This was just posted to Labor-List. Cheers, Hugh ======================== Massive strike wave in India To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] LabourStart - http://www.labourstart.org *** Please re-post to other mailing lists, newsgroups, bulletin boards, etc. *** In the last week alone, LabourStart has featured nearly twenty news reports from India as strikes spread across the country. Power workers have plunged one state (Uttar Pradesh) into darkness in their battle against privatization and the response of the government has been to sack workers, arrest union leaders and send in troops. Meanwhile 100,000 port workers have effectively shut down India's shipping and government workers, doctors and others have joined in the strikes. This is a huge setback to the government's plans for "reform" -- meaning compliance with the World Bank/IMF/WTO neo-liberal agenda. Our coverage comes from both mainstream news sources such as BBC and CNN but also from our correspondent in the field, L. V. Subramaniam, a veteran journalist and trade unionist. He has been filing daily reports which give a feel for what is going on. Full coverage of these tremendous developments can be found on our new Indian labour news page -- http://www.labourstart.org/india/ . At the present time, we have received no appeals for help from the Indian unions, and there have been none on the websites of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions nor on those of the International Trade Secretariats. We expect that there will soon be requests to call upon the Indian government to stop all repression and to release the imprisoned trade unionists. We'll keep you informed on LabourStart and through this mailing list. Eric Lee *** If you are not on the LabourStart mailing list and received this message some other way, you can join the list by sending a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Eric Lee Information and Communications Technology Co-ordinator Labour and Society International Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.labourstart.org ICQ: 49624912 PGP: Public key - see http://www.labourstart.org/pgp.shtml Mobile phone: +44 (0) 7703933608 Office phone: +44 (0) 2083491975 --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
