AUT: labour shorts 11/97

[Chris <red@xxxxxxx>]

Please credit the Wobbly (IWW) newspaper for these stories
http://parsons.iww.org/~iw

Garment workers poisoned in El Salvador
Over 100 workers in a Salvadoran sweatshop were poisoned by an unknown
substance in mid-November.
Workers suspect the drinking water, which is stored in old paint barrels.
Many workers were injured and three remained hospitalized for over three
days after the poisioning.
Since an anti-sweatshop campaign began in 1995, wages and benifits have
nominally improved in El Salvador but working conditions and rates of
union recognition have remained low.
Protests may be faxed to the Salvadoran Labor Ministry at 011-503-245-3070
and the White House Apparel Industry Partnership c/o Liz Clairborne
201-295-7803.
Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
cispesnatl@xxxxxxxxxxx http://www.blank.org/sweatgear

US state rounds-up migrant workers
The US Immigration and Naturalization Service detained almost 30 workers
Nov. 6 from a New York City garment factory for lack of documentation.
A coalition of groups supporting the workers announced that "the
repression of immigrants is intended to keep undocumented workers from
organizing... workers who fear deportation are less likely to complain
about or organize against employer violations...sometimes contractors
themselves call the INS to "disappear" their workers, to avoid paying back
wages or to thwart an organizing drive."
Protests can be mailed to the INS at 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278
or telephoned to them at 1-800-375-5283.
The Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants 212-645-5230.

scab bosses die from bad conditions
Two supervisors at a pulp mill in British Columbia died in October from
suffocation while inspecting bad workplace conditions while workers
continued a three-month strike truck outside the plant for a safer
workplace.
"This is exactly what we're fighting over," said one worker. The strike is
partially against "full flexibility" involving workers quickly switching
tasks and often endangering themselves.
Edward Alden, Vancouver Sun

Indigenous people ask workers to boycott 2000 Olympics
The Nyungah Circle of Elders in Australia declared a boycott and "time of
mourning" this summer for the Olympic Games to be held in Sydney,
Australia in the year 2000.
"[W]e ask all Athletes planning to celebrate and participate in the
Olympic Games...We ask you not to run in the Olympics over our Dead
Ancestors who were massacred out through all the generations from the
Beginning of the Invasion 200 years ago until now," their statement read.
source: Boycott 2000 http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/2000/main.html

slaves under Naziism denied compensation
A German court denied a group of Holocaust survivors compensation for
their stolen labour in slave/death camps during the second world war last
month.
The workers say they will not be liberated until they also win back wages
in addition to the compensation for imprisonment they already received.
The survivors brought evidence that the munitions factory bosses profitted
from their labor and are now expressing discouragement from appealing the
court ruling.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

sex work organizer murdered in Guatemala
In an assassination typical of death squads, sex work organizer "La
Conchita" was shot dead by men in a white pick-up truck 30 meters from the
doorstep of the HIV/AIDS organization he worked with.
The murder follows death threats on Conchita by the police and Conchita's
identification of other workers' slain bodies who he suspected were
murdered by police.
Protest to Guatemalan President Alvaro Arzu fax 011.502.221.4537 or e-mail
AlvaroArzu@xxxxxxxxxx
Heartland Alliance, Chicago 312 629-4500

piecards deny pornographic actor union card
Actor Dalny Marga Valdes is bringing the US-based Screen Actors Guild to
the National Labor Relations Board for rejecting her application for union
membership based on her work in pornographic films.
The prevailing wage for sex workers in the film industry is $300 to $1200
per month, according to Valdes, and Screen Actors Guild workers earn
$5,000 just for appearing naked once.
The Screen Actors Guild has shunned sex work actors since 1970s.
Washington Post

striking teachers in Ontario against state dictatorship
The weeks-long "illegal" strike by teachers in Ontario in November was
most importantly about the state's attempt to dictate education policy and
systematically silence any opposition.
According to a liberal columnist in a Canadian boss press, education
workers opposed the Education Quality Improvement Act in large part for
its "Henry VIII" clause that any regulation dictated by the Education
Minister would overrule any previous "democratic" law of the parliament.
In addition, the Premier of Ontario Mike Harris attempted to pass the law
through premature "closure" of debate.
Globe and Mail, Michael Valpy mvalpy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

corporate takeover of campuses revealed in new book
Educational institutions face strong pressure from capital and
fundamentalist religion to give up any popular control over curricula and
structure.
An analysis of education in this context is now available in a newly
revised book called Uncovering the Right on Campus released by the
US-based Center for Campus Organizing this November.
The report includes details of how corporate funding influences
educational production and expression, as well as facts about the state's
simultaneous attack on education through  funding cutbacks .
The 134-page book is available for $10 from the Center for Campus
Organizing, P.O. Box 748, Cambridge, MA 02142.
CCO cco@xxxxxxx http://www.cco.org



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