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----- Original Message -----
From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 6:43 AM
Subject: [downwithcapitalism] Strikes around the World
WSWS. 5 June 2001. Workers Struggles: The Americas.
LATIN AMERICA
Airlines workers strike in Mexico.
The union representing flight attendants at Mexico's largest airline,
Aeromexico, came to an agreement with management June 3 after a two-day
strike. The union accepted a 9 percent wage increase. Initially, the
1,500 workers demanded a wage increase of 30 percent, while management
offered 6 percent.
The strike forced the airline to cancel 320 flights on its first day,
leaving 25,000 passengers stranded. The airline claims losses of $4.3
million in daily revenue. The administration of Vicente Fox chose not to
intervene overtly into the dispute. In the past, Mexican governments
have intervened in strikes against Aeromexico, using the pretext that
the company is a key industry for the national economy.
Communications employees occupy company headquarters in Chile.
On June 1, the Union of Telecomunicaciones de Chile Workers (STCTC)
occupied the company headquarters to stop the layoff of one thousand
workers by the communications giant. The union has also threatened to
strike. On May 31 the firm fired several managers as part of a
company-wide reorganization. While a CTC spokesperson could not confirm
how many workers will be sacked, the layoffs are already taking place.
Strike paralyzes Chilean copper mine.
Strikers shut down the Radomiro Tomic copper mine in Calama, Chile, 2000
kilometers north of Santiago, in a walkout over wages. An meeting of 400
workers rejected an eleventh hour proposal by management to readjust
wages and increase productivity pay by 3 percent, according to union
leader Luis Galvez. The union is demanding a 46 percent raise in wages,
productivity pay and benefits.
The miners had been conducting a slow down since May 17 to spur
management into addressing the workers' demands. The mine belongs to
Chile's Copper Corporation (CODELCO) and produces 260,000 tons of pure
copper every year.
Mexican education workers continue protest.
About 500 members of the National Coordination of Education Workers
(CNTE) continue their protest across from Mexico's Senate, demanding
that the legislative body address its social and salary demands. On June
1, teachers, retired workers and students entered the Senate chambers
chanting "this house is full of traitors!" Maria del Refugio Flores and
Concepcion Baez, union leaders from the State of Michoacan, denounced
the lack of action by the legislators on the teachers' demands.
The teachers are demanding free breakfasts and scholarships for their
students, a budget increase for books and school facilities, and wage
increases. In Mexico, as in most of Latin America, only the poor send
their children to public schools. Teachers report rampant malnutrition
among their students. Sixty percent of Mexico's 100 million people exist
under the official poverty line.
THE UNITED STATES
Minnesota nurses strike.
Nurses at two hospital locations in Minneapolis went on strike June 3
after rejecting a final offer from the hospitals' owner, Allina Health
System. Some 7,700 nurses at 12 hospitals represented by the Minnesota
Nurses Association were locked in negotiations until last week when
tentative settlements were reached and accepted at 10 hospitals.
But 1,300 registered nurses at Allina's Fairview Southdale and
Fairview-University Medical Center rejected their proposal by an
undisclosed margin. Nurses charged the agreement was little changed from
a proposal that was voted down two weeks ago. Union members were
dissatisfied with Allina's proposals to address staffing shortages and
health insurance. The wage proposal of 19.8 percent over three years was
also considered insufficient. Concerning staffing shortages, nurses
didn't go for Allina's proposal to set up a labor-management committee
to study the ratio of nurses to patients.
CANADA
Alberta medics defy anti-strike ruling.
Ambulance workers in Edmonton remain on strike despite a ruling by the
Alberta Labour Relations Board declaring their job action illegal. The
ruling by the provincial body was made the day before the 260 paramedics
and emergency medical technicians went on strike last Friday, but a
union vote on Saturday morning returned a 94 percent result in favor of
continuing the strike.
The strikers are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees
(CUPE) and are fighting for wage improvements of 21 percent and better
working conditions. The city is offering only 10.2 percent over three
years. The city has said it will use managers and ambulance workers from
other cities, as replacements for the striking paramedics.
In advance of the decision to continue the strike, the emergency
declaration by the board gave the city and the union 30 days to reach a
settlement before imposing binding arbitration. In response to the
union's defiance, Ralph Klein, the Tory premier of Alberta, sought to
turn public opinion against strikers by shirking any governmental
responsibility for the emergency medical care system and charging any
mishap during the strike would be blamed on the union. The decision to
continue the strike will subject union leaders to punitive fines, which
have yet to be determined.
British Columbia health care workers continue job action.
The campaign of rotating strikes and overtime bans which has been
pursued over the past month will continue under the incoming Liberal
government, according to the unions representing 40,000 health care
professionals in this province.
Contract negotiations between the Health Employers Association of BC
(HEABC) and the Paramedical Bargaining Association representing a number
of unions have stalled. The unions including the Health Sciences
Association, Canadian Union of Public Employees, BC Government and
Services Employees' Union, Professional Employees' Association, and the
Hospital Employees' Unionhope to pressure the new government of Gordon
Campbell to reach a deal in their ongoing dispute.
This week, during which the new government will be sworn in, there are
plans for the withdrawal of services such as drug therapy, counseling
and rehabilitation in centers across the province. It is also expected
that the results of the ratification vote by nurses for a new contract
with HEABC will be announced this week.
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