Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution - Saturday 3 October

On Saturday 3 October 2009, from 6pm until late, we will be holding a public meeting in London to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet with comrades from the People’s Republic of China, hear some fantastic speakers (full line-up to be confirmed within the next few days) and celebrate one of the most important, world-changing events in modern history. There will also be delicious food and drink, so bring family and friends and let’s make it a celebration to remember!

The meeting will take place at Saklatvala Hall, Dominion Road, Southall, Middlesex UB2 5AA. Trains go every 10 minutes or so from Paddington to Southall and take around 15 minutes. From Southall station, the hall is around 5 minutes’ walk, the route for which you can see in this map.

For more information, please email info@handsoffchina.org or call Keith on 07973 824742.

Further details and publicity material to follow shortly.

Chinese, U.S. trade unions seek closer ties

Via People’s Daily

China’s top trade union leader, Wang Zhaoguo, and a group of visiting U.S. union leaders Wednesday agreed to explore new ways to cooperate.

Wang told Anna Burger, president of Change to Win, a coalition of U.S. unions representing 6 million workers, that Chinese trade unions hoped to strengthen cooperation with Change to Win based on independence, equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s affairs.

“Trade unions around the world should cement exchanges and cooperation amid the global economic downturn, to better safeguard the interests of workers and promote global economic development,” said Wang, president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and a senior Chinese legislator.

Burger hoped to further enhance contacts and cooperation with the 100-million strong ACFTU through the week-long visit to China.

The U.S. union leaders arrived in Beijing Monday. Earlier Wednesday, they signed a memorandum with their ACFTU counterparts to facilitate exchanges and cooperation.

The two sides set up a regular exchange mechanism in May 2007 during Burger’s ice-breaking China tour, ending a decades-long boycott of China by U.S. labor groups.