car industry

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 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.

The following is a report from a contact in Ulsan:

The workers left their positions in the press room - where panels are pressed into the required shape - at 11am on Tuesday. When their shift ended at 2pm, work is said to have resumed.

Michelin - Workers at the factory in Toul (Meurthe et Moselle) began strike action after plans were announced to close it down. As well as occupying and blockading the plant with pickets of burning tyres the 826 workers also confined two managers to their offices during the four-day strike.

Yazaki Haiphong Vietnam Co, a Japanese car-part manufacturer, is based in Nomura Industrial Park, where 2,000 workers from different companies were on strike earlier this month for similar grievances. Wages were increased in January, but pensions and bonuses were cut.

Negotiations between management and UAW local 2069 had begun on January the 8th, but with no new agreement in place by the end of the contract on Thursday at midnight the union began the strike that 95% of members had already voted in favour of. This morning 120-150 workers were at the plant picketing this morning.

Workers were locked out on Wednesday after refusing a 25% cut in wages and 20% cut in benefits. Ledco Ltd., which makes parts for GM, Ford and Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday evening.

The strike began on Monday after 81% of Syncreon's 250 workers voted in an assembly to reject a new salary structure as it did not includes figures for a salary increase. Workers had been demanding an increase of one euro per hour.

According to flandersnews.be, workers on the morning shift refused to go back to work after their mid-morning break, complaining that their wages had not been paid out correctly.

Serious commentators on the labor upheavals of the Depression years seem to agree that disturbances of all kinds, including the wave of sit-down strikes of 1936 and 1937, were caused by the 'speed-up' above all.

Rolls Royce announced a review of the site in August and an internal memo confirmed that they have suggested switching production from Netherton to a US plant in Mount Vernon, Ohio. They claim fluctuating work volumes, high costs and the US dollar’s poor exchange rate have put the Sefton site in jeopardy.

The company immediately sought to distance itself from the suicide, firstly by claiming that the man in question had been on sick leave since September 6 and secondly by claiming that his workplace was only administratively a part of the site which has seen three other workers take their own lives in the last year.

The company announced to workers that between now and the end of the year production would be wound down and all 181 workers at the site made redundant. Workers called a general meeting and voted for strike action. They voted at a second meeting on Monday morning to continue the action.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union launched the strike after "one-sided negotiations" failed to reach an agreement.

"It was going to be General Motors' way at the expense of the workers," Gettelfinger said. "The company walked right up to the deadline like they really didn't care."

AN (UN)FRESHER’S GUIDE TO OXFORD’S CLASS WAR

Consider these two units of time: 36 seconds, the rest of your life. The job that takes 36 seconds to do that you're going to do for the rest of your life. I don't know a better definition of alienation than that...

The first strike at the General Motors-owned firm began on June 15th when the night shift walked of the job in protest at management's refusal to answer questions on the restructuring plan, the strike lasted until the 18th.