Middle East

After three weeks of not receiving wages workers at the Alborz Elastics Factory began a strike on July 12. Management had reneged on a promise to pay a New Year's bonus to 400 workers, and has refused to pay into a loan fund for workers despite taking regular deductions from salaries.

The workers earn around BD200 per month, and were striking for a minimum 40% increase. Workers had originally demanded a rate of BD380, but during long negotiations be their union and employer, the demand has been reduced several times.

What began as a hunger strike launched on June 28 has grown to a full-scale strike as thousands of workers at Iran Khodro, the country's largest auto manufacturer, walked off the job to win wage and conditions improvements.

Workers' demands include:
1) Prohibited entry of security guards to workstations;
2) An end to mandatory over-time;
3) Increases in productivity benefits;

Tuesday 24th June 2008 – Workers at the Mansoura-Espana Garments Company in Talkha are on strike. Via Twitter, Arabawy reports that central security forces and trucks have surrounded the factory, and that water cannons have been used on the strikers.

The blockade of the factory is the latest in a series of actions undertaken by workers, who are continuing their strike in the face of brutal repression by security forces.

Workers at Haft-Tapeh started their strike on May 5 to demand immediate payment of wages, which had not been received for three months prior to the strike.

The Iraqi Oil minister, Hussein Al-Shahirstani, had ordered the transfer of 8 Oil Union activists.

They used to work at the Oil refineries in the south. This act represents the minister's anti-union policy, and lack of respect for Unions and Unions' activists in the Oil sector.

This employee was the first of some 15 expected to be forced into early retirement this year at the Dimona station as part of an agreement between Histadrut and Israel Rail. The employees stopped work as soon as they heard of their comrade's dismissal.

According to reports from bloggers a wildcat strike has started at the state-owned Al-Amiriya Company for Spinning and Weaving. The workers are demanding one full month of bonuses.

Following a period of upheavals in Egypt, the state is attempting to reassert control with a series of measures aimed at curbing both the labour movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest radical Islamic group.

Fearing workers insistence on celebrating Labor Day, police started its attacks early in the morning. At 6:30AM, the police attacked workers gathering in front of DISK (Progressive Labor Union’s Confederation). Police used tanks and pepper gas against the workers waiting peacefully in front of their unions.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union declared the day as "a day for union business" for workers at all 29 ports on the west coast. This may be the beginning of a record setting anti-war action, since the vast majority of supplies and munitions for the American government's current wars are shipped from the 29 ports on the West Coast. All 29 were closed today.

Public Prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud decided to release 18 people kept under provisional detention in connection with the riots that occurred on April 6 and 7 during the semi-aborted general strike. He said in a statement yesterday that investigations were still underway to determine the criminal responsibilities of the other people under provisional detention.

The workers had been on strike at the Kian Tire Factory in the Alborz region of northern Iran since last Thursday, demanding the payment of unpaid wages. On Saturday evening, security forces entered the plant using bulldozers to tear down walls, and arrested around 1,000 workers.

Management responded by threatening to close down trade entirely if disruptions continue today (Tuesday April 1st). Workers retaliated by diverting all incoming calls to the CEO's office.

Simultaneous protests were held at 1pm outside university administrative buildings. Some 200 university professors attended the protest at Cairo University.

"They embarked on a slow-down strike. It is absolutely illegal, there is not a single law that permits the strike" was the way that Turkish Prime Minister , Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reacted to the two hour strike on Friday.

Normally, passengers wishing to enter baggage in excess of a certain weight must make additional payments. Disgruntled workers bypassed this procedure by distributing the baggage among various passengers evenly, so that none of them had excess weight.

Agricultural workers strike & sit-in

The ban took effect on Sunday (March 9th), and has been maintained on Monday (March 10th) as well. This step is a direct response to current conditions, which preclude overtime pay from counting into workers` pension plans.