Today's Topics:
1. Britain, solfed: UNDEREMPLOYMENT, CASUALISATION AND THE
FUTURE OF WORK (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. internationalist commune: One year in the Internationalist
Commune of Rojava by MW IntCommune (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Underemployment is the term used for workers who get fewer hours than they want and need
to live on. In the UK there are now at least 1.4 million workers on zero-hours contracts
and 865,000 agency workers, many of whom struggle to get enough hours a week to survive
on. Added to which, companies are increasingly employing people on a part-time basis,
often on contracts of 10 hours or less. This leaves workers dependent on any extra hours
management may choose to offer them. According to the Office for National Statistics, just
under 10% of the working population or 3.3 million people want more hours; or to put it
another way, are part unemployed. To put this into context there are now twice as many
people underemployed as there are unemployed.
The practice of underemployment puts management into a powerful position, enabling them to
dictate working conditions and create a workplace culture of fear and permanent
insecurity, where workers feel they have to put up with just about anything or risk being
sanctioned by not being offered any extra hours available. Studies have shown that, where
there is a high level of underemployment, the culture of the workplace is characterised by
discrimination, sexual harassment and assault, high levels of stress and mental illness,
bullying, arbitrary rules, favouritism and wage theft. It can also make balancing work,
childcare, and school a nightmare given the need to take on extra hours often at short
notice to make up pay.
"We only find out on the day, or the day before, about how many hours we will work and
about our start and finish times. I am a single mother of two children and it is very
difficult for me. "
The reality behind underemployment was revealed in a survey of 450,000 USDAW union
members. The survey was largely of workers in retail, warehouse and distribution along
with road transport. The survey revealed that 60% of respondents have contracts for 30
hours or less. Almost two-thirds (64%), of those taking part in the survey, regularly work
additional hours above their contracted hours. The survey found that two-thirds would like
these extra hours to be guaranteed. It also found that one in every three of respondents
said they would like to work longer hours.
The survey also found an increasing use of agency workers with one in twenty workers (5%)
reporting that at least half of the workforce are agency staff. It was also found that
many workers have to take on extra jobs to make ends meet with 8% having a second job,
with a further 20% looking for a second job. The survey also shows an alarming increase in
the use of short-hours contracts - contracts of 10 hours or less - as a means of avoiding
the bad publicity now associated with zero hours contracts. The overwhelming majority that
took part in the survey stated they wanted more job security and guarantees over hours
with 98% stating that they believed that workers should have a right to contracts that
reflect their normal hours.
The USDAW survey is alarming as it points to a big growth in underemployment in the
traditional sectors of the economy where it has generally been assumed jobs are more
secure. It now appears that these sectors are moving towards the conditions found in the
"gig" economy, where the majority of employees' hours vary from week to week according to
business needs.
"Agency workers at my workplace are very unhappy with the way they are treated. They come
into work; many have spent up to £6 just to get to work; when they arrive, they find that
they are sent home after one hour."
That big-named companies are now using underemployment, as a means to cut cost and
increase profits, should not come as too big of a surprise. This process has been
underway in the US retail sector for many years and has become commonly known as "short
shifted." In the US, retail companies have introduced just in time scheduling" and use
other "lean" manufacturing practices managing an increasingly part time workforce and cut
wage cost to the bone.
The key to the introduction of these "lean" manufacturing practices has been the use of
the latest technologies, which has allowed retailers to track sales patterns and predict
labour costs with far greater precision. This has enabled US retailers to cut or increases
workers hours in line with fluctuations in business. For example, if there is bad
weather, the scheduling algorithm can indicate that employees should be sent home before
their shift ends. Another example is to use detectors embedded in the welcome mat in shops
that measure conversion rates - how many people enter the store in relation to how many
walk out with bags - and plan work schedules accordingly.
Methods like this, have allowed, even large retail companies employing thousands of
workers, to tailor the working hours of individual workers to cut cost. To the extent that
companies are able to use sales per hour of individual workers for one week to determine
their work schedule for the next. This not only cuts cost, it puts constant pressure on
workers to sell more or have their hours cut. This has led to guaranteed full time
employment increasingly the preserve of managers and long-term employees with the majority
of the workforce on part time contracts with many in constant need of extra hours.
"I'm not considered full-time but during the holiday season I work full-time hours. Only
managers can get full-time status officially."
Not surprisingly these "lean" manufacturing practices has spread beyond retail in the US
and are now being used in fast food and full-service restaurants, hotels, entertainment,
construction, and information sectors. The USDAW survey would indicate that "lean"
manufacturing practices are being imported into the UK economy. Amazon, for example,
regularly sends workers home when not enough work is available and uses the practice,
common in US retail, of getting workers to compete with each other for the reward of extra
hours.
In the UK, much has been made of the dangers posed by new technology and focus has rightly
been on increasing automation and the threat to jobs. However, the danger of technology
being used to casualise low-tech "unskilled" jobs, is just as real. This may well have big
implications for the future of work in the UK. Already there is evidence that, in the UK,
companies are reluctant to invest in labour saving technology due to the price of labour
being cheap. With new technologies been used to drive down labour cost, making automation
less cost effective, we may well see the workforce increasingly dominated by state
subsidised, underemployed workers, whose lives by necessity revolve around the constant to
need to work more hours to make up pay. A scenario even more likely, should some form of
universal basic income be introduced.
As a union, Solidarity Federation is committed to developing new methods of organising to
meet the challenges of a rapidly changing economy. Part of which includes running a
workplace organiser training course which is open to everyone. For more information
contact training@solfed.org.uk.
http://www.solfed.org.uk/manchester/underemployment-casualisation-and-the-future-of-work
------------------------------
Message: 2
Dear friends, ---- One year ago, 12th of June 2017, we shared the first public statement
of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava, presenting our project to the world. Also 12th
of June is the birthday of Anna Campbell, sehid Helin Qereçox, who give name to the first
Internationalist Academy of Rojava. ---- Today, after one year of non stop working, we
look back and see the big steps we have achieved in this year. ---- After the public
presentation of the commune under the slogan ‘learn, support, organize', we started to
develop our work and our projects, putting in practice the ideas and dreams we had, and
searching for a place to build the first internationalist academy of the Democratic
federation of Northern Syria. After a few months, we finally found the right place, and at
the end of summer in 2017, we started to build of the academy. Since then, we have been
working mostly focused on 3 main lines: internationalism, women liberation and ecology.
Concerning internationalism, our main task has been the construction of the
Internationalist Academy, the place to debate, study, research and also to host new
internationals who also want to learn, support and organize the Rojava Revolution. At the
same time, we have also been working on the up building of the Internationalist Commune
itself, as the organizational frame for us and other internationals who want to join,
developing a system and a network to integrate and strengthen the international dimension
of this revolution.
Concerning ecology, we launched the ‘Make Rojava Green Again' campaign in coordination
with other institutions working topics related with ecology. We wrote a book that we will
start to publish soon in different languages, presenting our project and what motivates us
to carry it out. Our main goal is to spread an ecological perspective of the revolutionary
life, building our academy with a sustainable approach and starting a tree cooperative to
help to reforest the arid lands of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
Concerning the liberation of women, the women of the commune are organized as an
autonomous group, connecting directly with the different institutions and structures of
the women's movement in this revolution. We also supported different projects and
campaigns of the women movement, taking part in the work developed by Jinwar, the women's
ecological village. We also studied and organized education programs about jineolojî and
the women liberation movements.
In the middle of this first year of life as a Commune, the Afrin war erupted. We know that
the revolution will be in defense of the land or there will be no place for the
revolution, so we saw the need to slow down our normal projects and take part in the Afrin
Resistance, mostly doing translations, international solidarity work and other kind of
media work.
The Afrin invasion was hard and brutal. It's very sad to see the Turkish army and other
islamist armed forces destroying the most beautiful region of Rojava. The war in Afrin
affected us in ways we were not able to imagine before. The invasion, the struggle, the
resistance... it opened for us processes of debate and reflection about what should be,
and what can be, the role of internationalism today. Also about how can we help and
contribute, as internationalists, to the Rojava Revolution and to all the resistance
movements and struggles around the world. A lot of friends lost their lives fighting to
resist the fascist invasion, and also several internationalist friends fell sehids in this
war. In their memory we will continue walking their path.
In this last month of May, after several months building the academy, we have finally
finished. We have decided to name it the ‘Internationalist Academy sehid Hêlîn Qereçox' in
memory of Anna Campbell, the British YPJ fighter who became sehid in Afrin. With sadness
for her loss, but at the same time with the will to continue her struggle against fascism
and patriarchal oppression, we started the first education course of our academy. We also
continued the ecological work for the Make Rojava Green Again campaign, translated and
published in different languages an article about the importance of the women struggle in
the revolution, started an internationalist radio project in collaboration with other
internationals in Rojava, published different articles and letters of international
solidarity in our website, etc. But of course, our main project this month has been to
organize this first education course.
Now, after one very intense year of work, we have succeeded in organizing a one-month
education course for the new internationals, together with the ones who have been here
since the beginning of the commune. The education included Kurdish language lessons,
ideological debates, knowledge about the society, the history of Midle East and the
Kurdish people, and of course, debates about internationalism and the history of the
Commune. A few days ago we finished this first education course, and a new wave of
internationalists from different parts of the world are just starting to work and travel
around Rojava, taking part in the Commune's work. We are really happy to see how this
project is growing and evolving, consolidating and step by step turning into reality the
dreams and ideas that one year ago were just in our minds.
Today, we are proud to say that the Internationalist Commune of Rojava is stronger than
ever, and that this is just one step more towards the democratic and revolutionary
movement that is growing and being connected all around the world. For all those reasons,
we invite all the internationalists, revolutionaries and democratic forces once again, all
those who want to walk with us, to learn, support and organize this revolution. Because we
know that Rojava can be the spark that ignites a new way of understanding life, of
developing a society outside capitalism, patriarchy and Nation-States. And because we know
that this is just the beginning. As sehid Hêlîn once said:
You should fight with us, and light the fires of resistance.
Biji Soresa Rojava!
Long live international solidarity!
http://internationalistcommune.com/one-year-in-the-internationalist-commune-of-rojava/
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten