Some 700 students, monks and nuns have been beaten by riot police with batons and at least 20 teargas canisters and a similar number of live bullets have been fired by police in the vicinity of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, according to reports by the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma. Other sources indicate that as many as four people may have been killed and hundreds arrested.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its Global Union partners have launched an appeal to worldwide affiliates for global action, including Myanmar’s diplomatic missions to increase pressure on the military elite that controls the country. Condemnation of the country’s military junta has been strong and is growing, with protests outside Myanmar’s embassies in Australia, Britain, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.

“We welcome the announcement of urgent U.N. Security Council talks on the crisis and call for the immediate dispatch of U.N. Secretary General’s Special Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to Burma,” said Guy Ryder, ITUC secretary. “The world trade union movement is stepping up the pressure, with demonstrations involving trade unions and other civil society groups scheduled for Sept. 29 in a number of countries,” he added.

Canadian Auto Workers to Resist GM Deal

Despite risks of becoming non-competitive, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) vowed to resist any concessions when it starts bargaining with General Motors next summer, including pressures from the Sept. 27 landmark tentative agreement between the company and its union counterpart. GM’s settlement with the United Auto Workers does not contain a wage increase, but a lump sum payment. And it also institutes a two-tier system for new hires, according to latest reports.

CAW president Buzz Hargrove assured 37.000 union members at GM, Ford and Chrysler that provisions in the tentative deal, such as the two-tier wage system, will be “non-starters” bargaining in Canada next year. “We¹re clearly not going down that road,” Hargrove said. Although are still sketchy, anxious Canadian auto workers are worried how the U.S. settlement will affect their wages, benefits and long-term investments here.

One gloomy assessment came from veteran analyst Dennis DesRosiers who said: “With a stroke of a pen, GM, and very shortly Ford and Chrysler, will have created about a $25 per hour cost advantage to build vehicles in the U.S. instead of Canada.”

Workers in ‘Strike Bike’ Campaign Run German Bicycle Plant

The 135 workers of the bicycle factory Bike Systems GmbH in the Thuringian Nordhausen, who have occupied the factory since July 10, decided to resume the production of bicycles as their self-management operation.

The original objective was to prevent the evacuation of the last machines and to wait for a new investor. But with the support of community people, the idea of worker management of production and distribution began to take hold. The problem is how to get binding orders for 1,800 bicycles by Oct. 2 to keep the factory operating.

The workers are getting support from the anarcho-syndicalist union FAU and some local organizations. They are receiving unemployment benefits.

Strike by 27,000 Egyptian Textile Workers 1

On Sept. 23, workers at the state-run textile and weaving company, Ghazl Al-Mahala, began one of the largest industrial protests in the past two decades, with 27,000 workers joining the walkout. The strike is a continuation of the action last December when production at the plant was halted.

The workers are demanding payment of overdue bonuses, an increase in salaries and better medical and transport facilities. The workers are also insisting that board chairman Mahmoud El-Gibali be suspended pending an investigation into the alleged misuse of funds and that union officials attached to the state-controlled General Federation of Trade Unions be impeached.

Meanwhile, workers at the Kafr Al-Dawar textile mill have issued a statement saying they will take action in solidarity with the strikers, starting Oct. 2. Railway employees have made a similar pledge. The strikers also have the backing of Kifaya, the Egyptian movement for change, as well as most opposition parties and many civil society organizations.

Turkish Pharmaceutical Strike Continues After One Year

September 26, 2006 will be exactly one year since the 84 workers at the Antalya Free Zone of Turkey (all but two of them are women) walked off the job and set up picket lines at Novamed, a pharmaceutical manufacturer owned by Fresenius Medical Care of Germany. The Turkish union, Petrol-Is, that organized the workplace, still stands behind the strikers.

The workers went on strike a year ago because of intolerable, inhumane working conditions. Workers were forced to apply to management if they wished to marry. They were forbidden to talk to one another on the job. And they were being forced to undergo breath tests following breaks to enforce a no-smoking ban.

The first anniversary of this strike has gained a sizeable and significant voice in Turkey. In Istanbul, a coalition of trade unions, women¹s groups and others have formed a “Women’s Platform for Solidarity with Novamed Strikers,” which has carried out a number of actions over the past two weeks.

Week-Long Auto Strike Ends in Brazil

Employees of foreign automakers with plants in the southern Brazilian state of Parana will end their week-long strike and accept the latest offer from the Sinfavea employers association, which represents Volkswagen-Audi, France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan, Radio CBN reported..

The agreement ending the strike calls for workers to receive a 7.44 percent raise in December, as well as a one-time bonus of 1,500 reals ($806), to be paid next week. SMC, the union that negotiated the deal, had originally demanded a cumulative increase of 17 percent, with half this month and the rest starting in January, plus a $1,400 bonus for each worker. SMC chief Sergio Butka said the raise was in line with that received by autoworkers in Sao Paulo state.

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