Upcoming Events

National | Anti-Capitalism

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Some Laws Relating to Speech Are Surprisingly Uplifting Wed Dec 25, 2024 16:00 | James Alexander
Politics professor James Alexander has compiled a compendium of amusing laws ? Murphy's Law, Parkinson's Law and Cole's Law (thinly sliced cabbage) ? to give you a break from making polite conversation with your relatives.
The post Some Laws Relating to Speech Are Surprisingly Uplifting appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Warm Keir Starmer Just Looked Out? Wed Dec 25, 2024 11:00 | Henry Goodall
'Warm King Starmer just looked out, On the feast of Reeves, then...' Read Henry Goodall's version of 'Good King Winceslas' updated for Starmer's Britain, exclusive to the Daily Sceptic.
The post Warm Keir Starmer Just Looked Out… appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Declined: Chapter One Wed Dec 25, 2024 09:00 | M. Zermansky
Introducing Declined: a dystopian satire about the emergence of a social credit system in the U.K. that's going to be published in serial?form?in?the Daily Sceptic. Read episode one here.
The post Declined: Chapter One appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Lobbyists Behind the Climate and Nature Bill Wed Dec 25, 2024 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
The Climate and Nature Bill threatens to decimate the UK economy by turbo-charging Net Zero. But where did it come from? Charlotte Gill dives in and finds a glut of Left-wing activists working furiously behind the scenes.
The post The Lobbyists Behind the Climate and Nature Bill appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 25, 2024 00:32 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

offsite link How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en

offsite link Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Draft Principles For A Broad Open Trade Union Grassroots Network

category national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis author Friday May 06, 2011 22:26author by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacity Report this post to the editors

Basic Aims & Objectives; Communication; Decision-Making.

Some readers will be aware that for some time I have been advocating the construction of a cross-union grass roots network. A meeting has been convened tomorrow to discuss such a project. Unfortunately for me (and for any other with similar interests) a conference to discuss Republicanism & Socialism has been scheduled for some time now to take place on the same day. I publish these draft principles for discussion not to promote bureaucracy but with the intention that any such network formed remains a broad and militant organisation, the property of its members and not of one political party or another nor as a sectarian battleground.

Draft Grass-Roots Union Network Basic Principles

Basic Aims & Objectives
1. The overall aim of the Network is to offer solidarity to the struggles of the workers in Ireland and to assist in making them more effective. The Network will seek to do this by:
• Publicising industrial actions and related demonstrations through Network bulletins
• Sending out requests for assistance and solidarity support through the Network as appropriate
• Taking any other promotional or coordinating actions as decided by the Network
2. The GRTUN is anti-sectarian with regard to religion and is anti-racist, anti-homophobic and anti-sexist.
3. GRTUN has come into existence as a result of our experiences of many of the TU leadership having failed to lead effective resistance against the attacks of Capital and having undermined our attempts to provide such leadership.
4. Having experienced its limiting and undermining effects, this Network stands in opposition to “social partnership” and also to the ideology underpinning it and to any measures that seek to bind the unions into no-strike agreements for any period of time.
5. GRTUN is a broad-based organisation in support of workers’ defence and resistance and considers that breadth one of its strengths. For that reason the Network
• Considers it would be harmful for the Network to fall under the control of any political organisation
• Or to permit attacks of a personal nature on Network members during its proceedings or in Network publications
• Or attacks on any political party with members in the Network and not represented in the Dáil

Communication
1. Content of bulletins shall be the decision of the General Meeting or as otherwise delegated by them.
2. The Administration of the GRTUN will keep a list of the electronic addresses of all members.
3. All members shall receive a copy of each issue of the bulletin and nobody shall be excluded from the above list except by two-thirds voting majority.

Decision-making
1. Decisions shall be made during general meetings or as delegated by majority for periods during general meetings.
2. General meetings shall be called by the GRTUN elected administration committee and
3. may also be called by one-third of the membership or by 50 members, whichever is the least
4. The ruling of the Chairperson at a meeting shall be final unless a vote of “No Confidence” in the Chair’s ruling should be proposed.
5. It shall be sufficient for one member to propose a vote of “No Confidence”; if backed by a second, then the proposer should be allowed to explain and the Chair to speak against, after which the meeting should proceed to vote on a show of hands. A simple majority will decide the issue.
6. If the challenge should be successful then the Chairperson shall vacate the Chair and a replacement shall be selected for the remainder of the meeting. The issue under discussion shall then be reopened.

author by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacitypublication date Sun May 08, 2011 15:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

for the comments. The name of the network will be up to the founders -- I just gave it that name for the moment. I would suggest that discussion of the other issues are also premature at this moment. The Network needs to get into action and gain activists, start publicising its existence and orientation, offering solidarity whenever industrial actions occur or the workers are threatened.

When the organisation has gained some weight will be the time for it to discuss its position on some of the other issues. "Critical mass" is a thing that cannot be predicted. For now, to influence thinking of active but not compromised trade unionists and to start to gather mass, even if "uncritical" would be the important objectives. The draft rules and objectives are an attempt to facilitate the Network getting off on the right (left!) foot.

I understand that the meeting went ahead yesterday -- some kind of report on the proceedings would be usefuland I look forward to early notification of the details of the next meeting. At the other event, after a very interesting discussion about Connolly, the issues of building bases including a trade union grassroots network were given a brief airing during a discussion about resistance to the IMF etc.

author by Unionistpublication date Sat May 07, 2011 09:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

payments and renumeration for the people in charge of day to day running of the organisation is an important issue. The high salaries paid to union leaders were a factor in neutering them in the past. This issue should be up for discussion. A low ceiling should be imposed so those people are not motivated by profit but by principle. also so they retain the perspective of poorly paid union members instead of that of well paid fatcats!

author by wageslavepublication date Sat May 07, 2011 09:09author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Hey Diarmuid... You should call it "GRUNT" so people remember it more easily!

Grass Roots Union NeTwork

author by Padraig Yeates - None in a representative capacitypublication date Sat May 07, 2011 08:06author email padraigyeates at ireland dot comauthor address author phone 35318284510Report this post to the editors

Diarmuid
The basic principles are sound. The problem is getting enough organisations with a large enough membership to provide a representative critical mass. This is essential to ensure a commercially viable audience, without which any long term project is doomed.
Padraig Yeates

 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy