I just happened to be doing my weekly grocery shopping at Coles in Broadway shopping center when some activists showed up in store and started chanting and handing out flyers. They were raising awareness about the striking Coles workers in Melbourne.
THOUSANDS of trade unionists and activists poured into the streets of Manila and other key cities to celebrate May Day amid renewed hopes that the two latest efforts at labor unity will provide strong impetus to their uphill battle for labor and trade union rights.
At least 5,000 affiliates of the Sentro ng mga Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro), a newly organized labor center, joined a more massive march and rally in Manila of the recently launched Nagkaisa! labor coalition.
In the manufactured 'reality' of the mass media the problems of the Greek "debt" crisis are an endless flurry of context-less images; of riots, strikes and unrest embellished with quotes by the talking heads of capital. The IMF and capitalist economists all nod furiously in agreement that “There is No Alternative ™.” The guardians of capital insist that the loans and austerity program imposed on the Greek people by the EU/IMF are necessary to help Greece meet its debt obligations and reform their 'overly generous' pension and welfare system.
By Walden Bello
Apple’s march to market supremacy has been accomplished at tremendous cost to both American and Chinese workers
The embattled Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) is taking its fight against the outsourcing and contractualization plan of Philippine Airlines to Australia and Canada. The vice president of PALEA, Alnem Pretencio, is in Australia now on a tour sponsored by unions with the aim of soliciting international support.
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) picketed the Qantas office and Australian embassy in a show of solidarity for the embattled workers of the Australian flag carrier. “We extend the hand of solidarity to our brothers and sisters at Qantas who are for fighting for job security, decent pay and better working conditions. The struggles they are waging mirror the same demands that we are currently fighting for at PAL,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa.
By Labor Party - Philippines
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Labor Party - Philippnes) picketed the Qantas office and Australian embassy in a show of solidarity for the embattled workers of the Australian flag carrier. “We extend the hand of solidarity to our brothers and sisters who are for fighting for job security, decent pay and better working conditions. The struggles they are waging mirror the same demands that we are currently fighting for at PAL,” declared Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and PM vice chair.
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) received the support of a Qantas labor union in Australia even as other labor groups abroad are staging solidarity actions. Similar to PALEA, Qantas workers are embroiled in a long-running dispute with management over job security, pay hikes and working conditions. Qantas flights have been disrupted by a series of strikes by Qantas engineers, ground staff and pilots.
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today asserted that Philippine Airlines (PAL) President Jaime Bautista’s announcement that they no longer acknowledge Gerry Rivera and Bong Palad as union officers exposes union busting as the real aim of outsourcing. “Truly a fish is caught by its mouth. Actually PAL is not just recognizing me and Palad as union officers but 62% of PALEA’s leadership and 70% of its membership who have been illegally lockout and terminated.
PLM Calls For The Release of 30 Activist Held In Malaysia
Manila -- Around 70 members of Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses - PLM) held a brief picket in front of the Malaysian Embassy this morning to protest the arrests and detention of 30 activists belonging to the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).
Sonny Melencio, chairperson of PLM, submitted a letter to a representative of the Malaysian Embassy expressing the PLM’s outrage and condemnation to the ongoing crackdown against Malaysian socialists.
