credit crisis
Articles about the financial crisis or "credit crunch" of 2008.
Martinique general strike called off
Organisers of a crippling 38-day anti-inflation strike in the French island of Martinique lifted their protest Saturday with the signing of a protocol with the government.
"This protocol will mean the lifting of the strike call," said Michel Monrose, head of the February 5 Collective group which launched the protest.
But he added the Collective "reserves the right to re-launch the strike if the accords are not respected".
Unite union negotiates pay cut for members at Toyota
The Unite union has negotiated a 10% wage cut for its members at Toyota plants in Derby and North Wales.
Responding to an announcement from car manufacturer Toyota that production at its UK plants would be cut by 10%, with an associated cut in wages of 10%, Peter Tsouvallaris, Unite representative at the plant said: "Our members are reminded daily of the tremendous insecurity this recession has brought to our industry.
Greek unions call 24 hour general strike
Greece's main labour body said Thursday it is calling a 24-hour general strike to protest more than 4,000 lay-offs that have swept the country in February.
Workers should not "pay the price of the financial crisis," the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) said in a statement.
GSEE - which did not specify the date for the strike - said February's figure followed significant job losses between November and January when nearly 8,000 people lost their jobs.
Wildcat strike at German car part manufacturer
Workers at car parts manufacturer Karmann have walked out after being informed of 1400 job cuts no redundancy pay.
Karmann in Osnabrueck manufactures convertibles (1,400 workers) and roof-systems (1,100 workers), for example for Mercedes, Audi and Renault.
For some time it was clear that there will be job cuts in one of the production departments (paint-shop, metal parts).
Rumours of mass picket at BMW plant in Cowley, Oxford
After job cuts were announced at a BMW Mini car plant in Oxford, it is thought that workers, angry with both the company and their union, are planning a mass picket for tomorrow morning.
Workers at the Cowley plant near Oxford learned 850 jobs are to go, affecting agency staff from the weekend shift. Agency workers were given just one hours notice that they were being made redundant. Many of them have worked there for years but have no rights to redundancy pay.
Huge protests over handling of the Irish economy
About 100,000 people have taken part in protests in Dublin city centre yesterday (Saturday 21st) to vent their anger at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession.
They oppose plans to impose a 'pension levy' (real terms 10% pay cut) on 350,000 public sector workers. Trade union organisers of the march said workers did not cause the economic crisis but were having to pay for it.
Chinese union's plans for 2009 and union vigilance against “hostile forces”
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has come out with a series of recent policy goals and policies designed to help workers get through the current financial crisis and maintain social stability. But, these policies, however well intentioned, continue to reinforce the ACFTU’s misplaced identity. Meanwhile, an ACFTU vice-chairman has warned about foreign and domestic enemy forces using the economic crisis to infiltrate and cause damage to China’s migrant workers.
On February 12, ACFTU Chairman Wang Zhaoguo gave a speech at an international forum entitled “2009: Economic Globalization and Unions”. In the speech, Wang recapped the CCP and the government’s recent policy measures to combat the economic crisis and to save the economy from going into turmoil.
The struggle against unemployment begins at the work-place
Leaflet about the credit crisis, its impact on workers and how workers can respond to it being distributed outside factories in Germany.
The struggle against unemployment begins at the work-place
[pun in German: "Arbeit - slosigkeit" - the struggle against work and unemployment]
More job cuts announced, more to come
As the economic recession restates its international nature, further job losses are to be announced in Jamaica and Ireland, while Swedish unemployment rate rises 14% in one month and the International Labour Organisation predicts 7.2 million workers to be made redundant in Asia in 2009.
Cider maker Bulmers is to make 120 people redundant, seven of them in Northern Ireland. The company's plant in County Tipperary will lose 103 posts, while 11 jobs will be cut in Dublin. Aidan Murphy of parent company C&C, said the cuts, made through voluntary redundancies, was needed to "safeguard the viability of the company".
One dead in Guadeloupe strike
As Guadeloupe's general strike against rising prices spreads across the Caribbean, a union official is shot dead.
Local officials states that union representative Jacques Bino, aged in his 50s, was shot dead in a crossfire while driving his car near a roadblock manned by armed youths, who opened fire at police in the capital Pointe-a-Pitre.
Workers in Guadeloupe launched a general strike on 20 January in protest at the rising cost of living.
