Writers’ Guild of Great Britain members (though outnumbered in this pic 2:1 by NUJ members) were out in force yesterday, to mark an international day of solidarity with the striking screenwriters of the Writers’ Guild of America. I managed to pop by for the end of it, after an exciting (no, really) team away day morning a few streets over. Read the rest of this entry »

A most unexpected burst of sunshine made Saturday’s demo for the NHS into a pretty enjoyable way to spend a few hours. It wasn’t your run-of-the-(trouble-at)-mill union demonstration either - the attendance of a whole bunch of carnival artists really jolted people out of the traditional slump you’re likely to get halfway round a march. It’s hard not to be jolly when you’re walking next to a couple of giant lobsters on stilts.

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Yay! Top techno-country tunesters and trusty Tigmoo tubthumpers Alabama3 are going to be playing at the NHS Together demo tomorrow in Trafalgar Square. Apparently they’ve actually rewritten “Woke Up This Morning” to support the NHS Together Campaign, which is a tad more dedicated to the cause than just turning up and waving - tho personally, I reckon they should have done “Ain’t going to Goa” as “Ain’t going to BUPA”

I haven’t been able to see them live for years, so am *very* cheerful about this. Plus they’re one of the only groups that I reckon can actually make for a great atmosphere at a lunchtime gig, so it should make for a good fun rally too. See you there! 

Greetings earthlings from the world’s first virtual reality picket line. It’s spread over a huge are of IBM corporate campus in virtual world Second Life. I’ve seen quite a lot of people, flown around some fun places, and had a chat to some nice IBM staff who were clearing up the 80 foot “Oi IBM, No!” sign I made for their sandbox. Read the rest of this entry »

A lunchtime spent in the company of union colleagues from TUC, ATL, NASUWT, PCS, Unite and the ZCTU, ACTSA supporters and Zimbabwean expats outside Zimbabwe House on the Strand, protesting in support of the ZCTU’s 2 day stay away from work. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone work near Charing Cross in London? If so, pop down to the Strand for your lunch break to join in an ACTSA/PCS/TUC demo in support of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ “stay away” from work. Read the rest of this entry »

Italian union members at IBM are taking a novel form of action, to highlight their current dispute over pay cuts. Later this month, they’re planning on mounting the world’s first virtual reality union demo, in trendy 3D world Second Life.

IBM put great stock in their lovely corporate headquarters in Second Life, which makes them a a good target for a virtual campaign, publicising the dispute to IBM customers and clients visiting SL. The novelty angle too should get lots of publicity for the dispute.

The action is going to take place, flash mob style, at a currently secret time, date and place. If you’d like to join the picket in solidarity with the IBM workers, you can sign up to the mailing list at the UNI Global website (which also has a helpful “absolute beginners’ guide” to using Second Life), and they’ll keep you in touch.

Then pop over to the UNI virtual office to pick up your kit (also available at Tigmoo Corner and several other union Second Life hangouts). The kit has a virtual T-shirt for you to wear, virtual banners for you to wave, a giant rotating fish for you to… well, I’m not sure what that’s for, but I hope it’ll become apparent later, and instructions on what to do next.

Should be a fun event to get involved in (for union webby trainspotters like me), and an interesting development in global solidarity. Great if you speak some Italian I guess, but no worries if you don’t - there should be a good number of people there from around the world, trades unionists, activists and international IBM employees. Indeed, this could be the first steps in building an international union network at IBM, from union members from this multinational employer’s locations all around the world.

Hope to see you there - if only because this is one union picket that definitely won’t get rained on!

UPDATE: Wagner James Au at the excellent New World Notes has a short interview on the action with union avatar UNIglobalunion Oh - the first virtual union press interview I’ve seen so far!

A rather cramped demo on the pavement opposite the Iranian Embassy today. The Embassy is set back from the road and has a big wall built in the way to keep us out, but the police needn’t really have bothered to squash us into so tight a corral, as it looked like they weren’t home anyway, with the doors firmly closed and shutters rolled down.

Very different from the demo planned in Tehran, where 5 more members of the Bus Workers Union were arrested today, and police surrounded the demo venue of Mansour Osanloo’s house, threatening to arrest anyone who turned up.

Mahmood Salehi has managed to get a message out from his cell in Sanadaj prison, which is displayed on the web here. Very selflessly he uses the message to ask for campaigning support for another group of workers who have been sentenced to prison or whipping over their roles in the May Day celebrations, and says he’s currently on a one day hunger strike to protest their treatment.

Anyway here are a few pics from the event:

Most of the demonstrators were with the ITF (the yellow tabards), or ex-pat Iranians, but also a presence from Unison and GMB.

Nice to see Peter Tatchell there, who gave a good speech to the crowd on the need for solidarity across the human rights agenda - If you come for one of us, we’ll all come for you (much more concise than most union demo speeches!) .

David Cockroft gives an update to the cameras on this morning’s crackdown in Iran.

Nearly two months have passed now since the arrest of Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Tehran bus workers’ union.

Also still in custody in Iran, with friends seriously concerned for his health without medical treatment, is Mahmoud Salehi, the former President of the Saquez bakers’ union, jailed for his role in organising May Day celebrations.

Mansour Osanloo is 48 years old. In 2004, he and 14 other bus workers in Tehran started an independent trade union, which very quickly signed up the majority of the city’s bus workers, leaving the state-sponsored union, the Islamic Workers’ Council. Since then, the bus workers have become a rallying point for free unions in the country, and have taken effective actions. When Mansour was arrested in 2005, bus drivers started giving rides for free in protest until he was released, bringing the city to a standstill after armed guards were sent in to break up their action. They have also successfully stood up to a ruling that women could only use the 20% of seats at the back of their buses. This has come at a heavy price though - including arrests and the severe beating of their families and children by the Iranian branch of Hezbollah.

Mahmoud Salehi is 45 years old, and married with two children. Born into poverty in the city of Saqez in Iranian Kurdistan, Mahmoud started working in bakery and tailoring at the age of 6. Mahmoud joined the newly founded Saqez bakers’ union at the age of 17, and since helped organise events for free unions and May Day celebrations - work that has seen him incarcerated three times before now. Mahmoud has only one kidney and is said to be suffering from kidney stones, heart and intestinal problems, and needs medical treatment outside of prison.

Unionists from many organisations in the UK will be helping to step up protests this Thursday (9th August) at the Iranian Embassy in London, as part of a worldwide day of action for the two men. The demo, called by the ITF, will be running from 12-2pm, so if you get a lunchbreak in Central London, come along and join us for a bit. You can find a map here.

And if you can’t be in London, mark the day by blogging something about Mansoor and Mahmoud, and help keep the pressure on Iran.

If you’ve not yet done so, there are online petitions here (ITF - Mansour Osanloo) and here (LabourStart - Mahmoud Salehi) that could do with your signature.

First outing for the Unite banners at the London May Day march - something tells me we’re going to be seeing a lot of these Read the rest of this entry »