strikes
Paper Boys: One Man’s Account of Picketing at Wapping
One man's very personal account of the often violent picketing during the News International strike at Wapping in 1985-6.
PREFACE
They said we were greedy printers but we showed them all.
Since the Winter of Discontent, when the Soft Cops were no longer able to control the workers their role for Capital has been on the decline and that of Hard Cop on the increase.
Bus strikes in East London
Bus drivers and engineers in East London walked out today in a 24-hour action which stopped around 750 buses and either froze or disrupted 58 routes.
The East London Bus Company employs 2,600 workers, of which all but 200 are members of the Unite Union. The union balloted its members after the company imposed a pay freeze on its staff, claiming the recession had forced their hand. The vote was in favour of strike action by 84%.
GurgaonWorkersNews no.21 – November 2009
Workers group's newsletter from India's special export zone, with workplace reports from the area and detailed coverage of the huge strikes of auto workers in October-November 2009.
GurgaonWorkersNews no.21 – November 2009
November 4, 2009
(Automobile Workers Strike – 20th of October 2009)
Gurgaon Workers News – Newsletter 21 (November 2009)
Peiraeus dockworkers on new 48h strike
Dockworkers in Peiraeus defy political pressure by extending their strike for another 48h.
Peiraeus dockworkers have defied mounting political pressure to return to work, after their second round of striking, by announcing another 48h strike that will result in a total week of no import or export from the harbour's main commercial pier.
Teachers’ strike ends in Chengdu
A monumental strike by about 1,000 teachers from three privately-owned primary and secondary schools ended Monday, November 9, when the government intervened and temporarily took over management at one of the schools.
The teachers began their strike Thursday, November 5, with the support of many students and parents, for improvement of teachers' salaries, benefits, work conditions, and school facilities. Although the teachers have gone back to work, they are still negotiating with the owners, now through the arbitration of the government and with input from parents.
The New York newsboys' strike of 1899
A short account of the successful 1899 strike of newspaper delivery boys in New York City.
Hawking newspapers in the 19th century was hard work. Rather than working for the newspaper itself, a newsboy—usually a kid or young teen from a poor family, often homeless himself—had to buy copies of the paper from the publisher, then sell them independently.
Why did we risk it all? Because we won't go down without a fight.
In August and September 2009, about 250 members of teaching staff at Tower Hamlets College went on strike over compulsory redundancies and cuts to course provision. Catalyst spoke to one of the strikers, Rachel, in the aftermath of the strike, about the up and downs of the battle against the bosses.
While the recent media spin is suggesting that we're 'on our way out of recession', the reality on the ground is that workers are still facing attacks across sectors in the forms of job cuts and community provisions.
In the Sorting Office - on the 2009 post strikes
A postman explains Royal mail's "modernisation" programme and how it affects workers and service delivery.
Like Roy Mayall writing in your issue of 24 September, I am a postman and concerned at the absence in the media of any account of how mail delivery is organised and what Royal Mail’s modernisation programme entails. The programme was introduced because the popularity of email and texting has caused a drop in mail volume.
Post strikes suspended: this deal is no deal! Resume action!
Joe Thorne from the Commune examines the CWU's decision to call off postal workers industrial action in order for "negotiations" to occur, and calls for postal workers to take the struggle into their own hands.
At the top of the CWU-Royal Mail agreement is a header. “Final Draft – 5 November 2009 —- 1.10AM” (available as PDF attachment below). This innocuous line is emblematic of the CWU negotiating team’s strategy: it indicates that the text was agreed more than 7 hours after the strikes were called off.
Anatomy of an Industrial Struggle: Chrysler Factory at Tonsley Park in Adelaide 1976-1978
An account of two years of struggle at an Australian Chrysler plant by one of the workers, including a detailed look at the role of the union.
Introduction
This article by Garry Hill, a worker at the Tonsley Park Chrysler plant near Adelaide in Australia, describes a series of struggles in which he was actively involved.
