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Zimbabwe Arrests Unionists, Opposition Zimbabwe’S Ruling Party and Supporters

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Zimbabwe Arrests Unionists, Opposition Zimbabwe’S Ruling Party and Supporters Transport workers IWW delegation May Day 2008 Staughton Lynd: take action Haiti travel diary reports another world is 5 8-9 10-11 possible 12 INDUSTRIAL WORKER OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER O F T H E I N D U S T R I A L W O R K E R S O F T H E W O RLD June 2008 #1706 Vol. 105 No. 4 $1 / £1 / €1 Zimbabwe arrests unionists, opposition Zimbabwe’s ruling party and supporters. Two have been killed to paramilitaries are conducting a terror date, with a third abducted by Zanu-PF campaign of arrests and captive meet- paramilitaries. The teachers’ union has ings of opposition supporters before the received reports that the Zanu-PF are presidential run-off election on June 27. chasing teachers out of schools, beating Police arrested the union presi- them, and demanding “repentance” fines dent Lovemore Motombo and general in the form of cash, goats and cattle, secretary Wellington Chibebe of the according to IRIN, a United Nations Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions news service report. “The situation in the (ZCTU) on May 8. Police charged them schools resembles war zones, and there with “inciting people to rise against the is no way teachers can report for work government and reporting falsehoods to face those death squads,” Raymond about people being killed” during a May Majongwe, president of the Progressive Day rally. Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, told IRIN. The General Agriculture and Planta- “Our fear is that more could be tion Workers Union of Zimbabwe has under torture, or have been killed,” said said that 40,000 farm workers are “af- Majongwe. fected by the current terror campaign” The MDC has placed the death toll that has led to violence and eviction since the March 29 election at 43 people, from their workplaces. with hundreds beaten and more than Teachers in rural classrooms are 5,000 people fleeing to the mountains among those being targetted as MDC Continued on Photo: Carlos Guarita Teachers in Bristol, United Kingdom, march as part of a one-day national African unions fight strike on April 24 to protest a below-inflation pay offer by government. UK teachers strike, first time in 21 years food crisis in streets The National Union of Teachers More than 130,000 civil servants Unions are responding to rising food said Laurent Ouédraogo, the secretary (NUT) held a one-day national strike in and college lecturers also struck to prices worldwide. Working class people general of the Confédération Nationale 50 cities across the United Kingdom on press demands about low pay. are coping by cutting the number and des Travailleurs du Burkina (CNTB). April 24 to fight low pay for teachers. It was the first teachers’ strike in 21 quantity of their meals and by protesting While the Burkino Faso government has The strike affected 8,000 schools years, signalling a change in tactics for the price increases in street protests. dropped import taxes on certain foods, it and one million students with a third of a union that has relied on lobbying to In Morocco, four public service has refused to budge on pay raises. schools turning students away, accord- make its voice heard. unions struck for one day on May 13. The World Bank has reported that ing to a Guardian newspaper survey. Continued on The unions are planning a general strike wheat prices have risen by 181 per cent on May 21 to demand lower food prices. over the last 1.5 years, while overall food In South Africa, thousands of Con- is 83 per cent more expensive. gress of South African Trade Unions Africa is particularly vulnerable to E-Z Supply ordered to members marched through the capital food price increases because millions city to demand lower food and electricity of people rely on food aid. The price prices said to be rising by 53 per cent. increases have effectively cut food aid pay IWWs $1 million Workers from the public and private budgets, meaning fewer people get sectors in Burkina Faso protested in fed. The United Nations’ World Food New York City IU 460 legal update the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, Program said it needed $500 million to struck for two days starting April 8. They meet the shortfall. By Stephanie Basile demanded a 25 per cent pay increase in Kenya, Namibia and other African Since the New York City IWW began E-Z Supply (now Sunrise Plus) the public sector and a reduction in taxes countries are focusing efforts on increas- organizing in foodstuff warehouses three Thirteen workers were awarded a on food and fuel. ing their domestic crop yields. However, years ago, we’ve organized in ten work- total of $1.068 million in back wages and “We need an equalisation between fears of drought this summer across places with varying degrees of success. compensation. The owners have tried to the cost of living and purchasing power,” Africa are amplifying the crisis. The employer’s failure to comply with escape liability by forming a new corpo- wage and hour laws is one common issue ration called Sunrise Plus. The union has Industrial Worker at every shop. made a motion to define Sunrise Plus as Periodicals Postage Many companies have retaliated an alter ego for E-Z Supply, which would PO Box 13476 PAID by firing workers for their union activ- hold Sunrise Plus liable for the judgment Philadelphia, PA 19101 Philadelphia, PA ity. Workers have fought back through against E-Z Supply. and additional ISSN 0019-8870 strikes, pickets, demonstrations, and se- mailing offices lective legal action, among other tactics. Handyfat Trading (now called HDF ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED We find legal action to be most effec- Trading) tive when combined with these other Six workers were awarded a total of methods, and when viewed as a means, $360,000 in back wages and compensa- not an end. tion. The union recently made a motion This is a report on the legal status to require Handyfat to pay interest and of our campaign, but readers should legal fees which could raise the total understand that legal action is only one amount. of many tools workers are using to win their demands. Giant Big Apple About a year and a half after we be- Fifteen of seventeen workers have gan using legal action, several favorable settled their claim for back wages and rulings have recently come down and compensation. The fifteen will receive several settlements have been reached. a total of $325,000. The remaining two Since the rulings are new, companies have yet to settle. Subscribers: The number (top line of label ) reflects the last issue due on your subscription. have not yet begun making payments. Continued on Page • Industrial Worker • June 2008 Letters welcome! May Day greetings from Japan’s Freeters Send your letters to: iw@iww. To the Comrades of IWW, over. This year’s theme will be “The org with “Letter” in the subject. We would like to introduce ourselves Precariats Expand and Connect,” ex- Mailing address: IW, PO Box to you: we are the Freeters’ Union. We pressing the idea of making a network of 52003, 298 Dalhousie St, are a Tokyo-based general union, estab- various groups and the people working with various types of informal workers, Ottawa, Ontario lished recently in the face of the out-of- control global situation in which neo- outside our union. That is to say, many K1N 1S0 Canada liberal capitalism is running rampant. As movements of the precariats are appear- precarious workers suffering from work- ing across the country outside Tokyo. We ing conditions that are becoming more will report on these lively movements as and more fluid and amorphous, we are well. Direct action statement confusing intensifying our struggles for freedom We know the glorious history of and survival. IWW in North America. We feel the past Re: GEB statement in the May IW ‘employing’ managing class by recom- At this moment, one of our new and present struggles of yours are very I am concerned that I get mixed mes- mending direct action. campaigns is to organize the Gas Sta- close to ours. We are seeking to share sages from the statement by the GEB. For all that is gained as a result of tion Union to confront Kanto Toyu Co., both your efforts and hardships, going On the one hand, I understand the utilizing approved methods, I am unsure Ltd. –a Japanese member of the Shell beyond the barriers of ethnicity, gen- necessity of stating clearly the bylaws, as to why the IWW GEB needs to tell the Oil Group– that has begun to lay off an der, and historicity. We of the Freeters’ and describing what actions are appro- ELF what methods it should use. increasing number of part-time workers Union send the warmest greetings of priate in the name of the IWW, but, on Is the GEB giving Fellow Workers on the pretext of the rise of oil prices and solidarity to all the comrades of IWW, the other, I am unclear as to why a state- examples of how effective certain kind of financial instability. It is a necessity to who have been consistently fighting for ment about the suitability of ELF [Earth direct action is, in order to make clear a fight this gas station chain and the oil- workers’ essential rights and social revo- Liberation Front] militancy, in compari- mandate that we all should organize with driven conglomerate which forcibly lays lution beyond national borders. son, is useful. a goal of direct action in accordance with off its employees in order to make even Together let us fight against the I am concerned whether it is the role the bylaws so we can carry out cam- bigger profits.
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