strikes
Articles about workers' strikes, walkouts and industrial action.
Korean Sanggyong strike up against the wall
The Ssangyong Motors strike in Pyeongtaek, South Korea (near Seoul), is now in its eighth week, and the situation of the strikers is increasingly dire.
Loren Goldner
July 17
(The following article reports “just the facts”, based on communications from workers and other activists involved in the struggle.)
The Ssangyong Motors strike in Pyeongtaek, South Korea (near Seoul), is now in its eighth week, and the situation of the strikers is increasingly dire.
Royal Mail staff strike
More than 12,000 postal workers are on strike as of Friday in a row over jobs, pay and services.
The 24-hour strike will affect cities ranging from Edinburgh to Plymouth. The union has accused Royal Mail of cutting the pay of employees and reducing services.
Dave Ward, the union's deputy general secretary, said: "There are serious and growing problems in the postal sector which urgently need resolving.
Strikes, hunger strikes and clashes in Greece
Strikes, hunger strikes and environmental action leading to clashes with riot police open week after weekend of state terror in Greece.
After the weekend of terror in Greece, the mid-summer week has started with a wave of strikes and environmental actions, underlining that the spine of the movement is too strong to break.
Why Did the Los Angeles Supermarket Strike End in Defeat? - Letter to Red and Black Notes
The following letter from Internationalism, the US section of the International Communist current, is a comment on an article published in the last issue of R&BN on the failure of the 2003-2004 LA supermarket strikes.
While we wouldn't use the same words or formulations, there are certainly many things in Loren Goldner's "Notes on Another Defeat for Workers in the US: The Los Angeles Supermarket Strike of 2003-2004," which was published Red & Black Notes #19, that are on the right track.
Nationwide strike at South African World Cup building sites
Some 70,000 construction workers in South Africa have gone on strike, halting work on stadiums being built for the 2010 World Cup.
Unions are threatening to continue the strike as long as necessary if their demands for a 13% wage increase are not met. Organisers say they are confident the grounds will still be ready, unless the strike continues for months.
China: Over 100 teachers in Inner Mongolia strike
At the beginning of June, more than 100 teachers went on a five day strike in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia over wages.
The Wulanchabu City Board of Education director Duan Yong denies that teachers went on strike, despite Shangdu County’s primary and secondary schools being at a standstill and even college entrance exams being affected.
The wife of one teacher said:
Mongolia: strike at gold mine ends in partial victory
Workers at the Boroo gold mine in Mongolia won enhanced redundancy benefits from their Canadian employer Centerra Gold Inc. on the 16th of June after a three week strike.
The union had been negotiating for months demanding higher wages, better severance pay, and investigation of potential cyanide leakage into the environment. Workers went on strike on the 26th of May when the company suddenly announced that 50 workers were to be terminated.
Vietnamese workers stage walkout over management bullying
Over 300 workers at a Taiwanese company, Hwata Vina, in Ho Chi Minh City went on strike July 3 after complaining about managers’ draconian rules.
They said that the company, which produces water tanks and Inox appliances for kitchens, had made unreasonable stipulations. For example, workers were permitted to go to the toilet just three times a day for five minutes each. Workers would not get paid for periods when electricity was cut.
London Underground make new pay offer to tube staff
London Underground Ltd (LUL) has made what it claims is a final offer in an attempt to end a pay and jobs row which led to a 48-hour strike last month.
The two-year deal would see a 1.5% rise in the first year followed by RPI plus 0.5% the next year. LU's offer did not assure jobs, a main demand of a union. The RMT said it hoped to make "positive progress" on the issue of no job cuts.
The union went on strike as LUL failed to meet its promise of no compulsory redundancies as well as those on pay and management bullying.
Postal workers stage unofficial walkouts in Dalkeith, Scotland
"Unofficial and unlawful" strike action was taken by postal workers at Dalkeith Delivery Office last week, according to Royal Mail.
Both postmen and office staff took unofficial strike action mid morning on Monday, June 22. They returned to work the next day and took unofficial action again last Wednesday. The strikers returned to normal working duties on Friday morning.
A spokesman for Royal Mail said: "The industrial action in Dalkeith was unofficial and unlawful.
