◘ “Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight! Civil society call to action against corruption”

By RANJENI MUNUSAMY 

It started off as a tweet from Zwelinzima Vavi, asking if people would be willing to march to Union Buildings in support of the Public Protector. Now eight trade unions and 29 civil society organisations have come together to build an alliance against corruption and for social justice.

▶ read more http://www.dai

◘ “Exploding with Rage, Imploding with Self-Doubt—but Exuding Socialist Potential”
By PATRICK BOND

The fast-reviving South African left is urgently coming to grips with the most acute national crises of structure and agency the country has experienced since the historic freeing of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 and the shift of the entire body politic in favor of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP).

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◘ “R2K protest over JMPD checklist”
 

Right2Know (R2K) campaign is on Friday expected to protest against Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD’s) checklist which is required to be fulfilled before a protest is allowed.

The gathering is to take place at the JMPD offices, Wemmer Complex, corner of Loveday and Village. R2K says the checklist is a violation against constitutional rights.

▶ read more http://www.the

◘ “FIFA and the United States: The Russian Connection”
By GEORGE WRIGHT

On May 27th the United States Department of Justice issued a 47-count indictment against nine International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) officials and five executives of FIFA-affiliated sports management firms. The charges the United States pressed included racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering amounting to $150-million over a 24-year period.

▶ read more http://ame

◘ “Why has Israel embraced al-Qaida’s branch in Syria?”

By  RANIA KHALEK

During his 2014 address to the UN General Assembly, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “fighting militant Islam is indivisible.”

The Israeli prime minister’s crude attempts to conflate ISIS with Hamas should not be allowed to conceal an important truth: Israel aids the forces of “militant Islam” when it is considered opportune to do so.

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◘ “Kurds, Labour, and the Left in Turkey”

After Turkey’s parliamentary elections last week, all eyes are on the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) after its successes in contesting its first ever election as a party, rather than a coalition of nominally independent candidates: a momentous decision on the part of the party leadership, which stands to gain clout in parliament and solidify its position as the electoral standard-bearer of the radical Left.

▶ read more http://www.so

◘ “Hong Kong’s Oligarchy”
By ELAINE YU

Three months after the police shut down the pro-democracy movement that made headlines last fall, a new wave of protests crested in parts of Hong Kong. The protests were smaller in scale, much less representative of the Umbrella Movement’s many voices, and angrier, erupting in shopping streets and malls near the Chinese border in February and March.

▶ read more https://www.dis

◘ ” DRC journalist in jail for 9 months”

By ISSA SIKITI DA SILVA

Nine months in jail and counting. This is the fate of editor-in-chief and journalist Mike Mukebayi from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who was arrested on August 21, 2014 and thrown in the Makala Central Prison in the outskirts of the capital Kinshasa.

▶ read more http://www.dc4

◘ “Declaration of the COSATU International Gender Conference on Decent Work”

COSATU adopted the above declaration at their conference held on  09-12 June 2015 convened under the theme: “decent work : Build a Comprehensive Policy Environment for Women Workers”

▶ read more http://www.cos

◘ “Cosatu joins lobby against Eskom tariff hike”

Opposition to Eskom’s application for an extra tariff hike is increasing, with union federation Cosatu saying it would not not support any further burden on the working class and the poor through high electricity tariffs.

▶ read more http://www.fin

◘ “ITF and SRI chart a course on maritime human rights”

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI) report progress being made on the urgent issue of the criminalisation of seafarers. This follows the positive reception from the IMO’s (International Maritime Organization) Legal Committee to a paper co-sponsored by the ITF, the International Federation of Shipmasters’ Associations (IFSMA), the Comité Maritime International (CMI) and InterManager.

▶ read more http://www.sco

◘ “ILO finds Qatar guilty”

Geneva-based United Nations agency the ILO (International Labour Organization) today found Qatar guilty of allowing its state-owned airline, Qatar Airways, to violate international and national agreements and institutionalise discrimination. The case was successfully brought against Qatar by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation).

▶ read more http://www.sco

◘ “ILO adopts historic labour standard to tackle the informal economy”

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted a new international labour standard  that is expected to help hundreds of millions of workers and economic units move out of informality and into the formal economy.

“It is not just the adoption of this Recommendation, it’s actually putting it into practice that will matter,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

▶ read more http://www.ilo

◘ “Mexico should act to end undemocratic unions says ILO”

Mexico should change legislation to stop the registration of ‘protection’ unions that do not represent the majority of workers, says the International Labour Organization (ILO). Mexico was one of 24 countries shortlisted for examination by the ILO Committee on Application of Standards in Geneva early this month, for its failure to implement ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize.

▶ read more http://www.ind

◘ “Workers Betrayed by Visa Loopholes”

It hardly needs saying that immigration policy should not undermine Americans’ jobs, wages or working conditions. The problem is that what some companies want — cheap, exploitable, disposable labor — is exactly what the system can be twisted into giving them.

▶ read more http://mob

◘ “Uber drivers threaten rebellion against the $40bn company”
By ROBERT BOOTH

Most days at midday, Uber’s nondescript office in London’s King’s Cross opens its doors and dozens of men clutching sheaves of driving licences and insurance documents pour in. Many are first- or second-generation immigrants from places such as Afghanistan, Poland, Somalia and Nigeria eager to sign up to drive for the US tech company, whose phone-based minicab-hailing app has transformed the taxi industry in 58 countries.

▶ read more http://www.the

◘ “Uber orders China drivers to avoid confrontations”
By TOM MITCHELL

Uber’s China unit has warned its drivers to avoid confrontations with police and rival taxi drivers or risk losing their contracts, as the US-based car hailing service seeks to avoid regulatory scrutiny in a country where authorities are extra sensitive to instances of “social instability”.

▶ read more http://www.ft

◘ “In Turnabout, Disney Cancels Tech Worker Layoffs”
By JULIA PRESTON

In late May, about 35 technology employees at Disney/ABC Television in New York and Burbank, Calif., received jarring news. Managers told them that they would all be laid off, and that during their final weeks they would have to train immigrants brought in by an outsourcing company to do their jobs.

▶ read more http://www.nyt

◘ “Who made your clothes?”

Who doesn’t love a great deal? Whether it’s on household appliances or a new t-shirt, consumers worldwide are always looking for a great bargain.

So of course when shoppers came across a vending machine in Berlin, Germany selling t-shirts for only 2 Euros each (about $2.19), they flocked to benefit from the supreme sale.

▶ read more http://www.tru

◘ “Four Myths About the “Freelancer Class””
By SARAH GREY

Freelancers have more in common with other workers than with small-business entrepreneurs.

I got a strange call late last year from Duane Morris, an international law firm based in Philadelphia. The woman on the phone said that Duane Morris was working with former Sen. Blanche Lincoln and some of the world’s leading corporations, like Microsoft and Google, to build a “grassroots movement” to help freelancers.

▶ read more http://www.sco

◘ “At Gawker Media, New Economy Workers Strive to Form a New Kind of Union”
By RACHEL L. SWARNS

The Facebook notification popped onto her screen in April: an invitation to the editorial staff at Gawker Media to “a union meeting about you.” Anna Merlan, a 28-year-old reporter with six months on the job, stared at her laptop, startled.
 

A union? At a digital media outlet populated mostly by college-educated 20- and 30-somethings? Really?

▶ read more http://www.nyti

◘ “Digital-media workers of the world, unite!”
By CHRIS LEHMANN

The sanctums of online journalism, which have disrupted everything from the business models of the publishing world to the basic definition of original editorial content, are now facing an unwelcome new disruption of their own. Earlier this month, the employees of Gawker Media, one of the earliest and most successful Web-publishing networks, voted to unionize, and create one of the first digital locals for the Writers Guild of America.

▶ read more http://ame

◘ “Worker Protections in the “New” Economy? There’s No App for That.”
By  SUSIE CAGLE

In April, Darrin McGillis filed for unemployment benefits from Uber, claiming that he was unable to continue driving for the company after his vehicle was damaged. Uber is already facing a handful of lawsuits alleging that drivers should be classified, treated and paid as employees, but McGillis effectively jumped the line.

▶ read more http://ame

◘ “Malawi finally migrates to Digital TV Broadcasting: Govt reduces price of decoders”

Malawi has finally migrated from analogue to digital television broadcasting with the first phase targeting Mzuzu City and Zomba in the Eastern part of the country.

The second phase which will target two major cities of Malawi (Blantyre and Mzuzu) is expected to take place in September.

▶ read more http://www.fac

◘ “Is Twitter the architectural intern’s unofficial labor union?”
By ROBERT BOOTH

Social media has been accused of being many things: a time-waster, an intelligence-leveler, a privacy-invader. However, in the field of architectural employment, social media has oddly become a kind of virtual worker’s union, helping to expose unethical hiring practices.

▶ read more http://arc

◘ “Can Malaysia’s Leading Independent News Site Survive a Censorship Law?”
By SHUWEI FANG

On April 13, journalists in Malaysia had their fears confirmed when the country’s parliament approved amendments to its sedition law, giving the government broad new powers to censor media online. The changes extend the maximum jail term from three years to twenty, and make it illegal to propagate sedition on the internet—the definition of which, complain opposition lawmakers, remains wide open to abuse by the government.

▶ read more http://www.ope