international

Outsourcing of workers at the ABB factory in Cordoba is currently being used as the pretext to get rid of militant workers, leading to 34 workers being fired.

The strikers claim that the redundancies are not valid and considered them a clear retaliation for the strike. They demand to be reinstated by ABB or outsourced by ADECCO - EUROCEN.

On Wednesday EULEN fired all the workers on strike since November 28.

EULEN has claimed that it fired the workers because of the loss of its contract with ABB, where it was replaced by ADECCO - EUROCEN.

Among those dismissed is the entire Strike Committee. Nine of it 12 members already had been dismissed on 31 December.

For the strikers and their unions, this nothing more than the culmination of ABB's strategy to get rid of the workers on strike, with the collaboration of EULEN and ADECCO - EUROCEN.

The Ryanair Don't Care campaign, supported by Liverpool Solidarity Federation, is calling for an international week of action against exploitation and recruitment-scamming by Ryanair starting on March 12th 2012.

The Ryanair Don't Care Campaign was started by John Foley when his daughter was sacked as a flight attendant mid-flight and abandoned abroad, penniless. This would lead to the exposure of a cynical and highly exploitative recruitment scam by the airline.

The following is a report by our Portuguese sister organisation about austerity measures and the recent general strike..

On the last 24th November a new general strike took place in Portugal, exactly one year after the previous one. This was the seventh general strike in Portugal in 37 years and the third convoked by the two main labor unions CGTP and UGT.

Urgent appeal for solidarity with workers in Kazakhstan:

The authorities in Kazakhstan have shot at a rally of striking oil workers in the West city Zhanaozen.The strike of about 1,500 workers demanding higher wages and better working conditions began in May, but was banned. The Oilfield of Karazhanbas, where conflict broke out, is being developed by the company, which belongs to the Chinese concern China International Trust Investment Company and the Kazakh company "KazMunayGaz".

Joint statement by CNT, CGT and SO in Spain

The Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Solidaridad Obrera (SO) trade unions met on 17th October last with the aim of continuing along the path towards unity of action, mobilization and the General Strike.

Mobilizations that have become necessary in order to fight policies of cuts in social spending, the dismantlement of public services (healthcare, transport, education, etc.) and the loss of labour and social rights that are currently being promoted by European governments and institutions at the behest of the employers and markets, and also against labour reforms, changes to the pension system and the reform of collective bargaining. Because they want the working class and the most vulnerable sectors of society to pay for the crisis and make sure the capitalist system survives.

IWA statement regarding the struggle of our Spanish sister section against the closure of a factory owned by Ford-Visteon. (please find aposter attached to this post)

With reference to initiatives taken by the CNT union section at Cadiz Electrónica S.A. Ford-Visteon and the CNT of Jerez, there will be a new International Day of Struggle against Ford-Visteon on October 14.

Translation of a Spanish statement building for a general strike. See below for the original text.

Various union organisations and social movements release a schedule of joint mobilisations leading towards a general strike

Throughout summer, various union organisations across the federalist sphere – such as the CGT, CNT, COBAS, CSC and Solidaridad Obrera – have held various meetings in order to put into motion a mobilised response, based on the unity of action and class, towards the end of a General Strike against the cuts and loss of rights put in place by both the government and European institutions and upon the orders of the bosses and the markets.

A successful international campaign took place on August 19th, in solidarity with the workers at the Ford Visteon plant in Cadiz (Spain). The workers are facing the threat of imminent closure of the factory, thus leaving more than 450 people unemployed.   Meanwhile, once again, we are reminded how multinationals can do and undo at will and with full impunity, even if it means leaving many families without a livelihood, as well as greatly affecting both the region and the sector because of the direct and indirect jobs that will be lost.

On Thursday the 18th of August, about 10 members from the London Locals of the Solidarity Federation met outside a Ford dealership in south London to demonstrate in solidarity with Spanish auto workers who are fighting the closure of their factory.

The following article by our Norwegian sister section analyses the political context of the terrorist attacks committed by Anders Behring Breivik.

Concerning the terror bomb attack in Oslo and massacre in Utøya on Friday 22nd of July

Political violence in Norway has always come from the far right. While the police have concentrated on "radical Islamists", far right violence has happened again, this time to a very large, cruel and bloody extent. The NSF-IWA has expressed its condolences to the victims of this bloody terrorism and would like to state the following.

Introduction

As an introduction we will say that it is a dangerous climate during today`s capitalism that affects many countries and also Norway: