Darkness at midnight: Review of Midnight Oil - Work, Energy, War, 1973-1992 by Midnight Notes
Submitted by Red Marriott on Apr 28 2007 00:36
A review of an anthology of articles by the US autonomist Marxist-influenced Midnight Notes collective and the earlier Zerowork group.
From issue no. 17 of the Wildcat (UK) journal.
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DARKNESS AT MIDNIGHT
Lebanon: electricity workers threaten strike
Submitted by jef costello on Apr 26 2007 22:25
Staff at EDL (Lebanese Electricity) have given notice of strike action to begin on May 4.
Staff are demanding that the government honour long-standing promises over wages and contracts. Specifically they are asking for pay rises that were due in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Furthermore they are demanding that all employees be advanced 4 levels on the pay scale. They are calling for a long service bonus for staff.
The Chinese mining industry - cheaper lives mean cheaper coal; so Australian bosses threaten relocation
Submitted by Red Marriott on Apr 24 2007 22:44
Last week the Chinese media reported that on average one mining accident every week is being covered up by management.
Quote:
[i]Those responsible for safety had sabotaged scenes, destroyed evidence and moved bodies, Xinhua News Agency quoted Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, as saying, adding that most had been brought to justice.
In one 10-day period last month, 72 people were killed in four separate accidents.
Ireland: Energy workers plan strikes
Submitted by jef costello on Apr 20 2007 02:02
Workers at the Electricity Supply Board are currently threatening strike action against potential privatisation.
The main reason for the action is the government-backed plans for the distribution of electricity, selling the network to Eirgrid, a state-owned private limited company, which workers see as a step towards privatisation and a loss of the rights held by state employees.
Iraq: Electricity workers on strike in Kirkuk
Submitted by Mike Harman on Mar 15 2007 19:20
Workers at an electricity plant in Kirkuk were on strike yesterday whilst others protested in Baghdad.
The following report is from the General Federation of Workers in Iraq
On Tuesday 13 March 2007 Workers and Technicians at "Taza Plant 15K" outside Kirkuk conducted a day strike action calling on the local authorities to improve their security from extremist attacks which are killing many workers indiscriminately. The strikers also called on the management of the plant to increase their pay.
A year of our lives - 20 years since the great coal strike of 1984-1985
Submitted by Steven. on Jan 11 2007 11:19
Dave Douglass looks back on the great miners strike, twenty years on. Recalling information about the strike, the reasons behind it, the Tories' and Labour's attacks on the working class and finally how the strike was lost.
A year of our lives - 20 years since the great coal strike of 1984-1985
Notes on the miners strike, 1984-1985
Submitted by Steven. on Jan 11 2007 11:09
Notes on the strike of UK mine workers against closures and to save their union, the NUM. The article contains interesting information about the strike, its background, the aftermath and its importance to all workers in Britain.
Wildcat strikes hit Zimbabwe
Submitted by Ed on Jan 10 2007 19:12
Wildcat strikes for better pay that have hit Zimbabwe could trigger wider work boycotts and spontaneous street protests, escalating political tensions in the crisis-hit country, analysts said on Monday.
Opposition attempts to organise peaceful demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe's government -- largely blamed for a deep economic crisis -- have failed so far, leaving analysts asking if Zimbabweans are afraid to face their leaders.
1910: Cambrian Combine miners strike and Tonypandy riot
Submitted by Alex... on Dec 16 2006 22:56
A short history of a strike by miners in South Wales in 1910 which led to a series of confrontations between workers and police, culminating in what became popularly known as the Tonypandy Riot.
The strike marked one of the few occasions in British history that troops have been deployed against striking workers.
Come and wet this truncheon
Submitted by Joseph Kay on Dec 3 2006 16:26
Classic pamphlet by miner and anarcho-syndicalist Dave Douglass on political policing during the British Miners’ Strike of 1984/5 - when the state acted like an occupying army in working class areas. First published in 1986.
There have been a number of small pamphlets on various aspects of the police in the 1984-85 miners strike. Some by Civil Liberties and Civil Rights organisations have exclusively dealt with the wider implications for 'civil rights' in Britain. Others have been written by lawyers, outraged at the extension of police powers without any legislative authority.
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