Where trade unionists start their day on the net.
In this week's mailing:
* New campaigns in Australia, Canada and the U.K.
* Labour website of the year - a statement from LabourStart
NEW CAMPAIGNS IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA AND THE U.K.
We don't normally do this on a Monday morning, but we have no choice. Three different unions on three different continents have simultaneously asked us to launch online campaigns. And when you read about what's at stake, you'll see why can't say no.
In Canada, 70 women workers at a credit union in Ontario have been on strike for four months, walking the picket line in the bitter cold. That credit union was set up by trade unionists to protect their members, but times have changed. Those workers are asking you to take a moment and send off a message to the employer demanding that they bargain fairly. It's not a lot to ask, and it will take you about 30 seconds to do it, so please click here now:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=190
In Australia, the French-based multinational giant Thales is taking advantage of the new anti-union legislation enacted by the government of John Howard. It is telling some workers that the company will not re-negotiate collective agreements. It is trying to weaken those agreements in other cases, or is stalling talks. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) is asking for our help to send a loud and clear message to Thales. Again, it will only take you a few seconds and it will make a difference. Please click here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=189
Finally, a campaign that is only for our readers in the U.K. A private members bill has been introduced in Parliament, proposing a law on the equal treatment of the more than one million agency workers in the country. Those workers have been excluded from essential protections and face discrimination in the workplace, lower wages, and no sick, holiday or overtime pay. The campaign is being backed by the TUC and a number of the country's largest unions (the T&G, Amicus, UCATT, CWU, Unison and the GMB). All LabourStart readers who live in the U.K. are urged to click here now:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=188
Now that you've sent your messages off, please take a moment and pass this on to your union colleagues and friends.
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LABOUR WEBSITE OF THE YEAR - A STATEMENT FROM LABOURSTART
LabourStart has received complaints from readers around the world about the nature of Solidarity, the South African union that won this year's Labour Website of the Year competition.
LabourStart wishes to make it clear that the way in which the competition is currently run means that any union is free to make nominations and that anyone is also free to vote. We do not select the website of the year; you, our readers, do. Nearly 8,000 of you did so this year, and more than one in ten of those who voted, voted for the winning site. LabourStart does not in any way endorse the policies of this union or any other union which has entered this competition.
To complicate matters, towards the end of the voting, we learned that Solidarity -- which already held a commanding lead -- launched a competition amongst its members, giving daily cash prizes in the final days of voting to encourage votes for their union's site. We had not encountered anything like this before in the nine previous competitions. We expressed our concerns to Solidarity about this, and it was also discussed among senior LabourStart correspondents. Our view is that giving financial incentives to vote is against the spirit of the competition. However, Solidarity made the point that this was not against any published rules, which was technically true.
This situation has resulted in a thorough review of the way in which the competition is run and there are likely to be significant changes put in place for next year. We welcome any suggestions from our readers about possible changes and improvements in the competition. These should be sent to ericlee@labourstart.org.
Finally, we wish to make it absolutely clear that LabourStart is fundamentally and totally opposed to racism and discrimination of any sort and that the whole rationale for the LabourStart website is to promote workers' unity on the basis of class.
Eric Lee
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.