CGT
France: Sabotage at Renault factory
Workers at the Renault factory in Le Mans have been accused by management of sabotaging factory equipment.
The action appears to be a response to the sacking, ten days ago, of five workers for faute grave (gross misconduct). It is unclear how many of the 3000 workers were involved in the action, management has not specified exactly what form the sabotage took. The condemnation of the action by the CFDT union also fails to describe the action.
Spain: General strike in Cadiz region
Workers at the General Motors subcontractor, Delphi, in Puerto Real have gone on strike in protest at the planned closure of the factory.
A march last Thursday was attended by over 80000 people. The 1600 workers are being represented by the UGT (general workers union) and the workers' commission. They have complained that as the owners are in America negotiations are difficult.
France: Paris air traffic controllers strike
Staff held a one-day strike on Saturday in protest at plans to force workers to change sites and the planned rationalisation of the network.
Members of the CFDT and CGT unions were involved.
At Orly airport 50% of flights were cancelled with many more suffering significant delays, at Charles De Gaulle airport where the two unions are in the minority some 20% of flights were cancelled with others delayed.
France: Posties prepare for strikes
Workers in seven French departments have given official notice of strike action in relation to a dispute over overtime payments.
The upcoming elections will require large amounts of extra deliveries, postal workers are demanding that they be paid a standard rate for deliveries as their estimate of the number of extra hours required differs heavily from management's. Management are claiming that the average worker will have to deliver an extra 580 envelopes and will be paid on average 7.5 hours overtime per week.
France: Postal counter staff strike in Le Havre
Counter services in Le Havre and the surrounding regions were severely affected by a one-day walkout last Tuesday by postal counter staff.
Only one post office remained open in the town and only 2 out of 14 in the surrounding areas. According to the management only 24% of workers participated, if this is true the workers managed to create an effect greater than their numbers might have suggested. The strike was called by three unions: FO, SUD and CGT.
France: Binmen strike over pay
An indefinite strike was called called yesterday by bin men in the Ile de France region.
The workers from Sita, the second largest private refuse collection company in France, are calling for a 3% rise backdated to January the first and a further 1% from the first of July. 180 comunes in the region will be affected as well as three of the 20 departments in Paris.*
France: Marseille dockers win strike
Marseille dockers agreed to go back to work on Saturday after the Port of Marseille agreed that workers hired for the new gas terminal would be employed directly by the docks rather than allow GDF (Gaz de France) to use its own staff.
The 18-day strike was brought to and end with the CGT union claiming victory after the Port Authority agreed to hire five new full-time workers for the new terminal.
France: Solidarity strike for arrested teacher
French teaching unions have called for a one-day strike this Friday in parisian primary schools in support of an arrested teacher.
Valérie Boukobza, the headmistress of a school in the north of Paris, was arrested on the 20th of March after intervening to try to prevent the arrrest of a chinese illegal immigrant who was collecting his two grand-daughters from her school.
1880-1945: Yiddish-speaking libertarians in France
Short article tracing the development of the Jewish Yiddish language anarchist and syndicalists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in France.
In the pletzl (Marais) and in Montmartre in Paris (pictured, above), Jewish anarchists had a real influence. In 1907, police reports indicated the presence of about 450 anarcho-communists, an enormous figure if one realises that the immigrant Jewish population living in Paris at the time was about 20,000.
Strike at McDonalds, Paris, August 2004
A brief account and information about a CGT union strike at the McDonald’s Place d’Italie branch in Paris in 2004.
