car industry
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in manufacturing, research and development, mining and materials around the world.
French workers continue bossnapping
French Workers Lock Up Execs in a New Eruption of 'Bossnappings'
French factory workers, angry over layoffs and cost cuts, locked up their bosses
at a Michelin tire plant and a U.S.-owned cigarette-paper mill in a new eruption
of kidnapping their bosses. The auto and auto parts industries have been
particularly hard hit by cutbacks and a backlash by French workers during the
country's worst recession in decades.
Ssangyong occupation update: day four, July 23, 2009
This report, from yesterday, is about the 3rd day of the police attack to evict the occupiers of the Ssangyong Motors factory at Pyeongtaek in South Korea. The cops and the strikebreaking gangsters ("kkang-pae") have resorted to using taser guns on individual strikers, in addition to using helicopters to spray a thinner-based teargas liquid directly onto the strikers on the roof of the occupied paint department.
(translated from the website of SSanyong Branch of Korean Metal Worker Union, http://sym.nodong.org/)
3rd day of cop assault on the factory
[Slogan spray painted on top of paint department building says: "Kill us all if you don't want negotiation"]
Korean police fail to break Ssangyong factory occupation
South Korean police were not able to carry through with a pledge to enter a Ssangyong Motor Co. factory, which has been occupied by fired workers for almost two months, as the carmaker tries to resume production at the plant.
About 800 fired employees were still in a paint shop, confronting more than 3,000 police as of 5:22p.m. in Seoul, Ssangyong spokesman Cha Ki Woong said by phone at the plant in Pyeongtaek, where the automaker is based.
French 'explosion-threat' workers win redundancy pay
A group of French workers facing layoffs obtained extra money after threatening to blow up industrial equipment at their plant, labor union representatives said on Friday. Meanwhile, workers at two other companies continue their threats to blow up their workplaces.
The workers, at JLG, a manufacturing company, were the third in France to make similar threats this month, after workers from Nortel, the telecommunications equipment maker, and New Fabris, a car parts maker.
Korean Sanggyong strike up against the wall
The Ssangyong Motors strike in Pyeongtaek, South Korea (near Seoul), is now in its eighth week, and the situation of the strikers is increasingly dire.
Loren Goldner
July 17
(The following article reports “just the facts”, based on communications from workers and other activists involved in the struggle.)
The Ssangyong Motors strike in Pyeongtaek, South Korea (near Seoul), is now in its eighth week, and the situation of the strikers is increasingly dire.
French auto workers threaten to blow up factory
Workers at collapsed French car parts maker New Fabris threatened on Sunday to blow up their factory if they did not receive payouts by July 31 from auto groups Renault and Peugeot to compensate for their lost jobs.
New Fabris was declared to be in liquidation in April, so the 366 workers stand to get no redundancy money, although they are entitled to draw state unemployment benefit.
Visteon asks to pay millions in executive bonuses
Visteon Corp., which moved last week to cut off retiree health-care benefits, has asked a bankruptcy judge to authorize up to $80 million in management and insider bonuses.
Visteon hit the headlines earlier this year when their 600 UK workers responded to being sacked by occupying their workplaces and winning their redundancy pay which they had been denied. Full coverage on libcom was provided here: http://libcom.org/tags/visteon-occupation
Glaberman, Martin: 1918 - 2001 - Obituary by Red and Black Notes
Red & Black Notes was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Martin Glaberman on December 17, 2001. Marty was active in the workers' movement for almost seventy years, as a writer, agitator, activist and teacher. His death is a tremendous loss to those who knew him and the working class.
Marty Glaberman joined the Socialist Party youth group in 1932 when he was 13 years old. He came from a social democratic family and joined the SP because it was the only organization in the neigbourhood. Asked why he joined at 13, he replied they wouldn't take him any younger.
Review of Review of Labour of Love by Buzz Hargrove - Red and Black Notes
Review of Labour of Love by Buzz Hargrove with Wayne Skene, McFarland, Walter & Ross. Buzz Hargrove is one of the best-known trade unionists in Canada, and was at the time head of the Canadian Auto Workers.
Buzz Hargrove is one of the best-known trade unionists in Canada. As the head of the 215,000- strong Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) he is often presented by the media as the unrepentant face of trade unionism today.
Pyeongtaek strike continues in South Korea
A strike now completing its fourth week at Ssangyong Motors in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, remains a standoff as of this writing. The strike echoes in many ways the dynamic seen in the recent Visteon struggle in the UK and in battles over auto industry restructuring around the world. Involving, on the other hand, an outright factory seizure and occupation, and preparation for violent defense of the plant if necessary, it is the first struggle of its kind in South Korea for years.
Loren Goldner
(June 19)
