strikes
Articles about workers' strikes, walkouts and industrial action.
Total and unions reach deal on oil refinery wildcats
Early reports indicate a deal to end the bitter jobs dispute at the Total-run Lindsey oil refinery, which has led to unofficial walkouts by thousands of workers across the country.
The agreement follows talks between union leaders and employers of contract staff at the North Lincolnshire site. Unions said the deal involved the reinstatement of 647 workers sacked for taking unofficial strike action and would be put to the workers on Monday.
Striking oil workers burn dismissal letters
In a show of defiance, fired workers burn dismissal letters and continue their wildcat stoppage. Includes a timeline of events.
Oil workers burn their dismissal letters in protest
Thousands of workers across England and Wales have walked out in support of 647 Lindsey oil refinery construction staff sacked for staging unofficial strikes.
It comes as Lindsey workers burned dozens of dismissal letters in protest.
Pyeongtaek strike continues in South Korea
A strike now completing its fourth week at Ssangyong Motors in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, remains a standoff as of this writing. The strike echoes in many ways the dynamic seen in the recent Visteon struggle in the UK and in battles over auto industry restructuring around the world. Involving, on the other hand, an outright factory seizure and occupation, and preparation for violent defense of the plant if necessary, it is the first struggle of its kind in South Korea for years.
Loren Goldner
(June 19)
French Strikes 1995-6
In the winter of '95 - '96 there was a series of mainly public sector strikes that brought France to a virtual standstill, but didn't clearly win. This text, translated from the French, doesn't go into detail about the facts of this strike movement, but reflects on some of its contradictions.
The strike and after...
Published Spring 1996
Foreword
Energy wildcat strikes spread across UK
The oil refinery wildcat strike over redundancies has escalated as workers from several power stations and oil terminals across the UK took unofficial industrial action.
The dispute flared a week ago at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire when a contractor laid off 51 workers while another employer on the site was hiring staff.
Around 1,200 contract workers at the terminal, which is owned by Total, have been taking unofficial action all week as efforts were made to convene talks.
Taxi drivers strike in China
More than 5 000 taxi drivers Xining, a city in the western province of Qinghai, went on strike during the night of Saturday the 13th of June over new licensing regulations.
This was followed the next day with a sit-in protest in front of the municipal government headquarters attended by several hundred people, who dispersed at 3pm when officials promised to address the issue. However, although the number of strikers apparently halved on Sunday, protests have continued, with a second sit-in on Monday of a similar size to the first.
Wildcat strike in Stockholm
Workers in the warehouse for the Swedish state’s alcohol monopoly have started a wildcat strike in response to management attempts to replace the workforce with short term workers.
Management has been trying for a long time to replace the workers with casualised workers on short term contracts, but now they are using the recession as an excuse for laying off workers, while they continue to hire agency staff.
Oil refinery wildcat enters third day
Strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolshire entered their third day today as talks between business leaders and employees broke down.
The unofficial strike action began at Lindsey Oil Refinery on Saturday as in protest over the loss of 51 jobs, cut by a sub-contractor while another employer on the site was hiring workers.
Over 1,000 workers in unofficial strike at Lindsey Oil Refinery
French oil company Total said on Friday that 1,200 contractors have walked out on unofficial strike over planned redundancies at its British Lindsey refinery.
Total said in a statement that 600 workers were protesting outside the refinery, but also claimed that production was not affected by walkout of over 1,000 of its workers.
The dispute centres around plans to reduce the number of contractors who have been working on an expansion project at the refinery.
London postal workers strike set for Friday, other regions to be balloted
Royal Mail is braced for further industrial unrest, with unions expected to ballot more regions for strike action as early as this week. It follows the vote last week by postal workers in London to stage a 24-hour walkout this Friday.
With plans to privatise the state-owned group in disarray, Jonathan DeCarteret, from the consultancy Post-Switch, is predicting that the London vote will prove to be the "starting pistol in a long summer of industrial strike action".
