International Solidarity in Action, a new e-book written by UE’s retired Director of International Affairs Robin Alexander and published by UE, was released today. It provides an in-depth look at the decades-long relationship between the UE and the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT), an independent Mexican labor federation.

“Corporate globalization has destroyed millions of good jobs in the U.S. through trade deals like NAFTA. Robin Alexander’s book demonstrates that the most effective way for workers to fight back is by building links with workers in other countries,” said UE General President Carl Rosen. “Her account of our union’s alliance with the FAT shows how worker-to-worker exchanges can transform attitudes and lives, and how international solidarity can win real victories for working people.”

The book details the origins of UE’s relationship with the FAT in the fight against NAFTA, joint UE-FAT campaigns at companies including General Electric, Echlin, and DMI/Metaldyne, and exchanges between public-sector and co-op workers in the U.S. and Mexico. It describes the development of the International Worker Justice Campaign, which brought international attention to North Carolina’s denial of collective bargaining rights to public-sector workers. It ends with a description of the historic labor law reform enacted in Mexico in 2019, and the role of international solidarity in winning this critical victory for Mexican workers.

Throughout, Alexander highlights the role played by rank-and-file UE members in building solidarity with their counterparts in Mexico, and the pages are full of the names of local UE leaders from across the country.

International Solidarity in Action has also drawn praise from others around the labor movement.

“At a time when we need global unions perhaps more than we have ever before, the story of the UE-FAT cross-border relationship provides just the inspiration and model needed,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the Director of Labor Education Research at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

“Robin Alexander has written what is a political memoir, an analysis of the struggle for militant, democratic unionism in Mexico, and a strong argument for international working class solidarity,” said Bill Fletcher, Jr., who addressed UE’s 1999 convention. Fletcher is a long-time labor activist and author and former president of the TransAfrica Forum.

“This timely e-book builds up to the story of labor law reform in Mexico, getting there via micro-histories of some of the struggles to win against the corrupt charro unions, worker-to-worker exchanges among UE and FAT members, and cross-border cultural projects,” added Ashwini Sukthankar, former coordinator of the International Commission for Labor Rights and former director of global campaigns for UNITE HERE. “Consequently, the reform process really does come across as the culmination of real workers’ struggles, and not as an imposition from above, or the technical fiddling of lawyers.”International Solidarity in Action can be downloaded at internationalsolidarityinaction.org. There is little to no cost*, but UE is asking those who download the book to make a donation to support ongoing solidarity work with the FAT. (*Kindle users will need to pay a 99 cent fee to download the book from Amazon.)

Following the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, UE’s international allies have been reaching out to us to gain a better understanding of how his election will impact working people in the U.S. and around the world. UE received many thanks for sharing our initial analysis in written form in February. We subsequently received invitations to present our perspective because of our reputation as a union that is independent from the Democratic Party and has a clear understanding of working-class needs.

On March 21, UE Director of International Strategies Kari Thompson attended the virtual General Assembly of FIOM Bologna, along with other international guests — UNITE from the United Kingdom, CGT of France, and IG Metall from Germany. The meeting focused on how workers were impacted by their own governments’ response to the pandemic. FIOM also wanted an assessment of what trade unionists anticipate from the Biden administration.

On the day of the meeting, FIOM members and organizers participated in a strike and picket action at Amazon warehouses across Italy. Shortly after the meeting began, some of those members joined the meeting for a few minutes to share a report about the enthusiastic support on the picket lines.

Thompson shared remarks informed by General Executive Board statements, reflecting the optimism that public pressure has forced Biden to address workers’ priorities but also that UE members cannot afford to be complacent in our broader demands for better jobs and healthcare, the right to organize, and to address the climate and racial justice crises.

Valentina Orazzini, Head of the Europe Office for FIOM-CGIL National, closed the event by noting that in past pandemics, workers have been able to organize for improvements in their living and working conditions. She expressed hope that organized labor would be able to do so this time.

A few days later, Thompson attended a virtual event hosted by the CSN of Quebec, Canada. She was joined by Hannah Allison, a Kansas para-educator who is a member of the Communications Workers of America and in the national elected leadership of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Xaviar Lafrance, a professor of political science and a CSN member. The CSN also wanted to discuss the prospects for workers under the Biden administration and how working people are pushing back against right-wing politics. CSN members asked great questions to the panelists, including one that highlighted the need for trade unions to build coalitions to increase popular support for our goals.

On May 5, Thompson took part in an event organized by Helmut Scholz, a member of the European Union Parliament and its Left Caucus. On this virtual panel, entitled “100 Days of Joe Biden in Office: Assessing the Start,” she was joined by Austin Gonzalez, a member of the national elected leadership of DSA; Joe Dinkin, Campaigns Director at the Working Families Party; and Kendall Gilcrease, a university student who was a recent intern in Scholz’s office. All the panelists emphasized that it was progressive activism in the streets leading up to the election that has pushed Biden away from the corporate-friendly policies he has previously championed. Attendees at this event were curious about what would come from Biden’s foreign policy. Thompson noted that this is an area where Biden must be pushed to improve, or he will fall under the influence of warmongers in his cabinet.

UE joins many of our global allies in expressing solidarity with the Colombian people, and particularly with striking union members, as the right-wing government of Iván Duque attempts to suppress popular protests with violence.

Millions of Colombians have taken to the streets since late April, opposing a bill that would have imposed heavy taxes on working people. While the government has withdrawn the bill, its violent repression of the strikes combined with anger over inequality, poverty and human rights abuses have fueled ongoing mobilization.

37 people have been killed since the protests began, with at least 89 people reported missing, and thousands of reports of violence by the army and police.

UE has signed onto a declaration demanding “investigations and punishment for those responsible for this violation of human rights in Colombia.” Other unions endorsing the declaration include the Brazil metalworkers’ union CNM-CUT and STIMACHS, an affiliate of our close Mexican allies the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT).

The labor federation Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, along with others, initiated strikes against the proposed tax bill on April 28. The bill would have imposed taxes of 19 percent on necessities for working people such as food and utilities, while retaining the sizable tax breaks granted to financial, oil and mining companies by the same government in 2019.

Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in the world, and was long one of the most dangerous for trade unionists, who were often targeted for assassination by the military, police, and right-wing paramilitary groups aligned with them. The government has also handled the COVID-19 pandemic extremely poorly, as Alejandra Marín Buitrago reported recently in CounterPunch:

“Instead of prioritizing direct negotiating with Pfizer, the government authorized private health companies to negotiate in order to purchase doses for the elite. Public testing is hardly available, and at $50, private labs testing is well beyond the budgets of most families… Social media and news outlets have ridiculed the incompetence of the government and the high-profile staff who, as is well known throughout the country, fly to Miami to get vaccinated while prioritized groups in the low-income class wait anxiously for their first shots.”

For more background on the Colombian trade union movement, see this report written by UE Field Organizer John Ocampo about his participation in a labor delegation to Colombia in late 2019.

UE joins Kilusang Mayo Uno, the independent and democratic labor center in the Philippines, in condemning the murder of KMU National Council member Dandy Miguel and the illegal arrest of KMU National Council member Florentino “Pol” Viuya.

Miguel, the vice chairperson of regional chapter PAMANTIK-KMU and president of local union Lakas ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng Fuji Electric – OLALIA- KMU, was shot dead in Laguna province last Sunday night, March 28. According to initial reports, he was shot eight times while on his way home from work. Miguel’s killing came three weeks after nine activists were killed in simultaneous dawn operations called Bloody Sunday in the Southern Tagalog region south of Manila, where Laguna is located.

Along with other union leaders and families of the Bloody Sunday victims, Miguel filed a case at the Commission on Human Rights last March 15. Despite threats on his life and security, Miguel was at the forefront of the struggle to defend the rights and welfare of the people.

Viuya, who has been consistently red-baited by the Philippine government, was arrested under a fake warrant of arrest in a raid on the morning of March 30. Peasant leader Joseph Canlas was also arrested in a simultaneous raid in the vicinity the his organization’s office in Pampanga.

Viuya is also chairperson of the regional labor center Workers Alliance, and has been involved in the campaigns against the Joint Industrial Peace Concerns Office (JIPCO), a collaboration between the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Export Zones Authority that targets “radical unions” to ensure “industrial peace” and “ease of doing business.”

To date, Miguel and Viuya are the second and third KMU national council members to be attacked by the Philippine government, after the illegal arrest of Noly Rosales of KMU Negros in 2019.

UE calls on the Philippine government to stop the series of intimidation, harassment, illegal arrests, and killings of union leaders, labor organizers, activists, and human rights defenders.

BY MASAKO OBATA, PRESIDENT, ZENROREN

As the first anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic approached, the UE International Department asked two of our international allies, Unifor (Canada) and Zenroren (Japan), to share with UE NEWS readers a glimpse into what work and life is like now in their countries. We asked these allied unions to share what their government’s response to the virus had been like, as well as how these unions were organizing or in other ways helping workers to protect themselves during these new health and economic challenges.

Zenroren, the National Confederation of Trade Unions in Japan, represents almost one million workers across all 47 of Japan’s prefectures (like states) in a wide variety of industries, both public and private. They are long-time allies of UE in the struggle to reduce military spending and eliminate war and nuclear weapons. (Read Unifor’s contribution here.)

I send my warmest greetings and solidarity to all UE members. I was elected president of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) at its Convention in July last year.

The workers and people in Japan as well as the United States are seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On December 29-30, and January 2, union members from Zenroren, Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation), and Zenrokyo (National Trade Union Council) took part in a year-end-New Year labor consultation in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward. Japanese labor lawyers took the initiative for the event called “Consultation Village.” A total of 344 people, who were out of work or who became homeless, visited the site seeking help to solve their problems. About 70 percent of them were in their 20s to 50s, and 20 percent were women.

Neoliberal policies under the successive governments of prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga have overemphasized the principle of “self-responsibility,” ignoring the constitutional provision that “all people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living.” In Japan, there are a growing number of contingent workers who are afflicted by poverty due to job losses or business closures. They may run out of food if they don’t have work for a month or two.

The point is that real wages have been declining over the many years in Japan since before the outbreak of the coronavirus. The pandemic is exacerbating the employment situation and further holding down wages. Contingent workers and women workers are particularly affected by the contradictions, producing a surge in the number of suicides.

The immediate goal of our movement is the creation of a society that provides increased public support instead of sacrificing the working people as we make efforts to overcome the coronavirus crisis. We refuse to resign ourselves to life affected by the pandemic. We are aiming to win substantial wage increases while raising the standard of living in order to ensure that everyone can enjoy a decent life. We are demanding stable employment and strict working time regulations as part of the effort to establish rules to ensure that everyone can work with dignity. We are fighting for healthcare and other social services and public systems that guarantee people’s safety and life free from anxiety.

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed that wages for workers have fallen to levels that are inadequate for supporting their lives. The policies serving the best interest of the business sector at the cost of worker well-being have been exposed. We reject a choice between job security and pay increase, and fight for job security and substantial wage increases while raising the standard of living, along with a national minimum wage at 1,500 yen (about 14 dollars) per hour. We argue that these are all the more essential because of the pandemic. We are encouraged by the US workers’ fight making progress for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour under the new administration of President Joe Biden.

Securing living wages for all workers is the only way to get over the present economic situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A taxi drivers’ union federation affiliated with Zenroren has successfully protected their jobs despite the pandemic having a severe impact on the industry. Many new unions have been created since last year among taxi drivers. Healthcare unions have refused to take a pay cut and are continuing to fight for workplace safety. In Okinawa, workers in the tourism industry have organized themselves in a new union. They successfully won monetary compensation for restaurant and other food service industry workers during business closures by influencing politics. Our fight is directed to win living wages for anyone who works 8 hours a day by increasing international solidarity.

Today, the Japanese government and the financial circles are trying to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to promote what they call “diversity and flexibility in work style” and “freedom to choose”. They are encouraging people to work remotely, have a second job or side business. They are calling for using a discretionary working system, easing rules for dismissals, and working in the gig economy, which is exempted from labor laws. The attempt to institute a system to let people work on their self-responsibility is underway in many countries, including Japan and the United States. We must reject attacks that obscure management’s responsibility for arranging reasonable work hours that allow workers to get appropriate rest.

On January 22, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into effect. The treaty is a milestone in banning nuclear weapons for the first time under international law. The nuclear-weapon countries are still continuing to compete for the development of nuclear-capable missiles and other weapons while modernizing and reinforcing their nuclear arsenals even at a time when their citizens are at high risk of COVID-19 exposure. We are increasing a movement to press the United States and Japan, which relies upon the US nuclear umbrella, to ratify the TPNW for the sake of preserving people’s lives and the Earth’s environment.

Japan’s government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is calling for the largest-ever military expenditure in the fiscal 2021 (Apr. 2021-Mar. 2022) government budget. What is the point in compiling the largest-ever military budget at a time when the Japanese people are experiencing hardships? The government’s shopping spree for US military hardware continues. It is even purchasing weaponry, which is linked to the plan to acquire capability to attack enemy bases in violation of the Constitution. (The Japanese Constitution, adopted after World War II, prohibits Japan from having a standing military or attacking other countries to settle disputes. -Ed.) These are absolutely unnecessary for defending our country and its people. The demand for “slashing the military budget and redirecting the money towards securing jobs” is shared by Japanese and US workers.

The Japanese and US governments are pushing ahead with construction of a new US Marine Corps base in Okinawa Prefecture in defiance of firm opposition from the people of the prefecture.  Accidents and crimes by US service members are continuing without an end, giving rise to calls to revise the unequal Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Japan and the United States. We hope to join our forces with US friends to develop a movement for Japan and the US to replace their bilateral Security Treaty, a military pact, with a peace and friendship treaty.

Japan and the United States are geographically far apart from each other and it is now very difficult for unions from both countries to meet in person due to the pandemic. But we can work to increase solidarity between our two unions by organizing grassroots movements in the workplace and local communities in both countries.

UE joins our Brazilian brothers and sisters of the CUT in celebrating the decision of the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin to invalidate ex-president Luis Inácio “Lula” Da Silva’s convictions and restore his political rights.

Lula’s 2017 conviction on questionable charges of corruption was the culmination of a campaign by right-wing corporate forces, including Brazil’s media, to destroy him and his party, the Workers’ Party (in Portuguese, Partido dos Trabalhadores or PT).

Lula was a factory worker and militant shop floor leader who became one of the founders of the Brazilian metalworkers union (CNM) and the country’s largest labor federation, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT). In 2002, he was elected president of Brazil as the candidate of the PT, a party founded by trade unions, landless peasants, and other working-class organizations.

The PT governments led by Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff, who was elected Brazil’s first woman president in 2010, made substantial gains for the Brazilian working class. Their policies lifted 30 million Brazilians out of poverty, created 15 million jobs, and re-industrialized the country into an economic powerhouse (the fifth largest economy in the world). Over 13 years in power the PT also reduced child labor, empowered women, raised the minimum wage, increased real wages by 53 percent, reduced unemployment, and provided social security – the Bolsa Familia – for 47 million Brazilians.

In the words of a CUT leader following yesterday’s decision, Lula “Gave dignity to the Brazilian people.”

In 2016, Rousseff was removed from office by her opponents in Congress in what was widely described — including by UE’s General Executive Board — as a “coup.” In a statement, the UE GEB called Rousseff’s removal from office “an attempt by the enemies of Rousseff’s party, the Workers’ Party … to achieve by other means what they have been unable to accomplish at the ballot box – the removal from power of the country’s working class party.”

In 2017 Lula announced his intention to run in the 2018 presidential elections, but was imprisoned in April of 2018 and at the end of August the Superior Electoral Court ruled him ineligible to run. He had been leading in all opinion polls. Telegram messages between the judge and the prosecutor in his case, leaked by The Intercept in 2019, indicate that prosecutor and judge conspired to convict Lula in order to prevent him from running — and like winning — the presidential race.

UE’s officers denounced Lula’s jailing as “a travesty and crime against the people of Brazil and working people around the world.”

Removing Lula from the race set the stage for the election of the far-right “populist” candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who launched numerous attacks on workers and unions. He lowered the minimum wage and closed down the country’s Ministry of Labor. Upon taking office, he announced plans to privatize almost one hundred public companies, including airports and the state-owned oil company Petrobras. He cut funding for public higher education by 30 percent and has pursued plans to “reform” the country’s social security system by making workers work longer and cutting retirement benefits.

After a worldwide “Lula Livre” (free Lula) campaign supported by unions around the world, Lula was released from prison in November 2019. Yesterday’s decision now clears him to potentially run for president against Bolsonaro in 2022.