WORLD WORLDWIDE AUSTRALIA MELBOURNE News Journal Update - (en) Australia, Melbourne, ASF-IWA: Victory! Successful recovery of stolen wages - Lugius (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The five month campaign by ASF Melbourne North to recover stolen wages

for one its members has been successful with the employer agreeing to
the demands made. ---- The total amount recovered was around $11k and
was made possible by the solidarity of workers who supported the
campaign including members of ASF Melbourne North and supporters
including rank and file UWU members. Thanks to all involved. ---- Wage
theft is widespread and rampant despite recent legislation to address
the issue and the ASF will continue to support workers standing up for
the rights to be paid for work down and importantly, for their time.

The ASF, through its campaigns against wage theft, has recovered in
excess of $600k for more than 3,000 workers since 2012. The ASF
continues to support not only its own members but all workers, members
of registered unions or not,  in dispute to recover stolen wages.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Victory! Sacked workers receive compensation at last - Lugius

After almost ten years fighting for justice, Ansell workers in Sri Lanka
who were sacked for attempting to organise their workplace, have won the
compensation they were seeking as justice. Here is yet another example
of the power of international solidarity.

In October 2013, 11 members of the IndustriALL affiliated Free Trade
Zone and General Services Employee Union (FTZGSEU) were sacked unjustly
for organising their workplace at the Ansell factory in Sri Lanka.
Ansell is an Australia -based multinational specialisng in rubber products.

FTZGSEU union officials pursued Ansell through the courts in Sri Lanka
without success. On 8 October 2015, Australian union officials from
TCFUA, AMWU and CFMEU spoke at the Ansell shareholders meeting but to no
avail. About 50 trade union activists in Melbourne demonstrated in
suppport at the Ansell global HQ in Richmond, Victoria.

Although the courts in Sri Lanka found in the favour of the 11 sacked
workers, the Ansell company appealed the decision and the issue
continued to drag on. The 11 sacked workers resolved to continue
fighting and having been abandoned by the union on whose behalf they
were trying to organise, they sought help wherever they could find it.
They reached out to numerous trade unions and workers organisations
around the world.

In February 2021, the General Secretary of the Asia Pacific
Sub-Secretariat of the International Workers Association (IWA) received
communication from the 11 sacked workers expalining their situation. The
General Secretary forwarded the information to ASF affiliate Melbourne
North. Direct communication was opened between the 11 sacked workers and
ASF Melbourne North who resolved to support the 11 sacked workers in
their endeavours to achieve justice.

ASF Melbourne North organised a campaign of pickets at the global HQ of
Ansell in Melbourne. IWA affiliates around the world sent protest emails
to Ansell many times. ASF Melbourne North co-operated with Australia
Asia Worker Links in protest actions against Ansell. The ASF  Melbourne
North received support from Workers Solidarity Alliance, US affiliate of
the IWA and CNT-AIT France with research and reconnaissance in
prepartaion for an international expansion of the solidarity campaign.

In December 2022, as a direct consequence of this campaign, Ansell
management contacted officials of FTZGSEU seeking a resolution who put
them in touch with the 11 sacked workers. The workers reiterated their
demands as outlined in the industrial court. Ansell was able to delay
court proceedings by appealing decisions and Ansell indicated that they
were willing to expedite the issue.

In May 2023, an agreement was reached  between Ansell and the 11 sacked
workers. The sacked workers abandoned their demand for re-instatement
and Ansell agreed to pay the 11 sacked workers LKR 32,948,972 (approx.
AUD 161,200) in compensation for lost wages. The 11 sacked workers
expressed their satisfaction at the outcome.

In an increasingly globalised world, workers are set against workers by
the artifice of nation-State jurisdictions. If workers in one country
refuse to accept cuts in wage and reduction of conditions, the global
bosses threaten to take their jobs offshore to where labour is cheaper
and unions are weak. The billionaire owned media fuel resentment against
'foreign' workers. Under these circumstances, the international
solidarity of workers everywhere that knows no borders is our greatest
strength.

The IWA is distinguished by its conviction that capitalism cannot be
reformed and the only solution to poverty, war, disease and destruction
is to end capitalism forever and replace the government of people with
the administration of things. The great potential of technology will be
realised to abolish work and live in accordance of the principle; from
each according to their ability to each according to their need.

The IWA is seeks to go beyond mere craft, trade or even industrial
unionism as it is no longer fit for purpose to build global
whole-of-class union to defend our interests as working-people, to
advance our conditions of work in the present and build the society of
the future now.

The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF) is the Australian affiliate of
the IWA. Join us. Send an email today.
Do You have Problems with your Boss?

Contact: asfiwasec@gmail.com

https://asf-iwa.org.au/victory-sacked-workers-receive-compensation/
https://asf-iwa.org.au/victory-successful-recovery-of-stolen-wages
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca