In the last week or so, I've had the opportunity to participate in online events with trade unionists whose names I knew, but who I never met.
One was Ismail Abdi, a leader of the Iranian teachers union, who spent time in jail for his union activity. LabourStart launched several campaigns as he was released and re-arrested. Today he is a free man.
The other was Ismet Aslan from the public sector workers union in Turkey. He too spent the last six months in prison for his trade union activities. LabourStart's campaign earlier this year to demand his freedom appeared in 21 languages and had thousands of supporters. Ismet too is now a free man.
And just a few days ago, I received this message from the Alamo Cinema workers in New York City, who have won a magnificent victory -- and for whom we also ran a LabourStart online campaign. "Labourstart proved to be a helpful ally during our strike," they wrote, "and we appreciate the work they do and the support they give."
Please keep these stories in mind as we approach May Day -- a day that celebrates global solidarity.
You can help by supporting these campaigns:
Azerbaijan: Free jailed union leaders now
Türkiye: Solidarity with the teachers defending democracy
Belarus: Stop repression, free jailed trade unionists
Turkey: Support TikTok Workers
If you've already supported them -- thanks! Now please encourage other members of your union to do so too.
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We also encourage you to check out our podcast interviews which are always quite short and which often link to the campaigns.
This week, I interviewed Dr Debbie Goldman, who worked for 28 years at the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and is an expert on the subject of call centre workers. We discussed her new book, Disconnected: Call Center Workers Fight for Good Jobs in the Digital Age. We talked about issues like surveillance in the workplace, how the CWA won impressive victories in defence of call centre workers' rights, and how employers export call centre jobs abroad only to run-up against international trade union solidarity. We ended with a discussion about whether the much-touted "momentum" of unionisation in the USA in 2024 has continued under Trump -- and how the working class will never stop fighting for its rights. Listen to the interview here.
You can listen to all our podcasts here.
Have a great weekend!
Eric Lee
LabourStart
