US trade unionists call for end to violence

TU, American workers support you,” members of AFL-CIO, a major U.S. labour organization, marched in front of the Zimbabwean Embassy carrying placards that read “Promote workers’ rights worldwide” and “Mugabe: Free unionists.”
Barbara Shailor, an AFL-CIO program officer, said: “It is very important that we come here today because this is the day Mugabe is coming to New York to attend the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. And we need to tell the embassy that we will not stand for the violation of trade union rights in Zimbabwe.”
David Claxton, an officer with the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), read out a number of demands for Mugabe, including investigation of the September 14 attacks, medical care for all those injured, protection of the right of labour to organize and “active government engagement with the ZCTU to resolve the economic crisis” in Zimbabwe.
The United States has condemned the attacks. “The U.S. government condemns the Mugabe government’s suppression of planned marches by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Over 100 individuals were arrested, including senior union leaders, and some were severely beaten as part of the effort to prevent the marches from taking place,” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said September 15. – Own correspondent