Pollán, who died in October 2011, had been a high school teacher with no involvement in politics until her husband, Héctor Maseda, became one of 75 anti-regime activists arrested by Cuban authorities in 2003 as part of a crackdown on dissidents. Pollán’s husband was released from prison in February 2011 – he was among one of the last of the Group of 75, as it came to be known, to be set free.

Her initial small gatherings in her home with the wives, mothers and daughters of other political prisoners became the Ladies in White – so called because of the all-white attire of the women – and held weekly marches in Havana. In Spanish, they are called Las Damas de Blanco.

Pollán became one of the best-known and most vocal opposition figures in Cuba, risking arrest herself, and reprisals of others acting on behalf of the Communist regime.

She was honored with NED’s Democracy Service Medal, which was first awarded [...]
Read more>>]]> http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/late-cuban-activist-laura-pollan-gets-human-rights-award/feed/ 0 http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/cuban-government%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98thug%e2%80%99-tactics-continue/ http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/cuban-government%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98thug%e2%80%99-tactics-continue/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:09:49 +0000 admin http://freetradeunionism.org/?p=978 Cuban state security police are now telling the Ladies in White not to attend Sunday mass.

Recently, six Ladies in White, among them Sandra Guerra, Elizabeth Kawooya, and Dignora Figueredo, were called in and threatened at dawn on a Saturday by the political police in Havana and told not to attend Sunday services at Santa Rita’s Church. Megaly Norvis, leader of the Ladies in White and an independent journalist, was detained by police. Hours later, Ms. Guerra reported that while they were getting ready to protest in front of the Capitol, Ms. Norvis had had been released.

In mid-December, the Ladies in White paid homage to their late leader while observing International Human Rights Day at her home. A jeering pro-government crowd surrounded them.

Photos of the late Laura Pollán and messages of condolence adorned the wall of the house where she lived in central Havana and that served as a headquarters for the Ladies since the group was formed in 2003. Next to a lit candle, an empty chair was draped with white clothing that belonged to Pollán. A single gladiola and a tiny Cuban flag rested on the lap.

“Laura Pollán lives!” [...]
Read more>>]]> http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/cuban-government%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98thug%e2%80%99-tactics-continue/feed/ 0 http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/american-captive-of-cuba-marks-2-years-behind-bars/ http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/american-captive-of-cuba-marks-2-years-behind-bars/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:07:25 +0000 admin http://freetradeunionism.org/?p=976 The United States is renewing calls for Cuba to release imprisoned U.S. contractor Alan Gross, who has served two years behind bars on state security charges.

White House spokesman Jay Carney called for Havana to free the contractor immediately, saying it is “past time” for Gross to be allowed to return home to his family, where he belongs.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner also made similar comments in a statement on Gross:

“I want to note that Alan Gross has begun his third year of unjustified imprisonment in Cuba. He was arrested on December 3, 2009, and later given a 15-year prison sentence by Cuban authorities for simply facilitating connectivity between Havana’s Jewish community and the rest of the world.”

Toner described Gross as a 62-year-old husband, father and dedicated professional with a long history of providing assistance and support to underserved communities in more than 50 countries.

Gross was arrested for bringing communications equipment into Cuba while working for a private firm contracted with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The company says he was working for USAID’s Cuba democracy program, bringing Internet access to Cuba’s Jewish community. Gross has said his actions were not intended to be a [...]
Read more>>]]> http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/american-captive-of-cuba-marks-2-years-behind-bars/feed/ 0 http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/new-union-confederation-established-in-tunisia/ http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/new-union-confederation-established-in-tunisia/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:05:58 +0000 admin http://freetradeunionism.org/?p=974 Tunisians recently formed a new trade union organization, called the Tunisian General Labor Federation (CGTT), to help improve

relations between unions, fight unemployment and exclusion, and establish unemployment benefits.

The CGTT held a constituent congress in the coastal city of Nabeul, and named Habid Guiza its general secretary. The new organization claims to represent 30,000 members.

CGTT aims to contribute to the development of trade unionism in Tunisia, Guiza said, and to provide workers with the freedom to choose their union.

The four delegates had planned a three day visit to investigate allegations of human and labor rights breaches by the Bainimarama government.

But when the group, including Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Ged Kearney, arrived at the Nadi International Airport, they were refused entry and put on the next flight to Sydney.

Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the delegation’s visit was ‘well-orchestrated’ and ‘irresponsible’.

He said the ACTU had a preconceived position and planned to move a resolution at the Australian Labor Party Conference to place Fiji on the same blacklist as Burma and Zimbabwe.

‘Even before visiting Fiji, the ACTU had taken a position,’ the Fijian government said in a statement.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said it was concerning that consular access was denied the group, and that Australia had an ongoing commitment to promoting labor and human rights and ensuring that trade unionists remained free from intimidation.

at a factory that supplies garments and accessories sold in the United States and elsewhere. The factory is part of the Jiangsu Ningbo Hesheng Headwear Company.

According to the investigation, the factory’s working conditions expose employees to high temperatures and toxic gases, workers regularly work more than 12 hours a day, workers work 30 days straight without a break during the busy season, and the base salary for workers is significantly lower than the legal minimum wage of Cixi County, where the factory is located.

American Eagle, GAP, J. Crew, Liz Claiborne, Talbots and Target responded to CLW’s report by conducting their own investigation. In November, they acknowledged the poor working conditions at the factory and said they would compel management there to provide a safer and fairer work environment.

CGIL leader Susanna Camusso said Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government was “deeply conditioned” by its need for support from the party of his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, and its austerity plan spared the rich and demanded excessive sacrifices from ordinary Italians.

“We see every risk of a social explosion,” Camusso said in an interview with Reuters, warning that anger was rising over a pension reform she said was unnecessary, measures that cut already weak purchasing power and a worsening labor market.

CGIL and the two smaller unions, CISL and UIL, are holding a series of strikes to protest against the 33 billion euro plan that aims to shore up public finances and combat Italy’s debt crisis.

Camusso, the first woman leader in the CGIL’s 105-year history, acknowledged that Monti had made some concessions to union demands by reducing cuts to low pensions and slightly easing a housing tax, but this did not go far enough.

“It would be absolutely excessive to say we are satisfied; the solutions [...]
Read more>>]]> http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/12/italy-risks-social-explosion-over-austerity/feed/ 0 http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/10/ladies-in-white-leader-laura-pollan-dies-in-hospital-of-cardiac-arrest/ http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/10/ladies-in-white-leader-laura-pollan-dies-in-hospital-of-cardiac-arrest/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:18:02 +0000 admin http://freetradeunionism.org/?p=949

HAVANA - Laura Pollán, founder and leader of the Cuban dissident group Ladies in White, died October 14 in a local hospital after a brief illness. The cause of death was said to be cardiac arrest.

Ms. Pollán was remembered at a service the next day with a simple altar in her home and vows that the dissident group she founded would go on. A blue vase holding the ashes of Ms. Pollán sat on a small table with several photos of her and flowers brought by friends, among them diplomats. She was 63 years old.

“The late Laura Pollán and all the Ladies in White have long represented the Cuban people’s desire for liberty and for freedom of thought and expression,” noted the Committee for Free Trade Unionism. “Their peaceful weekly protests after Sunday mass each week of the denial of liberty to any who would oppose the Castro regime stand as a beacon for all who support human rights.

“Laura Pollán’s premature death was surely hastened by the harassment and government-sponsored denunciations which she and all the Ladies in White have suffered in recent months.

“The Castro government, having finally released [...]
Read more>>]]> http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/10/ladies-in-white-leader-laura-pollan-dies-in-hospital-of-cardiac-arrest/feed/ 0 http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/09/18-killed-in-malawi-protests/ http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/09/18-killed-in-malawi-protests/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:18:13 +0000 admin http://freetradeunionism.org/?p=932 In late July, authorities in Malawi perpetrated a round of violence that resulted in the deaths of 18 people involved in peaceful protests.

The International Trade Union Confederation has written to the president of Malawi to strongly protest the bloody repression of peaceful protests.

Malawi’s trade unions have been critical of a number of recent laws which limit the freedom of the press, restrict lawsuits against government agencies and officers, and limit civil liberties. Under the current situation, the Malawian police can search any house without a search warrant, and the press cannot publish anything which is “deemed to be contrary to the public interest.”

Protestors also wanted to point out the quickly deteriorating economic conditions in their country, characterized by crippling fuel and foreign exchange shortages. The workers of Malawi have been hit hard by the economic crisis. Shortage of foreign exchange means that companies cannot bring in raw materials and parts, which has resulted in massive job losses. Shortages cause basic goods to become unaffordable.

“This is not worthy of a country which adheres to the principles of democracy,” said ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow. “Confronted with such particularly harsh conditions as [...]
Read more>>]]> http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/09/18-killed-in-malawi-protests/feed/ 0 http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/09/the-passing-of-bill-doherty/ http://freetradeunionism.org/2011/09/the-passing-of-bill-doherty/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:09:38 +0000 admin http://freetradeunionism.org/?p=923 Bill Doherty, 84, Executive Director of the American Institute for Free Labor Development, AFL-CIO

William Charles “Bill” Doherty Jr., who led the AFL-CIO’s outreach to trade unions in Latin America for 35 years, died August 28 after a long battle with bone marrow cancer. He was 84.

Born in Belleview, Ky., the oldest of nine children, Doherty was raised in the Washington, D.C. area where his father, William Charles Doherty Sr. was president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, and later the first U.S. ambassador to Jamaica. He graduated from St. Paul’s Catholic Academy High School, where he met his future wife, Jane Catherine Donovan, a Boston native.  He worked as a Capitol Hill police officer while completing his degree in philosophy at Catholic University of America, where he played defensive lineman for the football team. He also attended Georgetown University School of Linguistics and Georgetown Law School.

Doherty’s life was defined by his Catholic faith (he spent a brief period of his life in the St. Charles Seminary, studying to be a priest) and his conviction that democratic trade unions held the key to freedom and prosperity around the world. His work with the International [...]
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