NI 495 - September, 2016

Trade unions - rebuild, renew, resist

A note from the editor

A striking thought

It might just have been because I had my ear to the ground, but while I was researching this magazine, it seemed to me that the world had gone on strike. News cycles in May and June were reporting workers on strike in Britain (junior doctors, transport), France (transport), Italy (teachers), Belgium (transport), New York (communications), Greece (farmers, transport), Brazil (taxi drivers)... the list went on. I, like many others, no doubt, cheered them on while keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t be inconvenienced by their actions.

Then I realized that, though each group was protesting against a particular injustice, as a whole they represented our best bet against a corporate, globalized world gone mad. Workers don’t go on strike lightly – they know that they will sacrifice pay and may also lose public support, or their jobs, or, in some countries, their lives. They strike as a last resort – because governments and employers won’t listen and because, long-term, a lot is at stake if they don’t.

So next time my travel plans are disrupted, or my routine doctor’s appointment cancelled, I will be trying to rise above the irritation and remember that trade unionists are fighting not just for themselves, but for us all.

Also in this issue, Jo Eckersley and Ashwin Hemmathagama report from Sri Lanka on a country still struggling to unite seven years after the end of the civil war, and we meet Afghanistan’s inspirational ‘mother of education’, Sakena Yacoobi.

Jo Lateu for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

‘We’re worth it!’ Members of the German ver.di trade union make a noise ahead of wage negotiations in April.

Photo: dpa picture alliance/Alamy Stock Photo

NI 495 - September, 2016

Trade unions - rebuild, renew, resist

A note from the editor

A striking thought

The big story

Jo Lateu considers the state of the unions, and argues that a revival has already begun.

Features

Trade unions aren’t even on the radar of most of London’s poorly treated hospitality workers. But a union could help them find their voice, as Afrika explains.

From the changing workplace to zero-hours contracts, precarious working and outsourcing: workers are open to extreme exploitation. Here are the facts.

Unions can play a vital role in the battle for climate justice, says Anabella Rosenberg, Policy Officer for Health and Environment at the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Here she talks about growing awareness in the global labour movement and the challenges ahead.

Labour rights in post-socialist countries such as Russia, China and Vietnam are being fought for from outside, not within, official trade unions. Tim Pringle reports.

Workers’ struggles and successes from around the globe, from this month's New Internationalist magazine.

The factory collapse in 2013 caused an international outcry – but have labour conditions improved? Thulsi Narayanasamy reports from Bangladesh.

Seven years after the end of the civil war, Jo Eckersley and Ashwin Hemmathagama assess Sri Lanka’s progress.

UN peacekeeping is big business, but is it achieving its aims? asks Louisa Waugh.

Estonia has found an innovative way to boost its population and its economy, discovers Haley Joelle Ott.

Blogs

Fighting climate change requires organization rather than individual actions, founder of 350.org Bill McKibben told this year’s Greenbelt festival's audience. Joe Ware reports.

Opinion

The latest view from the U.S., by Mark Engler.

By Kate Smurthwaite

Agenda

Moscow has opened the first criminal case for an alleged violation of its widely criticized ‘Foreign Spy’ law against civil-society activist Valentina Cherevatenko. Erin Kilbride reports.

Activists have stepped up anti-racism efforts, Amy Hall writes.

Poetry has traditionally been a powerful medium to comment on social and political life in Afghanistan, but it is now mostly for men, writes Ruchi Kumar.

The politician symbolizes a shot across the bow of Italy’s complacent political class, writes Richard Swift.

Three years of inflation and chronic shortages of basic foods have hit Venezuelans hard. Tamara Pearson reports.

Scientists have discovered sites where local communities are defying expectations of global reef degradation, Cristiana Moisescu writes.

The system of slavery remains alive and well in India. Nimisha Jaiswal reports.

Conservative forces are on the rise in Japan, threatening its commitment to peace and democracy. Tina Burrett and Christopher Simons report.

A Facebook group is harnessing the generosity of strangers to save lives and put separated families back in touch. Lydia Noon reports.

This month's collection of positive news by Kelsi Farrington.

Regulars

Virtual profits, Tell it to my intestine, Real life, Uncommon language.

Green shoots of hope spring up among the rubble of discontent, writes Reem Haddad.

The latest cartoon by Simon Kneebone.

This month: Sherif Arafa from Egypt with ‘Buying weapons in the US’

Israel’s defence minister is a political chameleon and lightning rod for controversy, among other things.

Veronique Mistiaen meets Afghanistan’s ‘mother of education’, who for more than two decades has been transforming lives through community-based learning.

Cartoon by Marc Roberts

Author Jay Griffiths talks to Graeme Green about manic depression, hiking the Camino de Santiago and the constellation of language.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

The Lovers and the Despot, directed and written by Ross Adam and Robert Cannan; The Confession, directed by Ashish Ghadiali.

NYN by Kristi Stassinopoulou and Stathis Kalyviotis; ‘They Will Kill You, If You Cry’ by Khmer Rouge Survivors.

Turkey: The Insane and the Melancholy by Ece Temelkuran; The Seamstress and the Wind by César Aira; Remembering Akbar by Behrooz Ghamari; Irregular War by Paul Rogers.

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