Casualisation / Workplace

from email, 14 July 2007: On the Friday 20th July (Columbia's 'National Day') at 1pm the Solidarity Federation will be holding a protest outside the Columbian embassy (3 Hans Crescent SW1. Tube: Knightsbridge. Between Sloane Street and Brompton Road. It's about a mile from Parliament.) as part of a international day of action to highlight the ongoing war waged by the Columbian state on trade unionists. more

Europe: Communities of Resistance, 7:30 pm 12th July @ Rampart: A night of debate and movies about the National Social Forum of the Banlieues with invited participants from London No Borders.

Between the 22, 23 and 24 june 2007 in St.Denis, Paris, there was a National Social Forum of the Banlieues. The event was attended by lots of different local grassroot movements. more

from infoshop, 23 June 2007: This text is based on a Red and Black Forum workshop given by the ZACF, held on 5th May at Khanya College in Johannesburg, about the relevance and impact of the 2010 Soccer World Cup for the poor and working poor in South Africa.

"Saturday, June 23 2007 from infoshop: South Africa’s success in winning the 2010 bid for the World Cup has been announced with great fanfare. The World Soccer Cup is the second biggest international sports events in the world, second only to the Olympics." more

Monday, June 18 2007: The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (southern Africa) supports the public sector strikers, not just in their demand for a wage increase of 12%, which has now been reduced to 10%, but also in their struggle to improve the standard of all public sector services. We call on all workers and community members to show their support for this strike, as it is not just about wages but an attempt to raise the quality of public services provided to us all. more

19 June 2007: Article from Play Fair 2008 about the difficult conditions in factories in China supplying the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.
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The PlayFair 2008 campaign group exposes gross violations of basic labour standards by several Chinese factories supplying goods under license for the Beijing Olympics, including adult wages at half the legal minimum, employment of workers as young as 12 years old, and employees made to work 12-hour shifts seven days a week in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.  more

This article is originally from 2004, at the time of the Athens Olympics, describing how sweat-shop labour around the world is used to mass produce the merchandising in appalling conditions.

What was true then is being repeated for the 2008 Games in Beijing, and there's no reason to assume it will be any different for London 2012's event. As usual, the rich will benefit, the poor will be exploited.  more

Despite its trendy reputation as a favourite haunt for Brixton’s liberals, the Ritzy Cinema is being far from kind to its staff. If you go to the Ritzy during the Human Rights Film Festival you will get see many worthy productions that rail against the exploitation of workers across the globe. Meanwhile the cinema is paying its staff the minimum wage of £5.35 an hour in the most expensive city to live in the country... more

via email, 28.05.2007: From 6-8 June, together with thousands of others, as part of the Block G8 campaign, we will cut the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm off from its infrastructure. The other world – the one we say is possible – will, once again, be revealed as already here. more

from imc-uk: Staff at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton spend the whole day yesterday [26 May 2007] in a very lively picket line to protest against their pay rates and working conditions. The picket was well attended throughout the day, whilst many local people showed support for the Ritzy staff demands by signing the strikers' petition. more

The Dispensables and precarious Superheroes called The Unbeatables are calling for a block at the mass demonstration and at the mass blockades against the G8 summit. Both entities are part of the ongoing struggles to understand and resist contemporary conditions of precarity of live and work. more

repost from email: 01.05.2007: "To all the precarious workers, both natives and migrants, men and women. To the contortionists of flexibility and the acrobats of everyday life. To the temporary workers and contractors, the pseudo self-employed, the long-term precarious and those secure until-who-knows-when. To students and researchers, precarious workers in education and information. To all those still looking for income and wage, to all those demanding their rights..." more

This newsletter takes you on a journey through various proletarian realities and struggles. Starting with a sweep of several German factories it hits Citroen in France, continues on through various car-makers in Russia, Romania Poland and the Czech Republic, then hops over the ocean onto a Brazilian oil-rig, back to a strike at a catering firm and a Bosch-Siemens-plant in Germany and then south and back in time to the worker' struggles in Northern Italy, and finally beaming to the present reality of one of India's Special Economic Zones in Gurgaon. more

from the web: The power structures want us to believe that they are doing us a favor: "Without sacrifice, there is nothing to be gained." But is sacrificing your life and liberty worth the slave-wages you are being paid? "Resistance is futile."

But, in solidarity comes power. We do not need to be blamed for these unstable days with a gloomy future and do not need to wear out our minds, bodies or emotions any more. more

From email: Over the last few years, grassroots democracy has returned or sprung up in a number of different and inspiring ways; on this Mayday we march to celebrate our new resistance to our oldest problem – united in unrepentant struggle against their unrelenting war. more

For the third time the MayDay-parade takes place on the 1st May 2007 in Vienna. It intends to draw the attention to the progressive precarisation of living and working conditions.

But the MayDay does not only point at this threatening process by joyful self-organisation, it is also an invitation to overcome fragmentation and to fight together! more