Greek Unions Protest a Wage Freeze with a One-Day National Strike

Thousands of Greeks took to the streets April 2 to protest a government decision to freeze wages in public and state-owned companies. Public utility services were closed, and air, train and bus transportation services were stopped for several hours.

State run schools were closed; hospitals maintained only skeletal services, and the media stopped reporting its regular menu of events. Teachers, hospital workers and journalists joined the strikers. Strikes were reported in Athens, Thessaloniki and other major cities and towns.

The 24-hour strike was called by the two largest union organizations, the General Confederation of Workers and the Civil Servants’ Council. Last week, assailants with gas bombs attacked offices of two government ministers. Bombings and attacks on banks and businesses have been reported in Greece, since police shot a teenager, triggering riots.

Iraqi Labor Conference Pledges Unified Fight for Worker Rights

Under the slogan, “A Better World Can Be Made by Workers,” the first Iraqi international labor conference was held in Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq on March 13-14. The event drew more than 200 delegates not only from all major Iraqi unions, but also solidarity delegations representing the United States, Britain, South Africa, Australia, Iran and Japan.

The conference voted on a number of resolutions that included opposition to the government’s privatization policy and its draft oil and gas law. It also called for “an immediate enactment of a Labor Code to give all workers the right to organize and bargain in unions of their choice.” As to the future of their country, there was agreement “to promote and support an independent, non-sectarian, and non-ethnic government in Iraq.”

At the conclusion of the conference, three major Iraq federations announced the formation of a new confederation that will include the Federation of Oil Unions in Iraq, the Association of Electricity in Iraq and the General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq.

Discharged Irish Workers Occupy Car Factory

More than 100 employees of Visteon, a car parts factory in west Belfast, are continuing their sit-in to protest being laid off. Two hundred jobs will be lost at the Belfast factory. Visteon management said it had no alternative but to close the Belfast factory and two others in Basildon and Enfield in England. Earlier, it was announced by the employees’ union, Unite, that 565 staff people would demonstrate at the Visitor plants across the United Kingdom. Visitor has a workforce of 600 in the U.K.

Unite convener John Maguire said: “We have been left with no choice but to occupy the factory to save our jobs and to defend jobs for the people of Belfast.” The company in the U.K. had been waiting to hear if Visteon in America would continue to prop up its three plants.

The Ford Motor Co. is the former owner of Visteon and is currently the sole customer of the company’s car parts products. Davy McMurray, regional organizer for Unite, said the way the job cuts were announced was “brutal.” The administrators came in and just told the workers their jobs were terminated, McMurray said. Meanwhile, it is still not clear what Ford will do about the closing.

Thousands of Teachers in Latvia Protest Wage Cuts

A peaceful demonstration by thousands of teachers was held on April 2 in Riga, the nation’s capital, to protest against deep salary cuts, as the government struggles to meet budget requirements for an international $10 billion bailout package. It was the largest of a series of protests against budget cuts promoted by Latvia’s economic crisis, which led to the previous government’s collapse in February.

Teachers’ salaries were trimmed by 15 percent in January and will be slashed by another 20 percent in June as the country’s new center-left government cuts back to meet the requirements for the bailout package from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders. So far, no strikes have been called, but teachers who will lose their medical insurance benefits and see severe cuts in holiday pay, will not rule out a strike if the situation does not improve.

Latvia now has the European Union’s most troubled economy, with the Finance Ministry predicting GDP will fall at least 12 percent this year. The crisis follows four years of stellar growth, with the economy expanding an average 10 percent a year. The previous Cabinet resigned in February after weeks of instability, including a violent protest in downtown Riga against government reforms.

French President Agrees to Meet with Laid-Off Caterpillar Workers

Workers at a Caterpillar plant in the French Alps released their bosses April 1 after holding them overnight in a dispute over their severance packages. The four Caterpillar executives, jeered by union members, were escorted from the plant by police and union security, after being detained for more than 24 hours. A fifth manager was released because of concern for his health.

The standoff ended after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview with Europe 1 radio on April 1 that he would meet with union members. “We won’t abandon them,” he said. A representative of the CGT union, Pierre Piccarreta, told the Associated Press that “we want to find a favorable outcome for all the workers and know as quickly as possible where we are going.” He noted that Caterpillar has been making a profit and distributing dividends.

Caterpillar France, a subsidiary of the parent company, based in Peoria, Illinois, announced 22,000 job cuts in its worldwide workforce in January and February. It is seeking to lay off 733 workers at its factories in Grenoble and Echirolles. Combined with those already laid off and those whose short-term contracts will not be renewed, a total of about 1,000 workers at the French factories are losing their jobs.

Bulgarian Train Drivers to Get 15% Raise to End Rail Dispute

Connex, Bulgaria’s rail transportation system, is set to end its dispute with its unionized drivers by agreeing to give them a 15 percent pay rise in a deal that it says will cut rail cancellations by more than a third. The proposed agreement promises relief for commuters who have endured months of needless cancellations caused by in-fighting between Connex and some of its drivers.

Under the deal, a new definition of what is a serious fault will mean that trains with minor problems will be kept running. Minor problems caused 35 percent of train cancellations last year. The dispute prompted Connex to accuse the drivers’ union of deliberately mounting an overzealous, fault-finding campaign that led to cancellation of hundreds of services in January and February. The drivers denied the charges.

The new collective agreement between Connex and the union will lock-in the role of train controllers in logging faults — a move that should calm tensions between the parties —while downgrading the seriousness of up to1,500 of some 5,000 potential faults. Connex has brought the matter before the Industrial Relations Commission, which is still hearing the case.

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