Global Solidarity Goes Both Ways
International solidarity travels both ways. Workers under attack in the United States have received strong support from workers around the world and they have come to the aid of their brothers and sisters when they needed help and support.
Next Monday, as part of the We Are One mobilization on and around April 4, workers and activists in Paris will march to show their solidarity with U.S. workers. Democrats Abroad Paris, the sponsor of the march, says in a statement: “We’re standing together for rights for all workers to bargain for a middle class life, our right to a voice in the political process and the respect that all people deserve.”
Back in the United Staes, the more than 65,000 Wisconsin workers represented by AFSCME Councils 24, 40 and 48 donated nearly $50,000 to an earthquake relief fund established by RENGO, Japan’s trade union confederation on behalf of all AFSCME members nationwide.
International Unions Reach Out to Japan Quake Survivors
Global unions are reaching out to Japanese workers and their families following the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, likely claimed more than 10,000 lives and left half a million people homeless.
In a statement, David Cockroft, general secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), said:
The people of Japan are well prepared for these events but the sheer size of this one could have overwhelmed all preparations. Thankfully there has been great bravery shown in saving lives, and maybe we can allow ourselves to feel some pride that transport workers have figured widely in reports of passengers being safely evacuated from trains, and cared for at the affected airports. The news of our members in the seaports is likely to be grimmer.
Click here to read Cockroft’s letter to ITF affiliates.
You can send a message of support and solidarity here and click here to see other messages from workers around the world. Updates from Japanese trade unions the quake and tsunami areas are available here.
NUMMI Closing Highlights Need for U.S. Manufacturing Policy
Closing the New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. automotive plant in California will eliminate 25,000 jobs in the state and cost taxpayers $2.3 billion to replace the jobs lost, according to a March 3 report by University of California professor Harley Shaiken.
The Daily Labor Report (subscription required) notes:
California and municipalities near the Fremont, Calif., plant will lose nearly a billion dollars of revenue in the decade after the plant closes, according to a blue-ribbon panel formed by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D).
Using estimates by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, the report found that “just creating 4,700 jobs-the number lost at NUMMI itself—would cost $433 million.”
Global Support Growing for Employee Free Choice
Since Friday, when we wrote about international union support for the Employee Free Choice Act, more letters backing this critical legislation have poured in from around the world.
In separate letters to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, leaders of unions in eight countries, along with an international union federation, have expressed solid support for the bill. The latest letters come from all corners of the world: Paraguay, Japan, Ghana, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and Togo, the base of the 13-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM).
