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.

Last December 16, in Barcelona, 11 anarchists were detained in what is known as "Operation Pandora". All 11 detainees are anarchist activists. 4 of them were released on December. One of them is a member of the CNT union from Sabadell and is still imprisoned. His lawyer says they are being held because they are organized. They haven't been accused of anything more than being active anarchists that spread and publish our ideas and fight for them.

It's clear that this operation took place only to persecute and criminalise the libertarian movement and to instill fear in the rest of the population so they don't fight against this system's injustice.

On January 16 afternoon we ask for solidarity. All that are able, please hold demonstrations or protest meetings to demand the detainees' freedom and against Operation Pandora.

In Solidarity with Workers of Arvato-Qualytel

Starting January 12, 2015, the IWA calls for international actions at Orange outlets to protest the working conditions at their call and customer service center in Salamanca Spain. Many people there are employed on temporary contracts through external agencies, which means their jobs are more precarious and they are not entitled to the same working conditions as directly employed workers. The CNT-AIT has been active in Arvato-Qualytel, which services Orange, but two comrades have lost their jobs. We consider this to be an attack on union activity in the company.

Since we published information about the situation in Salamanca, we have been contacted by workers from other countries working for Orange who also complain about the poor and precarious working conditions. So we can see that Orange has systematically chosen to exploit external workers in many locations. We call on comrades from around the world to picket Orange during the week of January 12.