80 pH A N A R C H I S T NEWS AND VIEWS www.froodomprofts.orft.uk 5 MAY 2 0 9 7 Private Equity’s rise and pall Freeport workers fight back Anarchist seeds in the snow Exclusive social centres g u id d INSIDE ►► page 3 page 4 page 5 p a g e s ASDA: PART OF WAL-MART SPY RING ollowing mi admission front US stewards in the GMB have been supermarket giant Wal-Mart that expressing increasing unease over. Fthe company ho* employed aomc Gaudie explained, “They have cameras of its estimated 400 Investigators to everywhere, They have cashless snack spy on groups who stand against them, machines where they give you a card enquiries by Vnwdiva have uncovered and can monitor what you buy and a similar story at UK subsidiary Asda. how long you are spending buying it. During the most recent major conflict They have recently brought in ‘RF Pick*, between Asda and on outside body* a where they have co-ordinates of where dispute between the company and the everything is and feed it through to you GMB led to bug detectors being deployed via a headset. They can monitor every­ by unionists during negotiations to avoid thing their workers do. They even surveillance by managers. track the 10% discount cards - they The clash, which last year saw n major have tried to sack people for giving conflict over whether Asda would them to family. recognise the unionisation of its ware­ **1 was in tt meeting of over 40 shop house sector, was one of the most stewards from around the country and acrimonious of 2006 and saw Asda it's all the same. They have brought the attempt to oust GMB from all of their new systems out at the depots. People buildings. Feelings ran high particularly are being turned more and more into in the Northwest. automatons, and people feel they are Eddie Gaudie of the GMB union said: being asked to do too much. Wc hnvr had creftawtu im a uumbei ol sites where rooms might be hugged, nnfl both through tachographs (which there were strong enough concerns that monitor speed, distance travelled, and people bought bug detection equipment . rest periods| and GPS |satellite) tracking. A couple of limes they did buy//, so we Under this ‘VEMIS’ system, if the were very suspicious. driver is oversew ing the vehicle they “When there was an adjournment and will be brought in. It is another covert we were discussing, there were concerns way of monitoring the drivers.” that when they were coming back in There arc fears that this level of some of their conversations were so information being held on the work­ close to what was being said in the force could lead to the ousting of low-performing staff - a process he having the wrong attitude, something views at work, mdiudir^r%§& break it was uncanny*M potentially troublesome workers. In a calls “removing the red”. which historically has been used to fraternisation* rule, ^ m c a w k r While evidence is yet to emerge of March speech, Asda*s chief ‘People The implication is that some of the help remove organisers. discovered that some of 4 9 9 the company using private detectives, Director* David Smith suggested the formidable surveillance equipment being Its parent company Walmart, the investigators, many m x& i aaeaesh s m high-tech methods of surveillance arc company should not only “hire on installed - entirely legally - could bea ultimate controller of Asda's attitude to the FBI and CIA, sad bees at mv & becoming standard practice across the attitude, not on skill”, but should use powerful means for the company to the workplace, have notoriously used investigate and assess dbt Awar company, something which shop every means in its disposal to oust divest itself of anyone it thinks of as investigators to enforce its puritanical activist shareholdersm ih c m o p an r POINTS ON YOUR FREEDOM i SQUAT MAYDAY! he government hat announced a job offer, low skilled, students and r die time o f writing, the Squatted agreed so alkmr she u g o a o n s& eesar UK population change* timetable for the introduction of a temporary workers. Social Centre in Camberwell, for sax wntwfhr hoi reasons zm&r Nat Inward migration new 'pointi-baaed’ system for The plan will go through in stages, London, is being threatened with farfanamMc «o Acreicfaea, wwirimk T 2001/2___________ 171,800 A immigration. being fully implemented by 2009. eviction. dcdtdtdso o le asip cnanr*. I he system, baaed on the Australian The single plan will replace a myriad 2002/3 153,400 Papers have been served and the They jnr grrereg wiprnhii .a drarw r and Canadian models, would give free of different procedures which have 2003/4 151.000 collective was taken to court on 1st for the ihrNrwg, iw peiu ^v -s m o g oo' entry to the rich, icirntitu and doctora grown up throughout the course of 2004/8 ___________ 223,000 May - yes, Mayday - by the owner* ofeviction far a wfrir,, As rite wrmwfrrik while barring anyone without a •peulk recent migratory movements, which Nat grow th" the building. the space u. bossg uh«3 -as i m d as job to go to unit*** they are (mm the tlw government say will make 2001/2 208,200 The squatted centre only opened m possible* earn-mg o n mads m loreBy European Union, and demanding a decision»tti*king clearer and easier for 2002/3 232,100 March, in an old cafe. it had been program of events -‘TOr ana* e c financial bond from those with empty since last yeat; with no electric evicted* sooner or b a te * e m m immigrant* to understand. 2003/4 280,600 temporary work. However the empliasis on bringing and water pouring from ripped out sing datua? and cx&aar .smwramrr mso? 2004/6 375,100 ( here will be five 'tiara' within the in the wealthy and highly skilled has pipes, damp and dark, The place has for a* long as the agorae m wader o w Total growth 2001*06 ljOBS.OOO point* scheme within which people angered international NGOl, who say been done up, painted, plumbed, control. And then we will aceagar applying to work in the UK would lie it will speed up the movement of big electrified, and turned into a somewhere else!” categorised: highly *killedf skilled with money out of poor nations and ’ Office of National Statistics communal space tor use as a cafe, ban The building is also avaikofefc io r increase the ‘brain drain1 which has * ‘ Births against deaths plus migration meeting space and much more. It is other folk* to use, local or whenoaac. seen 50% of uni varsity dr vel educated run by a collective of people living “So drop in, check the place uoc 42re African nationals leave for the exploitative gangs taking large sums of fairly locally, some of whom are in the it whik itk there. I N N OO16-OA04 Northern liemisphrrc within five years money from workers in situations words o f one collective member, “Free space is fragile and hard to of graduation. amounting to indentured servitude, in Gypsy Lee, “long time South London hnd/hold in London. Help us keep this At the bottom end of the scale, site exchange for bypassing the controls. troublemakers and some more recent one as long as possible.” emphasis on only allowing worker* The new rules look likely to reverse arrivals”. into the country if they are from the ‘trickle-down* effect which The owners of the building and the For more information ring the Cambemeli V0l 6H Europe or have a job to go to is currently see* a large movement of neighbouring ones want to knock Social Centre on 07962 469758. chew w* No 09 tluuiglu likely to rnggei u massive money from short-term workers In the them down and build yet more over­ the website at 56a.org.uk/warham.htinl or jncraiia in people trafficking, with NS page 6, column 8 priced flats. The owners originally emaflbtacfcfrogietphabetthfeaus.tik 2 Freedom 5tri May 2007 Home and away BAE adm its spying EH BA£ Systems have admitted paying a private investigation agency to gather information on activists and groups including Campaign Against Arms Trade Around the world (CAAT). BAE paid £2,500 per month ro LigneDeux Associates, whose agent CANADA: Striking First Ontario Credit body the ITUC has presented direct sack protested outside the company attended by over 80,000 people. The Paul Mercer passed information about Union workers have no regrets after they evidence of collusion between Colombia’s offices before moving to Roissy airport 1,600 workers are being represented CAAT to BAE’s Director of Security, occupied the company’s East Mountain notorious DAS Security Agency and where they protested at the Lufthansa by the UGT (general workers anion) Mike McGinry. branch and padlocked the doors to try paramilitary death squads in the check-in desks, Lufthansa is the former and the workers’ commission. They BAE insist that they expected Paul to get the financial institution back to murder of at least seven trade unionists owner of LSG. have complained that as the owners Mercer to operate within the law, but the bargaining table. since the early 1990s. are in America negotiations are he has now admitted providing them Hamilton police smashed the glass on The DAS- (or ‘Administrative IRAQ: A new report by Amnesty difficult. However the owners must with a legally privileged document a door to gain entry to the Queensdale Security Department’) is under the International has highlighted a rise in care abour their assets in Spain and internal to CAAT.