Lights in the dark: CNT and CGT members on indefinite strike against redundancies in Catalunya
Submitted by Caiman del Barrio on Dec 27 2012 19:54
Members of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union and CGT union have gone on indefinite strike and occupied their workplace at the IMESAPI lighting plant in Granollers, Catalunya, Spain, demanding an end to the redundancy plans which would see four of the 21 workers let go.
The workers – now 23 days into their strike – are responsible for maintaining the street lights throughout the small Catalan town, and therefore are of critical importance to the town council. IMESAPI itself is a part of the huge ACS conglomerate owned by Florentino Pérez, the multibillionaire engineering tycoon known internationally as the owner of Real Madrid FC.
The struggle at Ikea continues: November 11 update
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Nov 12 2012 16:12
The struggle of IKEA workers in Italy goes on.
After a workers’ blockade in front of the IKEA storage in Piacenza was violently cleared on November 2, the protest spread to other cities. Solidarity rallies were organized in Bologna and Piacenza on November 7 and solidarity demonstrations took place on November 10 in front of many Ikea stores all over Italy.
Struggle at San Raffaele Hospital, Milan
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Nov 11 2012 20:55
Following on from recent occupations, strikes and demonstrations by health workers in Milan, workers at San Raffaele Hospital block traffic on a major ringroad to protest against planned redundancies.
On the morning of Monday, 5 November, hundreds of workers from San Raffaele Hospital in Milan held a demonstration along the city's major ringroad, blocking traffic in both directions for about an hour. The demonstration had been called during a workers' assembly held outside the hospital earlier that same morning.
Refuse the false choice “health or jobs”, fight for a guaranteed income! - The example of ILVA in Taranto
Leaflet from Mouvement Communiste and Kolektivne Proti Kapitalu arguing against the dichotomy of jobs or the environment in relation to steelworks in Italy being shut down for excessive pollution.
Taranto community refuses false choice “health vs jobs”: an example to follow
Submitted by Gabriel Levy on Oct 29 2012 08:07
A "committee of free thinking residents and workers" is demanding that the bosses pay to clean up Italy's biggest steelworks, rather than close it down
Workers at Taranto, Italy’s biggest steel works – which is threatened with closure under anti-pollution rules – are refusing the false choice between their jobs and their community’s health.
Occupy Cinecittà
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Sep 17 2012 13:46
Workers of the Italian film industry protest as the famous studios of Cinecittà in Rome face closure after a disastrous privatization. President Luigi Abete plans to transform the studios in a theme park; the workers, instead, occupied the site and transformed it into a space of resistance. They are protesting against its mismanagement, while also denouncing the lack of proper support to Italian cinema and its workforce.
Since it’s foundation in 1937 Cinecittà has been synonymous with Italian Cinema. Particularly during the post-war period the films made by the studio created the mystique of the “dolce vita” that still shapes the stereotypical image of Italy abroad.
Union busting at American Apparel Japan
Submitted by kot motrozkin on Sep 12 2012 02:23
Management at the Jiyugaoka American Apparel Outlet in Tokyo have unfairly dismissed an employee, and are closing the store in an alleged union busting exercise.
The dispute was triggered on August 20th when a part-time store-attendant was dismissed without legitimate reason. Management claimed that this action was in response to the employee's violation of work rules.
PCS blinks first in dispute with HM Revenue & Customs
Submitted by Phil on Aug 30 2012 23:19
Yesterday, the Public and Commercial Services union announced that strike action due to be taken by HM Revenue & Customs workers on Monday had been suspended. This supposedly followed "significant progress" in negotiations with the employer. The reality is quite different, in a campaign that has been mismanaged (at best) for coming on two years.
Firstly, some background. The current dispute in HMRC actually began life as three separate disputes - over job cuts and office closures, the imposition of strict sickness absence measures, and the "trial" use of private sector companies to take calls on two sites.
Direct action gets the goods in Brazil
Submitted by working class s... on Aug 13 2012 18:38
Faced with with over 1,000 redundancies, Brazilian GM workers walk off the job, and occupy the busiest highway route in the country. The bosses cave in, suspend their redundancy plans, and give the workers paid leave for their wildcat action.
Last week, 2,000 GM workers from the Brazilian Metalworkers Union, occupied, and took control of an important highway, and demanded a stop to 1,840 redundancies.
Court orders closure of ILVA steelworks for environmental damage
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Jul 28 2012 12:09
Environmental issues and labour rights are at odds in the court-ordered closure of ILVA steelworks, in Taranto. Workers paralyze the city in an all-out strike in Taranto. Genoese ILVA workers also joined their strike.
In recent days there were rumours circulating in Taranto, one of the biggest coastal towns in southern Italy, about the court-ordered closure of the ILVA plant, and workers had already started protesting. On July 26 it became official. A judge ordered the closure of ILVA’s key production sections, in practice blocking the entire production process.
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