manufacturing and materials
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in manufacturing, research and development, mining and materials around the world.
Papua New Guinea: Wildcat causes millions in losses
Ongoing wildcat action by striking workers has caused millions of dollars in losses for a massive mining project.
Workers at the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea walked out five days ago over a pay dispute in an unofficial action that is still unresolved. Efforts to cut a deal have stalled while managers consider Lihir's workers' demands, which include sacking the entire management of the mine. It is claimed that workers have been consistently denied the right to organise to protect their rights at work.
Mount Isa: the great Queensland strike - Solidarity
Pamphlet by the UK Solidarity group on the 1964-1965 strike and lockout at the Mount Isa copper mine in Queensland, Australia, which placed miners in direct opposition to their union, employer and the Queensland State Government for almost seven months.
Independent report into ICL plastics disaster finds health and safety regime 'dangerously dysfunctional'
On 11 May 2004, nine workers were killed and more than thirty-three injured in an explosion at the ICL Plastics plant of Grovepark Mills in Maryhill, Glasgow. This was the worst health and safety incident in Scotland since 1988. An independent study into the health and safety regime at the factory before the explosion has today been released.
On sentencing ICL Plastics Ltd and ICL Tech Ltd to fines of £200,000 on 28th August 2007, Lord Brodie stated the following in relation to mitigating factors:
"This is not a case of failure to heed warnings or where a decision was taken to run a risk in order to save money. The companies apparently have a good safety record prior to May 2004, going back to the 1960’s."
Suez Fertiliser Company workers score victory
The recent strikewave in Egypt continues as fertiliser workers are victorious in their most recent industrial action.
A strike of more than 400 workers at the Suez Fertilizers Company was suspended Friday 5:30pm, following negotiations between the CEO of the company Sayyed Abul Hawa el-Daw and the Labor Ministry officials in Suez on the one hand, and six of the strike leaders on the other, whereby the following had been agreed up on:
1) The monthly salaries of the workers will be raised by LE200
1831: Merthyr Tydfil uprising
In 1831, Merthyr Tydfil, iron workers struck against redundancies, rising prices and bailiffs, leading to several thousand workers involved in riots that led to bloody suppression by troops and mass arrests.
Two articles on the riots are included, by local historian Bob Saunders, and an excerpt from the Newgate Calendar:
THE MERTHYR RISING 1831
Bob Saunders
BACKGROUND
China: miners strike attacked
800 striking miners at the Tanjiashan Coal Mine in Hubei Province fought hired security guards for two hours last week after they attempted to break a six day strike.
Radio Free Asia reported that the security guards set about the workers and in the ensuing clash at least one worker and one security guard died. The conflict lasted about two hours, during which time the workers vented their anger by attacking company offices and two nearby police vehicles they believed had been used to transport management's hired security guards to the mine.
Workers struggle betrayed by State and union in Venezuela
This article was written by a revolutionary who has been working with the occupied factory in Venezuela.
Workers Control at Venezuela’s Sanitarios Maracay under Attack
By Megan Hise
1918: Rice riots and strikes in Japan
From July-September 1918, Japan was swept with a wave of riots from rural fishing villages to major industrial centres and coal fields, in what was the largest upheaval in Japan to date, and the widest ranging popular disturbances since the unrest during the Meiji restoration of 1868.
1905-1918 in Japan was called the Era of Popular Violence (民衆騒擾期, minshû sôjô ki). This began with the Hibiya Incendiary Incident (日比谷焼討事件, Hibiya Yakiuchi Jiken) - a citywide riot in Tokyo that started with a banned protest in Hibiya park; against the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty which ended the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.
Namibian miners' strike enters second week
The strike at the Exarro Rosh Pinah zinc and lead mine in the South yesterday entered its second week as management and union representatives failed to reach agreement on a dispute over a sacked union leader.
Previous coverage here. The Namibian reports:
Strikers have blocked the mine's main entrance since last Sunday after going on a wildcat strike in protest against the sacking of the Rosh Pinah Branch Chairman of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia, Petrus Amakali.
Namibia: Miners in wildcat strike
About 200 workers have gone on a wildcat strike in protest against the sacking of a union leader, disrupting production at the Exxaro Rosh Pinah zinc and lead mine in the South.
allAfrica.com reports:
Strikers have been blocking the Rosh Pinah mine's main entrance since Sunday, vowing to continue with the strike until the company reinstated the local branch chairman of the Mineworkers' Union of Namibia, Petrus Amakali.
