This is a blog about building labor and community solidarity in Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley and beyond. The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors only unless otherwise noted.
Showing posts with label World Federation of Trade Unions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Federation of Trade Unions. Show all posts
The video below was done by Steve Zeltzer and laborvideo and posted on their Youtube channel either yesterday or today (see here also). The main subject of this interview is the analysis of current events by Cliff Smith, the Business Manager of Roofers Local 36 in Los Angeles. It is a short and interestig video. Local 36 has an active Facebook page and is active on other social media. I believe that the local is the only U.S. affiliate of the World Federation of Trade Unions.
The blurb that accompanies this video says the following:
Join Local 36, labor leaders, academics and community organizers in a Working Conference for Labor & Community analysis and strategy for the impending election. 9am - 5pm Saturday, Sept. 7 lunch provided At: Workers United Western States Regional Joint Board 920 S Alvarado St, Los Angeles contact Cliff Smith 213.663.6316
I believe that Brother Smith makes many valid points in this video and that many readers will be surprised to find how much they agree with him on many points. That is not to say that I agree with everything said here or with all of Brother Smith's or Steve Zeltzer's key and leading points. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the September 7 conference.
The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is calling for a massive September 1 global labor mobilization for peace under thes two basic demands:
* Stop Imperialist Wars and Interventions * Resources for peoples’ needs and not for NATO’s plans
A long call for the mobilization by the Secretariat of the WFTU ends with the following:
The WFTU calls upon workers all over the globe, the militant trade unions to actively participate in the International Action Day of Trade Unions for peace, organizing militant activities to strongly denounce the uninterrupted increase in military expenditures and the ongoing imperialist conflicts; to assert the demand for dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions, the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, the respect for the independence and sovereignty of all states and to spread the message of internationalism and class struggle for lasting peace, for a world free of imperialist interventions and man-by-man exploitation.
The International Workers Institute (IWI) https://www.theoryandpraxis.eu/ has issued a new biographical book by George Mavrikos, the Honorary President of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).
George Mavrikos (born 1950) is the General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in Athens, Greece. He is a leading member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), and former member of Greek parliament. He is largely credited for having led the successful efforts to halt the decline of the World Federation of Trade Unions since the fall of the Soviet Union. Since his election as general secretary during the congress in Havana in 2005, the World Federation of Trade Unions has seen an increase in its number of affiliates and has successfully managed to recruit several trade union of importances in Western Europe.
The publisher's advertisement for the book states the following:
Author George Mavrikos draws from his extensive experience as General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) as well as his involvement in Greek trade unions, highlighting critical WFTU Congresses while shedding light on the ideological currents and political contexts that shaped the organization’s trajectory.
Mavrikos delves into his personal journey, from his upbringing in Greece to his various roles in trade unions, the Greek parliament, and his leadership within WFTU. He emphasizes the continuous struggle to create and defend the WFTU in the post-World War II era, amid the shifting international relations and the emergence of competing international trade union organizations. Mavrikos also addresses the contemporary challenges faced by trade unions, including the re-packaging of reformist arguments and the persistence of political corruption within certain trade union organizations, contrasting WFTU’s commitment to decolonization and opposition to imperialism.
Linda Burnham, Max Elbaum and María Poblet have edited the bookPower Concedes Nothing and have made it available as a PDF that is downloadable for free.
An announcement from the editors says
The high-stakes 2024 election is already underway.
Organizing in Latin American-descendant communities, cross-racial alliance building, and tapping the energy of working-class constituencies has never been more urgent.
A new resource full of strategies and practical lessons in taking on those challenges is now available: A Spanish language Edition of key chapters from the 2022 book Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections. This collection is available as a downloadable PDF free of charge from Convergence Magazine here.
Power Concedes Nothing tells the stories behind the 2020 victory that won both the White House and the Senate and powered progressive candidates to new levels of influence. It describes the on-the-ground efforts that mobilized a record-breaking turnout by registering new voters and motivating an electorate both old and new.
Some of the most salient lessons of organizing successes and challenges emerged from Latinx communities. For this Spanish edition of Power Concedes Nothing we have selected chapters that illustrate how long-term commitments to organizing for workers’ rights and the safety and well-being of Latinx communities can also serve as springboards for robust voter engagement strategies.
Contributors include: Cliff Albright, Linda Burnham, Max Elbaum, César Fierros Mendoza, Stephanie Greenlea, Beth Howard, Andrea Cristina Mercado, Rafael Návar, Adelina Nicholls, María Poblet, Ai-jen Poo, Marcy Rein, Nsé Ufot, Diana Valles, Mario Yedidia.
An earlier announcement regarding this book said
The November 2020 US election was arguably the most consequential since the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln—and grassroots leaders and organizers played crucial roles in the contention for the presidency and control of both houses of Congress. Power Concedes Nothing recounts these on-the-ground efforts that mobilized a record voter turnout in 2020.
Camarada,
Las elecciones de 2024, de gran importancia, ya están en marcha.
Organizar en comunidades de descendientes de latinoamericanos, construir alianzas interraciales y movilizar la energía de los electores de la clase trabajadora nunca ha sido más urgente.
Ya está disponible un nuevo recurso lleno de estrategias y lecciones prácticas para afrontar esos desafíos: una edición en español de capítulos clave del libro de 2022 El poder no concede nada: cómo la organización de base gana elecciones. Esta colección está disponible como PDF descargable de forma gratuita en Convergence Magazine aquí.
El Poder no concede nada cuenta las historias detrás de una victoria que ganó tanto la Casa Blanca como el Senado y propulsó a candidaturas progresistas hasta nuevos niveles de influencia. Describe los esfuerzos en la práctica que movilizaron una participación electoral récord al inscribir a nueves votantes y motivaron a un electorado tanto mayor como joven.
Algunas de las lecciones más notables de los éxitos y desafíos del trabajo organizativo surgieron de las comunidades latinas. Para esta edición en español de El poder no concede nada, hemos seleccionado capítulos que ilustran cómo los compromisos a largo plazo para hacer trabajo organizativo a favor de los derechos de la clase trabajadora y la seguridad y bienestar de las comunidades latinas pueden servir como trampolines para robustas estrategias de participación electoral.
Les contribuidores incluyen: Cliff Albright, Linda Burnham, Max Elbaum, César Fierros Mendoza, Stephanie Greenlea, Beth Howard, Andrea Cristina Mercado, Rafael Návar, Adelina Nicholls, María Poblet, Ai-jen Poo, Marcy Rein, Nsé Ufot, Diana Valles, Mario Yedidia.
Saludos Solidarios, Linda Burnham Max Elbaum María Poblet Editores de El Poder no concede nada
Please note that the following declaration does not represent the views of the AFL-CIO, the Oregon AFL-CIO, or the Marion-Pok-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter. The World Federation of Trade Unions and the AFL-CIO are not allied with one another.
26 Apr 2024 The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant, class-oriented voice, representing over 105 million workers who live, work, and struggle in 134 countries of the 5 continents, honors the 138th anniversary of the struggle of workers in Chicago in 1886. A struggle that constituted a lasting milestone of the working class and a bright beacon for the struggles of today and tomorrow, a beacon of the uninterrupted class struggle for stable work with rights, social security, free public, and universal health and education, dignified life.
This year’s May Day anniversary will go down in history as a bloody anniversary. Because while millions of workers around the world organize themselves, demand against the anti-people’s policies of the capital, its governments and the EU, our colleagues in Palestine will be burying the dozens of bodies murdered every day in the genocide that is carried out by Israel. Workers in every corner of the globe will not remain silent in the crime being committed. They will turn every May Day activity into a demonstration of solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people, and of condemnation of the murderous state of Israel and its imperialist allies who in one way or another support the massacre.
Similarly, the workers do not remain silent on every other crime committed against the peoples, for the profits of the imperialists and the monopolies. At a time when the planet is dripping blood in various places from military interventions, the international class-oriented trade union movement, organized and decisively, is fighting for peace. We say no to imperialist plans and military conflicts. The struggle for peace has a specific content. It means first and foremost a struggle for the dismantling of NATO and all military coalitions, a struggle to defend the right of every people to choose the path of their economic and social development without interventions, sanctions, blockades, and economic wars. Against the double-standards policy where international law ends up being in practice the law of the powerful ones.
The messages and demands of the Chicago pioneers of 1886 remain relevant today. The crisis of capitalism is generalized and deepens. Social inequalities are widening dramatically. Democratic freedoms and trade union rights, are under attack all over the world.
The high cost of living and inflation are brutally undermining workers’ and pensioners living standards. Τhe right to organize and collective bargaining and the sacred right to strike are under attack.
Individual contracts, privatizations, outsourcing, teleworking and “service leasing” are just some of the forms taken by this harsh neoliberal attack.
Major social achievements such as social security and public health care are being privatized while the authoritarian and arbitrary increase of the retirement age methodically continues.
It is obvious that the burden of the capitalist crisis, is being attempted once again to be put on the shoulders of the working people and the weak popular strata in general.
The workers all over the world do not passively accept the capitalist anti-grassroots, and anti-worker attacks. They refuse to pay the bill of the capitalist crisis. With militant struggles and mobilizations in all corners of the globe, they demand the satisfaction of their contemporary needs. The WFTU and its affiliates are, and will continue firmly being in the vanguard of this struggles!
In this year’s May Day celebrations and demonstrations, the Palestinian flag will wave proudly next to the WFTU’s and its affiliates’ flags. In a spirit of solidarity and internationalism, we firmly stand beside the people of the heroic Cuba, and the peoples who struggle against the murderous sanctions, interventions, imperialist aggression, blockades and economic wars.
On the occasion of May Day 2024, the WFTU calls the class and militant trade unions around the world to organize this year’s campaign and activities under the slogan:
AGAINST THEIR PROFITS, WE RISE UP FOR OUR LIVES!
More Massive and Militant
For the workers’ contemporary needs, against the exploitation! For democratic and trade union freedoms! In solidarity with Palestine, against imperialist wars and interventions! For the class-oriented Trade Union movement, for the workers who resist, who do not compromise with oppression, discrimination and exploitation, there is only one path of dignity: the path of the struggles!
The struggles that have taken place signal hope, show the enormous power of the organized working class, illuminate the path of perspective against capitalist exploitation.
ESPAÑOL Declaración de la FSM sobre el 1º de mayo de 2024
26 Abr 2024 La Federación Sindical Mundial, la voz combativa y clasista, que representa a más de 105 millones de trabajadores que viven, trabajan y luchan en 134 países de los 5 continentes, honra el 138 aniversario de la lucha de los trabajadores en Chicago en 1886. Una lucha que constituyó un hito duradero de la clase obrera y un faro luminoso para las luchas de hoy y de mañana, un faro de la lucha de clase ininterrumpida por el trabajo estable y con derechos, la seguridad social, la sanidad y la educación públicas, gratuitas y universales, la vida digna.
El aniversario del Primero de Mayo de este año pasará a la historia como un aniversario sangriento. Porque mientras millones de trabajadores en todo el mundo se organizan, reivindican contra las políticas antipopulares del capital, sus gobiernos y la UE, nuestros compañeros en Palestina estarán enterrando las decenas de cuerpos asesinados cada día en el genocidio que lleva a cabo Israel. Los trabajadores de todos los rincones del planeta no permanecerán callados ante el crimen que se está cometiendo. Convertirán cada actividad del Primero de Mayo en una demostración de solidaridad con el pueblo palestino en lucha, y de condena al Estado asesino de Israel y a sus aliados imperialistas que de una u otra forma apoyan la masacre.
Del mismo modo, los trabajadores no callan ante cualquier otro crimen cometido contra los pueblos, en beneficio de los imperialistas y los monopolios. En un momento en que el planeta chorrea sangre en diversos lugares a causa de las intervenciones militares, el movimiento sindical clasista internacional, organizado y con decisión, lucha por la paz. Decimos no a los planes imperialistas y a los conflictos militares. La lucha por la paz tiene un contenido específico. Significa ante todo una lucha por el desmantelamiento de la OTAN y de todas las coaliciones militares, una lucha por la defensa del derecho de cada pueblo a elegir el camino de su desarrollo económico y social sin intervenciones, sanciones, bloqueos y guerras económicas. Contra la política de doble rasero donde el derecho internacional acaba siendo en la práctica el derecho de los poderosos.
Los mensajes y reivindicaciones de los pioneros de Chicago de 1886 siguen siendo actuales. La crisis del capitalismo se generaliza y profundiza. Las desigualdades sociales se amplían dramáticamente. Las libertades democráticas y los derechos sindicales, están siendo atacados en todo el mundo.
El alto coste de la vida y la inflación están socavando brutalmente el nivel de vida de los trabajadores y pensionistas. El derecho de sindicación y de negociación colectiva y el sagrado derecho de huelga están siendo atacados.
Los contratos individuales, las privatizaciones, la externalización, el teletrabajo y el "arrendamiento de servicios" son sólo algunas de las formas que adopta este duro ataque neoliberal.
Importantes conquistas sociales como la seguridad social y la sanidad pública están siendo privatizadas mientras continúa metódicamente el aumento autoritario y arbitrario de la edad de jubilación.
Es evidente que el peso de la crisis capitalista, una vez más, se intenta hacer recaer sobre los hombros de los trabajadores y de las capas populares débiles en general.
Los trabajadores de todo el mundo no aceptan pasivamente los ataques capitalistas antipopulares y antiobreros. Se niegan a pagar la factura de la crisis capitalista. Con luchas combativas y movilizaciones en todos los rincones del planeta, exigen la satisfacción de sus necesidades contemporáneas. La FSM y sus afiliados están y seguirán estando firmemente a la vanguardia de estas luchas.
En las celebraciones y manifestaciones del Primero de Mayo de este año, la bandera palestina ondeará con orgullo junto a las banderas de la FSM y de sus afiliados. En un espíritu de solidaridad e internacionalismo, estamos firmemente al lado del pueblo de la heroica Cuba, y de los pueblos que luchan contra las sanciones asesinas, las intervenciones, la agresión imperialista, los bloqueos y las guerras económicas.
Con motivo del Primero de Mayo de 2024, la FSM llama a los sindicatos de clase y combativos de todo el mundo a organizar la campaña y las actividades de este año bajo el lema:
¡CONTRA SUS BENEFICIOS, NOS LEVANTAMOS POR NUESTRAS VIDAS!
Más masivo y militante
Por las necesidades contemporáneas de los trabajadores, ¡contra la explotación! ¡Por las libertades democráticas y sindicales! En solidaridad con Palestina, ¡contra las guerras e intervenciones imperialistas! Para el movimiento sindical clasista, para los trabajadores que resisten, que no transigen con la opresión, la discriminación y la explotación, sólo hay un camino de dignidad: ¡el camino de las luchas!
Las luchas que han tenido lugar son una señal de esperanza, muestran el enorme poder de la clase obrera organizada, iluminan el camino de la perspectiva contra la explotación capitalista.
This post is written by Ron Kaminkow of Railroad Workers United and came to us through the World Federation of Trade Unions website. It was written prior to Workers Memorial Day, commemorated on April 28, but it makes some important and lasting points about workers health and safety in the railroad industry. This post does not represent the opinions of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chaptewr or the Oregon AFL-CIO.Every year on April 28th, workers across the United States and the world recognize Workers Memorial Day to honor, remember, and call for action on behalf of our friends and allies killed, injured, or made ill on the job. Far too many of us who labor across industries have been subject to workplace hazards that can kill or permanently disable us. It is our right to go to work and know we will come home safely to our family and loved ones.
While worker fatalities on the railroad are down in recent years, we are still subject to management-led policies like PSR, "High-Viz" attendance, and long and heavy trains that spur unsafe working conditions. And we don't need to remind railroaders that, during this pandemic, working people like us have and are falling from preventable deaths. "Essential workers" — including nurses and doctors, grocery store staff, and transportation workers — have been on the front lines for over two years, and will continue to show up. The nation (rightly) calls us heroes, but heroes deserve a real investment by management in truly safe working conditions, and in worker-centered policies that protect us over profits.
This Workers Memorial Day, we remember those who have sacrificed their lives and health while performing their duties. We will never stop fighting for a healthy and safe workplace environment.
kick off contract negotiations as they fight for improved staffing, safety and services.
Note: I am sorry that I did not keep better track of the sources for the photos above and the texts given. Most of the photos came from the AFL-CIO, I think. The photo of the women members of the World Federation of Trade Unions came from a digest sent out by the WFTU. The other photos either came from the unions mentioned, thhe metro Washington Labor Council, or from The Red Hot Worker, a great source of clips sent out by SEIU.
I have done a few posts here on our labor movement and demands for a ceasefire in Israel/Palestine. There are strong arguments on both sides of the issue, but I suspect that most union members don't know that our unions are involved in foreign affairs and international policies. At its best this union attention to international developments benefits working people the world over by building unity behind common demands. On the question of the ceasefire, though, the labor movement in the United States has a divided house.
That we have a divided house on this issue is not necessarily a bad thing. For generations our unions have had too little open discussion and a kind of enforced unity has sometimes prevailed. The pro-ceasefire faction in the labor movement is unique---and is probably interesting to many union members---because it is a coalition of experienced union members, many of whom have been active for almost 50 years, and young people who are new to the labor movement, many of whom organized their way in.
I attended two meetings about labor, the working-class in the United Sates and the ceasefire yesterday and found that our union members and friends who support a ceasefire are all over the map on why they support a ceasefire and how they hope to organize greater support for our position. I saw something of this recently when I attended a pro-Palestinian rally led by an organization that used the issue of the war to build itself rather than build unity for peace and justice in Palestine/Israel. They seemed to be doing an infomercial that said "We interrupt this war to tell you all about us." Those in the labor movement who are opposed to a ceasefire, or to unions taking a pro-ceasefire position, are more focused and unified in their game plans. And some of these voices in the labor movement have been good on other issues even while being wrong about the need for a ceasefire. Can either of the sides fighting this out tell us how supporting their positions builds our labor movement?
One of the meetings that I attended yesterday was sponsored by Communications Workers Of America Local 7250 and featured a talk by long-time Palestinian activist and trade unionist Imad Temeiza. He is a leader of the Palestinian Postal Service Workers Union. This union supports the movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) aimed at Israel. Brother Temeiza showed clips from cellphone videos made in Gaza recently that brought some people at the meeting to tears. It is a hard thing to see people suffering and children dying. A good introduction to Brother Temeiza's work can be found here:
The current issue of the Northwest Labor Press has a helpful article mentioning that "more local and national unions in the United States have issued statements calling for a cease-fire." The article expands on this by saying that "A letter sponsored by United Auto Workers, United Electrical Workers, and Seattle-based UFCW Local 3000 calls on President Joe Biden and Congress to push for an immediate cease-fire, and for the release of hostages taken by Hamas. More than 50 local unions have signed the letter, including some in Oregon and Washington: PROTEC17, AFT-Oregon, AFT Local 6069 (Coalition of Graduate Employees at OSU), New Seasons Labor Union, Oregon Education Association, Portland Association of Teachers, and UNITE HERE Local 8." My union, the National Writers Union, should be listed there as well.
The People's World online publication has an article dated December 15 that goes into greater detail regarding where our labor movement and some supportive politicians stand on the ceasefire and why they take the positions that they do. The People's World article explains that "Labor leaders from across the United States met in the capital on Thursday, Dec. 14, to demand President Joe Biden call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in occupied Palestine. Joined by Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Andre Carson, D-Ind., and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., union members and national leaders assembled to make their demands for an end to the genocide in Gaza clear. Officially represented were the United Auto Workers, the American Postal Workers Union, United Electrical Workers, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the National Labor Network for a Ceasefire. The event was called to build awareness and support for H.Res. 786, a ceasefire bill in Congress." As the article points out, something is moving when the National Education Association goes into action on the issue. The event that was held on December 14 can be seen on Representative Cori Bush's Facebook page. Representative Bush's press releases on the situation in Palestine/Israel can be found here.
Senator's Merkley's support for a ceasefire is explained here.
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