[Dryerase] The Alarm!--Labor Bits 11-1-02

[The Alarm!Newswire]

Labor Bits 11-1-02

Canadian newspaper publishers face striking workers
Twelve hundred workers at the Winnipeg Free Press went on strike 
October 9 after contract negotiations with the new owners of Canada’s 
largest independent daily newspaper broke down.  The contract expired 
on September 30 and 96% of the workers eventually voted to strike 
against the company’s proposed take-backs.  Workers went back to the 
job on October 18 with few major gains, but without concessions, 
either.  FP Canadian Newspapers Ltd. Partnership, the new owners, had 
wanted to institute a two-tiered wage system which would pay new 
employees less and rescind certain rights of part-time workers.  The 
1,100 workers with Communications Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) and 60 
pressmen with Graphic Communications International Union (GCIU) won 
wage and benefits increases and some improvements in working 
conditions.  During the strike, CEP issued a request to its membership: 
  “We’ve already asked you not to vandalize the Free Press sign. Now, 
we’d like to take it to the next level by returning any letters you may 
have stolen.”

Meanwhile 275 workers at the Victoria Times Colonist have been on 
strike since September 3 over efforts by the employer to reduce 
benefits to part-timers, outsource work and reduce the number of 
unionized workers.  The three unions representing the workers earlier 
rejected a contract offer that included wage increases.  Negotiations 
were broken off on October 12 due to the impasse.  Union officials have 
indicated that the strike may stretch into the spring.  In the 
meantime, the Times Colonist is publishing a scaled-down weekly version 
of the paper.  For their part, the striking workers have published the 
Picket Post several times per week.  The unions have photographed and 
tracked scab replacement workers in attempts to identify them.

In addition, 45 workers represented by the Communication Workers of 
America (CWA) have gone on strike as of October 11 against the Cobourg 
Daily Star and Port Hope Evening Guide, both owned by Osprey Media 
Group Inc.  At issue are wages, benefits, compensation for mileage and 
an employer proposal to reduce sick days.  The strike was authorized in 
September by a 93% vote.

Indian power workers campaign against privatisation
Around 50,000 power employees staged a satyagraha (nonvilent protest, 
in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi) on October 18 in cities across the 
Indian State of Uttar Pradesh as part of a week-long campaign. The 
workers, including junior and senior engineers, are protesting a 
government plan to break the State Electricity Board into four separate 
power distribution companies, a move which the workers say is an 
attempt to spearhead full privatization of the power utilities sector. 
After the satyagraha, the Uttar Pradesh Power Technical Employees Joint 
Action Committee called for a work boycott from October 22 to October 
24.  The government declared the action an illegal strike.  The 
continuing stalemate has prompted the group to extend the strike 
indefinitely.

Rancor between the two sides escalated after the UP Power Regulatory 
Commission announced a significant rate hike on October 23.  Rates will 
increase by only two percent for industrial users, but 141% for the 
power employees themselves.  Rates for the domestic sector will 
increase around 15%.  Consumers across the board have criticized the 
hike, while power employees have emphasized the failure of 
privatization efforts in other Indian states, drawing attention to 
rampant power shortages and outages.  The extent of those crises dwarfs 
last year’s energy problems in California.
Source:  Times of India

Millions of workers engage in general strike against Italy’s Berlusconi 
regime
Hundreds of thousands of workers marched in cities across Italy in 120 
locations as CGIL (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro), the 
nation’s largest union, representing six million workers, called for a 
general strike against economic policies proposed and instituted by the 
regime of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.  One of the largest of the 
rallies was held in the northern Italian city of Turin, where the 
automaker Fiat holds its headquarters.  The company recently announced 
layoffs of 20,000 of its workers while the Berlusconi adminstration 
aims to reform a 1970 law to make it easier for firms to lay off 
workers.  The previous day, 1,000 workers traveled from a Fiat factory 
in Sicily to protest in Rome, where they were thwarted by police from 
marching on the government’s headquarters.

The general strike is the second this year.  The first, which took 
place in April, was called by CGIL along with the two next largest 
Italian union federations, CISL (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati 
Lavoratori) and UIL (Unione Italiana del Lavoro).  Thirteen million 
workers went out on strike to protest government policies in what was 
the nation’s largest strike in 20 years.  CISL and UIL have since cut 
deals with the government and each urged their members not to support 
the latest strike.
Sources:  Reuters, World Socialist Website

French education workers strike and protest funding and job cuts
Only three weeks after utility workers struck nationally in protest of 
plans to partially privatize France’s utilities (see article in the 
last issue of The Alarm!), the nation’s education workers went on 
strike and rallied at around 100 locations around the country, 
crippling the education sector for the day.  Tens of thousands of 
workers took part in the action on Thursday, October 17.  The strike 
was announced after Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin proposed the 
2003 national budget, which called for the slashing of 5,600 jobs for 
classroom aides.  The government also indicated that it would not renew 
contracts with 20,000 young people who work in France’s school system.
Source:  Associated Press

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