Urgent help needed - Meryem Özsögüt
July 1, 2008
Urgent help needed - Meryem Özsögüt
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
The Turkish government has jailed a woman trade unionist, Meryem Özsögüt, and has kept her in detention for nearly six months. LabourStart – the international work justice website has called on supporters and people of good will to give Meryem our much needed help. Meryem is a leader of the public sector union SES, and Public Services International (PSI) has launched a big online campaign demanding her release.
For more details and to add your signature, please click here now
This campaign will not take off, and we will not secure Meryem’s release, unless we can mobilize thousands of concerned people from around the world. Please do what you can to help this campaign go to lots of people that you know — forward it to other email lists, feel free to post information on church-related websites, use Facebook and blogs to spread the word …
Posted in Just Stuff
Commonwealth Government provides $4 million to No SweatShop label
May 8, 2008
By Antony McMullen
Social Justice Officer
Justice and International Mission Unit
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
“One group said they were paid $2.50 for a detailed shirt which took one hour to sew. Another group said they were paid between $2 and $3 an hour. When asked about hours worked, most indicated that they often went weeks without a job but when the work was available they worked long hours.”
– Ethical Threads, report by Brotherhood of St Laurence (2007) on Australian Homeworkers [Read more]
It’s Fairtrade Fortnight!
May 8, 2008
So, this month we are taking action about the unfair conditions of workers around the world who produce our daily (or more!) cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Workers who produce for FAIRTRADE label products receive much better conditions and pay… but the majority of products for sale in the Australian market are not under the FAIRTRADE label.
Find out more about how you can make a difference at www.justact.org.au – check out the Actions…
Enjoy Fairtrade Fortnight and make sure your next cuppa is fair!
Tess and Antony
Honour Amos, Jeremiah, Jesus and Jameson – use FAIRTRADE products
April 17, 2008
Rev Jameson Mabviko is a member of the Kasinthula Cane Growers (KCG) in
Holy Hardware?
April 10, 2008
Considering a few of us may be stirring the pot on this issue this weekend here is some info….
“The products had to be finished by the 25th [of April] and all of the workers in our department had been working until three o’clock in the morning. We had been working non-stop for just about 16.5 hours. We were making crucifixes…. At 8 am, the morning of the 26th, it seemed as if our heads had just hit the pillows before out coworkers began to call for us to get up and get back to work again. The manager arranged for me to load the boxes for shipment. I, along with everybody else, was busy moving things into the truck. In total, we had close to 300 boxes of crucifixes and other things as well. Everything was so heavy; each box was about 20kg! We were so tired. My shoulders, legs and waist went weak. While we were moving the boxes of crucifixes, one of my coworkers suddenly cried out: “Jesus, take pity on me! I’m going to die of exhaustion.””
In late November the US National Labor Committee (NLC) released a report, Today Workers Bear the Cross, exposing the Association for Christian Retail (ACR) for selling crosses manufactured in a Chinese sweatshop.
The ACR supplies nearly all of the US’s Christian specialty stores with a wide range of items including Bibles, Christian books, curriculum, apparel, music, videos, gifts and greeting cards. The ACR did US$4.63 billion in business in 2006, which is more than Levi Strauss had with US$4.1 billion in sales. Continue reading at justact.org.au
Bangladeshi Trade Unionist in Danger
February 15, 2008
This is urgent - please act and pass this message on to friends, co-workers and colleagues. Mehedi Hasan, a field investigator for the U.S.-based Workers Rights Consortium, was jailed seven days ago in Bangladesh as part of crackdown on trade unions.
His family is not allowed to see him, and workers’ rights activists have expressed fears for his safety.
Please help us to mobilize thousands of people around the globe in a massive email campaign and flood the Bangladeshi government with messages calling for his immediate release — and for an end to repression of trade unionists in that country.
Click here now to send a message to Bangladesh
Transport Union Leader Murdered in Nigeria
January 16, 2008
Recently, four men gunned down Alhaji Saka Saula, the popular leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Lagos, Nigeria. Following the killing, workers in Lagos, protested and there was considerable violence with some shops being burned. Chances are you didn’t see this on your evening news or read about it in your local newspaper. But you can read full coverage from sources in Nigeria on LabourStart.
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Nigeria
FairWear action alert - Sweat Free Christmas carols
December 6, 2007
| December 14, 2007 | ||
| 5:30 pm | to | 6:30 pm |
‘Fashion stinks if it’s made under sweatshop conditions’ - FairWear
Hello everyone – it’s on again!
Just bring your cheer and your raw lung power at 5:30pm Friday 14 Dec (corner of Bourke and Swanston St) to belt out some Sweat Free Christmas Carols!
sweatshop-carols-flyer-2007.pdf
Check out this account from our Christmas action last year http://morepraxis.org.au/?p=530 where unions, community organisations and faith communities came together to challenge sweatshops and exploitation of homeworkers in the clothing industry.
At a time when Christmas schlock is all about, we can celebrate a deeper meaning of Christmas.
Say no to bah and humbug…
Here is a message from FairWear (please pass this message on/post it up):
GetUp Action - A little Post-It
November 8, 2007
A little Post-It note with a big message!
Two years ago, the Howard Government’s WorkChoices laws were introduced to the Parliament.
The Government ignored the fact that the majority of Australians opposed the laws. They spent $121 million of our money promoting the unfair IR laws with advertising campaigns featuring a Post-It note saying, “Know where you stand”.
Mr Hockey, we know where we stand. We always have and always will oppose these laws!
Click here to fill out a virtual Post-It note for Joe Hockey, and we’ll plaster his electorate office with them to see if he finally gets the message!
www.getup.org.au/campaign/KnowWhereIStand
ADIDAS HQ Protest
August 20, 2007
WORKERS PROTEST AT ADIDAS HQ IN INDONESIA
November 2006: The Pt Spotec and Pt Dong Joe factories close leaving 10,500 workers without jobs. A third factory, Pt Tong Yang, employing more than 9,000 workers, is also set to close. All three factories produced for Reebok, and then for adidas after adidas bought Reebok. Oxfam Australia is concerned that the buying practices of adidas are likely to be one of the main reasons the factories had to close.
adidas alleges all three supplier factories have “huge and unsustainable debts due to gross financial mismanagement.” So far adidas has not been willing to provide evidence of their allegations of mismanagement by their supplier factories or that their buying practices did not contribute to the closure of PT Spotec and Dong Joe and the imminent closure of Pt Tong Yang. Trade unions involved in the three factories believe that this debt is because of an upgrade in infrastructure that was carried out at the request of adidas.
Ex-adidas workers in Indonesia continue to fight for their entitlements. Around 1,000 workers from PT Spotec and PT Dong Joe demonstrated in front of the adidas head office and Bank Rakyat Indonesia head office in June 2007. To learn more about these workers and possibly support their claims visit:
http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/labour/action/07adidasprotest/write_to_adidas.php
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