Workers' rights are priceless, but ...
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- Published on Friday, 01 April 2016 01:45
- Written by editor
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We ran campaigns in 2015 in support of workers on nearly every continent. These included a detained teacher trade unionist on hunger strike in Iran, jailed union activists in China, brutal repression directed against unions in Korea, violent attacks on a woman union leader in Libya, union-busting in Turkey, and much more.
Sometimes we helped workers win victories. For example, a campaign launched in May resulted in the release of four jailed Iranian union activists. A campaign of ours in Canada is credited with forcing the town of Hay River back to the bargaining table -- and an end to a bitter strike. Workers at London's National Gallery won their strike in early October. The Israeli and Chinese governments backed down from a deal that would have resulted in the importation of bonded labourers. And an Iranian teacher trade unionist who'd been on hunger strike was freed from jail.
Often, the result of our campaign is less obvious. For example, a campaign to express union concerns about a major corporate merger produced this result: "Clearly the campaign made its impact and was noted by the management of Lafarge and Holcim. Thanks to workers' mobilisations both on site and through LabourStart we hope there will be more readiness on the side of the management to our demands now" -- according to global union federation IndustriALL.
And sometimes our campaigns touch a nerve. One multinational corporation threatened us with legal action. Another company claimed that our effort was 'not a "true" campaign but "only a spam driven from London", and apparently complained to the Dutch ambassador about it.' But the union judged the campaign to be a success, and said it strengthened morale among the workers.
We continue to campaign every day of the year in support of workers' rights, and together with workers in struggle.
We're currently running five campaigns in support of jailed worker activists in Colombia and Iran, protesting the murder in police custody of trade union leader in Gambia, demanding the reinstatement of a union leader in Morocco and protesting the horrific torture and murder of young Italian researcher who'd been working with Egypt's independent trade unions.
But we cannot do this without your support.
Once a year, we ask people to make generous donations for our May Day appeal. This year is no different. Please take a moment and donate what you can.
Click here to donate.
Thank you very much!
Eric Lee
Forward
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