Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union stages protest in Bathinda on March 15th

With resolute determination the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union representing the dalit landless agricultural labour, continues to flash the torch of resistance. The agricultural labour are merciless victims of the Agricultural bills and engripped by the ruler’s policies which patronise neo-colonial slavery. On the invitation of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union State Committee, thousands of farm labourers men and women on March 15th protested against agricultural laws, amendments in labour laws and oppression on Dalits in the local grain market. Morally the spark of revolutionary resistance against the neo-fascist attacks of the rulers was ignited.I was present at the rally. In my view the gathering was not so large comprising around 5000 people, but still had important qualitative impact. For two weeks meticulous preparations were made for this event, particularly in the Malwa region. It is significant that a separate rally only for the landless agricultural labourers was staged as distinctive from the landed peasantry. The wrath the participants had against the present rulers was written on their faces as though a flame was burning within. They clearly understood the fascist nature of the bills introduced by prime minister Modi which made them hapless victims of the Corporates.I was impressed with the lucidity or cogeal nature of the speeches which at the very root explained the deep penetration of neo-fascism in the Indian economy, giving striking emphasis to the proto-fascist policies of the current Modi led Bharatiya Janata party.It continued the pattern of several qualitatively impactful protest rallies conducted by the PKMU in Bathinda at state level, in recent years. Another aspect that touched me was the intensive participation and great presence of women, who looked like holding half the sky.

250 Million Workers And Farmers Strike Nationwide In India

India saw one of the biggest nationwide strikes by workers, joined by protesting farmers today. Several states saw a complete shutdown. Over 250 million workers across sectors participated in the strike, called by 10 central trade unions and hundreds of worker associations and federations.

Kerala, Puducherry, Odisha, Assam and Telangana witnessed a complete shutdown while normal life was partially affected in several other states as workers struck work and took to the streets, protesting against the “anti-worker” and pro-corporate policies and labour laws as well as the new farm laws brought in by the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata party government, among other demands.

“We Rise Together, Homie”

An interview with Antoine Dangerfield, whose video of an Indianapolis wildcat strike went viral this week — and led to his firing. He doesn't regret it, though.

Interview by Micah Uetricht 

Source: Jacobin Magazine

 

US labor history is full of moments of tremendous drama and upheaval. That history is riveting stuff, but getting a raw, unfiltered view of the human drama of workers fighting their bosses on the shop floor, the place where the day-to-day confrontation between workers and bosses takes place (and occasionally boils over), is rare.

Which is what makes Antoine Dangerfield’s recent viral video a must-watch. A thirty-year-old welder in Indianapolis, Dangerfield worked for a construction contractor building a UPS hub. On Tuesday, he says that a small number of Latino workers (millwrights, welders, and conveyor installers, in his telling) working for a different contractor but in the same hub were ordered home after disobeying the orders of a white boss he calls racist.
In response, the entire group of workers — over a hundred, in Dangerfield’s estimation — walked out.

Coal Miners' Strike Spreads In Kazakhstan As Workers Stay Underground

From: RFE/RL

SHAKHTINSK, Kazakhstan -- A strike by coal miners in north-central Kazakhstan has spread to more mines as hundreds of workers are refusing to return to the surface, demanding higher salaries and better benefits.

Kazakh Labor Minister Tamara Duisenova told reporters on December 12 that 684 miners at eight different mines have spent two nights underground in coal mines in the town of Shakhtinsk, in the Qaraghandy region.