prices
Autoreduction movements in Turin, 1974
Eddy Cherki and Michel Wieviorka's account of the workers' self-reduction of prices movement in the Italian city of Turin in the 1970s.
To consider the new developments in social struggle within Western Europe since 1968, one must turn to Italy. The organization of the worker's movement, often on a mass scale, has assumed original forms. Urban struggles have led to organized union and political neighborhood actions with stakes tied to consumption.
Subway workers hold 'no fare' protest and strike in Buenos Aires
This week employees on the Buenos Aires subway freed turnstiles for two hours in a move to press the government to grant legal status to their recently created trade union as well as taking strike action.
According to Argentine law only one union on each trade or activity can be granted legal status and therefore, participate in wage bargaining or legally call for a strike.
1980: Poland mass strikes - Henri Simon
Henri Simon's account of the successful strike wave which swept Poland in the summer of 1980 when the government raised the price of meat.
A NEW WORLD: FROM MEAT PRICES TO DIRECT DEMOCRACY
July 1980: Spontaneous Strikes Run Rampant Everywhere 1
- 1. This article is an extract from Henri Simon's excellent book, Poland 1980-82
Martinique general strike called off
Organisers of a crippling 38-day anti-inflation strike in the French island of Martinique lifted their protest Saturday with the signing of a protocol with the government.
"This protocol will mean the lifting of the strike call," said Michel Monrose, head of the February 5 Collective group which launched the protest.
But he added the Collective "reserves the right to re-launch the strike if the accords are not respected".
Guadeloupe general strike comes to an end
Union leaders on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe have agreed to end a 44-day-old general strike after most of their demands were met.
The announcement came after the LKP collective signed a deal with officials and business owners to raise workers' pay and lower the cost of basic goods. Negotiations are continuing in nearby Martinique over a similar stoppage.
The working class struggle against the crisis: self-reduction of prices in Italy, 1975 - Bruno Ramirez
Bruno Ramirez's analysis of the Italian working class' response to the economic crisis of the 1970s, with particular focus on "the refusal to comply with price increases of essential services", also known as 'self-reduction'.
With an inflation rate of over 25%, widespread unemployment, and increasing repression, Italy's current economic crisis shows how far capital is willing to push its attack against the living conditions of the working class.
One dead in Guadeloupe strike
As Guadeloupe's general strike against rising prices spreads across the Caribbean, a union official is shot dead.
Local officials states that union representative Jacques Bino, aged in his 50s, was shot dead in a crossfire while driving his car near a roadblock manned by armed youths, who opened fire at police in the capital Pointe-a-Pitre.
Workers in Guadeloupe launched a general strike on 20 January in protest at the rising cost of living.
Revolt continues in French Caribbean
The leader of the general strike crippling Guadeloupe has accused the French government of preparing to kill protestors to bring an end to the stoppage on the French Caribbean island.
"Today, given the number of gendarmes who have arrived in Guadeloupe armed to the teeth, the French state has chosen its natural path: to kill Gaudeloupeans as usual," Elie Domota said on Saturday.
General strike hits France
As the recession begins to bite in France, transport, education and other services are brought to a halt by a national strike demanding action on unemployment and the rising cost of living.
Bloomberg business news reported that France’s rail network, airports and public schools were disrupted today as the country’s eight biggest labor unions called for a one-day general strike.
Local government unions submit derisory pay claim
UNISON, Unite and the GMB request a cost of living pay rise for council workers for 2009-10 of just 0.9%.
The unions represent more than one million council staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the claim covers all grades of workers in local government, from refuse collectors to teaching assistants, parks staff to librarians, and comes as local government unions and employers begin binding arbitration over last year's pay claim.
