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Vol. 73/No. 12      March 30, 2009

 
On the Picket Line
 
Workers sit in at packaging plant
in Scotland to fight layoffs

EDINBURGH, Scotland—Workers at Prisme Packaging, a small cardboard box manufacturer in Dundee, staged a sit-in at the plant March 4. Earlier that day the company announced that all of the 12 workers would be laid off without any severance payments.

The workers have kept the nonunion factory occupied 24 hours a day, sleeping on couches in the office and eating food donated by a constant stream of local people backing them.

“The support we got has been tremendous,” said Christina Falconer. "It comes from all over the world, even from New Zealand.”

Some of the workers have been working in the factory as long as 14 years. They are demanding an explanation for the closure of the plant from the manager, who they haven’t seen since he resigned, as well as the money they are owed. The factory still contains the machinery, which puts the workers in a stronger position.

“If this could happen to us it could happen to anyone,” said Maureen Duffy, a machine operator, stressing that they were not fighting only for themselves but for everyone in the same position.

—Filip Tedelund

Strikes and factory sit-ins
spread across Egypt

Strikes and sit-ins spread across six provinces in Egypt March 5. More than 3,000 workers in Menoufia province sat in at the Andrama Textiles factory when the company failed to pay an annual bonus and the Prophet Mohammad Anniversary bonus.

For the fourth time, more than 300 cotton gin workers in Menya province refused to accept their February pay, which the company had reduced, saying the workers had only met 65 percent of expected production. The workers noted that the company has not provided enough raw cotton to run all the machines.

Some 150 women workers in the Mansoura-Spain Garments factory in Dakahlia province went on strike after the company suspended the union's chairman and delayed payment of allowances. The workers accuse the company's main investor, United Bank, and the company manager of attempting to force workers to quit so that the plant can be sold without paying them severance.

Strikes and sit-ins also took place in Qena, Alexandria, Port Said, and Qalyubia.

—Sam Manuel

Indonesian workers defend
minimum pay raise

More 1,000 workers on the island of Java in Indonesia rallied outside the district court in Gresik regency to protest violations of the minimum wage law by employers, reported the Jakarta Post. A 2008 gubernatorial decree raised the minimum wage in the region by 17 percent to $80 a month.

The Indonesian Employers' Association filed suit against the decree and refuses to pay the raise until there is a court ruling. Workers say the suit is only one of many tricks used by the employers to not comply with the decree. A unionist speaking at the court rally added that many companies had already replaced permanent workers with contractual ones, and locked and closed factories without providing severance payments, reported the Post.

—Sam Manuel  
 
 
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