Workers in the phosphate mines in Western Sahara, occupied by Moroccan armed forces, went on strike on April 1 to protest against their bad working conditions. They are also demanding that Morocco stop plundering the wealth of their country. Their action is part of the Saharawi people's continuing struggle against the Moroccan occupation.
Workers and their families occupied the headquarters of the Fos Bucraa phosphate company in the capital of Western Sahara, El Ayoune. The Saharawi trade union UGTSARIO issued an urgent appeal to all trade unions and to the international community to express their solidarity and to support the Saharawi workers' demands. Messages can be sent to the Union General de Trabajadores de Saguia El-Hamray Rio de Oro (UGTSARIO), 138 Tachbrook Street, London SW1V 2ND, UK or e-mail to Martin Hughes, coordinator of the Western Sahara Campaign (UK) at 100066.1023@compuserve.com.
Solidarity with Liverpool dockers
On April 16, the ship Churruca was held up for several hours in Bilbao, Spain, when all five port unions struck jointly in support of 500 Liverpool dockers sacked by the Mersey Harbours and Dock Company in a fight over casualisation. The ship runs a regular weekly service to Liverpool, and the unions warned the company that it will face ongoing and escalating action by Bilbao unions.
A total boycott of ships to and from Liverpool started on April 15 in Portugal. Portuguese dockers' unions announced they had closed 11 of 12 ports in Portugal to Liverpool shipping and were working on closing the last one.
On April 20, longshoremen from the port of Los Angeles walked off the OOCL Japan, which was attempting to unload cargo from the port of Liverpool. A picket line had been established by two striking dockers from Liverpool who are visiting the US west coast. The two-person picket line convinced all the dockers to leave the ship. Truck drivers were backed up for over three kilometres from the terminal waiting to load and discharge cargo. The entire terminal was shut down.
The Liverpool Dock Shop Stewards Committee has called a national conference of British shop stewards on April 27, to build support for the strike and to begin preparation for a general strike in all of Liverpool on May 1.
Messages of support to the Liverpool dockers can be sent by fax to 44 151 298 1044 or by post to the Merseyside Dockers Shop Stewards' Committee, 19 Scorton Street, Liverpool, L6 4AS, UK. The dockers have a WWW page at http://www.gn.apc.org/labournet/docks/.
South African electricity workers protest
Unilateral restructuring by the South African national electricity utility, Eskom, has sparked action by the National Union of Mineworkers. Protest rallies were held on April 15 and 16. The union has announced "massive coordinated national action" for April 29.
Power workers have been angered by plans to restructure Eskom without consultation. They reject the way in which Eskom and other major employers in the electricity distribution industry are collaborating to break up divisions as a prelude to privatisation. The NUM is also angry over plans to sell previously mothballed power stations to private owners. If electricity demand now warrants bringing the stations back into service, NUM assistant general secretary Gwede Mantashe said, then "Eskom must be the one to bring them on stream and recall the thousands of workers retrenched when those stations were mothballed".