IKEA on Strike ---- Approximately EUR3.6 billion. This is IKEA's
expected turnover for 2025. Mandatory annual wage negotiations for the10,900 workers in 36 stores threw a wrench into the works on June 20th,
despite the current temperatures: a 0% collective increase is what the
world leader in furniture is proposing. A joint union has called for a
work stoppage. At the same time, employees say they are experiencing
"significantly deteriorating working conditions and seeing their social
benefits methodically undermined," such as the elimination of the
solidarity day offered, and a variable bonus conditional on
"unattainable" targets. The strike brought together "25% of the
workforce present" in 19 stores on July 1st. "We asked for a collective
raise, but Ikea France management refused it in favor of individual
raises. Three unions even walked out of the negotiations. For us, this
is neither fair nor serious. We're paid the minimum wage, and now it no
longer covers inflation. An Ikea employee is poorer than they were three
years ago."
The Swedish brand has been targeted by various strikes since the
beginning of the year in other countries, such as the Netherlands,
Italy, and Canada, over wage levels and working conditions.
Strikes at Renault
At the Renault Sovab plant in Batilly, Meurthe-et-Moselle, where the
Masters are produced, management had already laid off 700 temporary
production workers in March. It is now targeting maintenance workers.
The new organization would result in salary losses ranging from 73 euros
gross for maintenance workers on 3x8 shifts, to more than 1,000 euros
gross for those on VSD (Friday-Saturday-Sunday). All VSD workers would
be forced to switch to SD (Saturday-Sunday in 2 x 12 hours). In
addition, nine out of a hundred positions would be eliminated, which
will further deteriorate working conditions. Management would like to
impose that, in the case of Saturdays worked in production, the morning
work be carried out by the maintenance team on 3x8 shifts. Consequently,
the VSD team would be forced to work Saturdays from noon to midnight! A
petition expressing their refusal of this reduction has been signed by
more than half of the hundred maintenance workers, including 70 on 3x8
shifts and 30 on VSD. On Friday, June 20, at 5:20 a.m., about fifteen
workers, mostly technicians from the sheet metal VSD, walked out and
delivered the petition to the director. Walkouts have also recently
taken place at the Renault plants in Douai and Maubeuge.
Strike at Boeing Defense
Under growing pressure from rank-and-file workers, who had already
rejected a previous agreement supported by IAM[1]of District 837 on July
27, the union was forced to call a strike, the first in these plants
since 1996 (which lasted 99 days). Approximately 3,200 highly skilled
workers at Boeing plants, which manufacture the F-15 fighter jets and
military drones, rejected the new contract proposed by the company on
July 27 and voted to go on strike. The strike began on Monday, August 4.
The strike began at the Saint Louis and Saint Charles (Missouri) plants,
and at the Mascoutah (Illinois) plant, where workers rejected a wage
agreement proposed by management. This agreement included a 20% wage
increase over four years and an increase in pension contributions. Since
then, new proposals (a 40% increase) have been put on the table, without
convincing the employees. The workers are not just asking for wage
increases; they are demanding comprehensive recognition of their role in
a strategic industry. The sites assemble the F-15, the T-7 trainer,
missiles, munitions, and certain components of the 777X. The machinists'
strike will notably lead to the shutdown of the assembly lines for the
F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets, as well as the T-7A trainer and MQ-25
refueling drones. These three sites are to manufacture the F-47, the
future spearhead of the US Air Force. Presented in March 2025 by
President Donald Trump, the F-47 is to replace the F-22, which has been
in service for two decades. These factories also produce weapons for
Israel. This strike will especially "increase the financial pressure on
Boeing's Defense and Space division, which generates nearly a third of
the company's revenue." Today, Boeing's Defense and Space division
generates 36% of the group's revenue. Last year, two factories were
already immobilized for more than fifty days. The strike is not only
about wages or benefits. This is an explosion of class conflict at the
heart of the American military-industrial complex. Boeing workers are
demanding an end to the erosion of real wages, intolerable working
hours, and exploitation by a company that profits from mass murder
around the world.
The greatest obstacle to the strike's development is not Boeing
management, but the IAM bureaucracy, which acts not to defend workers
but as an extension of the state and corporate management. As president,
Biden boasted that the AFL-CIO unions functioned as a "national NATO,"
essential for suppressing working-class opposition to war abroad and
class war at home.
This social movement is part of a broader context of tensions between
Boeing and its unions. Earlier this summer, a seven-week strike led by
IAM District 751 in Washington and Oregon concluded with an agreement
providing for a 38% wage increase and a $12,000 signing bonus.
Negotiations, which resumed on August 25, have stalled. Boeing Defense
announced on September 3 that it would consider "slight adjustments" to
its latest contract proposal to approximately 3,200 striking union
members in the St. Louis region, where fighter jets and munitions are
produced. Boeing has maintained production through contingency plans,
but "production has certainly slowed in some areas due to the strike,"
acknowledged a senior Boeing Defense executive in St. Louis, adding,
however, that production of its Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) has
not decreased. The American aircraft manufacturer announced on Thursday,
September 4th, the launch of recruiting "permanent" workers to replace
those on strike. However, these new hires announced by the American firm
will not allow it to resume normal operations for several months. These
new recruits will need to be trained. And when the end of the strike is
voted on, these "replacements" should, normally, be dismissed as part of
an agreement between the union and the employer. Suffice to say, this
emergency solution found by Boeing may ultimately satisfy no one.
A preliminary agreement with the union, reached on September 10th,
provided for a general wage increase of 24% over five years and a
ratification bonus of $4,000. Boeing estimated that total employee
compensation would increase by an average of 45% over the term of the
contract. "We've found a way forward with a five-year offer that
increases wages by an average of 45%," said the Boeing Defense vice
president, before emphasizing: "This remains the best agreement we've
ever offered to IAM 837, and we encourage our teams to vote yes." But
striking workers at Boeing Defense overwhelmingly rejected the company's
latest contract proposal on September 11, prolonging the strike. The
rejected offer included a smaller increase in pension contributions and
a lower ratification bonus than the one accepted last year by members of
IAM District 751, which assembles Boeing's commercial aircraft in the
northwest United States.
In the United States, other major players in the industry have recently
experienced labor unrest, with "unions gaining influence due to the lack
of highly skilled mechanics." Workers at aircraft engine manufacturer
Pratt & Whitney, for example, walked out for three weeks last May,
causing an engine shortage at Airbus. The Boeing strike is part of a
rising tide of resistance within the American and international working
class. Thousands of GE Aerospace workers face the expiration of their
collective bargaining agreements at the end of the month. Postal workers
are facing privatization and job cuts. Teachers from Philadelphia to Los
Angeles are facing school closures and layoffs. Autoworkers are facing
mass layoffs and unsafe working conditions.
Sources: wsws.org, the business press
Massive London Underground Strike
London Underground workers held a five-day strike for wage increases and
a reduction in working hours to 32 hours per week. Traffic was almost
completely paralyzed and all city activity was disrupted. Union leaders
suspended the strike after being called into negotiations, with no
guarantee that anything positive would come of it for the strikers.
Strike at EDF
A strike began on September 2nd at EDF, called by the CGT (General
Confederation of Labour). The union is demanding a wage increase but
also a reduction in bills for customers.
Since August 1st, the VAT levied on the subscription price has increased
from 5.5% to 20%. The union states that "the payroll represents only 17%
of the bill," while "42% is dividends." The CGT is also demanding a 9%
increase in the most precarious wages, specifying that some hires are
being made below the minimum wage.
"Robin Hood" actions are being carried out, i.e., the reconnection of
meters for people whose power had been cut off.
Worker and Popular Mobilizations in Syria
Since mid-August, multiple mobilizations have taken place in different
regions of the country. Demonstrations in working-class neighborhoods in
Homs and Damascus against forced population displacement, student
protests in Zweida, teachers' mobilizations in Aleppo against wage
freezes. A strike by workers at the port of Tartus against false
promises of reinstatement. Farmers' mobilizations in Daraa province.
Women's rallies in the city of Shahba against the ongoing kidnappings of
men and women detained for several months.
These scattered movements are carrying multiple demands: struggles for
wages and jobs, but also to protect homes and demand the release of
prisoners. These mobilizations, although scattered and often local,
reflect the depth of social anger affecting all segments of the
population, from workers to students to farmers.
Syrian security forces killed at least fifteen people during
demonstrations organized in several cities across the country on Friday,
September 12. Arrests, torture, and intimidation: the new authorities do
not hesitate to use force to crush the protests. This bloody repression
demonstrates the regime's inability to respond to popular aspirations
other than by crushing them.
Sources: Revolutionary NPA
Saur employees on strike in Martinique
Saur Martinique employees have entered their sixth week of strike
action, which began on August 11. The contract for the award of the
drinking water production and distribution contract signed between the
Saur group and the Cap Nord urban community took effect on January 1,
2025, and was accompanied by agreements regarding a so-called "welcome"
bonus. This bonus was to be paid to employees joining Saur at the start
of the contract, i.e., the majority of employees coming from the
previous contractor. The twenty or so employees already working at Saur
Martinique were also to receive a bonus of the same amount following an
internal agreement. At the beginning of the year, since employees were
unaware of the exact terms of the agreement, management allowed
themselves to pay them only half of the bonus. Then, when it came time
to pay the second half, it decreed that the amount would be conditional
on results, which was not included in the contract at all! It added that
the payment of this bonus would serve as a mandatory annual negotiation
(NAO), declaring 2025 a "blank year." Starting August 29, the prefect
sent requisitions to the strikers. Saur, for its part, decided to seek
the help of a mediator to resolve this conflict, in which, in addition
to bad faith, it had accumulated irregularities. For their part, the
strikers organized leaflet distributions in the municipalities and
meetings with the public. They benefited from its support despite the
disruptions to water distribution caused by the strike. Sources:
Workers' Struggle
Notes
[1]International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. IAM
represents approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the
aerospace, defense, airline, shipbuilding, railroad, transportation,
healthcare, automotive, and other industries in the United States and
Canada.
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