general strikes
Cretan farmers land in Athens and clash with riot police, leading to wildcat general strike in Crete
The farmers action across the country has reached a new peak this week with the landing of hundreds of Cretan farmers in the Athens harbour of Peiraeus intending to drive their tractors to the Parliament.
On Monday the 2nd of February farmer's action against the agricultural policy of the right-wing government reached a new climax when hundreds of Cretan farmers clad in local war costume landed their tractors in Peireaus with the intention to drive them to the Greek Parliament.
French general strike, 29th January 2009
Photos from France's largest general strike in three years which hit transportation, school, hospital and mail services as more than 1 million protesters took part, with tens of thousands of youths, retirees and unemployed people march across towns and cities to protect jobs and consumers during the global economic crisis.
General strike hits France
As the recession begins to bite in France, transport, education and other services are brought to a halt by a national strike demanding action on unemployment and the rising cost of living.
Bloomberg business news reported that France’s rail network, airports and public schools were disrupted today as the country’s eight biggest labor unions called for a one-day general strike.
General strike of civil servants in Morocco
Following the collapse of wage talks with the Moroccan government, the Moroccan Workers' Union, the Democratic Workers' Organisation and the Democratic Workers' Federation called a civil service general strike on Friday (January 23rd) and again on February 10th.
Democratic Workers’ Federation chief Abderrahman Azzouzi told Magharebia that the dialogue over the past few weeks could not be taken seriously, as the unions’ proposals had been rejected.
1951: Barcelona general strike
A brief description of social conditions in post-Civil War Spain followed by an account of the Barcelona general strike of 1951. The events in Barcelona led to strikes across the country and signalled the potential for a return to working class combativity in Spain after over a decade of rule under the Franco regime.
The situation of the Spanish working class at the turn of 1950 was a desperate one. Franco's regime had ruled over the country for the last eleven years, and severe conditions fuelled by austerity measures imposed on workers after the end of the Civil War were becoming rapidly worse.
General strike in Italy against government handling of the crisis
Hundreds of thousands of workers downed tools and took to the streets in a four hour stoppage stating "we won't pay for the crisis".
The strike by the General Confederation of Italian workers (CGIL) shut down postal services nationwide, transport services and airports in several cities and many automobile manufacturers, in some of which strikers were joined by members of other unions.
Greek riots eyewitness reports - 10 December 2008
Eyewitness updates on the unrest in Greece on the day of the general strike.
#8, 16:46: Updates from Athens and Patras
ATHENS: High School students joined the trade union march. They pelted riot police with stones and paint. In the suburb of Kaisariani the school students attacked the local police station.
Greek general strike to go ahead
The planned general strike for later today, 10 December is still scheduled to go ahead, but unions bowed to the government and called off protest marches amidst Greece's worst rioting in decades.
2.5 million workers in the GSEE and ADEDY general unions, comprising around half of Greece's total workforce are to strike today.
They are demanding an end to cuts in public spending and attacks on pay and pensions.
Greece's transport network in particular is set to grind to a halt, as many airlines have already cancelled all flights in and out of the country.
Rioting explodes across Greece
A powder keg of public anger over government economic policy has been ignited by a spark of outrage over the killing of a 15-year-old boy by police in Athens.
For updates and background, see our Greece unrest archive: http://libcom.org/tags/greece-unrest
Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police in the Exarchia area, an anarchist stronghold of Greece's capital city on Saturday 6 December.
Chilean general strike ends after wage increase
Chile's Senate unanimously approved a 10% wage increase for public workers on Thursday, ending a strike by 400,000 state employees that had halted garbage collection, and affected health and school services.
After the unanimous 32-0 vote in the Senate, union leaders announced the end of the four day-strike.
The Senate vote came hours after Chile's lower house rejected a 9.5% wage increase. Following the lower house loss, the government had increased its wage hike offer to 10% and senators approved the sweetened deal.
