Strike Follow

THE BOSSES are on strike against the democratically elected president of Venezuela, but their movement is not as popular as the rich in that country would have us believe. They claim they represent a mass, popular movement against the left wing president, Hugo Chavez.

"EVEN MANY people in my office who are usually anti-union are now arguing for a strike," says a delivery worker from Crowborough in East Sussex, near Tunbridge Wells.

MANUAL WORKERS in the GMB union working for Manchester city Council struck for a day on Monday against the imposition of the Single Status agreement. They voted three to one to strike in an official ballot. Many other council workers in other departments refused to cross their picket lines.

NURSERY NURSES in Scotland plan two days of strikes in all regions next week. Some areas will strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, others on Wednesday and Thursday. The action will include a major protest in Edinburgh on the Wednesday. But the first event is the major rally planned for this Saturday, 13 September, to give other workers and parents the opportunity to join nursery nurses and show their support.

SOME 800 workers at IT company Fujitsu Services in West Gorton, Manchester, plan to take industrial action after staff unanimously rejected management's latest offer. The vote came at a union general meeting held on Thursday of last week, which also agreed to increase the planned action, adding an extra half-day strike before the end of the month.

ALMOST 100 contract workers at the Swan Hunter shipyard on North Tyneside have been sacked after walking out over pay. The men, working for C & D Industrial Services, held an unofficial strike and a few days later were told they had lost their jobs.

NUJ UNION members on the Sheffield Star have named dates when they could call mandatory chapel (branch) meetings after voting for industrial action in a ballot over pay. The dates are on every day in the week beginning 22 September and the meetings can take place at any time between 7am and 3pm. In the ballot 80 percent voted for a strike.

WORKERS AT Goodrich Engine Control Systems in Birmingham struck against redundancies on Friday last week and were set to strike again on Friday this week. Members of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) have been in dispute with the company since the summer when the company announced 115 jobs would go "due to bad trading conditions in aerospace".

A SECOND day of strike action was set for Friday of this week by workers at Rhodia who are trying to save their final salary pension scheme.

WORKERS FROM three Tyneside shipyards walked out on strike on Friday of last week in an unofficial dispute over pay.

SOME 5,000 nursery nurses in Scotland were due to begin a week-long strike to pile on the pressure in their battle for decent pay and recognition for the work they do.

TUBE DRIVERS in the RMT union at Edgware Road, London, will ballot for strike action over the sacking of a colleague.