Independent Unions Research Articles

Vietnam has Ratified ILO C98. How about China?

4 | International Union Rights | 26/3 TOWARDS UNIVERSAL RATIFICATION OF C87 AND 98 Vietnam has Ratified ILO C98. How about China? Reflecting on the ILO’s mission in its centenary year, the articles carried in the recent International Union Rights issue Focus on the ILO at 100 lamented that globally labour rights and trade union rights are in the doldrums1. Fortunately one case is worth celebrating—Vietnam in June this year ratified ILO C98, which recognises the rights to organise and collective bargaining. Vietnam has promised to ratify C105 on forced labour by 2020 and C87 on freedom of association by 2023. While the majority of countries in the Southeast Asian region are undergoing rapid industrialisation in tandem with labour exploitation, labour unrest and anti-trade union government policies, Vietnam is heading in a different direction. Instead of choosing a repressive labour policy, Vietnamese leaders have been debating how to revamp the industrial relations system to allow workers to form their own unions. Vietnam originally was willing to take such an initiative because, before Trump’s election, it was eager to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that was under negotiation, in order to enhance Vietnam’s prospects for more foreign direct investment and trade, especially with the United States. To become a member, Vietnam would have had to agree to establish an industrial relations system that accommodates freedom of association. To help fund this shift, the US government earmarked four million dollars in 2013 to the ILO in Vietnam to administer programs to assist the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) to make this transition within five years. After Trump in early 2017 withdrew America’s willingness to enter the TPP, the eleven other countries that had negotiated the TPP engaged in renewed negotiations and formed the impending Comprehensive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP-11). This also contains a clause on freedom of association. In addition, to access the European market, Vietnam has signed a free-trade agreement (EVFTA) with the European Union that similarly stipulates freedom of association. Sceptics of Vietnam’s motives, die-hard critics of one-party states2, and those whose own constituencies would be losers in a new PPT deal, such as the American trade unions, were of the opinion that Vietnam was willing to sign on to freedom of association only because it was forced into it for economic reasons, and that genuine freedom of association is unlikely to materialise3. This view begs the puzzling question of why the VGCL, which has held a state-backed monopoly on representing Vietnamese workers, was the very group that lobbied the party-state to accept this challenge to allow independent unions to compete with the VGCL and thus democratise the industrial relations system. To address this puzzle I argue that the TPP and Vietnam’s economic interests explain only part of the story. There are also other factors--historical, political and structural—that contribute to the preconditions for change. To strengthen my argument and to provide a context I will use China as a comparator. Both countries are Asian and historically Confucian, both the Vietnamese and Chinese governments were born from Marxist-Leninist stock, authoritarian oneparty states that only have allowed one trade union, and are today steeped in a market economy. Yet Vietnam is opening up politically while China is becoming increasingly suppressive under the Xi Jinping regime. In China, the end of 2015 witnessed the mass arrests of labour NGO organisers followed in 2017-18 by arrests of Marxist students who had joined a workers’ strike. So while the two countries appear similar they are also on different trajectories. But the reasons for the two countries’ different current stances toward labour relations also go beyond these political trends. First, while the two countries’ respective trade unions, the VGCL and the ACFTU (All-China Federation of Trade Unions), are both social welfare arms of the Party, China’s ACFTU is much weaker than the VGCL within Vietnam’s political structure. The ACFTU has been entirely under party-state domination since 1949. After seven decades the ACFTU is today no more than a weak second-rate bureaucracy. The VGCL on the...

In Mexico, a new dawn for independent unions?

In Mexico, a new dawn for independent unions?

Ukrainian Unity, Regional Identity, and the “Russian World” in the Sociocultural Space of Donetsk Region in 2005—2013

The defeat encountered by the political powers supported by Russia during the presidential campaign in 2004, as well as the mass mobilization of the Ukrainian citizens for the defense of democracy, the European choice, and state sovereignty, made the Kremlin proceed to a more cruel scenario for implementing its policy in Donetsk region. The choice in favor of the aggressive strategies was also caused by the fact that the events of the Orange Revolution convinced Russian imperialists in the following: the hope for the appearance of at least somewhat active separatist movement in Donetsk and Luhansk regions could be fulfilled only through the financing of the pro-Russian groups directly by the Kremlin and its administrative-political support. For this purpose, the so-called “‘Dontesk Republic’ Community Movement”, fully controlled by Russian secret services and specializing in loud anti-Ukrainian provocations, similar to the fake declaration of the so-called “independence of Donetsk” in February 2009, was founded. It does not seem to be a coincidence that “Donetsk Republic” became the leading political force in the terroristic “DPR”.The concept of the “Donetsk identity”, according to which interests of Donetsk residents fully contradict with those of Galicia and Dnieper Ukraine, has become an ideological paradigm, aimed to legitimate Russian influence in the region, as well as to provide the criminal-oligarch leadership of the Party of Regions with the absolute power on the land of miners. The fundamental denial of the Ukrainian unity idea has become a key method for manipulating the consciousness of the local people.During 2005–2013, activists of the Ukrainian NGOs, political, cultural, and educational establishments, human rights advocates, members of the independent trade unions have made a great contribution to overcoming the influence of the Kremlin and its satellites in Donetsk region; however, their effort has not received respective support from Kyiv authorities.

Coping with precarity: subsistence, labor, and community politics among farmworkers in northern Mexico

This article examines the precarious lives of indigenous migrant laborers in Baja California employed in the production of fresh fruits and vegetables for consumer markets in the United States. Neoliberal agrarian policies have rendered farmworkers a structurally vulnerable labor force with limited rights and benefits compared to workers in other employment sectors. To counteract government-sanctioned unions and other detrimental state policies, farmworkers have developed a multilayered agenda of individual and collective strategies for resistance, as well as labor mobilizations for independent unions. Their political struggle requires an analysis that avoids reducing them to the unidimensional category of labor and captures the close integration and synergy between labor and community organizing by which they seek to advance the full range of their rights as workers and citizens.

Theoretical and empirical links between trade unions and democracy

This special issue wants to honour the memory of Giulio Regeni, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge who was assassinated while he was conducting field research on independent trade unions in Egypt. This introduction and the following articles focus on the theoretical, empirical and methodological questions at the core of Regeni’s research. Unions have traditionally been regarded as crucial for representing the interests of the working class as a whole and for building and sustaining industrial and political democracy; however, there is a debate about the conditions under which unions can be effective, and the role of unions’ internal democracy is particularly controversial. The article discusses the theoretical linkages between trade unions, democratization and union democracy and concludes with a reflection on the new concerns about the risk of conducting field research on these issues raised by Regeni’s death.

The maximum independent union of cliques problem: complexity and exact approaches

Given a simple graph, the maximum independent union of cliques problem is to find a maximum-cardinality subset of vertices such that each connected component of the corresponding induced subgraph is a complete graph. This recently introduced problem allows both cliques and independent sets as feasible solutions and is of significant theoretical and applied interest. This paper establishes the complexity of the problem on several classes of graphs (planar, claw-free, and bipartite graphs), and develops an integer programming formulation and an exact combinatorial branch-and-bound algorithm for solving it. Results of numerical experiments with numerous benchmark instances are also reported.

The Right to Migrate, The Right to Stay Home

Tijuana Police move in to suppress the strike at the Han Young maquiladora, where workers organized an independent union. (DAVID BACON)In the border city of San Diego, the factories loom like lords...

The Employment Relationship and Movement Strategies among Domestic Workers in India

This article examines how paid domestic workers in India fight to reproduce themselves by attaining recognition for their employment relationship and struggling to advance their labor rights. We find a striking convergence toward female-dominated unions that articulate the recipient of domestic services as “employers,” their employment relationship as an exploitative one in terms of time and dignity, and the household as a place of work and profit. To ensure a focus on women members and leaders, domestic workers’ have developed different union types including politically-affiliated and independent unions, as well as unions affiliated to NGOs, faith-based institutions, and cooperatives. Domestic workers’ direct, one-to-one employment relationship has led organizations to empower workers to confront employers’ daily control of workers’ associations (even outside the workplace), citizenship rights, worth, and dignity. However, because domestic workers’ employment relationship is still not recognized by Indian law, domestic workers avoid confronting employers and instead target the state when demanding material concessions to de-commodify their labor. These findings offer important insights into the limits and potential of domestic workers’ struggles.

Interview: Solidarity is our Oxygen

early 1990s. Law 90/14 was passed which allowed for freedom of association and union pluralism – this was when many unions registered. But in 1993, the military took more control and began the repression of independent unions. Many unions and confederations were forced to cease their activities. Today only 12 unions remain active and able to carry out their duties despite 65 being registered. The vast majority of unions toe the government line. In the economy, all form of union pluralism is forbidden – SNATEGS has been able to resist this rule up until this point, despite repeated attempts by multiple governments to dissolve us or bring our members to trial. How has the Government reacted to your determination to continue with SNATEGS against their wishes? The government continues to refuse independent trade unionism in the energy sector. It’s a very sensitive sector where there is deep corruption, and privatisation is an emerging threat. The pushback has been huge: over a dozen of our shop stewards have faced prison sentences. Their strategy is to dismiss our people and follow up with criminal prosecution and civil abuse with the aim of impoverishing independent trade unionists. This can include years of unpaid wages and additional costs of lawyers to access justice in order to convince trade unionists of stopped their struggle. This strategy of the government risks annihilating the entire authentic trade union movement. For other workers to see a union leader living in misery, under the poverty line scares other workers and prevents them from joining the union. What has been the effect of your union activism on your personal life? I was fired from my job because of my union membership, deprived of my salary for over 4 years despite a court decision in my favor. I tried to make a living by finding another job but unfortunately as soon as the security services knew the address of my business they started to harass my clients: in the end they managed to force me to declare bankruptcy. This financial situation and daily harassment convinced me to flee the city where I live for another city. For now, I believe the security services do not know my new address. INTERVIEW | RAOUF MELLAL, SNATEGS, ALGERIA 5 25/2 | International Union Rights | A planned ILO mission was cancelled after the Government refused to allow meetings with independent unions In late 2016 the Algerian Government announced that the independent trade union for workers at the state gas and electricity company ((Syndicat National des Travailleurs de l’Électricité et du Gaz, SNATEGS) had taken the decision to cease activities and dissolve. Far from the truth, SNATEGS’ members and leaders vowed to continue their struggle for workers rights. But continuing to operate against the Government’s wishes has led to a violent crackdown against the union. SNATEGS President, Raouf Mellal has been the target of multiple attacks by the government, including arrest, imprisonment and a public smear campaign. Yet this has not deterred him. Global Union Federations including Industriall, IUF and PSI have stepped in to give the Algerian union movement visibility and support by organising a range of actions including protests at embassies and raising the issue at international forum. Earlier this year a planned ILO mission to Algeria was cancelled at the last minute after the Government refused to allow meetings with independent unions. Unable to present the Algerian trade union reality to the ILO in his own country, this June Raouf was present at the International Labour Conference in Geneva to highlight the Algerian struggle to the world. On the sidelines of the conference, Public Services International caught up with Raouf to learn more about the situation. Can you give us a brief overview of the situation for independent unions in Algeria? All independent unions in Algeria suffer from a huge crackdown by the Algerian government, which categorically refuses any dialogue with the independent unions and only recognises a union structure called the UGTA. Recently all unions have faced police repression, abusive or judicial arrests, prison sentences. Trade union pluralism in Algeria is a big lie, the government uses a false pluralism to improve its international face. Now the Ministry of Labour is...

Interview: Solidarity is our Oxygen

early 1990s. Law 90/14 was passed which allowed for freedom of association and union pluralism – this was when many unions registered. But in 1993, the military took more control and began the repression of independent unions. Many unions and confederations were forced to cease their activities. Today only 12 unions remain active and able to carry out their duties despite 65 being registered. The vast majority of unions toe the government line. In the economy, all form of union pluralism is forbidden – SNATEGS has been able to resist this rule up until this point, despite repeated attempts by multiple governments to dissolve us or bring our members to trial. How has the Government reacted to your determination to continue with SNATEGS against their wishes? The government continues to refuse independent trade unionism in the energy sector. It’s a very sensitive sector where there is deep corruption, and privatisation is an emerging threat. The pushback has been huge: over a dozen of our shop stewards have faced prison sentences. Their strategy is to dismiss our people and follow up with criminal prosecution and civil abuse with the aim of impoverishing independent trade unionists. This can include years of unpaid wages and additional costs of lawyers to access justice in order to convince trade unionists of stopped their struggle. This strategy of the government risks annihilating the entire authentic trade union movement. For other workers to see a union leader living in misery, under the poverty line scares other workers and prevents them from joining the union. What has been the effect of your union activism on your personal life? I was fired from my job because of my union membership, deprived of my salary for over 4 years despite a court decision in my favor. I tried to make a living by finding another job but unfortunately as soon as the security services knew the address of my business they started to harass my clients: in the end they managed to force me to declare bankruptcy. This financial situation and daily harassment convinced me to flee the city where I live for another city. For now, I believe the security services do not know my new address. INTERVIEW | RAOUF MELLAL, SNATEGS, ALGERIA 5 25/2 | International Union Rights | A planned ILO mission was cancelled after the Government refused to allow meetings with independent unions In late 2016 the Algerian Government announced that the independent trade union for workers at the state gas and electricity company ((Syndicat National des Travailleurs de l’Électricité et du Gaz, SNATEGS) had taken the decision to cease activities and dissolve. Far from the truth, SNATEGS’ members and leaders vowed to continue their struggle for workers rights. But continuing to operate against the Government’s wishes has led to a violent crackdown against the union. SNATEGS President, Raouf Mellal has been the target of multiple attacks by the government, including arrest, imprisonment and a public smear campaign. Yet this has not deterred him. Global Union Federations including Industriall, IUF and PSI have stepped in to give the Algerian union movement visibility and support by organising a range of actions including protests at embassies and raising the issue at international forum. Earlier this year a planned ILO mission to Algeria was cancelled at the last minute after the Government refused to allow meetings with independent unions. Unable to present the Algerian trade union reality to the ILO in his own country, this June Raouf was present at the International Labour Conference in Geneva to highlight the Algerian struggle to the world. On the sidelines of the conference, Public Services International caught up with Raouf to learn more about the situation. Can you give us a brief overview of the situation for independent unions in Algeria? All independent unions in Algeria suffer from a huge crackdown by the Algerian government, which categorically refuses any dialogue with the independent unions and only recognises a union structure called the UGTA. Recently all unions have faced police repression, abusive or judicial arrests, prison sentences. Trade union pluralism in Algeria is a big lie, the government uses a false pluralism to improve its international face. Now the Ministry of Labour is...

Focus: Union rights in a region of dynamic change

Talking about the trade unions rights in a dynamic region such as the Arab World these days is really not an easy task. At the time where people lose their lives across the region, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere, we still note the increase of the attacks by governments against democratic unions and the right of the trade unions to act on a democratic environment. In this article I will be talking about trade unions rights in different Arab countries, including countries who don’t accept any trade union activities like, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE. The region can’t be taken as one block in respect of trade unions rights, as each country has its own characteristics: Morocco The nature and structure of the trade unions in Morocco is very similar to the French trade unions structure, where there are more than one federation representing the workers at the same entity, and the most representative federation has the right to negotiate. Many of the federations in Morocco belongs to political parties and implement the parties’ agendas, so, if the party is part of the government you find its associated federation supporting government policies, and they will change their role if the party is out of the government. Another important area is to note that for the last ten years the (Islamist) Justice and Development Party has been in power as the party won enough seats to form the government. This right wing party has a clear agenda to undermine trade unions rights in Morocco. The ITF and ITUC affiliate the UMT realised the party’s intention after a series of moves, starting from amending the pension law, reaching to suggest the amendment of the labour code to restrict the right to strike in Morocco, which is guaranteed by the Moroccan constitution. The UMT, with other federations, formed the alliance trade union group to defend the right to strike, and declared a one-month campaign, where hundreds of thousands of its members demonstrated against the government intentions to restrict the right to strike. Algeria In Algeria the situation is a bit different where the UGTA is still the biggest and more active federation, with representation all over the country. During the last five years when the oil prices have been dropped, workers started to face pressures on their economic situations, as the rise in fuel prices led to inflation in the cost of living. As Algeria ratified ILO Conventions No. 87 and No. 98, other independent unions are active in some sectors as education and health. Some of these unions outside the UGTA lead long strikes demanding improving working conditions. These unions have never been supported by the UGTA or its affiliated unions, and claim that they were under pressure by the government authorities. We can say that that the most represented federation, the UGTA, has representation across the country, with CBAs in most of the sectors, and the non UGTA unions are active in some sectors, but face pressure on their activities. Tunisia The UGTT is the lead trade union federation in Tunisia, where it plays a major role political developments as well, since they are part of the Carthage Declaration, which lead to the stabilisation of the country. The UGTT was one of the four organisations who received the Nobel Prize in 2016 due its contribution to the peace in Tunisia. Now, political and security pressures, have lead the country to lose more than 30 percent of tourism, which used to highly contribute to economy. The World Bank and IMF intervened putting more pressure on to the social situation, to facilitate loans to the government. The government started a series of actions to introduce privatisation, PPP, and liberalisations to many sectors. For example, the government announced plans to sign an open skies agreement with the EU, which will put more challenges on the national carrier, Tunis Air, which is unionised and facing challenges due to the drop in tourism. On the other hand, its worth mentioning that the UGTT unions are very active in all sectors, to the extent that employers and government think that the unions are one of the reasons of the economical deteriorations. Libya During...

“Outside the Pale” of Professionalism:

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East currently has over 400,000 members.¹ This union began as the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York, founded in 1932 by Leon Davis. This paper analyzes the first decade of the development of the union, encompassing its emergence as an independent union (1932-1936), its affiliation with the American Federation of Labor (1936-1937), and its growth within the Congress of Industrial Organizations prior to America’s involvement in the Second World War (1937-1941). The union overcame opposition from professional associations and internal factional divisions to effectively organize pharmacists in New York City.²

“Outside the Pale” of Professionalism: The Pharmacists Union of Greater New York, 1932–1941

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East currently has over 400,000 members.¹ This union began as the Pharmacists Union of Greater New York, founded in 1932 by Leon Davis. This paper analyzes the first decade of the development of the union, encompassing its emergence as an independent union (1932-1936), its affiliation with the American Federation of Labor (1936-1937), and its growth within the Congress of Industrial Organizations prior to America’s involvement in the Second World War (1937-1941). The union overcame opposition from professional associations and internal factional divisions to effectively organize pharmacists in New York City.²

Focus: An unprecedented challenging situation!

In the last nine months - and especially after the massive popular protests at the turn of 2017-2018 - a struggle has arisen across Iran’s industry and workforce, one which has gained fierce impetus and which shows no sign of abating any time soon. In addition to their urgent demands for unpaid wages and salaries, working people have also targeted the policies of regime which have brought about the widespread privatisation and plunder of national resources; attempts to remove requirements for occupational safety and the right to form independent union organisations; continual efforts to raid the social security fund and the retirement schemes paid for by workers; and government schemes for the deregulation of labour markets and labour relations. The growth and spread of the workers’ protest movement has been one of the important features of the country's political scene in recent months. The implementation of anti-popular policies such as privatisation and economic liberalisation has imposed very tough conditions for the working class, who can no longer bear this situation. The strike of the workers at Hepco, the Haftappeh sugar cane complex workers and that of the truck drivers, as well as the onslaught by law enforcement and security forces on the workers of the Ahvaz National Steel Industrial Group - along with and dozens of other protests and strikes - reflect the growing grievances of Iran’s working people. In addition to the strikes and meetings in workshops and factories throughout the country, some significant protests took place at some of the most important industrial-manufacturing plants which employ a considerable number of industrial and technical workers. These include Hepco, Polyacryl, various parts of the national railways, parts of the operational phases of the South Pars gas field, Tabriz Machine Tools Manufacturing Company, Kerman copper mining and the refineries in Elam and Kermanshah. The atmosphere in these key manufacturing plants is filled with discontent, tension and volatility. The growing number of protests by teachers, who form an integral part of the trade union movement in Iran, must also be mentioned. These have been violently crushed by the regime’s security forces in recent weeks. Their main demands include job security, fair wages, abolition of temporary contracts, payment of unpaid and late wages and opposition to privatisation. Prospect of US economic sanctions These protest movements are taking place in the wake of the political developments and challenges affecting Iran which arise from the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) nuclear agreement. This is resulting in a realignment of the regime’s political forces and factions and is therefore deemed to be very important. Poverty, unemployment and lack of job security are the main factors behind these protests. Continuous devaluation of the currency coupled with inflation has brought more poverty to an already struggling working class. Over the past 3 months Iranian currency has lost half its exchange value. Workers complain that their wages are in rials (Iranian currency) while their expenditures are in US dollars. According to official statistics, the accommodation price index in Tehran has increased some 33 percent in the last 12 months prior to last winter. Over the same period, the housing rental index has increased by 26.6 percent. Furthermore, prices of goods and services have increased by 35 percent resulting in an ever higher cost of living and more hardship. Even Faramarz Toufighi, the workers’ representative on the official ‘Supreme Labour Council’ acknowledges that the situation is catastrophic: It is anticipated that by the first of August the inflation for items in the basket of living consumer goods will be dazzling. A leap of 40 percent in poultry prices, a 30 percent jump in meat prices, a 18 percent jump in rice and oil prices, and a 28 percent jump in housing and … indicates that government agencies have given up all attempts to control the spiralling inflation. He predicts that: 83 percent of workers live under the existence threshold. Given the recent policies of the US administration in attempting to torpedo the 5+1 nuclear deal with Iran and renewed threats of economic sanctions - and even military intervention - the economy has been seriously affected. The flight of capital in recent months...

Focus: An unprecedented challenging situation!

In the last nine months - and especially after the massive popular protests at the turn of 2017-2018 - a struggle has arisen across Iran’s industry and workforce, one which has gained fierce impetus and which shows no sign of abating any time soon. In addition to their urgent demands for unpaid wages and salaries, working people have also targeted the policies of regime which have brought about the widespread privatisation and plunder of national resources; attempts to remove requirements for occupational safety and the right to form independent union organisations; continual efforts to raid the social security fund and the retirement schemes paid for by workers; and government schemes for the deregulation of labour markets and labour relations. The growth and spread of the workers’ protest movement has been one of the important features of the country's political scene in recent months. The implementation of anti-popular policies such as privatisation and economic liberalisation has imposed very tough conditions for the working class, who can no longer bear this situation. The strike of the workers at Hepco, the Haftappeh sugar cane complex workers and that of the truck drivers, as well as the onslaught by law enforcement and security forces on the workers of the Ahvaz National Steel Industrial Group - along with and dozens of other protests and strikes - reflect the growing grievances of Iran’s working people. In addition to the strikes and meetings in workshops and factories throughout the country, some significant protests took place at some of the most important industrial-manufacturing plants which employ a considerable number of industrial and technical workers. These include Hepco, Polyacryl, various parts of the national railways, parts of the operational phases of the South Pars gas field, Tabriz Machine Tools Manufacturing Company, Kerman copper mining and the refineries in Elam and Kermanshah. The atmosphere in these key manufacturing plants is filled with discontent, tension and volatility. The growing number of protests by teachers, who form an integral part of the trade union movement in Iran, must also be mentioned. These have been violently crushed by the regime’s security forces in recent weeks. Their main demands include job security, fair wages, abolition of temporary contracts, payment of unpaid and late wages and opposition to privatisation. Prospect of US economic sanctions These protest movements are taking place in the wake of the political developments and challenges affecting Iran which arise from the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) nuclear agreement. This is resulting in a realignment of the regime’s political forces and factions and is therefore deemed to be very important. Poverty, unemployment and lack of job security are the main factors behind these protests. Continuous devaluation of the currency coupled with inflation has brought more poverty to an already struggling working class. Over the past 3 months Iranian currency has lost half its exchange value. Workers complain that their wages are in rials (Iranian currency) while their expenditures are in US dollars. According to official statistics, the accommodation price index in Tehran has increased some 33 percent in the last 12 months prior to last winter. Over the same period, the housing rental index has increased by 26.6 percent. Furthermore, prices of goods and services have increased by 35 percent resulting in an ever higher cost of living and more hardship. Even Faramarz Toufighi, the workers’ representative on the official ‘Supreme Labour Council’ acknowledges that the situation is catastrophic: It is anticipated that by the first of August the inflation for items in the basket of living consumer goods will be dazzling. A leap of 40 percent in poultry prices, a 30 percent jump in meat prices, a 18 percent jump in rice and oil prices, and a 28 percent jump in housing and … indicates that government agencies have given up all attempts to control the spiralling inflation. He predicts that: 83 percent of workers live under the existence threshold. Given the recent policies of the US administration in attempting to torpedo the 5+1 nuclear deal with Iran and renewed threats of economic sanctions - and even military intervention - the economy has been seriously affected. The flight of capital in recent months...

NSZZ „Solidarność” lat 1980 – 1990 jako czynnik integrujący region kujawsko-pomorski

Independent Self-governing Trade Union “Solidarity” did not accept the disintegration of the state by dividing into 49 small provinces and districts liquidation – both in the program and operations sought to community actions. Similarly happened in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region, where “Solidarity” unionists in the public and conspiracy activities sought to create a macro-region of their trade union within the limits of the liquidated in 1975 Bydgoszcz-region. By 1989 cooperation between regions: Bydgoszcz, Toruń and Włocławek was very good. The experience of “Solidarity” can now be used in the process of integration of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region, as an idea of regional solidarity – a sense of mutual dependence and mutual responsibility for the prosperity and development of the entire region.

Negotiating authoritarianism and its limits: Worker-led collective bargaining in Guangdong Province

Contrary to some scholars’ assertions, worker-led collective bargaining has become a practical reality in China, especially as seen in Guangdong Province between 2011 and 2015. This article analyses the practices and strategies of negotiation to show how this is possible in a regime that recognizes neither independent trade unions nor the right to strike. Labour NGOs have become a catalyst for collective action that enables workers to change the power balance with employers, official unions and local authorities and alter their response to labour conflicts. This article thus challenges the concept of ‘bargained authoritarianism’ by stressing social actors’ ability to carve out a space for negotiating authoritarianism despite obvious limits and tightening political constraints. However, collective bargaining will remain ad hoc and localized as long as trade unions and local authorities refuse to strike a durable alliance with workers and labour NGOs.

The Rocky Road towards Professional Autonomy: The Estonian Journalists’ Organization in the Political Turmoil of the 20th Century

This article attempts to explain the relationships between journalists, politics and the state from the perspective of collective autonomy, that of the professional organization of journalists. The case of Estonian Journalists’ Union demonstrates the complexity and historical contingency of professional autonomy of journalism. The development of the Estonian journalists’ organization occurred as a sequence of transformations from the Estonian Journalists’ Association to the Estonian Journalists’ Union to the Soviet type journalists’ union, and lastly to an independent trade union. This sequence was disrupted by several fatal breakdowns that changed not only the character of the association, but also professional values, the whole occupational ideology and the conditions of the existence of journalism as a profession in Estonia.

The 13th of December 1981 in the political history of Poland: view through 35 years

By analyzing one of the most eventful periods of the modern history of Poland, the early 80s of the XX century, the author examines the dynamics of social and political conflict on the eve of the introduction of martial law, which determines the location of the leading political forces in these events in Poland, that were grouped around the Polish United Labor Party and the Independent trade union «Solidarity», their governing structures and grassroots organizations, highlighting the development of socio-political situation in the country before entering the martial law on the 13th of December and analyzing the relation of the leading countries to the events, especially the Soviet Union.
 Also, the author distinguishes causes that prevent to reach the compromise in the process of realization different programs, that were offered to public and designed by PUWP and «Solidarity» and were “aimed” to help Polish society to exit an unprecedented conflict.
 This article provides a comparative analysis of the different analytical meaningful reasons, offered by historians, political scientists, lawyers, and led to the imposition of martial law in the Republic of Poland. The author also analyses the legality of such actions by the state and some conclusions that were reached by scientists, investigating the internal dynamics of the conflict and the process of implementation of tasks, that Polish United Workers’ Party (which ruled at that time) tried to solve with martial law and «Solidarity» was used as self-determination in Polish society.
 Keywords: Martial law, Independent trade union «Solidarity», inter-factory strike committee, social-political conflict, Polish United Workers’ Party, the Warsaw Pact, the Military Council of National Salvation

Southern Insurgency – The Coming of the Global Working Class

Immanuel Ness, Southern Insurgency - The Coming of the Global Working Class London: Pluto Press, 2016; 237pp; ISBN: 9780745336008Based on empirical case studies of India, China and South Africa, Immanuel Ness argues that the working class has not vanished. It simply moved to the South, working in sweatshop factories - and there might even be a 'Southern insurgency' (as the book's title suggests). The North-South move is based on Foreign Direct Investment but 'FDI demonstrates that new investment does not offset underdevelopment and structural poverty' (p 21). Instead of the 'rising-of-all-boats' ideology, many boats barely keep afloat at all. But Ness also has a harsh critique of trade unions (p 31), since compliant Northern trade unions lost twice: they became part of a capital accommodating regime; and they failed to create North-South alliances between trade unions, unaware that outsourcing is a strength as 'Northern capital is completely dependent on the super-exploitation of low-wage Southern labour' (p 33).The North 'displace[d] its own contradictions of accumulation to the periphery' (p 45), now played out in the global South. '[T]o lure multinational capital, local state managers and politicians either ensured that new industrial enterprise zones were union free, or permitted employers to form company-dominated unions' (p 49), but in reaction to the company-dominated unions, new forms of rank-and-file militancy emerged. These are expressed through worker assemblies, independent trade unions existing outside official codified systems, and those workers pressuring 'traditional unions' (p 55). While today's hegemonic bandwagon claims that 'we are a service industry', in fact, 'more workers are employed in manufacturing than at any time in history' (p 58).This is so because of 'push-pull factors emphasising superior survival conditions in destination regions' (p 61). Moving to Southern locations remains 'an involuntary process' (p 63). Much of the global migration of workers takes the form of 'migration that is motivated not only by poverty but also by the demand of advanced industrial societies for labour from rural societies' (p 64). This has pathological consequences when, for example, by '2000, 50% of the entire world population lived in urban areas often in squatter communities afflicted with rundown and makeshift shelters, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate education' (p 73). But 'international migration was [and still is] advantageous to capital in the Global North' (p 73).In the first case study, India, '85% [of workers] were employed by contractors and 80% of all permanent and contractor workers earn less than the statutory minimum wage of $83. …