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General strike in South Africa
Hundreds of thousands of workers yesterday (Thursday 18th) supported trade union giant Cosatu’s one-day general strike in protest against job losses.
Huge marches brought the central business districts of Johannesburg and Durban to a standstill as police sealed roads and businesses closed shop. The strike also crippled some gold mines and shut numerous schools, but other sectors of the economy were largely unaffected.
Posties pique - Royal Mail workers out on wildcats
With postal workers already angry at the Royal Mail's decision to impose a 2.9% pay offer, two small wildcat strikes have broken out in Oxford and Wolverhampton
As they were underway, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) announced its intention to ballot for industrial action.
US: Shattuck Cinema workers are going union
Landmark Shattuck Cinema workers are fed up. Years of bad hours, poor pay, a hostile work environment and the demoralsing treatment from theatre management has led the Cinema workers of Berkeley, CA, to push for a union; for the One Big Union of the Industrial Workers of the World.
At 4pm on May 12, 2006, approximately 80 Wobblies and supporters gathered in what some hailed as one of the largest IWW gatherings in recent Bay Area history, next to the May Day contingent earlier this month.
5,000 jobs to go at NTL
Cable company NTL will tomorrow announce a jobs cull, axing almost a third of its British workforce as it pushes for £250m in annual cost savings from its £3.4bn merger with rival Telewest.
Around 5,000 jobs are expected to go from the combined company's workforce of 17,000 over the next few years.
Asda Wal-Mart national strike ballot
GMB Asda Wal-Mart depots launch national strike ballot following refusal of collective bargaining rights and non payment of 2005 bonuses.
GMB shop stewards at a meeting today in Manchester voted unanimously to commence the balloting process for a national strike in Asda Wal-Mart to secure collective bargaining at the 20 distribution depots and to secure payment of the 2005 bonus and safe work rates.
Swindon hospital to axe up to 200 jobs
GMB, Britain’s general union, attacked plans by the management of the Great Western Hospital in Swindon to axe up to 200 jobs, 99 of which were likely to involve redundancy.
Trade unions at the Great Western Hospital were told today (4 May) that the Trust needed to make £2. 2m in savings per annum as a result of a financial deficit. The Trust is required to achieve a balanced budget this year and faces a potential deficit of £5m.
Ryton Peugeot factory closure - local anarchists speak
A member of West Midlands Anarchists speaks to libcom.org news about the impending closure of Peugeot's Ryton factory near Coventry, which will cost thousands of jobs.
"Peugeot made a profit of over one million euros last year, and how did it repay its workers and the Ryton plant near Coventry? Not with bonuses and pay rises, but with redundancy. The workers at Ryton have been making the most successful car in the company’s history the Peugeot 206, therefore the unions have stated that the plant is profitable.
Canada: Transport janitors threaten wildcat strike
Staff on Toronto public transport could take the action in response to cuts in day jobs which workers say is a cost-cutting move which will harm safety. The proposed cuts follow one janitor saving a 4-year-old child who had been abducted.
A wildcat strike which could begin as early as May 8 would grind the transport system the TTC to a halt, and force the 700,000 people who rely on the city's buses, streetcars and subways every work day to find alternate transportation.
Spain: Thousands march against new labour laws
As millions fight new employment laws in France, last week 5,000 people marched in Madrid against new proposed labour reforms in Spain.
On Saturday 1st April the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist trade union, the CNT, held a demonstration and workers arrived in buses from all over the country to attend.
UK: Bus drivers to come out over pay
With pay stagnating and conditions under constant review by management bus workers in the Midlands have voted three to one in favour of industrial action.
Three days of action planned for 22nd April, 28th April and the 8th May many services across the midlands will grind to a halt causing massive disruption. The workers have taken their demands time and time again to the management but after the last talks broke down the workers have decided to take action.
