steel industry
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in manufacturing, research and development, mining and materials around the world.
Three day strike at Venezuelan steelmaker
Workers launched a 72-hour strike at Venezuela's largest steelmaker, Ternium Sidor, late on Tuesday to protest stalled contract talks.
"The strike is for 72 hours and it started last night," said union leader Jose Rodriguez.
Workers have repeatedly shut Sidor, 60 percent owned by Argentina's Ternium, as part of demands for higher pay in what has been a 14-month dispute for a collective contract. The union on Monday called a 24-hour strike as part of the same dispute.
1919: US steel strike
While defeated by overwhelming police repression against pickets and union halls, the 1919 strike is significant in the history of organized class struggle in basic manufacturing and the high point of William Z. Foster's "bore from within" approach to syndicalism.
1919 Steel Strike
October 3, 1919
The Steel Strike Still Holds Public Attention
October 10, 1919
The Steel Strike is Still On
With Few if Any Changes
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
Algeria: Mittal steel workers launch wildcat strike
8000 workers at sites across the country have downed tools in protest at management plans to sack 1200 workers.
Workers at Annaba Pont Bouchet, El Hadjar, Hussein Dey, Réghaïa, Blida, Ksar El Boukhari, Oran, El Khroub et Skikda have all joined the strike, shutting the entire company down, from the docks to the foundries nothing is moving. Workers are demanding negotiations between management and the union over the programme of job cuts which is supposed to begin in September.
Mexican government kill striking workers
Mexican Police have shot and killed 2 steelworkers, injured 45 more in recapturing the occupied SICARTSA steel mill in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.
The workers of the Miners and Metalworkers Union (SNTMMRM) have been on strike since April 2nd demanding the reinstatement of Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, the union leader whose election victory was annulled by the government, and replaced with a more moderate candidate.
Pensions? What pensions? Legal battle with steel firm
Major legal battles have been taking place regarding private pension funds and the protections being offered to workers.
A case brought to the European court by unions Amicus and Community has had a major boost after the European Commission came out in support of their campaign to prove the government has failed to implement a directive which could have saved the pensions of over 1,000 steelworkers.
