Middle East
Oil refinery workers threaten sit-in protest today
Workers at Bahrain Petroleum Co. are due to hold a sit-in protest over pay.
The workers at Bapco oil refinery in Bahrain have threatened a 45 minute sit-in protest today if their demands for higher pay are not met.
Israel baggage handlers wildcat strike
40,000 pieces of luggage piled up at Israel's international airport due to a wildcat strike of baggage handlers.
Ira Sharkansky reported on jpost.com that arriving travelers waited up to seven hours for their luggage, or went away without it. Planes took off minus their passengers' checked bags.
The Minister of Tourism pleaded for reason, saying that this was not a way for tourism to recover from the damage done by the recent war in Lebanon.
Israel: schools on strike
Schools in the Kiryat Shmona area of northern Israel are on strike for the sixth day today due to safety concerns.
Parents have kept their children home from school and nursery assistants and cleaners are also on strike.
A spokesman from the Kiryat Shmona parents' union said "There are 5,000 students at home in Kiryat Shmona and no one in the State of Israel cares. During the war there were promises. When the war ended they forgot about us."
Palestinian farm workers organise
In-depth article about the plight of farm workers in the Jordan Valley and their attempts to organise.
Work at Any Cost: Employment of Palestinian Agricultural Workers in Jordan Valley Settlements
Hundreds of Palestinian workers from Jericho and its surroundings are employed in Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley. So far, no Palestinian or Israeli body had taken upon itself to provide an accurate account of the numbers of these workers.
Armed gunmen attack Palestine Workers' Radio
Armed gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades attacked the offices of the Palestine Workers' Radio for inciting "internal conflicts" in Palestine.
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns an attack launched on offices of Palestinian Workers Radio, which falls under the scope of repeated attacks on media intuitions by armed Palestinian groups. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), represented by the Attorney-General, to investigate this crime and bring its perpetrators to justice.
Another day, another IDF Refusenik
Since 2002, soldiers and officers from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have been refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories in protest against what the Israeli military regime.
The "refuseniks" believe the occupation to be a threat to Israel's own security and inherently oppressive.
Occupation refuser Omri Evron was sentenced Sunday, Oct 15, 2006, to 14 days in military prison after he announced his refusal to enlist for regular mandatory service in the IDF. Omri was put in solitary confinement having refused to wear uniform and obey orders.
Iraq: health workers on strike
Health workers in Iraq have been on strike for higher wages over the past month across several areas of the country.
See our earlier report here.
In Kerbala, health workers held a sit-in protest after their strike last week. The workers held the strike calling for a raise in salary, a reform to the wage system, and to repay those eligible for infection allowance. The protest was organised by the workers' council of Kerbala hospital.
Iran: workers' struggles in brief
The following report details recent workers' struggles in Iran, published by the International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI).
- According to reports by the Iran Khodro workers, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s security and armed forces, during the past two weeks, in an organized and premeditate effort, when mostly male workers were at work and their children at school and only their wives at home, raided their houses and confiscated all their satellite dishes.
Appendix: Oil Wars and New World Orders in Historical Context
Introduction[1] Following the conversion of the Royal Navy from coal in 1911 and the development of petro-chemical industries after WW2, oil became a militarily and economically important resource for the major imperialist powers.
Palestine strike may spread to fuel workers
Palestinian pubic-sector strikers may be joined by employees of the Petroleum Authority if their demands aren't met.
The workers have been on strike for 36 days already due to non-payment of wages by the ruling Hamas party since they came to power in March - when many foreign donors cut links to the authority.
This would be an escalation of the dispute which has already led to violent clashes with the Hamas-led government, and may lead to paralysis of local fuel supplies.
