Workers Resistance

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  • Wage Victory for Johns Hopkins Workers Following Four Month Struggle

    By JoAnne Pow!ers

    [Carrietta Hiers]: “I’m excited about the agreement. We gave the boss the proposals; they told us that our proposals took their breath away, and that we would never see fifteen dollars an hour.”

    That was Service Employees International Union organizer Carrietta Hiers celebrating a fair wage victory for hospital workers at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. After a four-month struggle workers won a major victory in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. The hospital and SEIU 1199 reached a tentative agreement on a new four-and-a-half year contract which guarantees substantial wage increases to workers, with raises as high as 38% for low-paid workers over the life of the contract, and a minimum wage of up to 15 dollars an hour for long-time workers. The Union membership will vote on ratification at the end of this week.

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  • Three victims of factory gas leakage buried

    VEHARI, July 8: The three labourers who had fallen sick while working at a pipe factory in Lahore about a week ago, allegedly because of leakage of some poisonous gas there and later died were buried at their native villages in the district late on July 6.

    According to Mitro police, Imran and Abid of Chak 125-WB and Ramzan of Muza Mohammad Shah had been working at Vega Pipe Factory, Lahore, for the last one month.

    Last Monday, they fell unconscious while working at the factory. The factory owner got them admitted to a private clinic in Lahore on July 4. Later, as their condition deteriorated, he shifted them to their native places and promised their families he would bear all the treatment cost.

    On July 5, Ramzan and Abid died while Imran expired on July 6 at Nishter Hospital, Multan.

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  • Sanitary workers create massive traffic mess

    Karachi, July 8: Sanitary workers ironically ended up making a mammoth traffic mess in the downtown areas of the city as well as some major linking thoroughfares on July 7 while staging a protest against non-payment of their salaries at the Arts Council roundabout.

    The agitated employees of the district municipal corporation South Lyari zone were complaining that they had not been paid salaries for the last two months.

    Hundreds of commuters were stranded in traffic jams on the roads and streets of Saddar and the iftar rush in the evening compounded their woes.

    The thoroughfares hit with the traffic chaos included II Chundrigar Road, MA Jinnah Road, Abdullah Haroon Road, Dr Ziauddin Road, Club Road, MR Kayani Road and Zaibunnisa Street. Connecting roads including Sharea Faisal and Sharea Quaideen were also affected.

    The worst congestion was witnessed at the Arts Council roundabout where the protest was taking place. The traffic police and wardens appeared helpless in bringing the situation under control.

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  • Shocking negligence: Workers protest against labourer’s death

    FAISALABAD, July 8th: Power loom workers staged a demonstration on July 7 after a labourer died from electric shocks at a factory there.

    Afzal Ali had worked at a power loom at Sadhar, located in the Thikriwala area.

    After the worker’s death, the demonstrators gathered at Sadhar Bypass Chowk and blocked the road for all kinds of traffic. They placed the body on the road to block the traffic.

    Shafiq Anwar, one of the protesters, said the deceased, Afzal Ali, a father of four children, had been a resident of chak 67-JB.

    “He was working at the power loom factory where when he touched a short-circuited machine,” Anwar said.

    Anwar said the accident was a result of the negligence of the factor owner, who had not installed safety devices.

    “All factory owners are legally bound to install circuit breakers to stop such incidents from occurring, but some of them try to avoid the expense,” Anwar said.

    The protesters chanted slogans against the factory owner and held him responsible for the worker’s death.

    A police contingent, headed by a DSP, visited the area and negotiated with the protesters. The protesters dispersed after they were assured that legal action would be taken against the factory administration.

    Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2014.

  • Brilliant victory of the hot rolling steel workers on the third day of their hunger strike

    Brilliant victory of the hot rolling steel workers on the third day of their hunger strike: the owners give written promise to implement the agreement in toto
    Factory Workers form factory committees for ensuring the implementation of the agreement
    The struggle of the hot rolling steel workers completed one month today and it was also the third day of their relay hunger strike. It was today itself that the workers secured their third victory. As you know, after 22-day long strike of the hot rolling steel workers, the owners were forced to compromise on June 27 and June 28 when they gave in writing to abide by all the labour laws. But they backtracked from the agreement the next day. Consequently the workers’ movement continued. The workers used to go to the factory gates daily till 4 July. When the owners did not open the factories for implementing the agreement, the workers even went on to occupy the factory gates. Meanwhile the police arrested the members of ‘Garam Rolla Mazdoor Ekta Samiti’ and ‘Bigul Mazdoor Dasta’ twice and the owners even launched an attack through the hired goons, but despite all this the workers got their comrades released and gave fitting reply to the goons as well. The workers commenced their relay hunger strike from 5 July at Raja Park in Wazirpur. The mobilisation of workers was swelling with each passing day and the owners were incapable to run the factories. Today the owners had to respond to the ‘show cause notice’ issued by the labour department. A delegation of ‘Garam Rolla Mazdoor Ekta Samiti’ led by Shivani, Sunny and Raghuraj had also reached the labour department. During the talks, the advocates from the owners side gave in writing that from now on the workers will not be forced to work for 12 hours a day and all the owners will respect the agreement. After this the delegation of the ‘Garam Rolla Mazdoor Ekta Samiti’ returned and broke the hunger strike of the comrades sitting on hunger strike and announced the victory.
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  • California Truck Drivers Strike

    By JoAnne Pow!ers

    Truck drivers at three major California transportation companies went on strike yesterday morning at truck yards and marine terminals at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  The indefinite strike over Unfair Labor Practices by the companies is an escalation following several earlier actions which lasted only one to two days.  The workers are striking over firings, intimidation and other retaliation against workers for engaging in legal union activities protected under the National Labor Relations Act.  While four billion dollars of cargo enters the nation through these ports every day to retailers such as Walmart and Home Depot, the workers struggle to make ends meet.

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  • Nationwide Protests at Hobby Lobby Following Supreme Court Decision

    By JoAnne Pow!ers

    Advocates for workers’ rights joined with a wide coalition of activists last week, including supporters of women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare for all, to protest at Hobby Lobby stores across the nation.  The protests come on the heels of last Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court Decision, in which the court ruled that the religious convictions of the company’s owners meant that it did not have to follow provisions of the Federal Affordable Care Act requiring employee health care plans to provide contraception coverage.

  • Killing of Seattle youth by Sheriff sparks protest.

    The police in the US can kill youth, especially youth of color with impunity. The murder and incarceration of youth of color in this country is at epidemic levels. We reprint this from the blog Dark Are The Days  for our reader’s interest. Please spread the word about yet another youth murder by police.  We are interested in what Kshama Sawant has to say about this issue and will contact her office to find out.  It is important that socialists stand in the forefront of the attacks on youth.

    Oscar Perez-Giron and the Fight for Justice

     
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  • Greece: Immigrants attacked by national team fans after last victory

    Re-posted from glykosymoritis   National Football Team wins, fascist violence is on the rise The qualification of Greece to the ’16′ of the World Cup already had its victims, namely, some clueless immigrants. Dozens of ‘fans’ of the national team took once again to terrorize the streets in the aftermath of the game with

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    The post Greece: Immigrants attacked by national team fans after last victory appeared first on revolution-news.com.

  • मज़दूर आन्दोलन के दमन और मज़दूर हितों पर बढ़ते हमलों के विरोध में प्रदर्शन

    लखनऊ, 6 जुलाई। दिल्ली के वज़ीरपुर में एक महीने से जारी स्टील मज़दूरों के आन्दोलन को कुचलने के प्रयासों तथा देशभर में मज़दूरों-कर्मचारियों के अधिकारों पर बढ़ते हमलों के विरोध में आज यहाँ विभिन्न जनसंगठनों ने प्रदर्शन किया। लगातार होती बारिश के बावजूद जागरूक नागरिक मंच, बिगुल मज़दूर दस्ता, स्त्री मुक्ति लीग, नई दिशा छात्र …