Written by Administrator Monday, 06 September 2010 08:23

8 hours of Labor Beat programs on the fight to defend Chicago Public Schools against privatizations, turn-arounds, and attacks on the teachers union. Also, graduate student union’s victories to defend access to public university education in Illinois. Plus struggles of college campus workers at Univ. of Chicago.

Watch on the Internet beginning 4 pm CST, September 6, 2010. Local time 5am Tuesday 7 September 2010 www.ectv.com

http://www.ectv.com/blog/labor-beat1.htm

Download Labor Video Marathon

File Type: pdf File Size: 292.33 Kb Downloads: 4

Written by Deb Olds Friday, 16 July 2010 05:19

183 members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union have been charged for allegedly joining the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), an opposition party, based on the fact that the individuals made private donations to the DLP. The authorities have interpreted these contributions as membership fees, despite the protestations of the individuals concerned.

According to the KTU, the teachers made the donations to the political party based on their own private beliefs, and not as KTU affiliates. No KTU member has ever formally joined the DLP.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology made its decision to dismiss the 183 teachers for breaching a political neutrality clause, which teachers and civil servants are expected to abide by under South Korea’s Civil Servants’ Law

Read more: What our International Colleagues are doing

Written by EI Tuesday, 18 May 2010 13:45

EI is outraged to inform you that our Iranian colleague Farzad Kamangar has been hanged yesterday, with four other Kurds.

This time there was no rumour which would have allowed EI and human rights groups to launch a campaign to save his life.

EI will continue to campaign on behalf of other teacher trade unionists in Iran but will also request clarity on the process that led to Farzad execution while his case was to be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

We are currently in discussion with other trade union and human rights group to finetune a strategy and agree on key campaign points.

Once this is finalised, EI will send out a circular to its member organisations to request that they appeal to their MoFa about the situation in Iran.

Read more: Kamangar has been executed

Written by AEU Thursday, 25 February 2010 11:29

AEU Reps Federal Conference 2010: Report on International Forum, Conference Session 5 Item 23.

Two international guests spoke at this year’s conference, reporting on organising / union sponsored aid projects they have been driving in their respective countries:  Jerome Fernandez, Manager of the Education International (EI) Tsunami Project in Aceh, Indonesia, and Teopista Burungi of Uganda, Branch secretary of Uganda’s education union, the Uganda Teachers’ Association.  Both had inspiring stories to tell about the challenges and the impact of their work .

Jerome Fernandez started up and then managed  the Banda Aceh Tsunami Reconstruction Project, sponsored by Education International (EI), from 2005 to 2009.  The focus of the project was the rebuilding of schools, the training / retraining of teachers in the area and the counselling of survivors.  Jerome oversaw the project from beginning to end, concluding it on time and under budget.   He had been cajoled out of retirement (he had been a retired teacher) to help.

A survey had been done of the extent of the damage caused by the tsunami, which Jerome needed to use as a reference point in order to understand the scale of the task before him.  Key statistics included the following:  116 880 houses destroyed, 693 health care facilities destroyed, 1662 schools damaged, with 46% destroyed, 220 000 people were killed, including 2300 teachers.

Read more: Report on International Forum

Written by Peter Jennings Thursday, 21 January 2010 11:24

On Tuesday 12th January, the small Caribbean nation of Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7 earthquake.  The capital of Port-au-Prince, a city of 3 million people, lies in ruins, and the Red Cross estimates that 50,000 people could lie dead in the ruins, although other estimates puts the dead at four times that number.

With almost all infrastructure, government and civil society destroyed, search and rescue efforts for missing victims is difficult and relief efforts for the survivors is beset with problems of distribution.

While Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA does not have any projects or staff in Haiti, many unions in the USA and Canada have long experience of working in Haiti, and through their Solidarity Aid Arms, have launched appeals.

Read more: Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA Haiti Appeal

Written by Eric Lee Thursday, 17 December 2009 12:49

South Africa: Update on Sun International dispute : SACCAWU: "The international campaign of solidarity with striking workers at Sun International has substantially boosted the morale and determination of workers and we have witnessed an increase in numbers of striking workers on the picket-line and other activities."  So reports Mike Abrahams of the South African union SACCAWU today - read his full report here.

You've sent off over 2,700 messages in the first 24 hours of this campaign -- but we need to send many more.  Please take a moment to tell Sun International to stop harassing and arresting workers and to negotiate an agreement with their union -- send off your message today.

The global union for the food and hotel sector, the IUF, yesterday urged all its affiliates to join the campaign.

Thailand/Philippines: Send a Christmas card to Triumph International Unhappy snowman. We've received an urgent appeal from the Clean Clothes Campaign to support the 3,660 workers who have been sacked by Triumph International in Thailand and the Philippines.  This is not just a case of workers losing their jobs, which is bad enough -- it's a company deliberately targeting profitable factories in which unions are strong, in a bid to break the union.  The Campaign has done up a "Christmas card" which you can send off with a single click.

Read more: Urgent actions from around the world

Written by INSPP Monday, 14 December 2009 09:14

On this Human Rights Day, the International Network in Solidarity with the Colombian Political Prisoners (INSPP) calls attention to the violation of the human rights of Colombia's political opposition and its supporters.  The Colombian government is waging a campaign to criminalize critical thinking-a campaign that paves the way for transnational access to Colombia's resources, underwritten with more than (US) $7 billion in the US funded Plan Colombia.

Of special concern is the case of Liliany Patricia Obando Villota, undergoing her trial process at this very moment.  She was jailed the very week she released a report on the murders of more than 1,500 members of Fensuagro, Colombia's largest union of farmers and farm workers.  Liliany is the first person to be arrested and stand trial as part of the farc-politica.  This is a process attempting to connect members of the political and social opposition to the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) based on evidence contained in computers allegedly belonging to Commandant Raúl Reyes.

Read more: Liliany Obando Colombian Political Prisoners

Written by EI Friday, 11 December 2009 10:09

The Declaration voices the collective demand by teachers and their unions worldwide that education should be protected in times of conflict, and schools should be respected as zones of peace where children, youth and adults can build healthy communities.

"In most countries of the world, teachers and students do not have to worry about whether they are going to be shot on their way to school or clown up when they get there," says EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. "But increasingly in conflict countries and fragile states they are putting their lives at risk simply by turning up for lessons."

Attacks on education take many appalling forms: bombing and burning of schools; illegal detention, disappearance, torture and assassination of teachers and union officials; abduction for extortion or forced recruitment of child soldiers, or rape by armed forces.

Read more: EI: Schools as Safe Sanctuaries

Written by Eric Lee Wednesday, 04 November 2009 07:50

Nearly twice as many photos were submitted this year as last year (189 vs 118) and 3,203 of you voted to choose a winner from a shortlist of five great photos.  

Here is the photo you selected by a wide margin to be the Labour Photo of the Year:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmasad/3951175816/ 

Please feel free to congratulate the winner.  You can use the comment feature on Flickr to do so (but you must sign up to Flickr first to do so). 

If you wish to use this photo (or any on the shortlist) on your union website or magazine, please make sure to get the permission of the photographer. 

I'd like to congratulate the winner, the four runners-up (you can still see their photos on http://www.labourstart.org/lpoty) and all those who submitted photos. 

Read more: Labour Photo of the Year 2009 - and the winner is ...

Written by Tony Mullen Wednesday, 21 October 2009 04:45

The One World Centre and Curtin University Centre for Human Rights Education invites you to a fundraiser for Windows for Peace:

A movie about reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Encounter Point is a feature documentary film that follows a former Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their lives and public standing to promote a nonviolent end to the conflict. Their journeys lead them to the unlikeliest places to confront hatred within their communities. The film explores what drives them and thousands of other likeminded civilians to overcome anger and grief to work for grassroots solutions. It is a film about the everyday leaders in our midst.

Please donate as generously as you can! All funds will go directly to Windows for Peace. Windows is a joint organisation of Jewish and Palestinian citizens who work together to promote acquaintance, understanding and reconciliation between both peoples, through educational and cultural programs, media and art.

We believe that in order to reach a just and lasting peace, and to advance the process of reconciliation in our region, it is important to understand and internalise democratic values and human rights, and to deepen mutual knowledge of the other. In this way we can learn to cope together with the history and present reality that we, Palestinians and Jews, share.

Read more: “Encounter Point” a fundraiser for Windows for Peace