IWW Scotland

Clydeside GMB at Holland & Barrett 31/03/12

mmgilchrist — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 21:32:23 +0000

Members of IWW Clydeside GMB, the Anarchist Federation and Solidarity Federation picketed the Queen Street branch of Holland & Barrett at lunchtime on Saturday 31st March. We managed to turn some people away at the entrance. We had placards proclaiming ‘The H&B Workfare Deal, Employ Three, Get One Free’ in the style of Holland and Barrett advertising as Holland and Barrett plan to have a quarter of their workers as unpaid labour. Another placard said, ‘Say No To Workfare At Holland and Barrett’. We gave out 500 leaflets detailing Holland & Barrett use of unpaid labour. A number of people stopped to ask what the picket was about. A member of the Holland & Barrett staff was one of these people on her way in to start her shift. She said that one girl had been on work experience at the store, but that she had got a permanent job. We pointed out generally Holland and Barrett have not given permanent contracts to 80% of people on work experience, their plans to introduce a 1000 more work experience people in the next year and how that could affect the hours of the permanent staff. The manager tried to tell us to move away from the entrance, but we just ignored her. In a final pathetic attempt to show us who was boss she bluffed that the police were on their way, even though there was nothing remotely illegal about what we were doing.

There were over 20 actions against workfare over the weekend around Britain that will be part of an ongoing campaign. These actions were part of a national day of action called by the Solidarity Federation. The actions tied in with the international days of action against austerity called by the International Workers Association that included the general strike in Spain on March 29th, and the M31 European Day of Action Against Capitalism.

(Text by Mark, SolFed)

Guardian on independent unions in China 02/03/12

mmgilchrist — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:07:13 +0000

This may be of interest:

Lijia Zhang: China’s marginalised workers are waking up to their rights

See previously:

In an increasingly globalised economy, surely it is vital that labour also organises internationally?

IWW Clydeside: Mine Wars films 20/03/12, 7.30

mmgilchrist — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:51:31 +0000

The next Clydeside IWW film night will be on 20 March, Electron Club, CCA (7.30 prompt start, as the whole programme will last about 90 minutes).

Following FW Brendan Maslaukas’s article ‘The Battle for Blair Mountain’ in October 2011′s issue of the Industrial Worker, we will be showing the West Virginia Mine Wars documentary Even the Heavens Weep (1986) and excerpts from West Virginia (1995). The Mine Wars – for the right to organise, and against the servitude of the ‘company town’ system – were real, bloody warfare over more than a decade, culminating in the largest civil insurrection in the US since the 1860s: an extraordinary story. The fact these films were recorded some years ago means that they include accounts from elderly eye-witnesses, now dead, as well as archive footage from the early 20C.

There are also a couple of short recent features on the ongoing campaign and 2011 march to save Blair Mountain – which had its 2009 historic site status revoked because of mining company pressure – from ‘mountain top removal’. The campaign has brought together miners, labour activists, historians, archaeologists and environmentalists. See The Friends of Blair Mountain.

IWW 4 IWD Judi Bari Film Fri. 5th March Glasgow

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:14:47 +0000

IWW Clydeside celebrates International Womens’ Day with a screening of:

‘The Forest For The Trees’

The amazing story of the fight to clear Earth First and IWW activist Judi Bari’s name after her car was bombed and she was arrested as a terrorist by the FBI.

Followed by talk by US IWW member Susan Dorazio.

Friday March 5th

7pm

Electron Club

CCA

350 Sauchiehall Street

Glasgow G2 3DL

Judi Bari was an Earth First and IWW organiser who was one of the first to
place as much importance on timber workers’ lives and families as she did
on the legacy and future of the Californian Redwood. But that strategic
relationship was too much of a threat. Her car was bombed in 1990, and
three hours later, she was arrested as a terrorist–charges that were later
dropped. Convinced it was a ploy by the FBI to discredit her and Earth
First, Judi decided to sue.

THE FOREST FOR THE TREES offers access into the painfully short yet
extraordinary life of Judi Bari, and a piece of U.S. history that everyday
grows increasingly resonant as once again the lines between dissent and
terrorism are being intentionally blurred.

Starbucks Workers Union Film

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:14:43 +0000

Followed by discussion on precarious workers

IWW Clydeside GMB Meeting

Tuesday 9th February

7pm

Electron Club

CCA

350 Sauchiehall Street

Glasgow

G2 3JD

‘The Wobblies’ IWW Film 7pm 29th Jan. Electron Club CCA Glasgow

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:09:31 +0000

7pm

Friday 29th January

Electron Club Cinema CCA

350 Sauchiehall Street

Glasgow

G2 3JD

‘The Wobblies’ 1979 Documentary
Followed by brief outline of the history of the Indusrial Workers of the
World – the One Big Union by Boston IWW member Eric Chester

“Solidarity! All for One and One for All” With this slogan, the Industrial
Workers of the World. aka the Wobblies, took to organising unskilled
workers into one big union and changing the course of history. Along the
way to winning an eight-hour workday and fair wages in the early 20th
century, the Wobblies were one of the few unions to be racially and
sexually integrated and often met with imprisonment, violence, and the
privations of prolonged strikes. This award-winning films airs a
provocative look at the forgotten American history of the most radical of
unions, screening the unforgettable and still-fiery voices of Wobbly
members-lumberjacks, migatory workers, and silk weavers-in their 70s, 80s
and 90s.

Eeerily echoeing current times, THE WOBBLIES boldly investigates a nation
torn by naked corporate greed and the red-hot rift between the industrial
masters and the rabble-rousing workers in the fields and factory. Replete
with gorgeous archival footage, the film pays tribute to American workers
who took the ideals of equality and free speech seriously enough to die for
them.

IWW Clydeside AGM

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:19:02 +0000

Tuesday 12th January

7pm – 9pm

Electron Club

CCA

350 Sauchiehall Street

Glasgow G2 3JD

We will be discussing our plans for industrial branches in the education and health sectors, precarious workers and training for casework.

Edinburgh Council Worker Solidarity Group now has a website

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:57:45 +0000

The group supports binworkers and other council staff involved in disputes and includes a number of IWW members:

http://www.edinburghmuckraker.org.uk/

Audio Interview about bin worker dispute in Edinburgh:

http://blog.fempages.org/wp/?p=794

Friday Electron Cinema -Chomsky’s Propaganda Model 7:00

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:45:49 +0000

Electron Club
CCA 
7pm
Friday 18th December


Noam Chomsky (IWW member!) Andrew Marr - The propaganda model.(Vidio)

Chomsky and Andrew Marr of the BBC, in which Chomsky explains to the
disbelieving journalist how the media serve power interests.

Considering propaganda now called "public relations" all consumes our daily
lives - in comparison there is very little discussed or written about it.

After film chat - Are you free from propaganda?

"It is arguable that the success of business propaganda in persuading
us, for so long that we are free from propaganda is one of the most
significant propaganda achievements of the twentieth century". John Carey
(Taking the Risk out of Democracy)

http://www.bridgeweb.info/pg/groups/1934/electron-cinema/

http://propaganding.blogspot.com/
-- 

www.citystrolls.com

While we all watch television business gets organised.

Worker Occupations And The Future Of Radical Labour

glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:30:24 +0000

http://chomsky.info/interviews/20091120.htm