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Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Last December 6-7, the All-Asian Workers Conference Against
Privatization and in Defense of Trade Union Rights was held in Mumbai,
India, at the initiative of the International Liaison Committee (ILC).
In a previous OWC posting, we published the full report from this
important conference. If you did not receive a copy, please visit our
website at http://www.owcinfo.org .
One of the participants in the conference was Clarence Thomas, a member
of the Executive Board of ILWU Local 10 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Brother Thomas, along with all the conference delegates, heard a
chilling report from a union delegation from the port of Chittagong,
Bangladesh. The delegation explained that port of Chittagong is about to
be privatized and sold to the U.S. multinational shipping company SSA.
This is the same company that today controls the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr
under the direction supervision of the U.S. army.
The delegation also explained that 12 trade union and community
organizations from Chittagong met and constituted a Defense Committee of
Port Workers under the slogan "Chittagong is not for sale! The
country is not for sale!" A National Convention in Defense of
Chittagong will take place in early 2004.
You will find below an Appeal in Support of the Chittagong National
Convention to Save the Port. It was initiated by Clarence Thomas of
ILWU Local 10 and Shariat Ullah, General Secretary of the Chittagong
Port Workers' Union
The Appeal urges all unionists and labor rights activists around the
world to add their names in support of this Appeal. This is necessary to
show the authorities in Bangladesh that the Chittagong workers are not
alone, that their demand to save the port and their jobs & working
conditions is legitimate and is supported by working people the world
over.
Please add your name to this appeal and return it to the email addresses
listed at the bottom of the endorsement coupon.
Thanks, in advance, for your support.
Alan Benjamin and Ed Rosario,
Co-Coordinators, OWC Continuations Committee
San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
************************
APPEAL IN SUPPORT OF THE CHITTAGONG
NATIONAL CONVENTION TO SAVE THE PORT
(please endorse)
The harbor of Chittagong is the lifeline of Bangladesh. It is also
essential for trade in all the region.
50,000 port workers directly depend on the harbor activities. But many
more working class families depend on the existence of the harbor, which
is today a state enterprise under the control of the Chittagong Port
Authority.
The disappearance of Chittagong would therefore spell disaster not only
for the Chittagong people, but for the whole of Bangladesh.
Today, the Bangladeshi government has reached a decision to privatize
the Port of Chittagong.
What does that mean? The American company Stevedoring Services of
America (SSA) will establish a new harbor with a new modern terminal.
The main center of communication and trade with the outside world of
Bangladesh is therefore supposed to be the private property of a U.S.
multinational which will be free to hire, dismiss and impose its rules
to Bangladeshi workers.
No job will be secure. The previous collective contracts will no longer
operate.
When one is aware of the record of SSA in the U.S.A. and worldwide,
Bangladeshi workers can fear the worst. SSA was the main roadblock in
the negotiations between International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU)
West Coast dockers and the Pacific Maritime Association. Last spring,
during contract negotiations, SSA promoted an agenda that sought to move
as much work away from unions as possible.
SSA has systematically moved several hundred ILWU jobs off the West Cost
docks in recent years.
On April 7, 2003, nine longshoremen were shot by so-called non-lethal
bullets at the Port of Oakland by the Oakland police. This unprovoked
attack took place while peaceful demonstrators were protesting the
profiteering from the war on Iraq by shipping firms such as SSA. Several
demonstrators were also injured.
The port workers at the Port of Chittagong, the population of Chittagong,
and the people of Bangladesh oppose the takeover of a port which belongs
to the people of Bangladesh.
At the initiative of the port workers' trade union, a broad committee
uniting representatives of several organizations is calling for a
national convention under the demands:
The country is not for sale!
Chittagong is not for sale!
That is why after meeting at the Mumbai Asian Conference on December
6-7, 2003, we jointly call upon the world trade union movement, all
international confederations and federations, all trade unions in each
country and especially the port workers and longshore unions to support
the struggle of the Chittagong workers and to support the national
convention in defense of the harbor against privatization and SSA.
We call for the building of an international labor committee to support
the Chittagong convention and its preparations.
SHARIAT ULLAH
General Secretary
Chittagong Port Workers' Union
(Chattagrambandar Sramik Union)
Room# 129, PAB
P.O. Bandar, Chittagong Bangladesh
Email - thussain@citechco.net
CLARENCE THOMAS
ILWU - LOCAL 10
SAN FRANCISCO
400 North Point St.
San Francisco, California
USA - 94133
Fax. - 1 (415) 441-0610
***************************************
SUPPORT COUPON FOR CHITTAGONG APPEAL
(Please Endorse)
NAME
UNION OR ORGANIZATION (list if for id. only)
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
EMAIL
(please fill out and return to thussain@citechco.net.
Please send copies of your filled-out endorsement coupon to aibef@vsnl.net
and to ilcinfo@earthlink.net)
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