on-the-job action

The workers who are extending a section of the Lewisville High School said they are on go-slow and will continue their protest until their employer meets with them. They are employed by a privately owned construction company based in Kingston.

The workers are also upset that they are being made to work without health insurance.

Accident and Emergency staff carried out a mass sick day strike at San Fernando General Hospital on the 16th of April in protest at overcrowding. Overcrowding has gotten so bad at the hospital, that the asthma room, a room supposed to be dedicated for those awaiting emergency asthma treatment, is being used as a holding bay for those awaiting hospital beds.

The first strike in the history of the MCA on 6 March drew strong support hitting emergency and 999 distress calls and led to the closure of nearly half of the UK's 19 rescue co-ordination centres. The remainder operated on a severely reduced service and were staffed by a handful of managers.

A boat carrying an arms shipment destined for Zimbabwe is anchored at the South African port of Durban. However the South African Transport Workers' Union has already announced that their members will not offload any of the cargo, nor will any of their truckers transport it.

Lecturers in over 250 colleges were balloted by UCU. The UCU website states that the the result shows solid support for industrial action: 65.5% of those voting* supported strike action and 86.2% also supported other forms of industrial action short of a strike.

The coastguard station in Holyhead, Anglesey, was closed with calls being handled by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in Liverpool. Milford Haven and Swansea coastguards were also be involved in the strike.

The UK-wide strike started at 7am April 11th, involving 600 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and will affect coastguard operations rooms.

The ban took effect on Sunday (March 9th), and has been maintained on Monday (March 10th) as well. This step is a direct response to current conditions, which preclude overtime pay from counting into workers` pension plans.

The stoppages will start next Wednesday (12th), with the majority of the 12,000 employees of the service expected to observe it.

In the capital Harare, the strike has been compounded by the ongoing strike by council workers who downed tools last Wednesday, demanding a rise in their salaries.

Workers have maintained an unofficial overtime ban this week, resulting in dozens of cancelled flights at Shannon airport this week which has now developed into a strike vote by the trade union IMPACT. It is unclear whether the vote will result in the overtime ban becoming official, or whether the union will call strike days - any official action will require two weeks notice.

Air traffic controllers said that no new employees have been hired since the 9-11 attacks over six years ago. Around a hundred workers work on a 24-hour roster.

The BBC reported that paramedics say they are worried that patient safety is being compromised because the service is dependant on their willingness to work extra hours.

It is understood hundreds of staff in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan will take part in the unofficial action.

The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust said it was trying to address concerns.

The two day strike called by PCS members working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), follows the imposition of a below inflation pay offer which sees the lowest paid receiving increases which take their wage to only 24 pence above the minimum wage and approximately 40% of staff set to receive a 0% pay increase next year.

Workers at Eilat-based Arkia Airlines have been staging the work-to-rule as part of an on-going dispute with management. A number of flights have had to be cancelled recently owing to "technical difficulties".

In reality, airline staff have decided amongst themselves to make things as difficult as possible for the company to operate smoothly until demands over pay and conditions are met.

Postal workers were just about to resume a second two weeks of rolling strike action, which has already built up 10-14 days backlog at Royal Mail depots around the country.

Staff voted to strike in a ballot last month, and join a wave of public and private sector disputes this year over below-inflation pay rises.

Although postal workers will individually take 2 days of strike action in the next two weeks, the strikes announced mean that there will be two weeks of continuous disruption to mail services.

The strikes call out separate functions nationally on different days and the timing is aimed at maximising the impact on mail.

30 years ago: Rita Ward and the Great Northampton Hospital ‘lie-in”
We hear a lot these days about the ‘creeping privatisation’ of the NHS. We have a Labour government committed to turning our free National Health Service into just another business along the lines of the American model, which sees poor people refused medical treatment because they can’t afford it.

It came yesterday as the Public Services Association criticised what it called the "reckless behaviour" of Health Minister John Rahael following the dismissal of two of the nurses involved in an incident during where baby Justin Paul was burnt at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

The Watton and Swaffham Times reported that rubbish is mounting up outside homes in Breckland because binmen are locked in an industrial dispute.

Waste went uncollected at a number of properties on Monday and there are fears the bin backlog could spread to other homes in the district after its rubbish collection teams began a “work to rule”.