The Samsung workers' strike in India ---- Samsung Electronics was
established in India in 2007. It has two factories: one in Chennai(formerly Madras) which manufactures televisions, refrigerators and
washing machines; the other in Noida, in the suburbs of New Delhi, which
has been the largest smartphone manufacturing plant in the world since
July 2018. The Chennai factory has 1,700 permanent employees. It
officially has two shifts working nine hours, the first from 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. and the second from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. In reality, all employees work
at least eleven hours a day, four days a week, and earn on average the
equivalent in rupees of 300 dollars (or 270 euros). In 2023, the annual
increase was the equivalent of 41.76 dollars. The 2024 wage, announced
in May, is worth $29.83, and only a small number of permanent workers
have received it in full. The highest annual wages for employees range
from $596.58 to $656.23.
A total of 1,500 permanent employees at the plant have been on strike
since September 9, 2024. They have been demanding that their newly
formed union, the Samsung India Labour Welfare Union (Silwu), a member
of the powerful CITU union, be officially recognized by the company.
They have also demanded higher wages and improved working hours. Samsung
sued Silwu in a district court, seeking a temporary injunction to
prevent union slogans and speeches in and around the plant. The judge
only called for a speedy resolution of the dispute. Samsung Electronics
warned the strikers that they would not receive any wages if they
continued to protest and that they would be fired, escalating the
dispute. The management email said: "You will not be entitled to any
wages from 09/09/2024 until the date you report to work again on the
basis of 'No work no pay'." The strike was the first by Samsung
Electronics in India, but since July, more than 30,000 Samsung group
workers have been on strike in South Korea.
Samsung Electronics workers in India ended their strike after a month
after reaching an agreement. The management "announced several welfare
measures in the interest of the workers," according to a statement from
T.R.B. Rajaa, the state minister of Tamil Nadu.
Sources: Le Monde, Révolution permanente, World Socialist
Agreement in principle between employers and dockers in the United
States after a flash strike
A few weeks before the presidential election in the United States, some
45,000 dockers went on strike on October 1, as soon as a six-year social
agreement expired. They found "unacceptable" the financial proposals
made by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents
employers at 36 ports scattered along the East Coast and the Gulf of
Mexico (since 2023, the West Coast ports have been covered by a separate
social agreement that prohibits them from striking). This walkout, the
first since 1977 (44 days), involved approximately 25,000 members of the
ILA (International Longshoremen's Association) union, out of the 85,000
union members it has in these 36 ports - working in container terminals
and rolling stock loading. The demands focused on wages and social
protections, as well as a ban on all automation in the ports.
The union was asking for a 77% increase over six years (the employers
offered 50%), but why was it demanding such an increase? According to
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg himself, ocean carriers have
seen their results jump by about 350% in ten years, while dockworkers'
wages have increased by only 15% over the same period. The ILA and USMX
announced on October 3 that they would stop "all current industrial
action" and return to work. This rapid resolution came "after the port
employers offered a 62% wage increase over six years." "The parties also
agreed to extend the current master contract until January 15, 2025,"
giving them time to "negotiate all other outstanding issues, including
the union's demand for a ban on all automation in the ports."
Sources: Courrier International, RFI
Strike renewed at Boeing in the United States
On October 23, the 33,000 employees on strike since mid-September at the
Renton and Everett plants rejected, by 64%, the agreement in principle
reached on October 19 by management and the IAM (International
Association of Machinists) union thanks to the "help" provided by Labor
Minister Julie Su. In the deal, management offered a 35 percent pay
raise over four years-significantly higher than its previous offer of 25
percent, but lower than the 40 percent IAM had demanded-and there was no
plan to restore the generous pension plan that had been cut in 2008.
Boeing workers have already been joined by 5,000 workers from Textron
Aviation in Wichita, Kansas, and 500 aerospace workers from Eaton in
Jackson, Michigan. Like Boeing, Textron is a key supplier to the U.S.
military and also produces Cessna and Beechcraft civilian aircraft.
Boeing also makes weapons, and lots of them: it is the world's
fourth-largest arms manufacturer-and in recent years the largest
supplier of weapons to the State of Israel-and weapons manufacturing
accounts for 44 percent of its total revenue. Boeing management has
announced a reduction in the coming months of around 10% of its global
workforce, which should affect around 17,000 jobs. The partial technical
unemployment measures that have been in place since September 20 to
preserve the group's cash flow during the strike concern all categories
of personnel - except strikers - and affect, on a rotating basis,
several tens of thousands of people. Watch this space.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4305
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten