Guadeloupe general strike comes to an end
Submitted by Ed on Mar 7 2009 13:30
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 - Bruno Ramirez
Submitted by Ed on Mar 5 2009 17:36
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
Submitted by libcom.org on Feb 18 2009 14:09
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
Submitted by Ed on Feb 16 2009 11:58
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
Submitted by Ex-temp on Jan 29 2009 12:56
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
Submitted by libcom on Jan 26 2009 17:24
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.
1951: Barcelona general strike
Submitted by Alex... on Dec 15 2008 12:14
A brief description of social conditions in post-Civil War Spain followed by an account of the Barcelona general strike of 1951. The events in Barcelona led to strikes across the country and signalled the potential for a return to working class combativity in Spain after over a decade of rule under the Franco regime.
The situation of the Spanish working class at the turn of 1950 was a desperate one. Franco's regime had ruled over the country for the last eleven years, and severe conditions fuelled by austerity measures imposed on workers after the end of the Civil War were becoming rapidly worse.
1970-71: Uprising in Poland
Submitted by Alex... on Oct 31 2008 14:59
A short history of the 1970-71 uprising by workers in Poland which saw strikes and occupations at workplaces across the country. Although suffering savage repression, the uprising forced the government to back down over plans to increase prices of basic consumer goods.
On the morning of December 14 1970, thousands of workers from the Gdansk shipyards downed tools and began marching into the city. Their objective was the local regional office of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), the party that had ruled the People's Republic of Poland since 1952. The protestors were met by police units and fighting between the two sides lasted into the evening.
Sweeping down on the supermarkets
Submitted by Rob Ray on Oct 30 2008 13:13
As supermarkets continue to hike their prices, it seems a response is being planned – and not before time. But will it work?
A new initiative from a few people in London, including Ian Bone and raw (one of the leading lights of the ex-Wombles and more recently of the London Anarchists network) which has both interesting and controversial elements to it is the Price Reduction campaign, which they intend to discuss in November and possibly l
70,000 Spanish truckers strike, blockade border with France
Submitted by anarchyjordan on Jun 9 2008 19:30
French and Spanish truckers blockaded roads on the border of south-western France on 9th June in protest at rising fuel prices.
In the latest show of distress with fuel prices, Spanish truckers on Monday began a blockade of their country's border with France, lining up their rigs and slowing them to a crawl to protest the cost of fuel. The strike blocked the highway in both directions in southwestern France.
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