Labour Start: Pakistan: Violence targets Lipton tea workers

[Omaha Steve]

In this week's mailing:

* Pakistan: Violence targets Lipton tea workers
* USA/UK: Trade union congresses go all Web 2.0
* Israel: Success for Arab railway workers, antiquities workers fight continues
* Union strategies for hard times

PAKISTAN: VIOLENCE TARGETS LIPTON TEA WORKERS

The ongoing struggle by Lipton Tea workers in Pakistan has turned
ugly, as contractors collude with factory management to instigate
violent attacks on the workers. The IUF is calling on Unilever (which
owns Lipton) to stop the violence and negotiate with the workers.
They need all of us to sign up to the latest online campaign:

http://tinyurl.com/qyetop

USA/UK: TRADE UNION CONGRESSES GO ALL WEB 2.0

Two of the world's largest and most important trade union movements
are holding their national congresses this week -- the AFL-CIO is
meeting in Pittsburgh and the Trades Union Congress meets in
Liverpool.

Both organizations are making exceptional use of the Internet, with
dedicated websites featuring streaming video, integration of social
networking tools Twitter, Flickr and Facebook, and more. The TUC
takes things a step forward by allowing visitors to the congress
website to actually post comments and get involved in the discussion.

The sites can be found at
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/thisistheaflcio/convention/2009/ and
http://www.congressvoices.org/

ISRAEL: SUCCESS FOR ARAB RAILWAY WORKERS, ANTIQUITIES WORKERS FIGHT CONTINUES

Several months ago we told you about the struggle being waged by
Israeli Arabs employed by the country's railways who were threatened
with dismissal due to the fact that they had not served in the army.
This week a long struggle by those workers and their supporters has
resulted in a major win. According to a press release issued by Sawt
el-Amel (The Laborer's Voice), "This morning, Tel Aviv Labour
Court ruled that until a final court decision, Israel Railways cannot
lay off any Arab railway crossing guard as a consequence of its new
employment policy." For the full statement, go here:

http://www.laborers-voice.org/article_details.aspx?TopID=1074&catid=45

We have also been telling you about the struggle of low-paid workers
employed by the Israel Antiquities Authority (both Arabs and Jews) who
have become the latest victims of the process of casualization that
affects workers around the world. Their struggle has included legal
battles, street demonstrations and a big LabourStart campaign, In the
next few weeks we should see some legal decisions -- including results
of the libel action brought by the employer against our partners in
the Workers Advice Center (WAC). WAC has written up a detailed
account which I encourage you to read:

http://www.labourstart.org/israel/wac.pdf

UNION STRATEGIES FOR HARD TIMES

What can unions do as the Great Recession ravages workers and their
unions and threatens to destroy decades of collective bargaining
gains? What must local union leaders do to help their laid off
members, protect those still working, and prevent the gutting of their
hard-fought contracts -- and their very unions themselves? How, in
fact, can local union leaders turn crisis into opportunity?

Check out our brand-new book of the week, just published -- "Union
Strategies for Hard Times". To learn more and to order copies for
yourself and your fellow union members are here:

http://www.labourstart.org/bookshop/?p=81

Remember that every book you order this way helps to support LabourStart.

Thanks very much.

Eric Lee