services
Articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in the service sector, as distinct from retail, energy and communications.
Korean hotel workers illegally outsourced
Workers at the Renaissance Hotel in Seoul wage an important struggle against outsourcing.
A determined group of hotel workers in Korea - 13 women and 2 men - are waging a critical battle against outsourcing.
What now Norwich? Norwich Union job cuts
Comment on the latest case of call centre jobs "transferred" to India, and the trades union response to it, from Norwich Class War.
The news that fresh forced redundancies at Norwich Union by Aviva can only have come with shocked resignation to many people in Norwich this morning, as they gained the knowledge via the media that the present culture of ‘offshoring’ jobs to India continues to wreak havoc on Norwich’s work force and call centre staff across the country.
1993-1996: The Dublin fight against water charges
A short history of the successful direct action campaign of non-payment which prevented the imposition of charges for water in Dublin, Ireland.
Winning the water war
1922: The Hong Kong strike
The history of a huge general strike in Hong Kong which won many concessions, including a 20% pay hike.
Hong Kong, Pearl of The Orient? Bastion of democracy against communism? Or a battleground for 200 years between worker and master?
Canary Wharf cleaners to ballot for strike action
Cleaners at some of Britain's leading banks and financial institutions are to vote on strike action after a long-running campaign to make bosses improve working conditions and pay them a living wage.
The cleaners' union T&G announced the ballot - which will begin on Monday - at a rally today (Friday) in London's Canary Wharf, where the invisible army of 850 cleaners help to maintain some of the world's costliest real estate while being paid a pittance.
Water torture - Privatisation leaves us high and dry
Brighton news sheet Schnews takes an irreverent look at the privatisation of water supplies in the UK, which since 1988 has lead to huge price hikes for users and bumper profits for corporations – a situation being repeated the world over.
Corporations have to splash out billions every year to persuade us to buy unneeded crap. But no such problems exist when they have a grip on more essential, life-sustaining, natural resources, like water. You don’t need to fork out millions for flashy PR men and mount big dollar advertising splashes to flog H2O. Who has to persuade us to use water? They’ve got us over a barrel on that one.
UK: Water meters may be forced on millions
This summer may be Britain's worst drought for thirty years, and hose-pipe bans and standpipes are already being discussed.
Sound similar to the news stories every year around this time? Well not quite.
Radical union's picket wins worker back unpaid wages
Members of the Chicago General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World labour union (IWW) last week picketted and called for a boycott of the Ideal Hand Car Wash in Chicago’s Albany Park neighbourhood.
The managers and owners of the business refused to pay Neil Rysdahl, a longtime member of the IWW, the $227.50 he was owed for over 45 hours of work he preformed for them.
Occupied Bauen Hotel - the struggle continues
If this story sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because Labourstart ran a campaign last year in support of workers in Argentina who, faced with a mismanaged business about to close decided to take matters into their own hands.
That company was Zanon and it's part of a network of worker-managed businesses that are transforming people's lives. At the centrr of that network is the Hotel Bauen, a four star hotel in Buenos Aires, run by its workers.
Employee sabotage in a conservative think-tank
A brief account of sabotage of a right-wing think-tank by one of its employees, Reggie, a mail room clerk.
I worked at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank on Capitol Hill [in Washington DC]. It's a group of attorneys, columnists, whatever, who crank out - daily or weekly or whatever - information. It's printed downstairs, in the Xerox room, and distributed to senators, congressmen, and other influential people. In a couple of cases I delivered packages addressed to Ed Meese.
