Autonomous action in Saguenay for locked out-e-s
Here is the press release of an autonomous action that took place yesterday in Saguenay supports more than 300 Locked-out workers at various car dealerships and garages in Saguenay / Lac-St-Jean. The lockout has been going on since February 2013.
SAGUENAY, 22 July 2013 // In the early afternoon, of citizens of Saguenay have carried out an action in solidarity with the workers locked out at dealerships in the region, there is more than that 4 month. After going inside to pass the message to customers to delay their purchases, demonstrators blocked the entrance to one of the concessionaires until the police arrived. By this lockout, the employers try to impose a cut of almost 100 jobs, a decrease in working conditions and more and more subcontracting - a decrease in the quality of service. In this conflict which is getting bogged down with judicialization, we will not stand idly by the injustice that strikes them.
While 450 families are thrown to the sidewalk, dealers continue to make a profit. Lockouts have their hands tied by dozens of injunctions, contempt and tickets - the balance of power is clearly on the employers' side. Each client who crosses a picket line is complicit in the bad faith of this party who refuses any negotiation. As our banner said : Our lives are worth more than their profits!
We are determined to stay by their side, no matter the cost, until victory. in parallel, downstream, this morning, an autonomous group of several dozen people made a hard block in solidarity with the workers of Mapei on strike for more than a year. Against all these attacks on the conditions of our social class, we will be beasts of hope!
Autonomous action
complete blockage of the Mapei plant in Laval
Picket hard this morning at the Mapei factory.
Early this morning, sixty workers and workers are gone-e-s lend a hand to the workers and workers of the Mapei plant in Laval, on strike since 4 May 2012.
Specializing in the production of adhesives and chemical products for construction, Mapei is a multinational having 59 production facilities in more than 28 pays. Or, Lavaloise its subsidiary is grappling with a labor dispute that has lasted for more than a year. in addition 2012, to oppose the employer who was trampled negotiations about the collective agreement that expired in December 2011, the 115 Workers of the factory, syndicated-e-s to the CSN, went on strike. Since that time 14 months so, not only the collective agreement is still not renegotiated, Moreover, the bosses of the factory flatly started licensié of employee-s with a view to transferring the means of production to Ontario. This layoff wave has reached its appogé in August 2012 with the closure of 2 departments causing putting unemployed 43 additional workers. Remains today as 25 of the 115 Mapei workers and workers to lead the fight.
The transfer of machinery to Ontario is accentuating, production being maintained by managers and foremen to bypass the anti-scab legislation, which once again, proves we are useless and obsolete. Short, the bad faith of the employers therefore urged members of various leftist groups, including the Industrial Union of Workers and Workers (SITT-IWW), the Internationalist Workers Group (GIO) and Popular Autonomous Association of Montreal (APAM) to appear before the Mapei factory to hold a picket line hard and disrupt production. After two hours of blocking, New truck deliveries had been returned and executives were still, for the majority, held outside the building, the factory management had to resign and close the plant for the day.
Workers present for morning symbolic picket said they were very happy to receive this unexpected show of solidarity on the part of activists from left. Once again, this action proves that it is not in the courts and in the bosses office that fights are won, but rather by workers' solidarity, mobilization and direct action. An attack against one or one of us is an attack against all of us!
You will find right here a short video on the action this morning which also shows the attitude of the trade union and permanent permanent CSN in relation to solidarity and direct action.
Newfoundland : The wildcat strike in Long Harbor continues despite an injunction from the Supreme Court
translated libcom.org by the Collectif Emma Goldman
UPDATE 21 July
The strike would have ended on Monday 16 July evening
Discussion with the CBC president Labrador Federation of Labor on the use of the wildcat strike
The company Vale returns to court to enforce the injunction pursuing workers
The strike continues for 5th day.
The President of RDTC Union implies that the striking workers of the requirements are similar to those of young children.
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has given an injunction to employers to help break a wildcat strike on a construction site in Long Harbor.
Near 2000 workers illegally stopped work Thursday, and subsequently carried blocking site entrances. Workers are angry against the level of payroll. Site workers earn on average 15$ Time less than comparable workers elsewhere in Canada.
Another issue is the manner in which employers interpret the collective agreement; on issues such as travel and subsistence allowances.
Furthermore, Workers are angry against their own union for not defending their interests. Of course, the union does not support the action. The bosses and the union have still not commented on the conflict.
Video reportage de NTV (mass-media)
Beer-union | The unions in the construction industry
Beer-Union IWW | Thursday 19 July
Discussion on union news in the construction industry
Perspectives of two CSN-construction activists
19h00 at the Café Touski work cooperative
2361 Ontario Street East
one minute walk west of Metro Frontenac
Register on the’facebook event! 
Two activists involved in the CSN-construction of Montreal will discuss with us current issues in construction in Quebec.
It will be a fairly free discussion around a picnic table in the backyard if the weather is nice., inside if it gets wet. To note: according to the requirements of the Touski, you have to eat a meal to be able to drink beer.
The themes are likely to revolve around the question of union placement, differences between industrial or construction trades unions, on the results of the union membership votes that have just come out, on the method of voting for this vote, on the intervention of the FTQ in conflicts surrounding the law 33 abolishing union placement, the reasons that led a large number of people to vote for the Syndicat Québécois de la Construction rather than for the CSN-construction, etc…
Everyone is welcome!
Both construction workers and students.
Both neophytes of all stripes and seasoned activists.
Whether you are anarchists, marxist-leninists, nihilists, queers, reformists, feminists, left communists, or without political labels, you will all be welcomed!
www.touski.org
Café Touski is a self-managed work cooperative and neighborhood café, close to the Frontenac metro station.
sitt.iww.org
The IWW is a militant labor organization founded on the ideas of class struggle, solidarity, worker control, self-management, direct democracy and revolution.
The Montreal branch of this union founded in 1905 in Chicago, has existed for a few years in Montreal.
The FTQ and the CLC want to limit solidarity with the student movement
The leadership of the FTQ and the Canadian Labor Congress have agreed to limit the solidarity of Canadian unions towards the Quebec student movement to the only channels they are able to control, with the aim of preventing as much as possible “potential illegal actions that would violate the law 78 to support the student movement“.
The IWW claims the release of Laura Gomez of CGT and denounced the repressive aspect of his arrest
The international solidarity commission of the IWW denounces the arrest of the secretary of the CGT-Barcelona, Laura Gomez and supports the international solidarity campaign which aims to have her released. The commission recognizes the anti-union and repressive character of this government maneuver.
The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World condemns the actions taken by the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia police. Laura Gómez, the General Secretary of CGT-Barcelona was arrested by the Mossos d’Esquadra for trumped up charges that have no basis in fact. It is obvious that this is nothing more than an act of repression and intimidation in response to the growing workers’ mobilizations in Spain.
We demand the immediate release of Laura Gómez and the withdrawal of all charges.
We are in solidarity with, and commend, the CGT-Barcelona, Laura Gómez, and the rest of Spain’s working class for their ongoing struggle against police repression and labour injustice.
Solidarity Forever,
International Solidarity Commission
Industrial Workers of the World
Must watch video on March29 General Strike in Spain | Excellent video about the General Strike 29 March in Spain
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/40106570 w=470&h=300]
Barcelona March 29th: General Strike from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.
At New York, Immigrant drivers demanding dignity and end the abuses of their new employer
The 7 mars 2012, drivers Tom Cat Bakery, Members of the Campaign Focus on the Food Chain, delivered a statement Dignity representatives of the company.
[http youtube://www.youtube.com/watch?v = EEeNiHLqoNs&w=560&h=315]
See more photos of the event on
la page Facebook de la campagne Focus on the Food Chain
Like their Facebook group in here!
Written by Daniel Gross the 9 mars 2012Published on 11 march on iww.org
Translated by “travailleurindustriel”
Members of Focus on the Food Chain working for the largest industrial bakery in New York City launched a campaign on Wednesday 7 mars. It aims to achieve respect for workers since the new owners of the plant aggressively trying to degrade working conditions. The drivers of the business Tom Cat Bakery, based in the borough of Queens, are forced to work under very abusive and suffer the threat of having their health insurance degrade significantly Directors. Tom Cat Bakery artisan bread is an important distributor for many restaurants and specialty food retailers in the New York metropolitan area.
Workers Tom Cat Bakery, mostly Latin American immigrants, gathered in Long Island City with other workers and students from support. These are all part and all groups that agree with the claims of workers of Tom Cat Bakery. These groups include the Working Committee “justice for immigrant workers” d’Occupy Wall Street, Alliance food chain workers-workers (Food Chain Workers Alliance), the United Daily Woodside (Journeymen States of Woodside), the Workers-Workers Center for Laundries (Laundry Workers Center), the employment opportunities Center in NewYork Restorations (the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York) Workers and Domestic Workers United, (Domestic Workers United).
Workers and their supporters marched together to the factory where several drivers have read and handed Dignity Declaration. This highlights the expectations that workers face administration in regard to the respectful treatment of employee-s, an affordable family health insurance and fair treatment for all workers-workers. The action was a departure incredibly inspiring for walking Tom Cat Bakery workers-workers towards justice and represents the latest effort of a growing movement to transform food processing plants and distribution warehouses.
At New York, the food processing industry and distribution provided a livelihood to more than 35 000 Workers and their families. This sector nevertheless remains increasingly characterized by a business model which is based on precarious work and abusive treatment with regard to the strength of working predominantly immigrant. Focus on the Food Chain is a campaign that works on the basis of individual membership of workers in this sector. Those latter are organized in order to promote good jobs and a sustainable local food system. The campaign is a joint project of fire Workers and IWW in the city of New York.
Tom Cat Drivers need your support in their struggle to defend their dignity, challenge the strategies of industry by private actions, and creating a food system based on human rights rather than exploitation. Please stay on the lookout for actions that will be needed in the future. To get involved and help, send email to Joseph Sanchez jsanchez [at] brandworkers.org.
Thank you to you all for what you do that can go in the direction of human rights and human dignity.
CKUT Labor Radio | Historian Peter Cole on IWW’s black leader Ben Fletcher, Local 8 and South Africa
Listen to CKUT Labor RadI 12 minutes interview with Peter Cole, or listen to the whole one hour show.
February was Black History Month. For that reason, members of the Montreal IWW helped CKUT Radio work‘s host David Tacium to talk with history professor at Western Illinois University, Mr Peter Cole. Mr Cole is the author of “Ben Fletcher: The Life and Writings of a Black Wobbly” about the IWW’s most famous black leader Ben Fletcher. Mr Cole also wrote a book called Wobblies on the Waterfront Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia about the IWW branch Ben Fletcher was involved with : the Longshoremen Union “Local 8” in Philadelphia in 1913.
During the interview, they also talk about the influence of the IWW in organizing black people in South African, a subject Mr Cole is studying now with the aim of writing a next book.
Peter Cole’s two books are available at the Montreal anarchist library Jezebel on St-Laurent Street. The chapter 4 of Wobblies on the Waterfront, “War on the waterfront”, is also online here.
Read short presentation of Local8 and Ben Fletcher…