “They promised us green cards and permanent residency, and instead gave us 10-month visas and made us live like animals in company trailers, 24 to a room. We were trapped between an ocean of debt at home and constant threats of deportation from our bosses in Mississippi.” When workers attempted to organize against these conditions the organizers were fired. Also in Mississippi, beginning July 1st, 2008, it will become a felony for an undocumented worker to hold a job.” (Z Net, 05/15/08)

Accept Increased Labor Mobility: An American Progress editorial states: “The US economy does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, our economy is inextricably linked to the global economy. Globalization encompasses not only the accelerated movement of capital and goods and services across international boundaries, but also the less reflected-upon movement of labor across international borders. Given the rapidly aging native-born population, there is a strong likelihood the U.S. economy will become increasingly reliant on an international labor market. continued influx of immigrant workers should not be feared, but it must be managed within a legal framework where the rule of law is observed by all. The constant flow of unauthorized workers into the country, the shortage of visas for highly educated workers, and the interminable waits that separate too many families seeking to reunite in the United States make clear that our current broken system fails to meet this basic requirement.” (American Progress, 05/12/08)

Migrant workers hold a demonstration to protest government oppression in the Jongno district, Seoul, on January 20.

South Korea: Migrant Trade Union leaders arrested for holding demonstrations: Migrant workers hold a demonstration to protest government oppression in the Jongno district, Seoul, on January 20. The Ministry of Justice announced on May 5 that it had arrested two leaders of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrant Trade Union, including its president Torner Rimbu, for organizing demonstrations against the government. The MTU is protesting the arrests, saying that the incident is the beginning of a sweeping roundup of foreign workers. (The Hankyoreh, 05/06/08)

LNR Special Focus: Labor & Immigration:

Immigration Raid Jars Small Iowa Town: The Washington Post’s Spencer S. Hsu writes: “Monday’s raid on the Agriprocessors plant, in which 389 immigrants were arrested and many held at a cattle exhibit hall, was the Bush administration’s largest crackdown on illegal workers at a single site. It has upended this tree-lined community, which calls itself ‘Hometown to the World.’ Half of the school system’s 600 students were absent Tuesday, including 90 percent of Hispanic children, because their parents were arrested or in hiding. Current and former officials of the Department of Homeland Security say its raid on the largest employer in northeast Iowa reflects the administration’s decision to put pressure on companies with large numbers of illegal immigrant workers, particularly in the meat industry. But its disruptive impact on the nation’s largest supplier of kosher beef and on the surrounding community has provoked renewed criticism that the administration is disproportionately targeting workers instead of employers, and that the resulting turmoil is worse than the underlying crimes.” (The Washington Post, 05/18/08)

California: One hundred plus farm workers evicted following news coverage: “Yesterday more than 100 migrant farm workers were living in an orchard. Tonight they have no place to go. Why, you ask? These Washington state cherry pickers came to Shafter, California after being told by company representatives to come to Califronia for a job in the cherries. Consequently workers and their families traveled from Washington State to work at the Kyle Mathison Orchards. Kyle Mathison is part of the Wenatchee, Washington based Stemilt Growers Company—which, according to its web site, is the largest shipper of fresh-market sweet cherries in the world. When these farm workers reached California, things were not as expected. A number of the workers were hired, but other workers were told to just wait and see if jobs were available.” (United Farm Workers / Infoshop News, 05/10/08)

Immigration Raid: Union Fears Action Hurts Probe: William Petroski reports for The Des Moines Register: “A union trying to organize Postville meatpacking workers had asked federal immigration authorities earlier this month not to raid the Agriprocessors Inc. plant while a government investigation of possible labor law violations was under way. Mark Lauritsen, international vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, wrote a May 2 letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, advising officials of an ongoing labor dispute at the Postville plant.” (The Des Moines Register, 05/13/08)

300 arrested in Iowa immigration raid at largest U.S. kosher meat plant: Michael Winter of USA Today reports: “Federal immigration agents today raided the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant and arrested more than 300 people in northeastern Iowa. Most are accused of identity theft and of being in the country illegally.” (USA Today, 05/12/08)

Immigration Agents Raid Iowa Meatpacking Plant: Reporting for The Des Moines Register, Nigel Duara, William Petroski and David Elbert say, “At least 300 people were arrested Monday on immigration and identity theft charges at Agriprocessors, one of the USA’s largest packing plants for kosher meats. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors complex in this northeast Iowa community of 2,500 during morning work hours, executing warrants for fraudulent use of others’ Social Security numbers in connection with their employment at the plant. The packing plant has attracted workers from Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere.” (The Des Moines Register / USA Today, 05/12/08)

Industrial Worker – Issue #1705, May 2008 (PDF)

This roundup was compiled by GNN contributor and blogger Nathan Coe. Nathan is a guerrilla journalist and rebel insurgent residing in the mountains of Southwest Colorado, where he has infiltrated a facility of indoctrination, targeted for revolutionary subversion, under the guise of a senior college student working on his Major in Humanities. He can be contacted at free_world_alliance(at)yahoo.com or via his blog at ShiftShapers.gnn.tv.

For more of GNN’s exclusive roundups of under-reported news from around the world, check out The Rebel Communiqué, East Is East, If You Knew…, and the most recent additions to the GNN Roundup family: Native News Roundup and Prison News Roundup.

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