strikes

The one day strike will hit driving tests, regional centres controlling the flow of motorway traffic as well as the half yearly introduction of new number plates, and is in response to a series of below inflation pay offers and widening pay gaps between the predominantly female staffed DVLA and the predominantly male DfT and related agencies.

Air traffic controllers in Ireland have voted for 24-hour strikes this Thursday after several weeks of unofficial overtime ban. The strike, organised by the Balpa union, is likely to ground flights at all three airports.

These include increasing wages by 4.5% and adding workers hired through HR firms to the group pay agreement. Instead, management is only willing to increase wages to its direct employees, with a 0.5% blanket increase as well as an additional 3% to be rewarded selectively according to individual performance.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working for the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) are furious that a below inflation pay offer has been imposed on them at a successful time for the museum.

The workers are demanding a wage increase of over 100%, from 1,100 to 2,500 meticais (from US$46 to US$104), as well as protective clothing, overtime for working on Sundays and the right to a day off in the event of the death of a family member.

On February 14 the Mexican Consejo de la Judicatura Federal reversed an earlier ruling, declaring that the six-plus month strike of unionized workers in Cananea, Sonora may continue.

The panel had previously ruled on January 11, 2008 that the strike was illegal, due to a technicality. This ruling lead to a brutal attack by Mexican federal police later that same day.

Michelin - Workers at the factory in Toul (Meurthe et Moselle) began strike action after plans were announced to close it down. As well as occupying and blockading the plant with pickets of burning tyres the 826 workers also confined two managers to their offices during the four-day strike.

The 1100 workers in Cananea have been out since 31 July, demanding improved hygiene and security, and show no signs of abating, despite the picket line being attacked by a combined force of 800 police (including the hated Policía federativa preventativa [PFP] who crushed the Oaxaca revolt in 2006) and milita

The striking bin staff had been complaining about management bullying after staff refused to double their workload due to lack of vehicles and under-staffing. As part of what workers called management's "bully tactics", four refuse workers had been moved onto different crews sparking anger amongst the depot and leading to the wildcat action.

With inflation at close to 3%, ver.di is demanding an 8-percent hike or a minimum increase of 200 euros ($290) per month over the next 12 months. Employers have offered a five percent raise, with the increase to be implemented in three stages, and are insisting that a new contract run for two years. They also want to increase the working week from 38.5 to 40 hours.

Yazaki Haiphong Vietnam Co, a Japanese car-part manufacturer, is based in Nomura Industrial Park, where 2,000 workers from different companies were on strike earlier this month for similar grievances. Wages were increased in January, but pensions and bonuses were cut.

Staff at the Hollingdean Depot downed tools on Wednesday morning in retaliation to having tightly-knit crews broken up by managers. Four men have reportedly been moved from one lorry to another as management try to address the problem. Another worker said his cousin, who also works at the depot, had been "punished" for having time off sick by being put onto another shift.

Workers at the hypermarket have been on strike since February the first.

Workers are making a series of demands, many related to reforms of the antiquated civil service statutes, many of which haven't changed since 1958, shortly after independence.

The strikes have virtually paralysed the country as workers nation-wide seek to defend their pensions and protest against a government that has broken its promises.

The planned strike at France Télévisions against 'reforms' was successful. At France 3, seems to be targeted for privatisation as it is supposedly too critical of the current government 56% of all employees joined the strike, rising to 60% in regioal centres.

The strikes led to 50% of flight from Orly airport being cancelled with many others suffering delays of up to five hours. Marseille, Nice, Lyon and Toulouse airports were forced to cancel flights to Orly knowing that they would not be able to land. The Airport at Roissy was largely unaffected.

The Grand Littoral branch of Carrefour is the only one in the country to have continued action after the national one-day retail strike. As a result Grand Littoral has been entirely closed for nine of the last eleven days.

Workers have maintained an unofficial overtime ban this week, resulting in dozens of cancelled flights at Shannon airport this week which has now developed into a strike vote by the trade union IMPACT. It is unclear whether the vote will result in the overtime ban becoming official, or whether the union will call strike days - any official action will require two weeks notice.

The first strike was by workers at the Almoayyed Contracting Group, workers were protesting at salaries ranging from 60 to 85 Bahrain dinars (£82-116) They initially demanded a rise to between BHD 100 and BHD 120. The head of the group countered that workers were in fact being paid 75 to 150 dinars a month, he also claimed that only 300 workers joined the strike.