By David Bacon
NACLA Reports
http://nacla.org/node/4980

Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, the U.S. Congress has debated and passed several new bilateral trade agreements with Peru, Jordan and Chile, as well as the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

The character of this ‘logistics revolution’ occupies the first part of the book. At its heart are increasingly global and economically integrated supply chains governed by a new ‘pull’ model of production. Here ‘point of sale’ data capture at the retail end dictates new production runs (their scale, unit cost, design, quality and timing) and compressed delivery and inventory schedules. Independent businesses are now more closely integrated in these networks, through electronic data interchange, with the mega retailers (as translators of consumer preferences) in the driving seat overall.

There will be a SOLIDARITY PICKET of STARBUCKS, New Oxford St, London (nearest tube Tottenham Court Rd) On SATURDAY 5th JULY at 1pm, to protest against the latest illegal firings of union activists in Starbucks organising for a better life in Michigan USA and Seville Spain.

Her concern is to show how groups situated outside the AFL-CIO mainstream have struggled and organised themselves to achieve economic justice through the creation of ‘poor workers’ unions’ (PWUs). In so doing these independent organs have shown the wider labour movement a more expansive, democratic option that represents “the best possibility for the future” (229), a ‘social justice’ unionism which has now established a foothold in the mainstream. Within the hidden history she reconstructs Tait also points to the misunderstandings in our views of relations between labour and other social movements.

Workers won big last week. After intense pressure, Burger King agreed to give Florida farmworkers a penny more per pound of picked tomatoes. That means an annual raise of 71% for the farmworkers who, on average, earn only $10,000 a year under the old wage, and are among the USA's most exploited workers.

The first main theme of the collection to note is its mapping of the scale of Wal Mart’s operations. It is the largest private employer in the US, Canada and Mexico; successfully established in Europe; key driver of manufacturing in China; now eyeing the prospects for conquering the vast, untapped consumer markets of the Asian giants (China, Russia, India). This extensive web of suppliers and retail outlets is highly integrated and subject to a striking degree of centralised control, ruthlessly marshalled by Wal Mart’s own IT and logistics systems right down to individual shop floor level. As David Hoopes notes this ‘big box’ retailer has deployed advanced satellite communications networks for over two decades now - plotting sales, inventory and replenishment - and then used such information to steadily exert its influence over suppliers and distributors. Part of this has been the shift to a global sourcing of its products from East Asia, where new manufacturers were willing to dance to Wal Mart’s tune in exchange for access to the mass US market.

To commemorate the anniversary of 1968 and the murder of Martin Luther King, No Sweat will be showing "At the River I Stand"

Cowley Club, London Rd, Brighton.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Student/Farmworker Alliance have been leading a National Petition Campaign to end modern-day slavery and sweatshops in the fields. The signatures will be delivered to Burger King headquarters in Miami this Monday, April 28, and there's still time to sign and forward the petition if you haven't already!

March 10, 2008

On Saturday March 8th, York University President Mamdouh Shoukri made a commitment to introduce a No Sweat licensing policy at the university by April. This promise came in response to a 45 hour sit-in by York students, members of the Sustainable Purchasing Coalition (SPC), a student group lobbying to reform York licensing and purchasing policies to more sustainable standards. If this pledge goes through as promised, York will bring the number of Canadian Universities with No Sweat policies to 17.

No Sweat activists will know about the New Era Caps dispute. We had a skype link-up with the workers in Alabama at our gathering back in December and picketed Foot Locker in support. Mark even chained himself to the Brighton store so they couldn't throw us out of the shopping centre!

Well it all paid off.

For the first time, anti-sweatshop legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress which will prohibit the import, export or sale of sweatshop goods in the U.S....

Help us press New Era and Foot Locker to stop union-busting in Alabama.

H & M Workers Win RWDSU UFCW Representation Thanks to Innovative Pact (11/20/07)

More than 1,000 employees of the H & M clothing store chain have won the right to be represented by the RWDSU as a result of an innovative agreement between H&M, a Sweden-based company and the union the RWDSU is affiliated with; the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Earlier this year, in response to low wages, unsafe working conditions, and racial discrimination, workers at the New Era plant in Mobile, Alabama attempted to organize a union. Management responded with an intense anti-union campaign that culminated in the firing of more than 20 workers. As if this weren't enough, New Era has just announced that they plan to permanently lay off 20 more workers right before the holiday season.

Read on for facts on New Era, to download workers' own stories and to email the company to tell them to stop Union Busting!

The mass US student movement, the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), has started a campaign to force Burger King to help - rather than hinder - the fight to increase wages and improve working conditions for tomato pickers in Florida. Here's how you can help...

A multi-billion dollar corporation facing extensive allegations of illegal and relentless union-busting. Eight outspoken union employees fired on pretexts ranging from the absurd to the offensive. Human and video surveillance tracking the every move of union members or those suspected of union sympathies. Non-stop anti-union propaganda. Threats, bribes, interrogations, and discriminatory disciplinary actions....

Oxfam in the US are running a campaign to get Starbucks to improve their relationship with Ethiopian coffee farmers

A US drive to organise Starbucks workers

Smith College has recently become another in a long line of universities that will no longer be selling Coca-Cola products anywhere on campus. Following a three year student campaign, the university finally agreed that, due to Coke's deplorable record of human rights violations around the world, they would have Coca-Cola permanently removed from their campus. Great job to all the students at Smith!

Read more to see their university statement.

'Some people would like us to be better, some would like us not to exist'
Wal-Mart admits increasing unpopularity as unions organise huge protests outside glitz-fest (Guardian, Sat 2 June)

With hundreds of supporters outside, 11 students occupyed the University President's office to demand Stanford goes sweat-free.

In rsponse the University sent in the police and had all 11 arrested. Read on for more information and to take action in support of the students.

New York Times on union victory against Starbucks