strikes
Articles about workers' strikes, walkouts and industrial action.
Peiraeus dockworkers resume strikes
Peiraeus dockworkers have resumed striking against the sell out of the largest pier of Greece's main harbour to COSCO after negotiations collapse.
The Peiraeus dockworkers of Pier II of Greece's main commercial harbour have called a 48h strike starting Tuesday 3 November, thus resuming the industrial action that had seen sea commerce freeze for more than two weeks in early October.
Fujitsu UK workers set to strike
Union members at Fujitsu Services have voted for strike action over pensions, pay and job cuts.
The action is not yet decided. Senior Unite union reps are meeting today to decide the next move after 74 per cent of members who voted called for a walk out. Some 92 per cent agreed to industrial action short of a strike.
China: crisis, class struggle, and the 'harmonious society'
The global economic crisis had a severe effect on China. However, there has been much talk recently about its impressive recovery and the return of its economy to growth. This article analyses the situation in China, and argues that the economic crisis catalysed a wave of struggle which has continued into the present, regardless of the supposed health of the economy.
If we’re to believe the commentary to be found in the mainstream media, China is the economic powerhouse that will pull us through the global economic crisis. Though the economic slowdown which hit the country in late 2008 was widely reported, and led to claims that China’s meteoric rise was stalling, the country’s ‘recovery’ since has been the subject of many excited column inches.
Strike ballot for BA cabin crew
British Airways has said it is "disappointed" by the Unite union's decision to ballot 14,000 cabin crew about whether to take strike action.
Unions and management have been in talks since the announcement of cost-cutting measures earlier this month.
BA had said it would cut 1,700 jobs and freeze pay for current staff.
"Management's determination to impose unacceptable contractual changes on cabin crew leaves us no alternative," said Unite union boss Derek Simpson.
Initial impressions: Royal Mail Strike
Reports coming in from picket lines suggest a solid response from postal workers, with near 100% turnout in Bromley By Bow and Nine Elms, London, few in at Bristol and similarly tiny numbers crossing lines at Middlesborough.
Photographers have been down at Mount Pleasant and Bromley by Bow sorting offices, where they report good spirits from the strikers despite the early start and very few people crossing the picket lines.
Ssangyong occupier jailed
A union member from Ssangyong Motors involved in the strike and occupation of the plant against job losses was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on Friday.
The defendant, identified only by his surname Kim, was tried as one of the ringleaders of the occupation of the company's Pyeongtaek factory.
The Suwon District Court convicted Kim of incurring 2.29 billion won (1.96 million USD) in damages to the automaker and destroying 10 million won worth of office furniture.
Account of a well-prepared wildcat strike
Nick, an assembly line worker, recounts sabotage and a walkout at his factory when the workers contract expired.
I worked for a year in a typical World War II-style plant with a saw tooth tin roof and smoke stacks billowing oily gray smoke. There were 1,000 of us poor bastards working there, doing mind less arm and wrist repetitions thousands of times per day, producing a basic industrial product.
Peiraeus dockworkers strike strong despite political and international pressure
The strike of 1.500 dockworkers holds strong in Peiraeus despite rising political pressure from the Socialist government and the Chinese Embassy.
The dockworkers' strike in Peiraeus, Greece's largest harbour, is on its 15th day and has been extended until Sunday 18 October, bringing the newly sworn Socialist government of Greece to the verge of a nervous breakdown.
A letter from a postman on the 2009 strikes
A Royal Mail worker describes the background to the 2009 national strike vote, including details of how managers have been manipulating the figures to justify cuts.
Old people still write letters the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a biro, folding up the letter into an envelope, writing the address on the front before adding the stamp. Mostly they don’t have email, and while they often have a mobile phone – bought by the family ‘just in case’ – they usually have no idea how to send a text.
Wildcat strike in Hartlepool
Hundreds of workers walked out in the morning of 12 October at an offshore construction yard in a dispute over union recognition.
The Peterlee mail reported that workers want Unite to be given official recognition at the Heerema site in Greenland Road, in Hartlepool, but talks are believed to have stalled in the last few weeks.
That led to tradesmen calling a wildcat strike this morning with an estimated 200 workers standing outside the gates of the site.
