India

By Rob Johnson and Robert Pollin - The Analysis News, March 9, 2021

By staff - La Via Campesina, January 28, 2021

On 26th January, India’s Republic Day, the country’s farmers organised massive demonstrations in New Delhi, and elsewhere stepping up their protests against the pro-business reforms in the agricultural sector.

“It was unprecedented and historic. We estimate that over 200,000 tractors took part in the rallies across India. The whole world was watching. ” said one of the farm leaders spearheading the protest.

At the national capital, a section of the protestors broke away from the main group and drove the tractors into the city, leading to clashes with the police. However Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella coalition of nearly 40 farmers unions from UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, MP, and Punjab alleged it as a conspiracy to malign the peaceful protests that have been taking place since over three months.

“A majority of the farmers in Delhi were peaceful and they followed the designated route. We are proud of the large turnout that we witnessed today and it shows how upset our community is with these laws.” Rakesh Tikait of BKU said.

By Staff - La Via Campesina, January 6, 2021

Braving harsh weather and an apathetic government, Indian farmers continue to camp at the national capital demanding that the Central Government roll back the three controversial legislation that was brought in late last year. The sixth round of negotiations, held on 04th January also failed to make any significant progress as the national government refuses to repeal the three laws.

As per the latest updates, another round of talks will take place on 20th January. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India has passed an order and has put on hold, until further orders, the implementation of the three laws. The Court has also named a committee to suggest — in two months — what changes, if any, were needed after it listens to all sides. The farmers organisations have raised doubts about the neutrality of this committee, and has vowed to not leave the national capital unless the three legislation have been repealed.

Speaking to a news channel earlier in January, Yudhvir Singh of Bhartiya Kisan Union reiterated the following

“The government thinks that protesting farmers will soon disperse because of the biting cold and rains in Delhi. They are wrong. We are farmers, and we often face these conditions in our fields. So the harsh weather will not deter us, and we will not leave until the three laws are repealed. And farmers everywhere are protesting – not just UP, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Farmers in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, MP etc are all camping at their state borders…We are nearly 500 organisations from around the country in this protest.” ~ Yudhvir Singh, BKU after the meeting on 04th January failed to make any progress.

By Sharan Burrow, et. al. - International Trade Union Confederation, December 9, 2020

By staff - UAW Research Department, January 2020

The American automotive industry is constantly evolving and, throughout the union’s history, the United Auto Workers (UAW) has fought to ensure industry changes result in quality jobs that benefit workers and the economy.

The auto industry is facing a new shift in technology with the proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs). This shift is an opportunity to re-invest in U.S. manufacturing. But this opportunity will be lost if EVs or their components are imported or made by low-road suppliers who underpay workers. In order to preserve American jobs and work standards, what is needed is a proactive industrial policy that creates high-quality manufacturing jobs making EVs and their components.

Read the text (PDF).

By staff - GRAIN & ICCFM, January 2020

In the history of people’s resistance against free trade agreements, 4 November 2019 is a day to remember. On this day, bowing to immense pressure from peasants, trade unions and rural communities, India’s central government decided to pull the plug on its participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), intended to become the largest free trade area in the world. The announcement, made at the ASEAN summit in Bangkok, has implications for free trade negotiations in the entire region and puts a fork in the wheels of unifying the Asian market – a project clearly favouring the interests of agribusiness and transnational corporations.

While countries such as Japan, New Zealand and Australia are making every effort to convince India to come back to the negotiating table, whether they will succeed is not clear. For now, Delhi’s decision has provided immense relief to millions of small-scale food producers and rural workers in India.

So how did a government that is overtly neoliberal, capitalist and with visible authoritarian traits end up bowing to the pressure of farmers and workers? To understand that, we need to understand the decade that just went past us.

Read the report (PDF).

By staff - Black Rose Anarchist Federation, January 30, 2018

As the “uberization” of the US economy continues, along with it is an ever precarious workforce struggling to make ends meet in the dog-eat-dog world of the so-called “sharing economy.” This trend is the same around the world, with Uber claiming to have more than two million drivers in over 80 counties across the globe now.

In Indonesia these conditions are little different. But radical unionists are hoping to change this and are organizing to take back their dignity, better pay and conditions and for great control over their work and lives. Kommunitas Uber Mainstream, abbreviated KUMAN which means ‘bacteria,’was formed by three Uber motorcycle drivers in the Spring of 2017. They have since crafted a list of 14 demands, led four one-day strikes and have grown to a membership of 6,000 drivers. All but two are male in the male dominated field of drivers. KUMAN is structured horizontally with regional sections meeting regularly in parks or other available spaces to discuss strategy and in turn chose delegates to larger general meetings. The union has no dues and supports itself largely by sale of stickers and t-shirts. Drivers can become members by proving they are an active driver and answering three basic questions: 1. What’s your perspective on this group?, 2. Are you a freedom fighter or a loser? and 3. What do you know about what working with Uber is like? KUMAN works together with Persaudaraan Pekerja Anarko-Sindikalis (PPAS), the two-year old anarcho-syndicalist initiative in Indonesia and an affiliate of the International Workers Association (IWA). The majority of the union has decided to adopt the ideas and strategies of anarcho-syndicalism for their struggle, although other political tendencies exist within the union.

KUMAN is continuing to escalate the fight for justice at Uber, with more strikes and actions planned. We hope that this interview will help inspire solidarity with their cause, so that workers around the world will answer KUMAN’s next call for action and join in putting pressure on Uber. We particularly hope that other rideshare and sharing economy workers will learn from the experiences we share here and connect with KUMAN drivers to build international networks of struggle and organization.

We were excited to be able to talk with Enrique, an Uber driver from Jakarta, Indonesia who was one of the initial three founders of KUMAN. We were also joined by Ricardo, originally from Surabaya, Indonesia but now living in Melbourne, Australia. He works in retail grocery and is active with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation – IWA. The interview was conducted by Jesus, a Los Angeles based healthcare worker with Black Rose/Rosa Negra. The three sat down together in a cramped Hong Kong hostel room to talk about the situation of Uber drivers in Indonesia now and how anarchist ideas are being applied to build workers power among drivers in Indonesia.

Please note that for purposes of translation, clarity, and length this interview has been heavy edited.

Edited by Satoko Kishimoto and Olivier Petitjean - Transnational Institute, June 2017

You would be forgiven, especially if you live in Europe, to think that public services are by nature expensive, inefficient, maybe even somewhat outdated, and that reforming them to adapt to new challenges is difficult. It would seem natural to assume – because this is what most politicians, media and so-called experts tell us continuously – that we, as citizens and users, should resign ourselves to paying ever higher tariffs for services of an ever lower standard, and that service workers have no choice but to accept ever more degraded conditions. It would seem that private companies will inevitably play an ever larger role in the provision of public services, because everything has a price, because politicians have lost sight of the common good and citizens are only interested in their own individual pursuits.

This book, however, tells a completely different story. Sometimes it may feel as though we are living in a time when profit and austerity are our only horizons. In reality, below the radar, thousands of politicians, public officials, workers and unions, and social movements are working to reclaim or create effective public services that address the basic needs of people and respond to our social, environmental and climate challenges. They do this most often at the local level. Our research shows there have been at least 835 examples of (re)municipalisation of public services worldwide in recent years, some of them involving several cities. In total there have been more than 1600 cities in 45 countries involved in (re)municipalisation. And these (re)municipalisations generally succeed-ed in bringing down costs and tariffs, improving conditions for workers and boosting service quality, while ensuring greater transparency and accountability.

Read the text (PDF).