repression

On June 12th, cleaners working for ISS at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) in London were called to a meeting by management. The cleaners were “processed” by immigration officials who detained nine of them as “illegal immigrants”. It was perhaps no coincidence that a picket of SOAS’ governing body demanding the reinstatement of victimised SOAS UNISON Branch Chair José Stalin Bermudez, who had been prominent in organising cleaners, had been called for that morning.

Those detained were denied union representation, but a campaign was quickly organised by SOAS campus unions and students, migrant worker activists and anti-deportation campaigners. SOAS management was held responsible for ISS “ambushing” their cleaners as punishment for winning union recognition and the London Living Wage.

News from our comrades in Berlin, who had been dragged into the courts by the bosses of the Cinema Babylon.

About 50 people gathered in the biggest hall of Berlin’s Higher Court on the morning of June 10th. They were waiting for the decision on the FAU Berlin’s appeal on whether they could call themselves a union. Only 15 minutes into the trial, the judge delivered the verdict. The injunction is overturned; the ban is repealed; the crowd goes wild.

As of yesterday, December 11, 2009, FAU Berlin (FAU-B) has essentially been banned as a union. The decision was made by the Berlin Regional Court (Landgericht Berlin) without a hearing. FAU-B was not even informed that the Neue Babylon GmbH – which is involved in a labor dispute with FAU-B – had started legal proceedings against them. The court’s decision goes beyond merely taking away FAU-B’s rights as a union within the Babylon cinema. From this point on they are no longer allowed to call themselves a union!

Background

FAU-B and its group within the Babylon cinema have been fighting for a labor contract since the beginning of June 2009. Although the Babylon cinema is government funded, pay has been miserable and workers rights have been ignored. A large portion of the cinema’s staff is organized within FAU-B. This is the first significant labor dispute of the relatively small FAU-B. It has caused an uproar not only in Berlin, but in all of Germany.

Six anarchists from the ASI, Solidarity Federation’s Serbian sister organisation are currently imprisoned by the Serbian state.  Tadej Kurep, Ivan Vulovic, Sanja Dojkic, Ratibor Trivunac, Ivan Savic and Nikola Mitrovic are accused of  attacking the Greek embassy in Belgrade remain imprisoned, with (at time of press) no charges yet levelled at them.

The six have been targeted by authorities because of their politics and visibility, and face the ludicrous prospect of international terrorism charges - on the basis that as the embassy is sovereign territory, the attack had crossed an international border. The attack itself caused negligible damage, and has even been claimed by another group.  If international terrorism charges are brought, the Six face over 10 years in prison.