In the last weeks, some texts were published by unions in Spain concerning the Libertarian Federation of Mexico, their claims of being supported the „the CNT, the IWA, the FAI and IFA” and their denounciations of the Anarchist Federation of Mexico.

The IWA has never been in contact with the Libertarian Federation of Mexico.

Perhaps a source of confusion could have been the unauthorized publication of a letter of support from the so-called CNT Catalunya. This „CNT-Catalunya” uses the initials „CNT-AIT” on its letterhead and stamp, but is not a part of the IWA since it is not part of its member section. The CNT-Catalunya later clarified that this publication was not official.

At the same time, it is worth pointing out that the organization in question has not formed part of the CNT-AIT for 20 years, since 1995. Therefore its use of the initials AIT on its letterhead and stamp is misleading. We ask this organization to stop its incorrect use of the initials of our federation.

As May Day approaches, the International Workers Association would like to express our solidarity to workers in struggle across the globe and to those fighting for a more horizontal economic and social order throughout the world. We would like to remind all of the meaning of May Day and the significance of the ideas behind the revolutionary workers' international – the IWA.

During the 1880s, workers and unionists like ourselves fought for the right to an 8-hour working day. They were violently repressed by the state and some of our comrades gave their lives for this struggle. Almost a century and a half later, many of us are still in the struggle for the 8-hour working day. The capitalists who exploit working people to collect their riches and usurp their power still work people beyond limits, especially in the poor countries of the world where they labor all day for their miserable existence. Often aided by the state, the capitalists may exploit and offer outrageously poor conditions which workers are driven into out of desperation. The world's working class is thus divided in relation to their access to the fruits of their labor, a world of more and less priveleged humans, with some workers clinging onto the lower rung for their survival. However, our struggle is a common one: to rid the world of this unjust and hierarchical social and economic struggle and to set about creating a world of truly equals.

On the occasion of International Woman's Day, we would like to address the issue of problems which disproportionately affect women in the workplace, dealing with them in a more effective manner and increasing the participation of women in our movement.

Talking to comrades from inside the anarchosyndicalist movement and from outside, we can see that we still have a long way to go to take an organized approach to fighting sexism in our workplaces. At the recent international anarchafeminist conference, during the workshop which dealt with workplace organizing, we found that women had many similar complaints and experiences in the workplace, but few of them had been involved in organizing around those issues where they worked. Only a few of them were involved in unions, either mainstream or alternative.

The reasons for this may be very complex and can also involve many personal specifics. But it is worth discussion. In some of our organizations we have a gender inbalance or women are somehow marginalized because of patterns of behaviour that may be more inclined towards male socialization. However we all know that our movement should not function like this and that the struggle for equality is not only an economic one, but a struggle for equality in all aspects.

On this occasion, we call on our comrades to explore these issues, to take steps towards making improvements where necessary and to highlight the role of women where they have been active and successful.

During the international week of struggles against Arvato-Qualytel with pickets and actions at Orange outlets in various countries, the first court case against Arvato-Qualytel and Adecco was to take place, but it did not happen because a favourable agreement was made with the worker.

On the morning of Monday the 19, we were in court at the aforementioned case of one of the suits made by one of the comrades of the CNT-AIT union in Arvato-Qualytel. The respondant's lawyers solicited a recess in order to come to a settlement. After various offers which the worker rejected, all admitting that the dismissal was not allowed, an agreement was reached for compensation of 132 days of salary for each year employed, which is four times more than is set out in the law.