{"id":19216,"date":"2016-03-13T00:39:45","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T08:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=19216"},"modified":"2016-03-13T00:39:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T08:39:45","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-spring-wind-forward-fascism-fight-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-spring-wind-forward-fascism-fight-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Spring: Wind Forward! Fascism: Fight Back!."},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Thousands<\/p>\n

Thousands of Boston high school students have descended onto the Boston Common and the Massachusetts State House\u00a0in an unprecedented citywide walkout. Students are demanding the city rescind a controversial property tax break to General Electric and cease all budget cuts.\u00a0 <\/strong>www.boston.com\/news\/local\/2016\/03\/07\/hundreds-boston-public-school-students-walk-out-class-protest-budget-cuts\/J1zFHCSHCH4G2hJZ07eDJK\/story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hundreds of thousands protest over French jobs reform<\/h1>\n

Hundreds of thousands of French students and workers took to the streets in protest at labour reforms, heaping pressure on President Francois Hollande’s already unpopular and fractured Socialist government.<\/p>\n

The plan, aimed at boosting hiring, would remove some of the obstacles to laying off workers.<\/p>\n

Young people were among the most vocal opponents to the measures they fear will make their future more uncertain, even though the government claims they are the age group it is most trying to help.<\/p>\n

Teenagers and students threw eggs and firecrackers as they marched in Paris, directing their anger at Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri, whose name is on the draft law.<\/p>\n

The strikes were compounded by a rail strike for better working conditions that left many commuters stranded.\u00a0 news.yahoo.com\/france-braces-day-protests-labour-reform-anger-grows-051524049.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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China\u2019s miners and steel workers ready to resist inequitable layoffs<\/h1>\n
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China\u2019s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has announced plans to lay off 1.8 million workers<\/a> in the steel and coal industries, about 15 percent of the current workforce, over the next few years.<\/p>\n

In its latest move in the long push to reform state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the government also stated that it has allotted 100 billion yuan to help compensate laid off workers. If these funds do actually get to the workers who are entitled to them, there is a chance the layoffs will go ahead smoothly but there are already signs that SOEs are trying cheat workers out their legal entitlements by cutting pay and forcing workers to leave voluntarily so as to avoid paying severance.<\/p>\n

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Hundreds of workers at the state-owned steel firm Ansteel in Guangzhou went on strike on 17 February, shutting down the entire factory of 2,000 workers. Ansteel took over operations of the previously Taiwanese-owned Lianzhong Stainless Steel last year. New Ansteel management began to lay off workers, increase workloads, and put hundreds of workers on leave with little pay.<\/p>\n

After the New Year, the company announced a new performance-based pay system and claimed that the company union had approved the plan on behalf of the workers. Hundreds of workers went on strike and organized demonstrations on factory grounds, demanding to sign new contracts with Ansteel. Riot police soon intervened to break up the demonstrations.<\/p>\n

A union official was sent to offer concessions, though workers ignored him. In an interview, one worker remarked that the union was \u201cabsolutely useless. There is nothing democratic about it.\u201d The strike dwindled under continued police pressure\u00a0and ended after management promised to revoke the pay system.\u00a0 www.clb.org.hk\/content\/china%E2%80%99s-miners-and-steel-workers-ready-resist-inequitable-layoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

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Above, Chula Vista, CA, school workers rally for a fair contract. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n