International unions

Trade union struggles outside the UK

Union fightback stops anti-strike law

Doug Ford, the right-wing “Progressive Conservative” premier of Ontario, Canada, has backed down on anti-union legislation after a union fightback. “We harnessed our collective power when it was needed most. Ontario workers, and especially the brave CUPE education workers, defended the right to strike for all people in Canada,” said Patty Coates, Ontario Federation of Labour President. And more: “Until education workers bargain a fair collective agreement, we will not stand down; we are ready to fight”. On 4 November, education workers in OPSEU-SEFPO, another union, walked out in solidarity...

Anti-union laws aim to smash school strikes in Canada

The anti-union, right-wing state government is attempting to crush strike action by poorly paid school support staff in Ontario, Canada. The workers, who are cleaners, school secretaries, librarians and teaching assistants, are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Inflation in Ontario is now around 7% and the union is demanding a wage increase of 11.7% (the equivalent of about £2.10 per hour). The state offered 2.5% for the poorest paid workers, and less for others; negotiations broke down last month. CUPE has 55,000, mainly women members, in Ontario schools. Doug Ford’s...

Pages from a militant life: Life as a casual worker

Currently I’m a casual worker seeking employment in a few different areas, mainly the traffic control industry. The job conditions are mainly governed by what we call in Australia an award, fundamentally a legal document on the minimum standards of wages and conditions in a given industry. The award system in Australia dates back to 1907: over the last 30 years, awards have been overshadowed by Enterprise Agreements in numerous industries, yet millions of Australians rely on what we call “the award rate” to survive, keep a roof over their head, and feed and educate their families. I have...

Pages from a militant life: The paradox of the 1980s

Until I reached 11 or 12, the only takeaway food I can remember was fish and chips (lapsed Catholics) and very occasionally Chinese (my favourite dish was and is special fried rice). The rise of the giant convenience food companies began in the early seventies. Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) and McDonald’s dominated. In my opinion, it was only really in the mid to late eighties that these companies became part of the common experience in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. KFC had a store not far from one of the places we lived when I was a kid. We only ever visited it on a couple of...

Ukrainian trade unionists battle against Putin and for rights

Ivanna Khrapko, youth chair of the Ukrainian Federation of Trade Unions, spoke to Martin Thomas while visiting the UK recently with the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign . Our army is trying to kick out Russian soldiers from our territory — very successfully in some regions. Terrible crimes have been found in the liberated territories. A lot of people died. When the territories were occupied, we lost contact with our union members there. We’re trying to make contact again. I don’t know the results yet. The Russian army is bombing areas in the south of Ukraine. Our comrades in Mykolaiv tell me that...

Liverpool dockers determined to win

Liverpool dockers are back at work on 3 October after a two-week strike for pay, but will be out again for a week from 11 October if they don’t have a settlement by then, and then every other week, indefinitely. The operator, Peel Ports, stonewalled at first, but has now agreed to talks, to start 4 October. Union organisation in the port has been rebuilt by patient effort since the defeat of the epic Liverpool dockers’ strike of 1995-8. Meanwhile, the port has been expanded, to become again one of the busiest in Britain, and the workforce has increased. Pay remains low by international port...

Pages from a militant life: Ten years since the QCH dispute

October 3 marks ten years since the dispute at the construction site for the Queensland Children’s Hospital was settled , except for the criminal contempt charges I was facing. The dispute lasted for 63 days and I proudly led it for the final 45 days after the organisers of the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU union were served injunctions which made their continued presence on the picket line difficulty to maintain. I was approached by CFMEU organisers and officials to take charge of the picket line. After meetings with CFMEU hierarchy I agreed to do it as a “community organiser...

Haunted by Andrey Vyshinsky’s ghost

Last week I sent out a message to tens of thousands of trade unionists alerting them to two bits of news. The good news, I reported, was that some workers in Poland had won a big victory in court. The bad news was that in Ukraine, President Zelenskyy had failed to veto anti-union legislation, as we had been demanding. Most people reacted with thanks, or said nothing, but two of the emails I got within a minute of each other were, I think, interesting. The first said: “You’re talking about a fucking union at a time of war. Where’s your head at you dirty lefty”. The second said: “Of course...

Belarus: free the Railway Eleven

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko kept himself in power by rigging elections in 2020 and then using mass arrests and terror against the movement which rose up against him. There are now about 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus, including working-class activists from the independent trade union movement which struck in opposition to Lukashenko. Belarus is closely aligned with Vladimir Putin’s Russia and allowed Russia to invade northern Ukraine in February, using Belarus as a staging post and a base. Tens of thousands of Russian troops were deployed from Belarus. The invasion...

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