Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Asia-Pacific

Left Voice launches campaign for 97 sacked Australian dock workers

Supporters of the news website Left Voice have launched a campaign in solidarity with the 97 dock workers employed by Hutchison Ports Australia who were sacked by text message and email on the night of August 6.

Sean Robertson

August 29, 2015
Facebook Twitter Share

Photo: Hutchinson Ports – Stop Union Busting facebook page

Left Voice is gathering signatures for an online petition that calls for the immediate reinstatement of all 97 sacked “wharfies” (as they are called in Australia), all of whom are members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

The international petition has already gathered dozens of signatures from Argentina. Signatories include left-wing political figures such as Nicolás del Caño, presidential candidate for the Left and Workers’ Front (FIT) and national congressman from the province of Mendoza; Myriam Bregman, vice presidential candidate for the FIT and lawyer for the human rights organization CEPRODH; Christian Castillo, national leader of the Socialist Workers Party (PTS); Raúl Godoy, worker at the occupied Zanon factory, former General Secretary of the Ceramic Workers’ Union of Neuquén (SOECN) and a well-known leader of the PTS; Rubén “Pollo” Sobrero, General Secretary of the Eastern Greater Buenos Aires section of the Railway Union (UF) and Socialist Left (IS) leader; and Juan Carlos Giordano, editor of El Socialista (The Socialist), the newspaper of Socialist Left.

A range of well-known militant trade unionists have also added their names to the petition. These include Claudio Dellecarbonara, Line B delegate on the Buenos Aires subway system (Subte) and member of the Executive Secretariat of the Subway union (AGTSyP); Natalio Navarrete, Assistant Secretary of the Ceramic Workers’ Union of Neuquén (SOECN); Javier Hermosilla and Lorena Gentile, Shop Floor Committee members from the Mondelez (formerly Kraft Foods) factory; Mónica Schlottahuer and Edgardo Reynoso, delegates from the Sarmiento branch of the Railway Union (UF); Eduardo Ayala, leader in the Madygraf (formerly RR Donneley) printing plant that was occupied after its closure last year and is now producing under workers’ control; and Catalina Balaguer, Shop Floor Committee member at Pepsico Snacks.

Current elected representatives of the Left and Workers’ Front (FIT) who have also expressed their solidarity with the sacked wharfies include Laura Marrone and Patricio del Corro from the City of Buenos Aires; Laura Vilches from the province of Córdoba and Cecilia Soria, Noelia Barbeito, Macarena Escudero, Martín Baigorria and Ulises Giménez from Mendoza. Previously elected representatives such as Liliana Olivero from Córdoba and Angélica Lagunas from Neuquén have also added their names to the petition.

Along with the international petition, Left Voice has also launched a bi-lingual English/Spanish online petition at the Change.org website (see details below).

Left Voice is a part of the La Izquierda Diario news network, which aims to bring its readers daily news, analysis and opinion from a socialist left perspective. Since its launch on September 16 last year, La Izquierda Diario has quickly become one of the most influential and widely read left-wing news portals in the Spanish-speaking world. The news network has separate editions in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and France.

We urge all readers of Left Voice to add their name to our international solidarity campaign for the 97 sacked Australian dock workers.

The full list of signatories of the international petition can be found at the Solidaridad Portuarios / Dockworkers Solidarity website:https://solidaridadportuarios.wordpress.com/

The Change.org online petition (in Spanish and English) can be found here:
https://www.change.org/p/mark-jack-hutchison-ports-australia-reinstate-all-97-sacked-dock-workers-now

Facebook Twitter Share

Sean Robertson

Australia

Asia-Pacific

The Roots of the Rebellion at Foxconn

Jenny Chan is a researcher and professor at the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. She is co-author of the book Dying for an iPhone. She spoke with La Izquerda Diario about the causes of the rebellion by workers at the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China.

Josefina L. Martínez

December 7, 2022
Participants in a memorial ceremony lay flowers to pay respect to a deceased 23-year-old worker in front of the SPC headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. She died in an accident at a baking factory in Pyeongtaek affiliated with SPC on Saturday.

How Workers and Socialists are Responding to a Workplace Death at One of South Korea’s Largest Food Manufacturers

Following a workplace death at SPC group, one of the largest food manufacturers in South Korea, a consumer boycott quickly gained traction. Organized workers and revolutionary socialists are playing a role in this struggle.

Sam Carliner

November 12, 2022
A man holds a Sri Lankan national flag during a protest outside the Parliament complex in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Protests Against Inflation and the IMF Return to Sri Lanka

Protesters, along with unions and political organizations took to the streets of Sri Lanka on Thursday, mobilizing against inflation, staggering food prices, and new IMF adjustment programs ushered in by the the illegitimate government of Wickremesinghe, which replaced Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government by mass demonstrations in July.

La Izquierda Diario Argentina

November 4, 2022

What’s behind the Escalations in Korea?

For the first time in five years, tensions in the Korean peninsula are escalating. This comes in the context of a U.S. military buildup in the Pacific, driven by greater capitalist competition between the United States and China.

Sam Carliner

October 7, 2022

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023