job losses
Archive of articles on job losses and working class struggles against them.
Basildon Visteon workers demonstrate against job cuts
Up to 100 sacked workers from Visteon in Basildon, Essex, protested outside the Visteon Customer and Technology Centre (VCTC) on 2 April.
In an impressive show of solidarity, a handful of the office staff at VCTC walked out to join the sacked workers.
A Securicor driver also refused to cross past the demonstration to make a delivery, turned around and left to cheers. A group of workers from other unions across Essex was also warmly received when it joined the protest to offer support.
Lifting the lid on Visteon, KPMG and the fat cats behind the cuts
Simon Basketter examines the companies behind the sacking of hundreds of UK car plant workers with no notice or redundancy pay.
The company that summarily sacked 600 workers leading to occupations in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield is Visteon UK. It a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based Visteon Corporation.
The administrators say that Visteon UK owes more than £400 million to Visteon Corp. In other words, the company owes money to itself.
Visteon occupation photo gallery, Enfield, 2009
Photo gallery of the occupation of a Visteon car parts factory in Enfield, north London, after 200 workers were sacked without redundancy pay.
Car factory occupations spread across the UK
Sacked workers from the car parts firm Visteon have been occupying three factories across the UK since Wednesday.
The action began with an overnight sit-in at the Visteon plant in Belfast and employees are continuing their protest at the factory. More than 100 workers have staged a sit-in, the Unite trade union has said. Earlier, it was announced that 565 staff would go at Visteon car components plants across the UK.
Israeli health company freezes redundancies after strike
After Clalit Health Services' management decided on yesterday (Thursday 26th) to freeze its plan to dismiss 1,000 employees after Passover, some 30,000 workers at its hospitals and community clinics suspended their 24-hour strike and struggle against the country's largest health fund.
This was agreed by Histadrut Labor Federation secretary-general Ofer Eini, Clalit director-general Eli Depes and union head Prosper Ben-Hami after management was unable to get restraining orders from a labor court against the workers.
Gothenburg school pupils strike against job cuts
400 pupils at Sjumilaskolan in Gothenburg suburb Biskopsgården have been on a week long strike since angry parents got the message that half the staff was to be sacked due to the economic crisis and estimates of falling pupil numbers.
The teacher union´s (Lärarförbundet) representative Stratos Ayassotelis says incredibly enough that the teachers do not support the strike and that they´ve been spending the day calling parents encouraging them to send their kids to school claiming that school attending is compulsory in Sweden.
Canadian auto-workers occupy factory
A group of disgruntled workers at a recently closed auto parts supply company in Windsor, Ontario have taken over the plant.
In the latest twist in a saga that has been brewing since two auto plants in the area shut down early last week, about a dozen workers occupied the Aradco plant Tuesday night. They have welded the doors shut from the inside and say they will not leave until they get what they are owed.
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.
