Building the revolution
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity. I bought tickets back in November for the “Building the revolution” show at the Royal Academy and was given a 10:00 AM admission time. When I…
Global Labour Online Campaigns: The next 10 Years
This article appeared as the Global Labour Column on 10 January 2012. Post any comments you may have there. In November 2011, the military dictatorship in Fiji jailed two of the country’s most prominent trade…
Trade unions and social democracy: The rift widens
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity. In an interview this week for an Australian newspaper, the leader of the world’s trade union movement made an interesting observation. “Have progressive parties lost the narrative…
Beyond borders: Unions and social media
This article appears in the most recent issue of Our Times (Canada). What has new media ever done for us? I assume most Our Times readers will be familiar with Monty Python’s comedy film “Life…
What are they waiting for?
(A German language version of this article appeared in Jungle World.) Two weeks ago, I found myself standing together with 62 locked out workers in front of a metal factory in Gebze, Turkey, just outside…
Kein Zutritt für Gewerkschafter
This article appeared in Jungle World. Zwei Tochtergesellschaften deutscher Unternehmen in der Türkei und den USA gehen gegen gewerkschaftlich organisierte Mitarbeiter vor, obwohl die Firmen internationalen Rahmenvereinbarungen zu Arbeiterrechten zugestimmt haben. Als die Delegation eintraf,…
Global hassen, lokal stören: Ein Treffen von Gewerkschaftern aus dem Nahen Osten in Istanbul
Die Gewerkschaften spielten eine wichtige Rolle in den arabischen Revolten, und diese Revolten beeinflussten gewerkschaftliche Kämpfe und soziale Proteste in anderen Regionen der Welt. In Istanbul trafen Ende November auf der »Labour Start Global Solidarity…
Trade unions in the democratic process
Yesterday, I was invited to speak on a panel in Gottingen, Germany – a conference organized by the trade union movement’s foundation, the Boeckler Stiftung, on the subject of ‘trade unions in the democratic process’,…
Pro-BDS campaigners try – and fail – to bust up global solidarity conference
The second annual LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference held in Istanbul last weekend was supposed to be a celebration of all that unites us in the international labour movement. Participants came from nearly 30 countries from…
Anti-Israel activists try to disrupt global labour conference in Istanbul
Last week’s LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference in Istanbul was meant to be an extraordinary event. Activists from the newly-independent unions of the “Arab Spring” countries were due to meet with colleagues from established unions from…