the joys of globalisation...

The story will be a familiar one to many of you. An employer, fed up with paying union wages, decides to import a few hundred non-unionized workers from poorer countries. Security guards are brought in to "escort" the new contract workers into the workplace as hundreds of unionized workers are about to get the sack.

This is what Irish Ferries was attempting this week when they ran up against the determined resistance of union members who barricaded themselves onto ships. Those workers and their union, working together with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), have turned this from a simple cost-saving move by a heartless management into a major struggle for social justice. The Irish unions have called for a national day of protest on 9 December. By Eric Lee, labourstart.org

Story in The Guardian >>>