A Teamsters strike over disgraceful attacks on pay and conditions enters a third week
Submitted by working class s... on Aug 7 2012 00:52
Over sixty workers at the Grand Rapids Gravel Company in Wyoming are now in the third week of a strike over proposed pay cuts and vicious attacks on conditions. The bosses have brought in scabs and private security.
Workers at Grand Rapid make up to $17.40 an hour – depending on length of service. The bosses are insisting that they take a $6 an hour pay cut.
Other changes to terms and conditions include – reducing holiday entitlement to just two weeks a year – reducing overtime pay by 75% - and the cancellation of retiree health insurance.
An unnamed worker said that,
Korean bosses lock-out workers and blackmail them into no-strike agreement and a scab union
Submitted by working class s... on Aug 6 2012 16:14
On 30 July, the Mando Corporation - a South Korean auto-parts manufacturer - locked out all unionised workers. It is now blackmailing them into a no-strike agreement, and encouraging them to join a new trade union, that the bosses created immediately following the lock-out.
Fearing that a longstanding dispute over pay would lead to a strike, Mando brought in hundreds of privately hired security guards who prevented members of the KMWU (Korean Metal Workers Union) from entering the plant.
Since the lock-out, Mando have contacted all members of the KMWU – advising them that they can return to work, but only if they sign a pledge ‘not to go on strike’.
Statement from the Indian Suzuki workers union regarding recent violent clashes with the bosses
Submitted by working class s... on Aug 2 2012 22:06
Update and a Statement issued by the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union
Following the recent violence at a Suzuki plant in India - between the workers, the bosses, and their hired thugs - the workers union have released a statement outlining their version of events. At least one person died during the violence, and many others hospitalised.
Indian Suzuki workers lynch and hospitalise 40 managers
Submitted by working class s... on Jul 29 2012 17:08
Following the unfair suspension of a worker, Suzuki management hire hundreds of goons to attack workers. The workers respond by lynching and hospitalising over 40 managers, killing at least one.
India’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has closed down one of its two factories after a labour dispute boiled over into riots that have seen at least one person dead and scores of others injured.
The factory closed its doors on Wednesday night due to a serious fire started by workers. A badly charred body found in the conference room is waiting to be identified.
All out at Preston Remploy
Submitted by Django on Jul 28 2012 12:52
Mark Harrison visited Remploy pickets taking part in a national strike this morning.
There used to be over 50 workers at the Remploy factory in Preston, now reduced to only 18, each of them was out on the picket line for the second day of their national strike, 100% turn outs were also reported at Heywood and Wigan.
Remploy workers strike against factory closures
Submitted by Django on Jul 21 2012 17:22
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Workers at Remploy factories struck on Thursday over government plans to close factories.
The coalition government plans to shut down 36 of the 54 Remploy factories in the UK, potentially making 1,700 workers unemployed. The strike affected all Remploy sites
Work in America: encounters on the job - Stan Weir
Some work stories from Stan Weir, a socialist who worked a variety of manual labor jobs during the 1950s-1970s.
Original version included 'Just A Matter of Gloves'.
"THE MEXlCAN”
The American revolution: Pages from a negro worker's notebook
In 1963, drawing on his own experience as a factory worker and radical militant, James Boggs wrote this pamphlet. It addresses (among many things) the failures of the CIO, increasing automation, rising unemployment and the emergence of new social actors ('the outsiders') that he saw as a threat to capitalism.
James Boggs, born in Marion Junction, never dreamed of becoming President or a locomotive engineer. He grew up in a world where the white folks are gentlemen by day and Ku Klux Klanners at night. Marion Junction is in Dallas County where as late as 1963, although African-Americans made up over 57 percent of the total county population of 57,000, only 130 were registered voters.
Teamsters close down Coca Cola bottling plant
Submitted by working class s... on May 17 2012 22:56
Coca Cola worker in Connecticut walk off the job in response to attempts to reduce pay and benefits, and implement redundancies.
Workers from the Teamsters 1035 branch in Connecticut went on strike yesterday over job security, pay rises, health benefits, and potential redundancies.
Bosses hold 1000 Indian workers hostage in Angola
Submitted by working class s... on May 16 2012 21:27
Over 1200 Indian workers have been left stranded, and effectively held hostage by bosses in Angola after their passports and other travel documents were confiscated in revenge for taking industrial action over not being paid anything for over six months.
The workers are employed by ETA Star International, who produce cement at their factory in Sumbe.
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