Newsletter October 30, 2020

Greetings and Welcome to “On The Line”.  Over the years this host has been involved with several anarcho-syndicalist newsletters by the same name.  I hope to be able to carry on the tradition of publishing timely news from the workplaces, the communities and the struggles against oppression, no matter what form that oppression takes.

A look at printed issues of “On The Line” can be found on the excellent resource site Libcom: https://libcom.org/library/line-libertarian-workers-group

The reader is encouraged to send in news about your struggles, comments and links to articles of interest. We encourade “debate” and “discussion”  submissions as well. All we ask is the submissions and discussions be comradely, yet principled. Civil yet engaging.

Class struggle is the order of the day. The fight is real and the goal is freedom.

Thank you for reading.

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CA Labor News:  “Tenet Healthcare workers threaten 1-day strike over COVID safety measures”   —- “Workers at Lakewood Regional Medical Center and 10 other Tenet Healthcare hospitals in California have authorized their bargaining committee to call a one-day strike as they seek improved health and safety protections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Tenet Healthcare workers threaten 1-day strike over COVID safety measures

 

Workers Health and Safety ….. Not.  —- “In Connecticut, COVID-related worker complaints are many, but feds punish few employers”

“Fewer than 1% of complaints in Connecticut resulted in penalties — not much different from the rate of penalties-to-complaints nationwide, which is also below 1%.”
 
The real reason is cause OSHA is even more toothless than ever:
 
“The underlying problem, experts and legislators say, is that the Occupational Health and Safety Administration hasn’t provided emergency standards to employers for how they should be handling the COVID-19 crisis, instead offering only guidelines with which employers do not have to comply.”
 
Organize directly and use direct action, maybe the results will be more worker favorable.

 

Labor News: Alameda County,CA   “Hospital Workers Fight Covid, Privatization, Bullying & Union Busting”  —-

“This video shows a protest of health workers of the privatized Highland Hospital in Alameda County / California on October 7, 2020.

The workers demand a re-communalization of the hospital as the management is preventing them from providing health care for the community and is failing to protect workers and patients from Covid-19.

The workers also report systemic bullying and targeting of whistleblowers at the hospital.”

https://en.labournet.tv/hospital-workers-fight-covid-privatization-bullying-union-busting

Canadian Labor News:   “Unionized support workers stage wildcat strike at Alberta hospitals”    —-

“Alberta Health Services is enacting contingency plans to deal with staffing shortages after support workers walked off the job Monday at several hospitals in Edmonton, Calgary and other municipalities.

Most of the workers involved in the wildcat strike are general support service staff who would see their jobs outsourced by the provincial government to private companies.

The workers, represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, are food service staff, cleaners, porters, clerical staff and maintenance workers.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wildcat-strike-aupe-health-workers-1.5776855?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar&fbclid=IwAR3I-6KFVhmLTzbSoe9ZFESVYl0SnuyBk4cEAJkUKwS-AUlB5jRHwRi70Zo

Join the Alberta picket lines:  Strike Locations  can be found here:

https://www.rankandfile.ca/wildcat-alberta-workers-walk-out-over-healthcare-cuts/?fbclid=IwAR1vVsGApvJzC67Qk9NNB4AYrzAUCIjI0CITXx4qfRF5j-DiNacLzMSKxFc

Canadian Labor News:  What’s at the heart of the wildcat  —- “In a media release from Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees stated, “Anger has been building among members for months. The recent announcement by Health Minister Tyler Shandro of 11,000 jobs being cut in the middle of a global deadly pandemic was the last straw for them.” ”

https://strathmorenow.com/stories/healthcare-workers-strike-in-strathmore

Sri Lanka: “Over 1,000 Get Coronavirus at Sri Lanka Factory That Made Masks for US”  ……

From a news report from earlier in October…. 

Over 1,000 Get Coronavirus at Sri Lanka Factory That Made Masks for US

 

The Philippines: “Mapagpalayang Kapatiran – MK”  — Filipino anarcho-syndicalists

“This page is dedicated to the promotion of the principles of anarcho-syndicalism & libertarian-socialism & how it may be applied in Philippines’ setting.
“I enjoin my comrades in the Philippines to help espouse the principles of anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism and how it may be applied in our local setting. We are attached to Asia-Pacific Sub-Secretariat of IWA”

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