Where trade unionists start their day on the net.
In this week's mailing:
* Top Iranian union leader jailed by regime - international campaign launched
* More attacks on Russian auto workers union at GM
* Victory in Houston - thanks from the union
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TOP IRANIAN UNION LEADER JAILED BY REGIME - INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
Last winter, the Iranian capital city of Tehran was practically shut down by striking bus drivers. The reaction of the regime was swift and brutal -- hundreds of workers were arrested in an attempt to break their union. The union leader, Mansour Osanloo, was jailed for 8 months and finally released on bail -- but last Sunday was arrested again while on his way to the Labour Ministry. Osanloo was verbally and physically assaulted, threatened with a gun, and driven away by plain-clothes police.
Unions around the world are reacting, demanding that the Iranian government release Osanloo immediately.
Please add your voice to this mounting wave of international protest - go here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=167
In addition, we'd like to you consider downloading and printing out an offline version of this campaign, here:
http://www.labourstart.org/freemansour.pdf
You can make copies of this page and take it to meetings, signing up people offline.
Working together, we can turn this into the biggest online campaign LabourStart has ever run -- and let's send a loud and clear message to Tehran that workers' rights are human rights, and must be respected everywhere.
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MORE ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN AUTO WORKERS UNION AT GM
Three days ago, Ilsiyar Sherafutdinova, vice-chairwoman of the independent trade union committee at the General Motors-AVTOVAZ factory in Russia, was fired by management. According to the union, "This is a disgusting act of persecution of a trade union activist, aiming at destroying the workers' organization independent from the bosses." If you've not yet done so, please make sure to sign up to our campaign, launched in September, in support of the workers at GM AVTOVAZ, here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=143
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VICTORY IN HOUSTON - THANKS FROM THE UNION
Diego Mendez, campaign field coordinator for the SEIU in Houston, asked for this message to be passed on to all of you:
"Thank you for participating in the Houston Justice for Janitors LabourStart online campaign. The thousands of emails sent through LabourStart were vital to the win that will help thousands of working families in Houston climb out of poverty and have access to affordable healthcare."
Online campaigns work! Please make sure that you are participating in all the current LabourStart campaigns here:
http://www.labourstart.org/actnow.shtml
Thanks very much. Have a great weekend.
Eric
Texts appearing here are often press releases sent to us by unions and other organizations which do not appear elsewhere on the web. LabourStart takes no responsibility for their content.