Strike

More Refinery Workers Join Strike In The US

February 9, 2015 David Koenig, www.dispatch.com Resist! Labor Rights, Oil & Gas, Strike

The first nationwide strike at U.S. oil refineries since 1980 is spreading to two BP plants in the Midwest. The United Steelworkers union notified BP Plc. that workers at refineries in Ohio and Indiana would strike late last night, joining a walkout that began last week at nine other refineries. A BP spokesman said the company expects to continue operating with replacement workers and doesn’t expect a significant effect on production. About 3,800 steelworkers began a strike last Sunday at refineries from California to Kentucky, saying that negotiations with Shell Oil Co. had broken down. Shell is negotiating the national contract for other oil companies.

Is Tony Mazzocchi’s Spirit Haunting Big Oil Again?

February 4, 2015 Steve Early, www.PopularResistance.org Organize! Oil, Strike, Worker Rights and Jobs

Thousands of oil workers walked out, for the first time in 35 years, over issues and demands that Tony Mazzocchi helped publicize and build coalitions around for much of his career. About 30,000 refinery employees are still covered by the USW agreement that expired last weekend. Nearly 4,000 of them are on strike at nine plants already, including Teosaro refineries in Martinez and Carson, CA. Other USW members, including those employed at Chevron in Richmond, CA. may join the walkout if industry negotiators fail to address non-wage issues summarized by USW vice-president Gary Beevers as follows: “Onerous overtime, unsafe staffing levels, dangerous conditions the industry continues to ignore; the daily occurrences of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions that threaten local communities without the industry doing much about it and the flagrant contracting out that impacts health and safety on the job.”

Textile Workers’ Strike Stirs Discontent In Sisi’s Egypt

January 17, 2015 Hossam el-Hamalawy, www.alaraby.co.uk Resist! Egypt, Labor Unions, Strike

Thousands of workers have been on strike since Tuesday in Egypt's largest textile mill. They are withdrawing their labour in a dispute over bonuses, while also protesting against the government's recent decision to scrap cotton subsidies. The Misr Company for Spinning and Weaving, located in Mahalla el-Kubra, at the heart of the Nile Delta, has been a hotbed of industrial militancy in Egypt since at least the 1940s. Strikes in Mahalla have historically set the tone for the country's class politics. If a strike in Mahalla wins, an upturn in the textile sector's industrial actions can spill over to the rest of the manufacturing population.

Italy: General Strike Against Labor Reforms In Over 50 Italian Cities

December 17, 2014 Revolution News, www.bullhorn.nationofchange.org/a> Resist! Italy, Labor Rights, Labor Unions, Strike

A general strike called by two major Italian trade unions on Friday hit schools, hospitals, airports, highways, ports and public transport across the country, as public and private sector workers protested against unpopular reforms to the labor market and cuts to public spending. The strike was initiated by Italy’s first and third-largest unions, CGIL and UIL, with the second-largest labor confederation, CISL, refusing to participate. More than 50 rallies or protest marches at various locations were expected to accompany the walkout, held under the motto “Cosi non va!” (approximately: “This is not the right way”). Railways staff are among those taking part in the strike, despite having been initially banned from participation by the government.

Belgium On General Strike Against Austerity

December 15, 2014 Xinhua News Agency, www.globalpost.com Resist! Belgium, Labor Unions, Strike

Belgium's main public transport company, STIB, announced on Thursday that it would cease operations during the planned general strike in the country on Dec. 15. STIB operates bus, underground and tram networks in the Belgian capital. Its sister company De Lijn, which operates services in the northern Flanders region of the country, also said on Thursday that it would not run services during the strike. The general strike is the cumulation of a series of regional strikes that have hit Belgium since November in response to the government's economic policies.

Fast Food Workers Strike In 190 Cities

December 5, 2014 Emma Stieglitz and Alex Edwards, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Labor Rights, Strike

Two years after 200 New York City fast-food workers walked off their jobs, sparking a nationwide movement for $15 and union rights, cooks and cashiers at McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and other major national chains went on strike Thursday in more than 190 cities— the most ever—joined for the first time by convenience store clerks and dollar-store workers in two dozen cities. Cooks and cashiers marched through fast-food restaurants and drive thrus across the country, delivering a Christmas wish list to managers in Wilmington, DE, wearing "Lucha Por $15" shirts in Phoenix, and holding a huge banner in Knoxville that read, “Knoxville Needs a Raise.” Home care workers, many alongside their clients, raised signs in cities like Minneapolis, Chicago and, Los Angeles, calling for $15 an hour. And airport workers supported strikers in 10 cities, including New York and Minneapolis.

Want Thanksgiving Off? Follow These Whole Foods Workers’ Example

November 28, 2014 Amien Essif, www.inthesetimes.com Resist! Labor Rights, Labor Unions, Strike

One year after workers staged a “Strikesgiving” protest at a Whole Foods Market in Chicago, the company’s stores in the Midwest have quietly implemented a new policy for scheduling and compensating workers on Thanksgiving Day—and workers are calling it a victory. Frustrated that their store would remain open on the national holiday, about seven workers at the Whole Foods on Halsted Street in Chicago protested by walking off the job or neglecting to come in to work the day before Thanksgiving last year, demanding paid time off for all workers. The strikers—members of the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, which launched a Fight for 15 campaign at Whole Foods in the spring of 2013—also called for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation.

Walmart Workers Promise Biggest Black Friday Strike Ever

November 15, 2014 Bryce Covert, www.thinkprogress.org Organize! Labor Unions, Strike, Walmart

Walmart employees who are organizing as part of OUR Walmart are promising the biggest strikes ever on Black Friday, saying more employees will participate than the previous two years. Workers have gone on strike and protested for the past two Black Fridays. This time, they will also be joined by “tens of thousands” of community members, according to Stephanie Ly, AFT New Mexico president and a teacher, the “largest mobilizing of working families we’ve seen in recent history.” Teachers, elected officials, members of the clergy, and others will participate in protests at stores, flash mobs, marches, and prayer vigils. While Walmart some workers will go on strike, others will be asked to report to work the day beforehand: Thanksgiving. Nearly 1 million workers will be asked to report to work on the national holiday to keep the store open all day, with Black Friday shopping deals starting at 6 p.m.

Strikers Close Costa Rican Port

October 30, 2014 Weekly News Update, www.weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com Resist! Costa Rica, Labor Rights, Strike

A longstanding dispute over the privatization of the port at Limón on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast led unionized dockworkers at the port’s Limón and Moín terminals to walk off the job on Oct. 22 for the second time in two years [see Update #1134]. The open-ended strike left three ships stranded at the two terminals, which handle some 80% of Costa Rica's foreign trade. Facing his first major labor crisis since he took office on May 8, President Luis Guillermo Solís, of the center-leftCitizen Action Party (PAC), responded quickly. He sent some 150 police officers to take control of the terminals late on Oct. 22; 68 people were arrested in the operation.

Mexico Universities Call Strike In Solidarity With Missing Students

October 17, 2014 Renee Lewis & Débora Poo Soto, www.america.aljazeera.com Resist! Mexico, Protests, Strike, Student Activism

Students from major Mexico City universities have called a two-day strike and were set to hold a rally Wednesday at the national attorney general’s office to call for the safe return of dozens of rural students who disappeared after clashes with police in Guerrero state last month, leading to public outrage. "We are on strike for 48 hours in support of the disappeared students in Guerrero," Silvia Caballero, a 21-year-old student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), told Al Jazeera. Survivors of the Sept. 26 violence joined Mexico City protesters in informal campus activities and rallies demanding justice for their missing classmates. Several other universities joined the UNAM strike on Tuesday and Wednesday. Family members of the missing students were to attend the protest at the attorney general's office in the capital, organizers said.

Biggest Fast Food Workers Strike Ever

September 3, 2014 Strike Fast Food, www.strikefastfood.org Resist! Fast Food, Labor, Strike

McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s workers among those to walk off their jobs as movement continues to grow; home care workers join as movement spreads to new industry “All across the country right now there’s a national movement going on made up of fast-food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity. There is no denying a simple truth. America deserves a raise. Give America a raise. …You know what, if I were looking for a job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union. …I’d want a union looking out for me.” -- President Obama, Sept 1, 2014, Milwaukee, WI Coming off a convention at which they vowed to do “whatever it takes” to win $15 and the right to form a union, fast-food workers in more than 150 cities will walk off their jobs Thursday as their movement intensifies and continues to spread. A day after President Obama praised their campaign, workers from Oakland, Calif. to Opelika, Ala., said they will strike at the country’s major fast-food restaurants, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC. Workers in Little Rock, Ark. Minneapolis, Minn; and Rochester, NY are among those who will walk off their jobs for the first time.

Millions Of Workers Strike In Argentina

August 30, 2014 Trotskyist Fraction, www.ft-ci.org Resist! Argentina, Strike, Unions

Member of the Argentine National Congress Nicolás del Caño and the member of the Buenos Aires Province Congress Christian Castillo of the PTS in the Left and the Workers’ Front (FIT), took part in the road blockades during the national strike. “Millions of workers went on strike around the country. Most of them don’t belong to the unions that called the strike but want to send a strong message to the government and the bosses” Christian Castillo took part in the rally along the Pan American Highway with other PTS leaders and workers from Kraft foods, Lear, RR Donnelley, Pepsico, FATE and other Left groups and community organizations. Castillo said “Although Moyano [the head of the CGT union] called for this national strike without organizing workers or demonstrations, it became massive” And he continued “A big number of factories struck, even Lear and Volkswagen, where the bosses had to designate this day as a day of rest because workers didn’t show up, whether or not union bureaucrats [referring to Pigannelli] like it. The few subways and buses that are running are almost empty. The workers and the people were able to express their dissatisfaction with inflation, layoffs and the high income taxes”.

Mass Public Sector Walk-Out In England

July 11, 2014 Natasha Culzac, www.independent.co.uk Resist! Education, Labor, Strike, Teachers, Unions, United Kingdom (UK)

Tens of thousands of teachers are walking out of the classroom today in protest against pay, workload pressures and pension changes as the Coalition government downplays the extent of the strike. As many as one million public sector workers are staging industrial action, with health workers and civil servants joining teachers in a mass demonstration against austerity measures. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) says more than 20,000 teachers could take part, with nationwide rallies and pickets planned for towns and cities ranging from Cambridge, Leicester, Swansea, Torquay and the Isle of Wight. The strike has been condemned by the Department of Education (DfE) as disrupting to pupils’ education and harming the reputation of the teaching profession, while the government said that it actually expects most schools to open their doors. A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “The vast majority of dedicated public sector workers did not vote for today's action, and early indications are that most are turning up for work as usual.

Coca Cola’s Evil Empire: Campaign To Stop Coke

June 16, 2014 Bernard Alvarez, www.thegic.org Resist! Coca Cola, Corporatism, Labor, police brutality, Strike, Unions, Violence

Dear Sisters & Brothers: Strong labor unions are critical to improve wages, working conditions and human rights for all workers and for democracies to flourish. For workers in Colombia and Guatemala, a strong union can also mean the difference between life and death. The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke originated to stop the gruesome cycle of violence against union leaders and organizers in Colombia in efforts to crush their union, SINALTRAINAL. Since then, violence, abuse and exploitation leveled against Coke workers and communities have been uncovered in other countries as well, notably China, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Mexico and Turkey. Colombia In Colombia, the importance of winning the struggle against Coke was best summed up by SINALTRAINAL Vice President Juan Carlos Galvis when he said: "If we lose this fight against Coke, First we will lose our union, Next we will lose our jobs, And then we will all lose our lives!"

Puerto Rico Unions Threaten Strike Against Austerity Budget

June 14, 2014 Yana Kunichoff, www.inthesetimes.com Resist! Austerity, Puerto Rico, Strike, Unions

Public union workers from a handful of unions across Puerto Rico have spent the last week blocking ports, shutting down thoroughfares and slowing public transit. But that may be just the beginning: In the coming week, workers are expected to vote on whether to hold a general strike across the country. The unions are standing against the austerity budget proposed this spring by members of the U.S. commonwealth’s General Assembly to deal with the country’s recent bond downgrade and looming payment of its debts to bondholders. The Fiscal Sustainability Act of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the budget is called, would allow the government to bring in “emergency powers” to deal with the crisis. Under this authority, it could renegotiate all public employees’ contracts, liquidate unused sick days, and freeze salaries—thereby gutting workers’ collective bargaining powers. Privatizing the commonwealth’s electrical company, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, has also been placed on the table as an option for stanching the crisis; the emergency measures would also include closing 100 public schools. The budget must be passed on June 30 to coincide with the beginning of the 2015 fiscal year on July 1. And as that deadline nears, unions across the island have been escalating their protests.

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