unions
Unite activists sign letter to Graham after ban on union banners at Palestine demos
Alleged management ban on exec members marching under Unite banners leads to angry letter denouncing lack of action and solidarity with slaughtered Gazans
Unite banners at a Manchester Gaza demo – but executive members say they have been banned from formal representation
Unite members and activists have issued an outraged letter to union general secretary Sharon Graham, after members of the elected executive were told not to attend, under a Unite banner, demonstrations against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The letter reads:
Dear Sharon Graham,
As a result of our letters of 30 October and 1 November and other representations, including from London and Eastern Region, you finally agreed, after nearly 4 weeks of an ongoing genocide by Israel, to issue a statement on November 3 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The statement was however pitiably weak. There was no mention of genocide or ethnic cleansing. There was no mention of the war crimes perpetrated by Israel – the bombing of hospitals, the targeting and murder of journalists, academics and doctors to say nothing of the bombing of residential areas or the murder of children, which now stands at over 8,000.
There was no mention of the fact that Israel has imposed a food, water and fuel blockade on the Gaza strip resulting in starvation according to the United Nations. Collective punishment of a civilian population is a egregious breach of international law yet the statement treats the Palestinians and the Israeli state as equally responsible.
It is not Hamas which possesses an air force but Israel. It is the Israeli state which is carrying out the carpet bombing of Gaza with the intent of forcing Palestinians out altogether.
The statement treats the genocidal attack on the people of Gaza as equivalent to the break-out from the world’s largest open air prison on October 7. Israel has occupied the Gaza Strip for 56 years imposing a suffocating siege on it since 2007.
This report from Vatican News of 16 December gives just one example of Israel’s war crimes:
‘Israelis have opened fire on Gaza’s Christians. Following heavy bombardment overnight of the area around Holy Family Latin parish in Gaza City, dozens are reported dead… and reports continue to arrive that shooting by Israeli snipers continues during these hours. A statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that an Israeli sniper murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war.’
An even more horrifying massacre took place on 17 December. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli bulldozers have crushed Palestinians who were taking shelter in tents outside Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Dozens of Palestinians are reported to have been buried alive. These are Nazi-style massacres and yet you have said nothing and done nothing since issuing your statement. You were happy to wave the Ukrainian flag but you haven’t waved the Palestinian flag or expressed any sympathy with the thousands of murdered Palestinian civilians, not least children.
UN Secretary General António Guterres accepted that there was a context to October 7. Many Israeli civilians died at the hands of the Israeli military. See Israeli forces shot their own civilians, kibbutz survivor says.
Unite at its 2023 Policy Conference passed motions supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and affirmed that Israel is practising the crime of apartheid. That should have informed Unite’s statement.
The statement treats one of the world’s most powerful militaries and the resistance of the Palestinians as equal. Your claim that Israel’s goal is to eliminate Hamas is untrue. Why bomb homes, schools and ambulances if this was the case? Were the dead children also Hamas ‘terrorists’?
The statement says nothing about what Unite intends to do. You have done nothing to publicise all the previous national demonstrations. Are you going to ignore the one on January 13 too? There has been no national Unite presence on the marches to date.
We demand that you publicise all future demonstration, that you provide the resources necessary for Unite members to attend, that Unite nationally is present on the march together with its banner and that Unite has a speaker at the rally.
A leaked Israeli intelligence document makes it clear that Israel’s intention is to repeat the Nakba in 1948 when ¾ million Palestinians were expelled.
If Israel succeeds this will be a prelude to ethnic cleansing on the West Bank where there has been a reign of terror in the past 6 months. Over 250 people have died since October 7. Vast areas of Area C have been ‘cleansed’ as Israeli settlers and the army attack farmers.None of this is recognised in your statement. Netanyahu has compared the Palestinians to ‘Amalek’ whom God instructed the Israelites to exterminate yet Unite’s statement ignores this. Open calls in Israel for the extermination of the Palestinians are being made and Israel’s army is doing just that.
By blocking fuel, babies on incubators and people on dialysis machines have already died.
It is time for Unite to show that the situation in Gaza is an urgent one and to mobilise its members. We give the Labour Party over £1m a year. We should be demanding that Keir Starmer makes way for someone who is not a ‘Zionist without qualification’. At the moment he is nothing more than Sunak’s echo chamber.
Yours sincerely
Sharon Graham had already infuriated supporters of Palestinian rights by remaining silent for many weeks at the start of Israel’s latest genocidal assault on Gaza – then making a grossly asymmetrical statement appearing to treat Israeli deaths more seriously than Palestinian and allegedly having the exec railroaded into accepting only her preferred wording when the statement was eventually issued.
Graham was also exposed using proxies to order the cancellation of showings of the film ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn/The Big Lie’, which exposes the political abuse of antisemitism accusations against left-wingers in the Labour party, and discussion of Asa Winstanley’s forensic book Weaponising Antisemitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn. Proxies were similarly despatched to try, unsuccessfully, to cancel a Unite ‘fringe’ event at Labour’s conference earlier this month in support of Palestinians.
At the time of writing, the letter is still open for Unite members to add their signature via Google Docs. It will be submitted shortly after new year.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Outrage builds over Unite’s use of Israel-linked firms as protesters occupy Axa Dublin office
Union management’s choice of firms is ‘huge embarrassment’, say insiders
A row has broken out in Unite over the union’s choice of insurer and hotel chain, after a group linked to the union occupied the European HQ of Axa insurance in Dublin.
Community Action Tenants’ Union (CATU) and the Dublin for Gaza group took over Axa’s offices and called for boycott of the company, according to Irish paper The Journal, because of the business being one of “725 European financial institutions that have subsidised apartheid Israel’s colonial settlements“. Axa told the paper that it “has no proprietary investments in any of the banks cited in recent calls for boycott”.
The action prompted growing anger among supporters of Palestinian human rights in Unite Ireland that the UK and Irish union’s official, democratic position is firm support of Palestinian freedom and right of return to lands taken from them by the Israeli settler-colonial project – and opposition to Israeli occupation, apartheid and oppression.
In fact, at its annual conference earlier this year, Unite delegates voted to formally support the ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ (BDS) movement that represents Palestinians’ peaceful resistance to the occupation by encouraging businesses to refuse to buy from or do business with illegally-occupied territories, in a resolution saying that Unite:
[recognises that] Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid, calls for an end to the UK Government’s proposed free trade agreement with Israel, and for support for BDS campaigns against companies complicit in supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Yet according to union insiders, Axa is Unite’s insurer in Ireland – and Unite’s designated provider of hotel accommodation is the Leonardo hotel group, which is part-owned by the Israeli Fattal group. One outraged insider told Skwawkbox:
It’s a huge embarrassment to Unite and one that is causing a lot of anger – even more so as our Irish exec meeting next month is taking place in the Belfast Leonardo’s.
What’s worse is that this has been going on for months and the union still hasn’t done anything to change it. Businesses linked to Israel should never have been selected in the first place, let alone still be used now with everything that’s going on in Gaza.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has already infuriated supporters of Palestinian rights by remaining silent for many weeks at the start of Israel’s latest genocidal assault on Gaza – then making a grossly asymmetrical statement appearing to treat Israeli deaths more seriously than Palestinian; and ultimately allegedly having the exec railroaded into accepting only her preferred wording when a statement was eventually issued.
Graham was also exposed using proxies to order the cancellation of showings of the film ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn/The Big Lie’, which exposes the political abuse of antisemitism accusations against left-wingers in the Labour party, and discussion of Asa Winstanley’s forensic book Weaponising Antisemitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn. Proxies were similarly despatched to try, unsuccessfully, to cancel a Unite ‘fringe’ event at Labour’s conference earlier this month in support of Palestinians.
Her popularity in Ireland is already low. Irish union legend Brendan Ogle is also suing her, her ally Tony Woodhouse and the union for defamation; he also alleges that he was abused by the union after his return from treatment for serious cancer – and after he made ‘protected disclosures’ to the union about its failures to adhere to covid protocols during the pandemic. Graham and her representatives have been accused of ‘disgusting’ behaviour toward Ogle – and anger in Ireland at the situation became so great that an entire sector branch threatened to disaffiliate entirely from Unite, the well-known ‘Right2Water’ campaign said it will no longer work with Unite, Unite’s Community section in Ireland condemned the ‘injustice inflicted’ on him and members picketed general secretary Sharon Graham’s long-delayed visit to Dublin.
Ms Graham is using Denton’s one of the world’s most profitable law firms to defend the defamation suit and Ogle’s the tribunal case. Denton’s was lambasted after its initial social media statement on Israel/Gaza failed even to mention the many Palestinian deaths. The statement was subsequently deleted and replaced.
Her tenure as Unite boss has been marked by a string of other allegations – which neither she nor the union has denied – including alleged destruction of evidence against her husband in misogyny and bullying complaints.
The Euro Med Monitor group reports that some 24,000 civilians in Gaza have been killed so far in just nine weeks by Israel’s bombing, shelling and invasion, around half of them children. Israel is also continuing to kill Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Politicians around the world have called on the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute Israeli government ministers for genocide and other war crimes.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Big Pharma meets big resistance
About 65 maintenance workers at CSL Behring, in the northern Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, having been on rotating strikes since August.
The members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Electrical Trades Union are trying to gain a close-to-inflation pay rise and maintain existing conditions, including keeping 15 per cent penalty rates.
The CSL workers held a protest rally at the company’s worldwide corporate headquarters on the edge of the Melbourne CBD on 22 November as the company prepared to put its EBA offer to the vote without union agreement.
The initial pay offer by CSL, an Australian multinational specialising in biotechnology with subsidiaries in the US and Germany, was 2 per cent for each of three years.
Dictatorship
Solidarity spoke to Peter, Danny, Russell and Tommy.
Peter said, “They want us to work 12-hour shifts. People have young families and you can’t expect them to do that. And then have a family life.”
Danny was most angry about the arbitrary nature of CSL’s demands for a rotating roster at short notice.
He said, “How can they do that to us? It’s a dictatorship. It’s not freedom. They want to work, say Wednesday to Sunday one week and then change it the next week without any notice.”
Russell said, “We are working two days and then striking for three. Otherwise they would lock us out.
“CSL walked out of the Fair Work Commission hearing, that’s how bad they are. And they got no sanction from Fair Work for doing so.”
Tommy said, “They’ve upped from the initial poor offer to 4 per cent in the first year, 3.5 per cent in the second and 3 per cent in the third. We want 6 per cent and 6 and 6.”
Corporate greed
It’s not like CSL can’t afford it.
CSL is Australia’s third biggest company. Its before-tax profit this year is a whopping $4.17 billion.
The workers are angry about CSL’s rampant corporate greed while its 2021 CEO, Paul Perreault, took home $61 million that year. The Financial Review called it, “One of highest Australian CEO pay packets ever recorded.”
With CSL buying a Swiss-based plasma company in Bern in 2000, the company doubled in size.
Using Switzerland’s lower tax rate, CSL “shifted” $5 billion in revenue over five years to dodge Australian tax laws “at a time the company was tied up in giant government [Australian] contracts” for vaccines.
Swiss cantons (states) have varying tax rates, from a “high” of 21.02 per cent to as little as 13.04 per cent.
Switzerland also has a “patent box” scheme where spending on research and development attracts hefty tax deductions.
In September, the Melbourne Herald Sun wrote, “CSL is heavily subsidised by the taxpayer, receiving federal government contracts worth $4.4 billion in the same time period—as well as orders for 50 million doses of Covid vaccine.”
CSL is one of the 800 major companies that paid no tax in 2021-22, according to ABC News analysis of Tax Office records.
CSL accounts show it paid just $657 million in tax in 2022-23, which is about half of what would be expected if it paid Australia’s 30 per cent company tax rate.
University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell has been a director of the company since August 2021.
Privatised
The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories was set up by the Federal Labor government in 1916 to provide vaccines in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1991, the Hawke Labor government privatised it as CSL Limited and incorporated it. The company went fully private in 1994, under Labor PM Paul Keating, when it was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
CSL Behring, trading as CSL Plasma, is one of the world’s largest plasma collection companies. It has more than 12,000 employees and more than 270 plasma collection centres in China, Europe and the US. In January, CSL was expanding into Israel.
The strikers have spent many hours on the picket line and coming up with a real meaning for CSL has been a group activity. “Corporate Scum-sucking Liars” is just one of the many variants of what they think about CSL.
The CSL Behring picket line on varying days is at 189 Camp Road, Broadmeadows, across from Magyar Boulevard.
By Tom Orsag
The post Big Pharma meets big resistance first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Skwawkbox needs your support. Here’s why you should
Skwawkbox runs entirely on the voluntary support of the ordinary people who read it, to ensure that articles are free to all and are kept clear of ads as it brings you the news that so-called ‘mainstream’ media won’t.
Even among left news sites, Skwawkbox stands out in holding to account the Labour regime and the union leaders who are supposed to represent us and stands resolutely with the oppressed against the oppressor – leading to hatred and attacks from right-wing politicians and hacks. Below are just a few of Skwawkbox’s exclusives since its last funding appeal:
- BBC removes image of pro-Palestinian Jewish group from Gaza demo coverage
- Starmer’s office ‘tantrum’ as rebellion over Gaza ceasefire grew
- Labour asks Parliament to delete Eshalomi’s ceasefire call from Commons TV
- Unite region slams Graham’s silence over Israeli war crimes
- Unite boss Graham tried to force cancellation of union’s pro-Palestinian event
- Labour bans MPs from attending pro-Palestinian demos
- Labour blocks conference motion to bring NHS back into public ownership
- Graham and union served with defamation lawsuit papers for abuse of Irish trade unionist
- Starmer regime removes all Corbyn-era videos but one from party site
- Unite bans book and film that discuss Corbyn-era right-wing sabotage – and smears film with fake news
- Labour locked women out of systems to prevent discussion of Labour-right paedophile
- Graham-backed executive candidate pays £7k for sexual harassment of wife’s carer
- Labour to abstain on Tory pro-apartheid bill
In addition, this week Tory former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s manoeuvres to protect NHS capacity by ‘deciding who lived and who died’ have been exposed by the Covid inquiry. More than three years ago, Skwawkbox revealed to the nation that Hancock and Boris Johnson were knowingly sending infected patients back into care homes – leading to mass deaths among elderly and vulnerable people.
And to the frustration of those who hate and denigrate it, Skwawkbox’s 100% reliability score with news-rating service Newsguard was renewed, with a ‘highly credible’ categorisation.
Skwawkbox puts out funding appeals rarely, knowing that people are facing financial pressure amid the manufactured cost-of-greed crisis. But if you are able to do so without hardship, please consider either of the following options:
- if you use PayPal and would like to make a one-off or monthly donation, please click here
- if you prefer not to use PayPal and would like to make a monthly donation covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee, please use the GoCardless option here – if you use this option, Skwawkbox will contact you to confirm the donation amount as the GoCardless registration form doesn’t include a specific amount
Thank you for your support and solidarity, it is vital and deeply appreciated in enabling Skwawkbox to continue doing what you need it to.
DP World workers strike against attack on rosters and pay
Workers at all four DP World port terminals around the country, members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), took strike action on 16 November as part of their escalating bargaining campaign.
Sydney wharfies stopped for two hours across the shift changeover, so workers at neighbouring ports Patrick and Hutchison could join them in solidarity. The Transport Workers Union and the Rail Tram and Bus Union also joined the rally.
DP wants to impose a new roster that would mean more weekend work as well as hefty pay cuts. Workers want a decent pay rise given workers at competitor Patrick earn 11.5 per cent more—but DP is offering a below inflation pay rise of just 2.5 per cent.
DP are taking a hard line approach to bargaining. The union has already been in negotiations for over six months but the company are clearly trying to delay discussions and stare the union down.
In response, wharfies are escalating industrial action. The bargaining team has resolved that they will not pull actions when the company offers to meet for negotiations—last time this became a trick for management to simply offer a meeting, agree to nothing, and buy themselves another five-day notification period before further protected industrial action.
This is a good step forward and all terminals should adopt this approach in future.
Workers are into their eighth week of industrial action. Six 24 hour stoppages were taken in the first month alone. Two further 24 hour stoppages were planned the week Solidarity went to press.
Workers have also imposed bans on shift upgrades, late call-ins, overtime, and imposed stoppages at the end of shifts so wharfies go home early. There are alternative vessel and road-and-rail bans during the week, and ships are not worked until eight hours after they are tied up.
Industrial action has been focused on weekdays, allowing workers to take better paid weekend shifts to help keep money in their pockets. Casuals are getting very little work—however workers were encouraged to save up in advance.
Many of DP’s usual customers are contracting ships to Hutchison ports. Hutchison wharfies are less than enthusiastic to work them, but anti-strike laws make it illegal to undertake “secondary boycotts” in solidarity.
New intractable bargaining laws mean the company could stall and then apply to the Fair Work Commission for arbitration after nine months of negotiations. The MUA is determined to make DP feel the pain and move on key issues well before this. The task now is to stick to their guns and be prepared to keep escalating.
By Erima Dall
The post DP World workers strike against attack on rosters and pay first appeared on Solidarity Online.
SA teachers strike again for more staff and pay
Thousands of South Australian teachers, members of the Australian Education Union (AEU), went on a state-wide strike again on 9 November against a poor pay agreement offered by the Malinauskas Labor government.
It was their second full-day strike, following the earlier action on 1 September.
More than 170 schools and preschools were closed and 201 schools offered only “modified” programs.
Thousands of teachers dressed in black filled the streets and marched, demanding a real pay rise and proper funding for education. Alongside the dozens of home-made signs, some larger placards drew attention to the things the State Government would rather fund than schools, including nuclear submarines and a destructive university merger.
Teachers have rejected the government’s offer of a below-inflation pay rises over three years. A state-wide ballot saw 83 per cent vote to take strike action.
Poor pay and conditions have created a teacher shortage crisis, as in other states, with 35,000 students going without a teacher every day according to the union.
Inflation is currently running at 5.4 per cent, after hovering around 7 per cent for the last six months of last year.
SA’s Education Minister Blair Boyer is offering teachers only 4 per cent this year, 3 per cent in the second and 2.5 per cent in the third year.
The union called for an inflation-busting 8.6 per cent pay rise this year and 5.5 per cent increases in the next two. But in the face of government intransigence union officials have revised down their demands to a call for 15 per cent over three years.
President of the AEU, Andrew Gohl, said the latest offer, “actually sends some people backwards compared to the second offer.”
Minister Boyer thought that saying the offer was “worth $1.4 billion and amounted to the largest ever made to teachers in South Australia” was a good selling point. But all it shows is the chronic underfunding of schools and teachers’ wages in the state.
The post SA teachers strike again for more staff and pay first appeared on Solidarity Online.
Graham to be called to testify in Ireland in Ogle’s discrimination claim against Unite
Irish union legend’s case against union for abuse and discrimination after his cancer treatment expected to last eight days but adjourned until February
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham is expected to be called to testify in Dublin in Irish union legend Brendan Ogle’s discrimination claim against the union.
Ogle, who is also suing Graham, her ally Tony Woodhouse and the union for defamation, has alleged that he was abused by the union after his return from treatment for serious cancer – and after he made ‘protected disclosures’ to the union about its failures to adhere to covid protocols during the pandemic. Graham and her representatives have been accused of ‘disgusting’ behaviour toward Ogle – and anger in Ireland at the situation became so great that an entire sector branch threatened to disaffiliate entirely from Unite, the well-known ‘Right2Water’ campaign said it will no longer work with Unite, Unite’s Community section in Ireland condemned the ‘injustice inflicted’ on him and members picketed general secretary Sharon Graham’s long-delayed visit to Dublin.
Graham is using one of the world’s most profitable law firms to defend the defamation suit – and also, Tuesday’s hearing revealed, in the tribunal case. Her tenure as Unite boss has been marked by a string of other allegations – which neither she nor the union has denied – including alleged destruction of evidence against her husband in misogyny and bullying complaints. She is currently being sued, along with an ally and the union, by Irish union legend Brendan Ogle for defamation.
She has been exposed using proxies to order the cancellation of showings of the film ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn/The Big Lie’, which exposes the political abuse of antisemitism accusations against left-wingers in the Labour party, and discussion of Asa Winstanley’s forensic book Weaponising Antisemitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn. Proxies were similarly despatched to try, unsuccessfully, to cancel a Unite ‘fringe’ event at Labour’s conference earlier this month in support of Palestinians.
Ogle’s barrister told the Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator that she expected the union would be required to ‘produce’ Sharon Graham to testify, along with a string of current and former senior Unite officials and employees. The case was adjourned to allow both sides further time to prepare for what is expected to be an eight-day hearing and will recommence in February.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
New wave of Black Friday “Make Amazon Pay” strikes and protests in 30+ countries
Global Amazon workers take action on one of online retailer’s busiest days of the year
Tomorrow on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year – then on through the weekend and onto Monday, Amazon workers will stage strikes and protests in over thirty countries around the world, in a massive day of action coordinated by the Make Amazon Pay campaign.
Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, said of the wave of action:
This day of action grows every year because the movement to hold Amazon accountable keeps getting bigger and stronger. Workers know that it doesn’t matter what country you’re in or what your job title is, we are all united in the fight for higher wages, an end to unreasonable quotas, and a voice on the job. That’s what workers in Coventry are striking for, and that is why workers around the world are standing up to Make Amazon Pay.
The global day of action is taking place for the four Black Friday in a row. In previous years, thousands of workers went on strike at facilities throughout Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Italy; garment workers’ took to the streets in Bangladesh; US workers organised walkouts; civil society allies held demonstrations projecting the Make Amazon Pay logo at Amazon headquarters all over the world and projecting “pandemic profiteer” onto Jeff Bezos’s mansion; and climate activists blockaded Amazon warehouses in three European countries.
Co-convened by UNI Global Union and Progressive International, Make Amazon Pay brings together over 80 unions, civil society organisations, environmentalist groups and tax watchdogs including Greenpeace, 350.org, Tax Justice Network and Amazon Workers International. The groups have united behind a set of common demands that Amazon pays its workers fairly, respects their right to join unions, pays its fair share of taxes and commits to real environmental sustainability.
Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, co-General Coordinator of the Progressive International, said
From the warehouses in Coventry to the factories of Dhaka, this Global Day of Action is more than a protest. It is a worldwide declaration that this age of abuse must end. Amazon’s globe-spanning empire, which exploits workers, our communities and our planet, now faces a growing globe-spanning movement to Make Amazon Pay.
The day of action will include:
- Warehouse worker and driver strikes in the UK, Italy, US, Spain and Germany
- Climate activists in at least seven countries – Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom and Canada – protesting at Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities to call out Amazon’s ‘greenwashing’, its data centres’ growing climate impact and electricity consumption, and AWS’s contracts with fossil fuels companies
- Thousands of workers rallying to protest in more than ten Indian cities
- Bangladeshi Garment workers take mass action in Dhaka to demand a minimum wage of $209 per month, an end to police harassment, which has seen trade unionists killed, and demand that Amazon signs up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety
These actions reflect the widespread criticism of Amazon’s corporate practices. According to a comprehensive 2023 UNI Global Union survey, Amazon’s intense performance monitoring has inflicted stress, pressure, anxiety, and a sense of mistrust among its employees across eight key countries. The survey reveals alarming statistics: 51% of employees report adverse health effects; 57% cite deteriorating mental health due to Amazon’s intrusive monitoring. This has led to increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and the public, with US Senator Bernie Sanders investigating the company’s “abysmal safety record.”
A new report by the U.S.-based National Employment Law Project (NELP), Amazon’s warehouse workers receive significantly lower wages compared to other workers in the sector and considerably less than average earnings in their corresponding U.S. counties.
In a landmark move, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 state attorneys general have launched a lawsuit against tech and retail giant Amazon.com, Inc., accusing it of maintaining a monopolistic grip on the market through a series of anti-competitive practices.
Stuart Appelbaum, President of RWDSU, said:
This global action underscores the urgent need for Amazon to address its egregious labour practices and engage in fair bargaining with its workers. Our collective actions are gaining momentum, challenging Amazon’s unfair practices and advocating for workers’ rights and a sustainable future for all. Together, we can Make Amazon Pay.
Nazma Akhter, President of the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation and Progressive International council member, added:
In Bangladesh, garment workers make the clothes that Amazon sells and profits from. But Amazon doesn’t even recognize us as its workers nor sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety to keep our factories safe. That precarity leaves us open to even more abuse: dangerous working conditions, a minimum wage below the $209 per month we are demanding, and trade unionists attacked and killed by police. We make Amazon’s profits and together with our brothers and sisters around the world, we will Make Amazon Pay.
Irish Senator Lynn Boylan:
Amazon is failing our planet. At its current rate, Amazon won’t reach its stated 2040 net zero target until 2378. In my country, Ireland, Amazon’s hunger for relentless expansion will contribute to us exceeding our carbon budget with plans for three new data centres, whose insatiable demand for electricity drives up demand for gas. The unbridled expansion of data centres has raised alarms, with EirGrid warning of grid instability and the risk of rolling blackouts. Across the world, Amazon Web Services is deeply involved in different phases of oil production, focusing on pipelines, shipping, and storage for oil and gas companies. It’s time to Make Amazon Pay for its environmental damage.
Teamsters member Jessie Moreno at the Manchester summit
Jessie Moreno, Amazon Teamsters member from Local 396 in California:
Amazon workers are taking action around the globe to fight for the good jobs we deserve. In the U.S., my Teamster siblings and I are on strike against Amazon’s unfair labor practices. We have taken our picket line across the country and now we’re joining our colleagues from around the world to demand respect, fair wages, and a workplace where our health and safety are a priority. Amazon is no match for the power of its workers united.
Moreno’s union has been on strike against Amazon for more than 150 days. Watch his interview with Skwawkbox at last month’s Make Amazon Pay summit in Manchester here.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
RMT rep: the train operating company offer is a con members should vote to reject it
Effective pay cuts and continued downgrading and job losses – rail union insider reveals grim reality of offer being put to a vote among RMT members
Written by an RMT official and published on condition of anonymity.
Rail workers should vote down the pay offer.
Why should we vote No? The reasons are clear. A 5% pay rise for the year 22/23 is a pay cut in real terms; we had no pay settlement in 2021-22 at all. Rail workers were sent out during Covid, with little protection, to keep the country running. Some of us died. We barely received so much as a ‘Thank You’, let alone any financial remuneration for the risks we ran, or the effort we put in to keep the nation moving.
For the last year UK inflation has been at 10%+ for seven months out of twelve. This offer is derisory and should have been rejected out of hand. A settlement of at least 15% is needed just to keep members where they were in 2021.
A worse offer than was already on the table
The RDG [Rail Delivery Group of train operators], directed by the government for political expediency, have been forced to remove their destructive Workplace Reform proposals from the table. Their previous offer of 5% up front and 4% to negotiate those proposals has been fulfilled by the union side, yet this offer is even worse than that. Indeed it is significantly less than other public sector workers who have received settlements of up to 7% this year – but also had raises in 2021 and 2022 which we have been denied.
Despite the resounding rejection of government proposals by Travelwatch and Transport Focus, Workplace Reform remains on the table. The ‘no compulsory redundancy’ guarantees to December 2024 are so short as to be less of a promise and more of a threat.
The intention clearly is to return to cutting 30% of Station grades staff, one way or another. This cannot be acceptable to us. The opportunity to close ticket offices entirely may have gone, but they will be hollowed out and the reduction in quality of service that they provide will then be used as a reason for closure at some point in the future. Other station grades will be de-skilled and only some individuals selected for multiskilling – and their numbers worse than decimated too. Members’ Terms & Conditions and their pensions and benefits are under attack from this process.
Too much haste; dangerous proposals
The timescale is unduly hasty, too: TOCs’ [train operating companies] plans given to the unions in July would have shamed a plan sketched on the back of a fag packet after closing time and would have seen an increase in single staffing in all stations, to a critical level detrimental to the service and the safe operation of the railway.
If members vote yes then they are voting for 2023/ 24 pay to be based on the Workplace Reform proposals that the employers want. This will result in significant job losses of 30% across all station grades. Although none of it has been agreed the principle will be considered agreed by the votes in favour of the offer. Detail will be added later, guaranteed to be a disaster for members.
The 2023/24 pay offer will not be made unless Grades Councils agree to the employers’ demands. A big question members should ask themselves before they vote is, who in the RMT is negotiating for you with your TOC? This will be at Council level, not National. What skills and proven results do they have?
Any TOC going into dispute over 2023 /2024 pay will be on their own. This division is not in our favour. Acceptance will mean the National dispute is over, regardless of the mandate delivered by members in the recent re-ballot. The promise of back pay has been used to distract members from the negatives; a few pounds in the hand before Christmas used to blindside members.
The RDG offer will end the current dispute if we accept it. Rail workers currently have an extremely strong negotiating position. We are six weeks from Christmas and have a six-month mandate for industrial action. Returning an emphatic ‘No’ vote would strengthen this position as we would be able to return to the RDG and demand a significant improvement to the offer on the table.
If you’ve already voted to accept, you can change your vote
Members can change their vote even if they have already voted, right up until the closing date, by following the link in the original email they were sent.
Please lobby all your members.
Vote NO.
Skwawkbox understands that the deal being put to a member vote by the RMT would still involve major redundancies among ticket office staff – but that rail reps have been pleasantly surprised by the negative reaction to the offer among grassroots members.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Maritime Union of Australia joins Sydney protest for Gaza ceasefire
Seafarers and ports union joins global surge of unions backing Gaza freedom and branch supports Palestinian justice protest at Australia’s biggest port and campaign for boycott
The Maritime Union of Australia, via its Sydney branch, has backed a protest at Port Botany – Australia’s largest sea port – against an Israeli shipping company involved in the delivery of weapons to Israel.
In a statement, Sydney branch secretary Paul Keating said that the union ‘joins the community’s call for an immediate ceasefire’ and ‘will always stand with the oppressed, the colonised and the exploited, including the Palestinian community’ – and accused the Australian government of ‘complicity’ in the slaughter and oppression of Palestinians. The full statement is below:
Maritime Union of Australia Sydney Branch joins worldwide call to stop the war on Gaza and Free Palestine
The Palestinian Justice Movement Sydney has announced that the community will be leading an action in Port Botany in protest at the Israeli owned ZIM shipping line which frequents Australia’s largest container port.
Maritime Union of Australia Sydney Branch Secretary Paul Keating said that “the MUA joins the community’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The MUA will always stand with the oppressed, the colonised and the exploited, including the Palestinian community and a broad coalition of peace and justice organisations calling for freedom and justice for the Palestinian people as a long-term solution to the cyclical violence, death and destruction for all people living in both Palestine and Israel.
This community-led action in Sydney is part of the escalating actions by communities and unions around the world. In the USA, Italy, Belgium and elsewhere, communities and unions are escalating actions including to target Israeli owned vessels in ports in an effort to put a halt to the carnage unfolding in Palestine.“We will always defend the community’s right to stand up and fight for what is right. These community-led actions have for decades assisted movements fighting for justice including an end to Apartheid South Africa, against unjust wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq and innumerable others, against nuclear war, for First Nations rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights amongst others and act as bulwarks against discrimination, war and environmental destruction.
“Minimising the right to protest atrocities, war crimes and breaches of international law undermine the capacity for working class people and civil institutions to speak truth to power, which plays into the hands of the those who profit from war.”
“Any politician in NSW that supports these protest laws and opposes the right to protest should be ashamed of themselves; would they have prevented the anti-apartheid movement from protesting against South Africa? The anti-protest laws being used to suppress these peaceful and legitimate protest actions are a disgrace and should be abolished.”
“MUA calls for an end to war crimes in Palestine
The latest reports show the situation is catastrophic. Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza has resulted in unimaginable carnage. There have been more than 5500 Palestinian children slaughtered since the siege upon the people of Gaza. This is a war crime.“Israel alone made the decision to fire barrage after barrage of missiles into one of the most densely populated cities on earth, and Israel alone is responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 people who’ve been slaughtered during the sustained and indiscriminate aerial bombing of residential buildings and civic infrastructure.
Much of the rest of the world is turning a blind eye to these massacres in a heavily biased attempt to justify the murder of one child whilst condemning the killing of another. We unequivocally condemn all violence directed at innocent civilians whether they are Palestinian or Israeli.
“The MUA expresses deep alarm at the escalation of violence in Gaza and Israel and condemns the targeting of all civilians on both sides by Hamas and Israeli forces.
“Even in the face of the illegal occupation and a 16-year blockade of Gaza, there are obligations under international humanitarian law that must be upheld. We condemn the indiscriminate attacks on civilians and taking of civilian hostages by Hamas and other armed groups, which amount to war crimes under international law. All those responsible for war crimes should be dealt with under international law.
“We also condemn the attacks from Israeli forces, including the shelling of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure by the Israeli Defence Forces. Israel’s stated intention of imposing a complete siege on Gaza, which involves cutting electricity, food, medical and water supplies, amount to
collective punishment; a grave violation of international humanitarian law, which everyone who believes in justice should oppose without any equivocation. War crimes are war crimes no matter who is committing them.“The MUA calls on Hamas to immediately release the 220 Israeli hostages and we call on Israel to release the thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza who were working in Israel when the war started, that have been detained without charge in military facilities. We call on Israel to release the 5000 Palestinian political prisoners taken hostage by the Israeli state since October 7. We call on Israel to release the 20 Palestinian women detained in the West Bank: female writers and journalists that have been taken to be used as bargaining chips in a potential prisoner exchange with Hamas”.
Australia must end its complicity
“Australian politicians have lined up to parrot the phrase ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ while willingly ignoring the historical context and root causes that have contributed to the current crisis – including the 16-year blockade of Gaza and its devastating social and political consequences.
“We support the call from Palestinian Human Rights Groups for the Australian Government to release to the public a full list of weapons exported to Israel since this war began. The time for secrecy surrounding Australian complicity in these military assaults on civilians is over.
The MUA Sydney Branch completely backs the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) call to tear down the apartheid wall, end the blockade of Gaza and support the BDS campaign.
We support the statement issued by Progressive International including:“We join the global call to reject the false equivalence of colonizer and colonized, recognize that the violence of the oppressed is a response to the original condition of their oppression, and uphold the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to resist, enshrined in UN Resolution 2625, as ‘the legitimacy
of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means’.Nationally, the MUA has resolved to “Support campaigns for Palestinian self-determination and a
State that complies with UN Resolutions, particularly ending the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and ending the blockade of Gaza; tearing down the apartheid wall; call upon Australia to endorse and support all UN Resolutions relating to Palestine and Israel;”Throughout its history, the MUA Sydney Branch has stood shoulder to shoulder with all oppressed peoples and for this we have often been wildly attacked by conservative media and politicians with all manner of hysterical ravings about our political stance, yet we have repeatedly been proven to be on the right side of history and we offer our support and solidarity with the incredibly brave and courageous Jewish people in Israel and around the world who have stated that this violence is “not in our name”.
Paul Keating
Sydney Branch Secretary
Maritime Union of Australia
The MUA joins Belgian, Italian, Spanish and South African dockworkers in taking action against Israeli shipping lines’ shipment of weapons to Israel that will be used against Palestinians. The United Auto Workers union in the US, the Central TUC in India, the United Tech and Allied Workers in Northern Ireland and unions in Canada, Japan, Poland and Colombia have also called for a boycott.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.