CRYPTO CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Thailand repatriates hundreds more Chinese scam centre workers


By   AFP
March 6, 2025


Thailand, Myanmar and China have been clearing out illegal cyberscam compounds on the Thai-Myanmar border - Copyright AFP/File Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

Hundreds of Chinese nationals freed from Myanmar online scam centres flew home through Thailand on Thursday, as the kingdom said it aimed to repatriate 1,500 such workers a week.

Thailand, Myanmar and China have been making efforts in recent weeks to clear out illegal cyberscam compounds on the Thai-Myanmar border where thousands of foreigners — mostly Chinese nationals — have been working.

Under pressure from key ally Beijing, Myanmar has cracked down on some of the compounds, freeing around 7,000 workers from more than two dozen countries.

Around 600 Chinese nationals were returned from Myanmar through Thailand two weeks ago, and last week the three countries held talks in Bangkok to arrange further transferrals.

Thai media broadcast footage on Thursday of coaches bringing hundreds of Chinese workers from Myanmar and offloading them on to planes destined for China at Mae Sot airport.

Thai foreign ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told reporters that “another group of Chinese nationals” were repatriated on Thursday, without saying how many.

He added that Thailand plans to repatriate 1,500 people per week, or 300 each weekday, with “regular repatriations of Chinese nationals every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”

Mondays and Tuesdays would see other foreign nationals including Africans repatriated, he said, with the ministry coordinating with foreign embassies to help with “immediate” repatriations.

The remaining freed workers have been languishing for weeks in sometimes squalid conditions in holding camps near the Thai border while officials organise their repatriation.

Many workers say they were lured or tricked into taking the work — defrauding strangers online with investment, romance and gambling scams — and suffered beatings and abuse.

A Rwandan scam centre worker who asked to remain anonymous told AFP on Wednesday that he had been trafficked into one of the compounds where he was tortured and had his money taken from him.

“It’s a big challenge. If I get home I will have a big challenge also,” he said.

Unsanitary conditions at the overcrowded makeshift encampments have raised concerns about possible disease outbreaks.

“There are sick people… they need be repatriated onto the Thai side as early as possible,” Nikorndej said.

burs-sjc/pdw/dhw

Taiwan says TSMC investment ‘historic moment’ for US ties

PAYING OFF THE GRIFTER


By AFP
March 6, 2025


An image of an electronic wafer is displayed at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Museum - Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Joy Chiang and Amber Wang

Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC’s plan to invest $100 billion in the United States was a “historic moment” for Taiwan-US ties, the island’s President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday.

TSMC, which counts Apple and Nvidia among its clients, announced the plan this week after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on overseas-made chips.

It will take the total amount the world’s biggest chipmaker has pledged to invest in the United States to $165 billion, which TSMC said was the “largest single foreign direct investment in US history”.

Lai hailed the “historic moment for Taiwan-US relations” at a joint news conference with TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei at the Presidential Office.

It followed Trump’s accusations that Taiwan stole the US chip industry and his threats to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent, as well as Taipei’s promises to invest more in the United States.

TSMC has long faced demands to move more of its production away from Taiwan, with fears that supplies of the critical technology could be disrupted in any conflict with Beijing.

China has upped military pressure on Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty over the self-ruled island, where TSMC has its headquarters and the bulk of its fabrication plants.

Trump recently ratcheted up the pressure on TSMC and other chip manufacturers by publicly mulling the introduction of tariffs of 25 percent, or higher, on all chips made outside the United States.



– US demand ‘extremely high’ –



Lai said on Thursday the government was not pressured by Washington “during TSMC’s US investment process”.

Wei said TSMC’s expansion was driven by growing demand from US clients and that it would not affect the company’s investments in Taiwan.

TSMC planned to build 11 new production lines in Taiwan this year to meet demand, Wei said, adding “our production capacity is not enough”.

“Whenever TSMC builds a production line in any location outside Taiwan, it is always driven by customer demand,” Wei said.

“We went to Japan because of Japanese customer demand, to Germany because of German customer demand, and four years ago to the US because of American customer demand,” he said.

“Now, we are increasing our investment because the demand from US customers is extremely high.”



– ‘Taiwan’s TSMC’ –



Taiwan is a global powerhouse in semiconductor manufacturing, with more than half of the world’s chips and nearly all of the high-end ones made there.

The concentration of chip manufacturing in Taiwan has long been seen as a “silicon shield” protecting it from an invasion or blockade by China — and an incentive for the United States to defend it.

TSMC’s new $100 billion investment sparked concerns that Trump was trying to take control of the company’s production and that its growing US footprint could weaken Washington’s willingness to protect Taiwan.

Premier Cho Jung-tai said earlier on Thursday “TSMC is ‘Taiwan’s TSMC'” and the company’s production capacity and advanced technology were “rooted in Taiwan”.

World’s sea ice cover hits record low in February


By AFP
March 6, 2025


Polar Bears International photo of a polar bear in Svalbard, Norway, in 2018

 - Copyright Intuitive Machines, LLC/AFP HANDOUT

Kelly MACNAMARA

Global sea ice cover fell to a historic low in February when the world continued to experience exceptional heat and temperatures reached 11 degrees Celsius above average near the North Pole, Europe’s climate monitor said on Thursday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month was the third hottest February on record, continuing a run of persistent warming since 2023 stoked by greenhouse gas emissions.

Combined Antarctic and Arctic sea ice cover — ocean water that freezes and floats on the surface — dropped to a record minimum extent of 16.04 million square kilometres (6.19 million square miles) on February 7, Copernicus said.

“February 2025 continues the streak of record or near-record temperatures observed throughout the last two years,” said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs Copernicus.

“One of the consequences of a warmer world is melting sea ice, and the record or near-record low sea ice cover at both poles has pushed global sea ice cover to an all-time minimum.”

The poles are the most sensitive regions to climate change on the planet, warming several times faster than the global average.

Arctic ice cover, which normally expands to its annual winter maximum in March, was a historic February low last month, eight percent below average, Copernicus said. That marked the third monthly record in a row.

In the Antarctic, where it is now summer and the ice is melting, the frozen cover was 26 percent below average across February, it said.

The Antarctic region may have hit its annual low point towards the end of the month, Copernicus said, adding that if confirmed this would be the second-lowest daily minimum coverage in the satellite record.



– ‘Serious concern’ –



Decreased ice cover does not affect sea levels because the ice is already floating in the water but its retreat has serious impacts on weather patterns, global climate, ocean currents, people and ecosystems.

When highly reflective snow and ice give way to dark blue ocean, energy from the sun that would have bounced back into space is absorbed by the water instead, raising the water’s temperature and triggering a cycle of ice melt and further global warming.

Melting sea ice in the Arctic is opening up new shipping routes and attracting geopolitical attention, including from US President Donald Trump who has said that he wants to take control of Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.

The loss of polar ice is a danger for a large number of animals for whom it provides shelter, breeding and hunting grounds, including polar bears, seals and, in Antarctica, penguins.

“The current record low global sea ice extent revealed by the Copernicus analysis is of serious concern as it reflects major changes in both the Arctic and Antarctic,” said Simon Josey, Professor of Oceanography at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre.

He added that warm ocean and atmospheric temperatures “may lead to an extensive failure of the ice to regrow” in the Antarctic during the southern hemisphere winter.

Oceans store 90 percent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, which are largely caused by human activity, including the burning fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas.

Sea surface temperatures have been exceptionally warm over 2023 and 2024, and Copernicus said readings in February were the second highest on record for that month.

Globally, February was 1.59C hotter than pre-industrial times, the agency said.



– Heat streak –



While temperatures were below average last month over parts of North America, Eastern Europe and large areas of eastern Asia, it was hotter than average over northern Chile and Argentina, western Australia, the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Temperatures were particularly elevated north of the Arctic Circle in February, averaging 4C above the 1991–2020 reference period, Copernicus said.

One area near the North Pole was 11C (around 20 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than average over the month.

Copernicus uses satellite observations of polar regions going back to the 1970s and shipping records before that.

Climate scientists had expected the exceptional heat spell across the world to subside after a warming El Nino event peaked in January 2024 and conditions gradually shifted to a cooling La Nina phase.

But last year was the hottest in recorded history and the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday the La Nina phase was “weak” and likely to be brief.

In the 20 months since mid-2023, only July 2024 dipped below 1.5C of warming, Copernicus said.

This has raised concerns that it will be almost impossible to keep the pledge that world leaders made in the 2015 Paris Agreement to stop the planet’s long-term average temperature from rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Copernicus uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to aid its climate calculations, with records going back to 1940.

Other sources of climate data — such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons — have allowed scientists to say that the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.

South Africa, Indonesia say US withdrawing from climate finance deal


By AFP
March 6, 2025


South Africa generates most of its electricity through coal - Copyright Intuitive Machines, LLC/AFP HANDOUT

The United States has pulled out of a climate funding deal struck by rich nations to help their developing counterparts transition to clean energy, the programme’s first beneficiary South Africa and Indonesia said Thursday.

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) are ambitious financing deals between a small group of wealthy countries and emerging economies to help them ditch planet-polluting coal.

Coal-rich but energy-starved South Africa was the first developing country to reach a deal on a JETP in 2021. Indonesia’s partnership for more than $20 billion in financing to wean itself off coal was unveiled in late 2022.

But the United States has withdrawn from its multi-million-dollar deal with Pretoria under President Donald Trump’s administration, a unit in South Africa’s presidency said in a statement.

“The Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in the Presidency acknowledges the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa,” it said.

“The South African government was formally informed of this decision by the US Embassy on 28 February 2025,” the statement read, adding that Washington had cited executive orders by Trump in January and February.

Indonesia’s JETP Secretariat head Paul Butarbutar confirmed the US embassy in Jakarta informed him Tuesday of Washington’s decision to withdraw.

“Correct… it is part of the executive order,” he told AFP when asked if the Trump administration had ordered the withdrawal.

Butarbutar said the pledge of $21.6 billion from private and public donors remained unchanged, but expected the US withdrawal to impact transition studies and the issuance of grants.

“My understanding… is the US will still collaborate with Indonesia for development of renewable energy and other forms of energy, as long as it is still in line with US interests,” he said.

The United States had pledged $56 million in grants to the South African initiative and an additional $1 billion in potential commercial investments.

Introduced during the UN climate talks in Scotland in 2021, the initiative’s backers counted France, Germany, Britain, Canada and the European Union.

South Africa alongside Senegal, Vietnam and Indonesia were named as the first recipients of the support.

The US withdrawal leaves South Africa with $12.8 billion in pledges, Pretoria said.

Pretoria and Washington have been at odds over a range of policies, including a recent land ownership law.

Trump, whose tycoon ally Elon Musk was born in South Africa, last month froze aid to the country over the law that he alleges, without evidence, would allow land to be seized from the white minority.

The claims came in an executive order, which also noted foreign policy clashes between the United States and South Africa over the war in Gaza, particularly its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

South Africa last week said it would push on with the clean energy transition and would explore partnerships with the private sector.

“Our commitment to a just energy transition is not conditional on other sovereign powers,” Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters on the sidelines of a Group of 20 leading economies meeting.

Africa’s most industrialised nation is one of the largest polluters in the world and generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal.

Guyana appeals to UN court as Venezuelan plans vote in disputed zone


By  AFP
March 6, 2025


The disputed Essequibo region makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. © POOL/AFP Win McNamee

Guyana on Thursday sought relief from the UN’s highest court after Venezuela said it would hold elections in the oil-rich Essequibo border region that both neighbors lay claim to.

Venezuela goes to the polls on May 25 to elect new governors of states, in which it has included Essequibo — a region that has been administered by Guyana for over a century.

This comes after 95 percent of voters in a non-binding referendum in December 2023 said they approved of Venezuela’s territorial claim to the region.

In March last year, the parliament in Caracas approved a bill to make Essequibo Venezuela’s 24th state. Rejected as invalid by Georgetown and other nations, it was nevertheless signed into law by Maduro.

On Thursday, Guyana said it had filed a request with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for provisional measures after learning of Venezuela’s “plans to hold elections in Guyana’s Essequibo region, which is an integral part of Guyana’s national territory.”

It wants the court to order Venezuela “to refrain from any acts within or affecting its sovereign territory, including the Essequibo region” which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens.

Guyana, a small English-speaking former British and Dutch colony, insists Essequibo’s frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

But Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east forms a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.

The long-running squabble was revived in 2015 after US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered huge crude reserves in Essequibo and reached fever pitch in 2023 when Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in the region.

The find gave Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world.

In December 2023, the ICJ granted an earlier request by Guyana for provisional measures, ordering Venezuela to refrain from any further action regarding the territory.

Plans to hold elections in the region “flagrantly violates this order,” Guyana’s foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.

It urged the court to convene a hearing as soon as possible.

In the latest diplomatic incident, the United States on Saturday denounced what it said where Venezuelan naval vessels “threatening” an ExxonMobil unit in maritime territory claimed by Guyana.

Trump again casts doubt on his commitment to NATO


ByAFP


PublishedMarch 6, 2025


NATO countries located close to Russia, like Finland, tend to spend more on their armies - Copyright AFP/File Mandel NGAN

President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed doubts over his commitment to the NATO alliance, saying countries that aren’t spending adequately on their militaries don’t deserve defense.

“If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” he told reporters.

Trump has frequently questioned whether the United States — by far the biggest military in the transatlantic alliance and ultimate guarantor of Europe’s security since World War II — should continue its central role in NATO.

The Republican, who began his second term in January, doubled down on his criticism that some NATO members do not spend enough on their defense budgets and overly rely on the United States.

“They should be paying more,” he said.

Trump was responding to reporters after NBC News reported earlier Thursday that he is considering a plan to calibrate US military support in a way that favors member countries which spend a higher proportion of more of their GDP on defense.

Countries deemed to be underspending might not be defended if attacked, according to the reported plan.

This would weaken NATO’s core Article 5 which stipulates that any member attacked will be defended by all the others.

Philippines’ Palawan approves 50-year ban on new mining permits


By AFP
March 6, 2025


A Philippine provincial government has voted in favour of a 50-year ban on new mining permits - Copyright AFP TED ALJIBE

Cecil MORELLA

The local government in a resource-rich Philippine province has unanimously voted in favour of a 50-year ban on new mining permits, a decision its supporters said cannot be overridden by Manila.

Palawan province, a UNESCO “biosphere reserve” known for its diverse flora and fauna, has become a hotbed for mining as the national government seeks to widen its market share for minerals like nickel, a key component of electric vehicle batteries.

But locals have increasingly pushed back against new mine proposals, with environmental groups and activists pointing to effects ranging from deforestation and flooding to the displacement of Indigenous peoples.

There are currently 11 mines operated in Palawan, but scores of applications are pending.

Environmental lawyer Grizelda Anda, who worked in support of Wednesday’s vote, said Manila would not be able to legally overrule the local government’s decision, which now awaits the governor’s signature.

“The (Philippine Mining Act of 1995) provides that you have to get the endorsement of the LGU (local government unit),” she said.

The new permit ban also imposes a 25-year pause on applications to renew or expand mining licenses.

Existing mines can continue “as long as they do not increase their production” or move into new areas, Anda added.



– ‘A really big win’ –



“This is a really big win not just for the people but for the environment, especially Palawan, which is our last frontier here in the Philippines,” said Jonila Castro, a spokesperson for the Manila-based Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.

“We hope that many other provinces will have the same moratorium.”

Palawan resident Jade Cabasag, 23, whose church advocated for the ban, told AFP she was one of about 100,000 people who had signed a petition in favour of it.

“We are more than just a sector that values our faith, but we also value our environment,” she said, adding she was proud she could help in her “own little way”.

But the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines criticised the vote, saying in a statement on Thursday that the environmental concerns were overblown given laws it said provided “stringent” safeguards.

The decision would also limit “the country’s ability to plan and strategise about its mineral wealth at a time when the global demand for critical minerals is rising”, it said.

“The Philippine government has a responsibility to the people to develop its mineral resources responsibly for the good of the many. Palawan cannot and should not limit the national government’s ability to do so.”

But mid-term elections in May, when 10 of the Palawan board’s 11 members are up for re-election, could see the new ban undone if there is a dramatic shift in the body’s makeup.

What we know about ‘gigantic’ Alaska gas pipeline plan


By AFP
March 6, 2025


The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) is an ecologically important region for grizzly and polar bears, caribou (reindeer) and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds - Copyright POLAR BEARS INTERNATIONAL/AFP 

Steven C. AMSTRUP

President Donald Trump said this week that Japan and South Korea were looking to work with the United States on a “gigantic” natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

Here’s what we know about the project, the latest twist in a long-stalled plan to build a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) pipeline across the sprawling state to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will be shipped to Asia on tankers.


– ‘Drill, baby, drill’ –

“My administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska, among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each,” Trump said Tuesday in his first address to Congress since returning to power.

“It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go,” he added.

Trump doubled down on fossil fuels on his first day in office, declaring a “national energy emergency” to expand drilling in the United States.

He signed a flurry of sweeping energy-related federal orders and pledged to “drill, baby, drill” — vowing to reverse offshore drilling bans, unpause permits for LNG facilities and resume drilling on protected land in Alaska.


– Stalled plans –

Work on a gas pipeline in Alaska first began in the 1970s, after large natural gas reserves were discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1967.

But the project was abandoned due to a lack of economic viability.

Plans for a pipeline re-emerged in the 2000s, pushed by Alaska’s then-governor Sarah Palin.

Despite backing from energy giants including BP and ExxonMobil, that project also flopped for financial reasons.

Trump’s project, “Alaska LNG”, comes with an estimated $44-billion price tag and is led by US group Glenfarne. The pipeline is expected to be up and running by 2030 at the earliest.



– Short journey –

The pipeline will transport natural gas extracted from the vast reserves at Prudhoe Bay and around Point Thomson in northern Alaska to the south, where it will be transformed into LNG.

Almost entirely underground pipeline will be able to transport around 100 million cubic meters of gas daily to Nikiski, near the transport hub of Anchorage.

The LNG will finally be transported by tanker to Asia, its main market, in a relatively short seven to nine-day journey across the Pacific Ocean.



– Asian market –

In February, Trump said Washington and Tokyo were discussing a form of joint venture relating to Alaska oil and gas.

Speaking at a joint press conference at the time with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Trump added that Japan would import new levels of US natural gas “in record numbers”, without giving specifics.

The Philippines and Taiwan have also expressed interest in gas from Alaska.

South Korea’s trade ministry told AFP on Wednesday that they were in discussions on the project — but said it was at an early stage.

Scandinavians boycott US goods over Trump’s Ukraine U-turn


By AFP
March 6, 2025


Some Scandinavian consumers are trying to avoid US products over President Donald Trump's halting support for Ukraine - Copyright AFP Frederic J. BROWN

Nioucha ZAKAVATI

Scandinavian consumers outraged by US President Donald Trump’s Ukraine policy turnaround have begun boycotting goods and services “Made in USA” but are discovering just how difficult that can be at times.

Several groups have emerged in recent days on social networks in Denmark and Sweden aimed at helping fellow consumers make alternate choices. The Danish group “Boykot varer fra USA” and the Swedish group “Bojkotta varor fran USA” each had some 63,000 members on Thursday.

“It is of course very difficult to boycott US products consistently, quickly and long-term, but if you want to do something and don’t know where to begin, this could provide a little help,” Agneta Gottberg Henriksson, 58, wrote on the Swedish Facebook group, attaching a list of US products that has been circulating online.

The list features a column on the left listing well-known American brands, while a column on the right suggests Swedish or European alternative options.

Craving KFC? Go for “grilled chicken at your neighbourhood restaurant” instead.

But many of the other suggestions are problematic.

For instance, members are encouraged to opt for a French Peugeot instead of Tesla. However, Peugeot’s owner Stellantis also owns several American brands including Jeep.

Shoppers pining for a new pair of Nike sneakers are told to swap them out for a pair of Salomons, owned by Finnish group Amer Sports. But that group is also listed in New York.

Boycotting omnipresent US products can be tricky.

For the past week, Gottberg Henriksson, a project manager from the southern Swedish region of Skane, has tried to avoid spending any money on American goods.

She admits it’s not always easy, especially when it comes to tech goods and online services.

“It’s a little ironic because this group (that launched the boycott) is mainly active on Facebook. We would really like to boycott it” but finding an alternative social network to the US-owned group is almost impossible, she told AFP.

Swedish public support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion has been massive, and military aid to Kyiv is one of the Scandinavian country’s top foreign policy priorities.

“What is happening now in the United States — turning its back on Ukraine and going back on all its promises — that was the last straw,” explained Gottberg Henriksson.

She’s even willing to lose money on her conviction.

Reviewing her investments, she realised that about 60 percent were placed on the US market. She decided to sell them all on March 4, the day huge US tariffs kicked in and sent global stocks tumbling.

“You have to accept it. If you really mean it, you really mean it,” she said.



– European stars –



In Denmark, the owner of several supermarket chains has decided to mark European products with a star, to help customers make their choice.

The initiative is in response to strong demand from consumers, the head of the Salling Group retailer, Anders Hagh, wrote on LinkedIn.

Swede Reidar Svedahl, 71, told AFP he had decided to boycott all US products after Trump’s February 28 shouting match with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Svehdal said it hadn’t been too hard to forego at least some American goods.

“I think 99 percent of Europeans can do without 70 percent of all American products. Then the impact would be huge,” he told AFP.

Like in most of Europe, sales of Tesla electric cars — owned by key Trump ally Elon Musk, who has backed European far-right parties — continued to slide in Norway and Denmark in February.

Sales in Norway were halved compared to February 2024, and were down by 44.4 percent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period a year ago.

Experts said however that the impact of the boycott would probably be limited.

“Experience shows that it’s very difficult to get any major economic effects from voluntary (consumer) boycotts,” said Olof Johansson Stenman, economics professor at the University of Gothenburg.

The effects are generally short-term and have little impact, added Eva Ossiansson, a researcher at University of Gothenburg.

 UK

HubMP2012

Old Bailey to Strike Against Outsourcing on International Women’s Day

CAIWU’s ballot of its members gives the union a clear mandate for action.

Cleaners at the Old Bailey have voted overwhelmingly to take strike action in response to the City of London Corporation’s plans to outsource their jobs. In a resounding show of unity, 100% of voters backed the strike, with an 86% turnout. The industrial action will take place on Friday, March 7th, coinciding with International Women’s Day, with a picket line outside the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court from 8am to 4pm.

The Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIWU) condemns the outsourcing plan as a direct attack on some of the most vulnerable workers in the public sector—many of whom are women, migrants, and people of colour. Instead of upholding its responsibility to ensure job security and fair conditions, the City of London Corporation is pushing through changes that will worsen pay, increase workloads, and strip workers of vital protections.

CAIWU has repeatedly raised concerns over the lack of consultation on this move, yet workers remain unheard. “This outsourcing represents a complete betrayal of the commitments to insourcing made by the government,” said a CAIWU spokesperson. “Rather than reversing exploitative practices, the Corporation is reinforcing them, leaving our members – some of whom have worked at the corporation for over 30 years – with no choice but to take action.”

The strike will be a clear message to the City of London Corporation that cleaners deserve respect, job security, and fair working conditions. CAIWU is calling on Ian Thomas CBE, Town Clerk and Chief Executive, to halt these plans immediately and demonstrate real commitment to equality and inclusion by protecting the jobs of those who keep the Old Bailey running.

CAIWU was founded in 2016 and is an independent workers union designed to help organise cleaners across the UK. CAIWU is run by and for its members. CAIWU has waged several high-profile campaigns at the Royal Opera House, University of East London, Facebook, Nike Town, the British Medical Association, and the Ministry of Defence, and continues to campaign for improved pay and working conditions across its organised workplaces.