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Assembly Line - B. Traven
This is an early Traven story, taken, in an uncredited translation, (probably by Traven himself - I have Anglicised the spelling) from The Night Visitor and other stories, Allison & Busby, 1983 - a volume long out of print. The original German version - Der Grossindustrielle - was first published by the Buchergilde Gutenburg in 1928, as part of the collection Der Busch.
UK: Health and Safety Executive cosy with bosses 'shock'
A report brought out by the Hazards campaign has shown that the government’s Health and Safety Executive have been deliberately not prosecuting offending companies and culling records of offenders from its website.
A series of 20 Freedom of Information requests have shown that the number of prosecutions by the government watchdog has dropped by a third over the last year since the executive brought in a new ‘business-friendly’ strategy.
HSE brought 712 prosecutions in 2004/05, down from 928 in 2003/04. It secured just 673 convictions, down from 887 the preceding year.
Mozambique: Wildcat sugar strike ends
A two day wildcat strike at the Sena company, Mozambique's largest sugar producer, ended on Friday, with promises by the company of a new wage scale with fewer levels in April.
Allafrica.com reported that the current wage scale has been in force since 2002, the year when the company's sugar mill, at Marromeu on the south bank of the Zambezi, reopened. No sugar had been produced there since 1986, when the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels destroyed the mill.
UK workers vote for mass strike over pensions crisis
Tuesday 28th March could see strike action by one and a half million workers across more than nine different unions. The strike has been provoked by an attack on the local government pension scheme, with the labour government planning to increase the age workers can retire at.
With this attack workers will lose the right to retire at 60 – a right that had been established for those with more than 25 years service. Many of these are low paid workers who statistically die earlier.
France: Hundreds of thousands fight attacks on young workers
France has been hit with a wave of strikes, protests, marches and university occupations in recent days as workers, students and young people fight a new legal state assault on employment rights, reports Jef Costello for libcom.org news.
Israel: Ashdod Port shut down by wildcat strike
Hundreds of port workers yesterday extended disruptions to service to a full wildcat stoppage over pay demands in defiance of bosses and unions.
Globes online, an Israeli business news website, carried the following article which illustrates the seeming incredulity of Port bosses at the action:
Ashdod Port operations workers initiated disruptions and sanctions last night in a dispute with management on the workers’ financial demands. Ships cannot be loaded or unloaded as a consequence.
US: Workers score big victory against Starbucks at Labour Board
New York, NY - The Industrial Workers of the World Starbucks Workers Union won a watershed victory yesterday...
...in the first National Labour Relations Board conflict over unfair labour practices between the world's largest coffee chain and the baristas who work there.
Faced with the prospect of having its widespread union-busting campaign exposed in a public hearing, Starbucks agreed to remedy all of the myriad violations committed against workers who have organised a union.
UK: Plymouth postie walkout
Postmen in Plymouth staged a six-hour walkout at midnight on Monday over changes to shift patterns.
The strike hit the North Central delivery office, and affected services despite managers scabbing in an attempt to maintain services.
Mexico: Nationwide wildcat miners’ strike
More than a quarter of a million miners and steelworkers walked off the job between March 1 - 3 in wildcat strikes at 70 companies in at least eight states from central to northern Mexico virtually paralysing the mining industry.
While the strike has ended, there are reasons to believe that this could be the first act in an unfolding drama that could challenge Mexican employers, the corrupt “official” unions, and the conservative Mexican government. Stay in your seats, the play has only begun.
By Dan La Botz
Finland: indefinite transport strike to start
Workers at 21 road haulage firms, 56 bus companies and ten warehouse terminals are to go on indefinite strike in Finland from Sunday, 6pm.
Around 11,000 workers, members of the Transport Workers' Union will be striking.
The strike is likely to affect around 50% of long-distance bus services, and many local services in cities. It may also affect port operations and goods distribution, and waste collection.
