Where trade unionists start their day on the net.
Thursday, 8 March 2007 is International Women's Day and we're delighted to take this opportunity to announce the launch of LabourStart's special coverage of women workers:
http://www.labourstart.org/iwd
Today you can read about --
* UK: Unions have warned that local councils may have to cut jobs as they struggle to meet a deadline to bring in equal pay -- including back pay for many thousands of women.
* Australia: According to a new report issued this week by the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation, thanks to the Howard government's labour laws, not only is Australia at the bottom of the OECD countries in terms of workers' rights, but women workers are hardest hit. Since the introduction of anti-union legislation, women's wages have actually fallen by some two percent.
* Turkey: Thousands of women marched -- supported by, among others, the petroleum workers union -- demanding peace and equality. Among them were women workers from Novamed, a company that was the target of a recent LabourStart online campaign.
* Israel: According to a government report issued this week, women's salaries remain half that of men's.
* Canada: Seventy women workers who have been on strike at the First Ontario Credit Union since 20 October have gotten an extraordinary gesture of solidarity from fellow union members. To mark International Women's Day, unions in the area will be withdrawing $800,000 from the credit union on Thursday.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Our new page at http://www.labourstart.org/iwd will report on women worker's issues -- including struggles for equality -- throughout the year. Please spread the word.
And make sure you've sent off a message in support of those women workers at First Ontario:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=190
Thank you.
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.