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Program – Dates |
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All events take place in the Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte, Greifswalder Straße 4, 1045 Berlin. |
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Workshops:
Friday, 20.6.08 Mayday
The Mayday movement, started by Italian, Spanish and French activists in 2001, wants to bring new life to the first of May as a symbolic day for workers and the exploited. The initiators want to "give expression to the most varied types of precarity of work and life, that are not (any more) able to be organized by the classical institutions of the worker movement and the left." It sees itself in a symbolic and constructive "state of tension" with the "official" May the first. Active members from Hamburg, Berlin and Milan will report on the dimensions of the project.
Friday, 11:45 Transnational Information Exchange (t.i.e.)
t.i.e. is a trade-union network that came about in the 1970s, with connections to industry. Dozens of worker groups have joined in, who exchange information about transnational firms. The project will be presented by t.i.e. europe, which supports West African railroaders in their struggle against the privatization of the Dakar-Bamako railway line. Those who work at the railways, who live along the rail line and the users of this line have joined together in order to reverse the privatization. t.i.e. tries to support these movements, to make them known in Europe and especially to convince rail cooperatives to show solidarity or perform direct support actions.
Friday 14:15 Labornet Germany + Chef Duzen
A particularly active scene has arisen in Germany out of the international Labornet movement. Labornet Germany is the independent and engaged source of information for all things related to industry, cooperatives, precarity, wages and their social aspects. Mag Wompel presents this project together with the initiative "Chef Duzen" - "a forum for the exploited" which also uses the new possibilities of the net.
Saturday 10:00 Globalization Monitor China
Globalization Monitor is an NGO based in Hong Kong, and was founded at the time of the anti-globalization protests in Seattle in 1999. They represent a systematic solidarity work for workers in a broader social context. An example of their work is their support campaign for the workers of Golden Peak, a battery producer for the international market. Relying on her many years of work, May Wong will present the work of Globalization Monitor in terms of the situation of workers in China.
Saturday 12:15 Working World Forum China and Germany
Following the presentation of Globalization Monitor, Peter Franke (Asienhaus) and other actors from "Working World Forum" (in the process of being started) will present the project. In the spotlight is the question of how cooperation between cooperatives as socially active people in Germany and China can be organized, beyond just occasional visits. "Two Way Exchange" and continuity are on offer for all those interested.
Saturday 14:15 Euzkadi - El Salto, SNRTE + Tradoc
International Solidarity is a thing of the past" used to be said about the work council chairperson with Continental. But the struggling workers and the Mexican Union SNRTE have demonstrated that also in transnational concerns such as Continental in Germany solidarity can be seen. The strike, which lasted for years, led to the formation of a cooperative in 2005: "Tradoc" wants to keep solidarity alive, while currently those at work in Portosí continue to struggle against cost-reduction programs. A discussions about experiences, approaches and prospects with a member of Tradoc.
Saturday 16:30 Sinaltrainal
In September 2007, the Colombian grocery union SINALTRAINAL's international campaign against Coca-Cola was picked up again. Leading up to that were 7 murders of active union members and employees of Coca-Cola, as well as death threats and abductions by paramilitary groups. Sinaltrainal demands (unsuccessfully so far) that Coca-Cola take responsibility and protect the lives of its workers. Carlos Olaya reports on the status of the campaign and the survival strategies of his union.
Sunday 10:00 Global industry-wide organizing - The British Union T&G
After a fundamental strategic reformation, the British Union T&G has set out in a new direction. They try to organize the workers around the transnational basis. The goal of the organizing department of T&G is the worldwide coordination of "Speakers at the Workplace" within one and the same department. Following this pattern, T&G currently tries to organize the global meat industry. Reporting by Andy Snoddy, organizer of T&G.
Sunday 12:15 Organizing in Germany
For many unionists, "organizing" is a magic word to prevent the loss of members. We analyze projects together with organizers and workers, which have and can be carried out in Germany. Could improvements for workers be attained and permanent structures for self-organization be established? We will discuss "organizing" in the context of self-organizing and utilization for union membership recruitment.
Sunday 14:15 Looking for Fabienne
Fabienne Brutus, as employee of the French labor Agency (ANPE) has made it publicly known, how denigrating the agency treats its "clients", those without income. She and a few colleagues have decided to offer some resistance. "we, who are workers at ANPE, declare that we do not want to harm people in any way, who have already been hurt by the loss of occupation and of income. Now the social forum Gera is looking for a German Fabienne.
Sunday 17:00 The Neighborhood work of the French Union SUD
SUD-Éducation not only organizes teachers, but all who are employed at a school, from the janitors to the director. From this vantage point SUD- Éducation is engaged with neighbors, teachers, students and parents, including also the "children without papers" who are pursued by the French police in raids on school grounds. Nicola Anderson of SUD-Éducation from Avignon reports about her union work, which goes well beyond the lobby of individual working groups to the whole of society.
Sunday 19:30 Bringing together the results of the conference
In the last afternoon of the conference, results are compiled. This workshop will lead to the creation of a paper that will be translated into several languages and presented to all guests. Herewith the conference produces a tangible result.
Roundtable discussions
Friday 19:00 To be seen - How does global labor look like in the context of globalization?
Politics and (self-) organization is always a question as well of one's own visibility. How visible is one's own reality for the public that one wants to reach? How does one orient oneself, in one's own work on the basis of what is visible? These were always questions central to the workers' movement. They have become even more important in the context of worldwide chains of production and exploitation, the fractal factory and a worldwide media culture. The traditions, tasks and approaches of a politics of visibility of and for global labor will be discussed. In addition to Labor News production, other activists from the realm of creative and engaged image production will participate, including Amber Film (England), MayDay (Hamburg), Chainworkers (Milan).
Saturday, 19:00 What are we doing? What do we want? What do we need?
The Colombian union Sinaltrainal, Globalization Monitor from Hong Kong and workers from Continental in Mexico have succeeded to organize considerable international solidarity for wokers' struggles. Given these examples, we want to discuss how international solidarity for workers' struggles is achieved in times of a weak international unionist movement. With Carlos Olaya from SinalTrainal, May Wong from Globalization Monitor and a member of Tradoc collective.
"Le Grand Magazin" project presentations from Andreas Wegner
Le Grand Magazin" is a department store, in which exclusively those products are sold that were produced in a manufacturing cooperative. It will be open in the fall of 2008 in Neukölln (Berlin) as a temporary art project.
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