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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;

The strike, which took place in the Song Than II Industrial Zone in the southern province of Binh Duong, asked the company's management to raise basic salaries by 15 per cent, and provide workers with accommodation and transportation costs. It was reported that the workers' current salaries are too low to cope with the country’s high inflation.

On Monday 23 of June 2008 Bangladeshi foremen and thugs in the pay of the “LADY FASHION” clothing sweatshop in Votanikos, Athens, attacked Bangladeshi immigrant workers who had refused to work in the previous day (Sunday being an official day-off in Greece), using iron bars and wooden clubs.

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.

Over 1,000 workers walked out of a Panasonic factory in Hanoi over the weekend demanding higher pay. This came in the wake of a strike by 5,000 at a shoe factory in Hai Phong City last month.

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.

The development had prompted the management of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) to suspend operations at the plant.

The dead workers were said to have been taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) morgue while the injured were reportedly receiving treatment.

The threat from Grupo Modelo in the Industrial Vidriera Potosí factory comes not long after the firing of over 250 workers for being involved with the activities of Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Empresa IVP (SUTEIVP).

Rising food and consumer goods prices have led to a wave of strikes across Vietnam. The strike at Long An follows a strike and lockout of 17,000 workers in the same province last month.

The mobilisation was organised by a workers committee, constituted independently from union membership. 99% of workers adhered to the strike, which was loosened on Monday 14th April when workers decided to only block gates for goods in an attempt to force the factory to a halt.

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.

The occupation began on March 26th, with the workers producing a list of 11 demands including a 50% wage increase, and the restoration of previously suspended parts of the workers welfare packages.

With a lot of rhetoric and propaganda the Chavez administration has advanced different examples of co-management which, they claim, demonstrate their desire to transform Venezuela’s relations of production. A compañero from Europe visited us recently and got to know two of the most celebrated cases: Alcasa and Invepal.

The strike began when workers walked out of the Ching Luh factory in the southern Long An province on April 1, demanding a wage increase of 22%. A return to work negotiated by trade union officials after two days saw the majority of workers return to the factory, although the terms agreed to by the union amount to an increase of only 10%.

The following is a translation from Internacionalismo.

The Chávez government - with the support of the opposition and unions - has unleashed repression against the workers of the Steel Zone of Venezuela who are struggling for their most basic necessities. Here we see the real Senor Chávez and his "socialism of the 21st century".

Workers agreed to give STEA and the government 48 hours before resuming the strike action. SMAWU President Alex Fakudze explained that workers suspended the strike last week hoping that STEA would be ready to negotiate a better deal, but failed to do so. The meeting held at Salesian sports ground was attended by about five hundred textile workers, mostly women.

"The strike is for 72 hours and it started last night," said union leader Jose Rodriguez.

Workers have repeatedly shut Sidor, 60 percent owned by Argentina's Ternium, as part of demands for higher pay in what has been a 14-month dispute for a collective contract. The union on Monday called a 24-hour strike as part of the same dispute.

The indefinite strike was launched on Monday in protest at the low level of wages at the plant, which is situated some 68 miles northwest of Bucharest.

Rising from a period of centre-left coalition that had been marked by a constant failure to bring promised reforms to Italian society, the struggles of the 1960s acted as a pressure gauge for many sections of the Italian working class, one which was to reach its climax during the mass strikes of 1968-1970.