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Vol. 74/No. 30      August 9, 2010

 
On the Picket Line
 
Textile workers strike
for wage raise in Pakistan

More than 5,000 power loom workers in several cities in Pakistan went on strike July 20 demanding a 17 percent wage increase. A protest action called by the Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM) was attacked by police with tear-gas shelling and a baton charge.

The LQM said scores of workers were injured and more than 100 taken into custody, though police denied this claim. Demonstrations took place in Faisalabad, Sadhar, Jhang Road, Samundri Road, and Ghulam Mohammad Abad, reported Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper. The rallies took place despite the imposition of a law in the district July 19, banning all public gatherings after two individuals accused of blasphemy were killed.

—Brian Williams

Italy: Auto workers
halt production at Fiat

Fiat workers in Turin, Italy, went on strike July 23 to protest the size of a bonus and the firing of five unionists. The workers stopped work for two hours per shift, slowing production, reported the Wall Street Journal. The factory produces Alfa Romeos.

In June workers there voted by a 63 percent margin to accept the company’s demands that penalize employees for taking too many sick days, shorten their lunch breaks, and forbid them from striking during periods of high demand. FIOM, which called the strike action, was the only one of five unions to vote against the plan.

“He wants to impose American-style standards,” factory worker Nello Niglio told the New York Times, in response to the company’s takeback demands. “Too much work is going to kill our workers.” Among the steps taken by the bosses is to send a doctor to the home of employees who do not show up for work. Fiat bought up 20 percent of Chrysler last year after the U.S. automaker filed for bankruptcy.

—Brian Williams

Strike by workers at Mott’s
in N.Y. solid after 2 months

The strike by workers at the Mott’s applesauce and juice plant in upstate New York is solid after two months on strike. The unionists, members of Local 220 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, walked out May 23 after rejecting concessions demanded by the company. The bosses’ proposed contract called for a $1.50 an hour wage cut, eliminating pensions for future workers, and reducing company 401(k) contributions. The company has refused to put a new offer on the table.

According to the union only seven or eight workers out of a workforce of 305 people have crossed the picket line. The company is attempting to operate the plant with temporary workers and company staff. Mott’s is owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

—Brian Williams

New Zealand rally condemns
government’s antiunion plans

AUCKLAND, New Zealand—As many as 300 people joined a union rally here July 18 outside the conference of the ruling National Party. Targeting the keynote speech by Prime Minister John Key, the protesters—who included representatives of most major unions—condemned proposed government measures that would hand employers more tools to harass and fire workers. The proposals would give bosses a freer hand to dismiss workers at any time in the first three months of their employment, and enable them to compel a worker to provide proof of illness for taking even one sick day. Union representatives would have to receive a boss’s consent to enter a workplace.

—Patrick Brown
 
 
Related articles:
Montreal longshoremen win guaranteed work  
 
 
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