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Blind Workers Union (A Unit of All India Federation of Blind Workers) T-44, Panjabi Basti, Near Gopal Dairy, Baljeet Nagar, New Delhi-110008 Contact: 9313730069. Email: blindworkersunion@gmail.com 07.02.2014 PRESS STATEMENT Blind workers express concern over the recently debated Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill (2014) The Rajya Sabha has recently been debating the bill on the […]

Update as of Feb 6: The strike has been called off yesterday. Several prisoners including Sudhir Dhawale were hospitalized. Indefinite Hunger Strike from 30th January onwards Dear Friends, We request your support for the indefinite hunger strike that will commence on 30th January onwards at Nagpur Central Prison, Nagpur, Maharashtra. At least 177 under trial […]

Raleigh, NC – An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people mobilized early in the morning of Feb.8 for the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street in Raleigh, organized by the NAACP. This march was in conjunction with the start of the Moral Marches for 2014, intended to continue the momentum from last year’s Moral Monday movement, in which thousands of protesters demonstrated at the doorstep of the state capitol. Over 900 people were arrested during acts of civil disobedience during the 2013 protests, refusing to give up their right to assembly.

Buses came from over 18 cities all across North Carolina. “Following the powerful Mountain Moral Monday last summer, seats quickly sold on five busses from Asheville alone. It is clear that the fight back against extreme attacks on workers, women, immigrants, teachers and students from our state legislature is getting off to a strong start in 2014,” said Sarah Buchner, of Asheville.

Despite the gusting wind and freezing temperatures, Civil Rights veteran 92-year-old Rosanell Eaton led the crowd in chants of “Fed up, fired up!” to kick start a spirited march through downtown Raleigh.

Organizers of the march made five demands:

1. Secure pro-labor, anti-poverty policies that insure economic sustainability.
2. Provide well-funded, quality public education for all.
3. Promote health care for all, including affordable access, the expansion of Medicaid, women’s health and environmental justice in every community.
4. Address the continuing disparities in the criminal justice system on the basis of race and class.
5. Defend and expand voting rights, women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBT rights and the fundamental principle of equality under the law for all people

Erin Byrd, a member of Black Workers for Justice spoke to the crowd, “We march for women. We march for every single woman who has lost unemployment benefits and still pushes their children forward. We march for every women who sends their child out into the world praying that they get home safely and aren’t gunned down because they’re playing their music too loud, or because they’re wearing a hoodie, or because they’ve got skittles in their pocket. We march for every woman who knows stand your ground laws don’t make your child any safer. Women are the 54%, that’s why we have to march and why we have to mobilize and why we’ve got to vote.”

One of the largest contingents in the march was the fast food workers, who have a campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Organizers came from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia wearing red “Raise up” hats and carrying banners that said “Raise up for $15”, “We are worth more” and “Organize the South”.

The turnout and spirit of the event indicates that 2014 will be a year of increased struggle in North Carolina.

Jacksonville, FL – Protesters from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition stood outside of a local Staples retail store, Feb. 8, demanding that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stop using non-union labor at Staples. In order to cut costs, the Postal Service recently opened up mail centers at participating Staples stores around the nation as part of a test program. Instead of employing union postal workers with good pay and benefits, these new centers are staffed by underpaid, non-union retail workers.

“Union membership has been declining since the Reagan administration,” said Marina Djordjevic, lead organizer of the event. “If people do not voice immediate opposition, union busting will persist.”

Due to a 2006 decision by Congress, the U.S. Post Service was forced to make unprecedented yearly payments of almost $6 billion in healthcare costs for future retirees. That is, the U.S. Postal Service is prefunding retirement benefits and turning its surplus into a deficit.

U.S. Postal Service administration handled this artificial crisis predictably, by cutting over 200,000 postal jobs, closing down mail distribution centers and local post offices, and now contracting work out to non-union employers like Staples. The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is demanding that these new Staples mail centers be staffed with union postal workers and not minimum-wage retail workers.

“This is part of a move to shift work in this country to low paid part-time employees,” said Fernando Figueroa, member of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. “Either the mail centers employ postal workers or we have to organize all Staples employees into a union of their own. The unions need to build towards a strike or their jobs are going to be privatized.”

Protesters waved signs that read “Save our service” and “Stop Staples union busting.” Drivers passing by on Beach Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in Jacksonville, honked their horns and gave thumbs up to show their support for union jobs.

If the pilot program goes well, the non-union mail centers are threatening to spread to the thousands of other Staples stores around the country. This is a major step towards privatizing the U.S. Postal Service.

Delhi Mazdoor Union Press Release Thousands of workers stage demonstration at Delhi secretariat for enacting Contract System abolition Act. AAP government turns its face from its own promise, the labour minister of Delhi government said that the anti-contract system act will harm the capitalists and hence the Kejriwal government will not present the contract labour […]

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/drdos-uavs-to-hunt-down-naxals/article5666514.ece DRDO’s UAVs to hunt down Naxals The Defence Research and Development Organisation is developing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for the Central Reserve Police Force for use in Naxal-hit areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. It would demonstrate the operational capability of the first vehicle, Nishant, in a couple of months in Jagdalpur. These UAVs will help […]

Pakistan is the latest country where the Ban Asbestos Campaign is making inroads. More than 170 dignitaries, experts and members of the general public took part in the Ban Asbestos Conference held on 1st February 2014 in Karachi. The Conference … Continue reading →

ITF acting general secretary Steve Cotton spoke up about a dispute between Thai Airways and the ITF-affiliated Thai Airways International Union (TGU) today after it emerged that the airline is seeking damages claims against union leadership. The claim follows a … Continue reading →

Union leadership at Fiji’s National Union of Hospitality Catering and Tourism Industries (NUHCTI) celebrated as police charges against their ‘illegal strike’ were dropped on February 2. The ITF-affiliated union’s president, Dan Urai, was one of six union leaders charged by … Continue reading →

Global unions are mobilizing workers around the world to protest at Cambodian embassies on Monday 10 February, to demand the release of 23 activists seized during demonstrations in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh in January.   IndustriALL Global Union, UNI … Continue reading →