GDL union has announced its sixth strike in a dispute over wages and hours
The German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has taken urgent legal action in an effort to stop a strike by a train drivers’ union.
The GDL trade union, which has about 40,000 members and represents train drivers and other rail workers, announced a strike this week – its sixth in a months-long dispute over wages and hours.
Continue reading...Two groups are striking for better working conditions and investment in Germany’s underfunded public transport
At first sight, the gathering in an office complex in east Berlin resembles a self-help group. But the public transport workers and climate protesters sitting in a semi-circle introducing themselves have been thrown together, they say, to fight for a common cause.
“Hello, my name is Erdogan. I’m a bus driver in the northern zone of Berlin and have been in the job for 32 years. I’m glad someone is finally taking our profession seriously,” says one.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of marchers take to streets as schools and businesses close in protest at president’s extreme legislation
Argentine demonstrators have staged their biggest-yet show of opposition to Javier Milei’s radical attempt to reshape the South American country with a nationwide strike that shuttered schools and businesses, grounded hundreds of flights, and saw tens of thousands of marchers hit the streets.
Milei, a boisterous celebrity economist nicknamed “El Loco” (the Madman), became president in December vowing to free Argentina from decades of “decadence and decline” with his libertarian ideas. Since then, the far-right politician has moved speedily to implement what the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage recently called “Thatcherism on steroids” – first with a far-reaching emergency decree; then with a mega-reform bill known as the “omnibus law”.
Continue reading...Union says operating company is ‘heading for disaster’ with budget based on unrealistic future visitor numbers
The Eiffel Tower was closed to the public on Wednesday after staff went on strike on the 100th anniversary of the death of its creator, Gustave Eiffel.
Disappointed tourists who had booked tickets to access the 134-year-old monument were told it was shut and they would be contacted by email.
Continue reading...Court decides postal service does not have to deliver licence plates, for now, in latest twist in row over collective bargaining
Tesla has lost a legal action against Sweden’s postal service as a dispute with Nordic trade unions escalates.
A Swedish court said on Thursday that PostNord did not, for the time being, need to deliver licence plates to the electric carmaker that were being blocked by the postal service’s workers, in the latest twist in a battle over collective bargaining agreements.
Continue reading...Facebook parent company and two subcontractors face court hearing over unfair dismissal allegations
Settlement talks have collapsed between Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and Kenyan content moderators over a lawsuit alleging unfair dismissal, a tech rights group working with the plaintiffs has said.
The 184 moderators sued Meta and two subcontractors earlier this year after they allegedly lost their jobs with one of the subcontractors, Sama, for organising a union. They say they were then blacklisted from applying for the same roles at a second firm, Majorel, after Facebook changed contractors.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron back from Netherlands amid sustained unrest over plan to raise pension age to 64
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Thursday, with trade unionists and strikers briefly storming into the Paris headquarters of the luxury goods company LVMH, in a fresh round of protests against Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plans to raise the minimum pension age from 62 to 64.
“You’re looking for money to finance pensions? Take it from the pockets of billionaires,” said the Sud Rail trade unionist Fabien Villedieu, as the LVMH headquarters filled with red smoke from flares.
Continue reading...UK supermarkets heavily reliant on strawberries from southern Spain, where workers allege they are regularly underpaid, have passports withheld and are forced to live in unsanitary shacks
Abusive conditions are endemic in parts of Spain’s fruit sector, a new report alleges, with workers telling the Guardian they have been regularly underpaid and forced to live in dilapidated shacks.
During the winter, at least 60% of strawberries eaten in the UK are likely to be from vast farms across the south-west Spanish province of Huelva. In 2020, the UK imported €310m (£272m) worth of the fruit from the Andalucia region, of which 91% is believed to be grown in Huelva.
Continue reading...Minister says 13,000 police deployed as Macron vows not to waver on unpopular pensions policy
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in street protests and strikes across France amid fears of violent clashes with police, as demonstrations continue over Emmanuel Macron’s use of constitutional executive powers to push through an unpopular raise of the pension age.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said 13,000 police had been deployed, 5,500 of them in Paris alone. He said the record number was justified by “a major risk to public order”.
Continue reading...With uncollected rubbish lining Paris streets, critics are comparing the optics of the royal arrival to 1789
Striking workers in France are refusing to provide red carpets for King Charles’s first overseas trip as monarch amid protests over rises to the pension age.
French trade union CGT announced this week that its members at Mobilier National, the institution in charge of providing flags, red carpets and furniture for public buildings, would not help prepare a reception for the king upon his arrival in Paris on Sunday.
Continue reading...ITUC removes Luca Visentini from role in wake of disclosure he took money from main suspect in Qatargate bribery scandal
An Italian union leader has been sacked from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) after he disclosed taking money from the main suspect in the Qatargate bribery scandal that has shaken the European parliament.
Luca Visentini was removed from his position as ITUC general secretary on Saturday following the results of an investigation. “The meeting decided that Luca Visentini no longer had the confidence of the general council as ITUC general secretary,” the trade union body said in a statement.
Continue reading...Union leader says cancelling religious holiday dating from 1600s is threat to Danish welfare model
The Danish government’s plan to abolish a public holiday to help fund the defence budget amid the war in Ukraine is putting Denmark’s cherished welfare model at risk, the country’s biggest trade union confederation has warned.
“It’s a big threat to the Danish model,” said Lizette Risgaard, the head of the FH confederation, which has 1.3 million members in a country of 5.9 million inhabitants. “Politicians should stay out of labour market issues. If they go through with this they will be imposing their will and violate our agreements,” she told AFP on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Major reversal for the Canadian province’s conservative government follows days of immense political pressure
Ontario has announced it will fully repeal controversial legislation that undermined workers’ right to strike, in a major reversal for the province’s conservative government following days of immense political pressure – and the looming threat of a general strike.
Nearly 55,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees walked out on Friday after the conservative government of the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, introduced legislation that would unilaterally impose a contract on education workers, and levy hefty fines for striking. But on Monday morning, union leaders announced they would end their protest “in a gesture of good faith” following the conservative government’s abrupt turnaround.
Continue reading...Justin Trudeau has sharply criticised Ontario legislation tabled by Doug Ford’s conservative provincial government
The premier of Canada’s most populous province is under fire for a “draconian” bill that would fine school support staff C$4,000 (US$2,900) a day for striking, prompting concerns that Ontario is eroding fundamental workers’ rights – and setting a troubling precedent.
Doug Ford’s conservative government tabled legislation this week that would unilaterally impose a contract on education workers, and levy hefty fines for striking. The move escalates a bitter dispute over pay for education workers, including custodians, early childhood educators and educational assistants.
Continue reading...‘Historic’ move sees media professionals claim rights after years of persecution under Omar al-Bashir and crackdown after 2021 coup
Sudanese journalists have formed the country’s first independent union in more than three decades.
Abdulmoniem Abu Idrees, 58, Khartoum correspondent for the Agence France-Presse news agency, was elected the union’s first president in a vote on Sunday.
Continue reading...Move could add to Europe’s travel problems, although airline does not expect widespread disruption
Cabin crew working for Ryanair in Spain have voted to hold six days of strikes at the end of June and early July, potentially adding to the disruption affecting air travel across Europe.
The Spanish-based staff in the USO and SITCPLA unions will walk out for two three-day strikes from 24 June to 26 June and 30 June to 2 July.
Continue reading...Landmark agreement to protect garment workers from violence follows last year’s murder of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a Dalit woman
H&M has signed a legally binding agreement with one of its largest Indian clothing suppliers that pledges to end sexual violence and harassment against women on the factory floor after the murder of a young garment worker by her supervisor last year.
In January 2021, Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 20-year-old Dalit woman, was found dead on farmland near her family home after finishing a shift at Natchi Apparel, a factory making clothes for H&M in Kaithian Kottai, Tamil Nadu.
Continue reading...Government sets deadline for 135,000 teachers to end pay strike, ignoring court order, after year of school closures due to Covid
The classrooms of Kambuzuma high school are deserted, with no staff to be seen and Tanaka Mupasiri*, 16, and his friends are milling around the school yard. It is 9am on a Thursday, normally a time when the school, in a high-density suburb or township on the outskirts of Harare, would be a hive of studious activity but Zimbabwe’s national teachers’ strike has thrown the education system into crisis.
Teachers in state schools have not been at work since 7 February and face a government deadline of Tuesday to return or lose their jobs.
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Mandalay to Montevideo
Continue reading...