WORKERS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS-
SUPPORT THE SIX HUNDRED!
Onehunga Community informational picket and
collection for 600 Locked Out workers
entering fourth week of lockout.
Fighting union busting and the attempt by a multinational
to starve them back to work.
More info at-
www.shelfrespect.org
Just to let people know the picket was great. Comrades from Socialist Worker, the local Latin American Community Centre, Radical Youth and Luke from the NDU faced up to an early call of "'ll get the police on you- this is private land" and "You guys are too young to be in a fucking union" by a visibly disturbed fat, old, bald and grumpy store manager. We told him to go call them, telling him we would contact Councillor Robyn Hughes across the bridge, and have it out as to who owned the footpath.
IN the meantime we distributed over a thousand leaflets explaining what the lockout was about, with the 0900 number for donations. We collected $270 in donations in the Workers Charter bucket, giving every contributor a copy of the new paper with the No Surrender cover and the big centre spread jammed with pictures and workers voices. The cops came, but knew the manager had no leg to stand on. An imaginary line about a metre from Foodtown's entrance became the new demarcation line between public and private space, and a lot of checkout workers laughed as the manager became even more irate. We stayed on for another half hour, before going up to the picket in Favona and giving the bucket of cash into Big Joe and the welfare crew up at Progressive's gates.
The genorosity of Foodtown shoppers is amazing, and their disgust at the company is palpable. Many told us they would switch stores for the duration of the lockout. Community pickets can help win people to the boycott, spread good info about the strike and raise sorely needed funds and support for the workers. I'd recommend any crews out there to get one on as soon as possible.
Kia kaha
Joe C
Solidarity Union
www.solidarityunion.com
