construction

News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in building, construction and materials around the world.

Long lost wildcat strikes in the UK, 1960s - 1990s

Rubbish piles up during the winter of discontent

Interesting article with snippets of analysis and often personal anecdotes about a number of unofficial strikes in the UK since the 1960s.

An introduction…

Protesters occupy their Dublin union offices

Following a dispute with union management, members of the Building and Allied Trades Union occupy and barricade the central offices.

A high court judge yesterday waded into the dispute, issuing an injunction ordering the union members to vacate the premises and dismantle a brick wall they had erected across the entrance.

Wildcat strikes hit Plymouth and Falkirk

Workers at a new nuclear power station in Plymouth and coach builders Alexander Dennis in Falkirk were both on wildcat strike this week.

Sixteen staff were laid off from the Langage power station construction site near Plymouth, and picketed the site on Thursday morning, bringing 350 workers out in support by shift start.

The Ecological Challenge: Three Revolutions are Necessary

With a planetary ecological crisis on hand, it can no longer be denied that socialism will be incompatible with mass production and mass consumption. Indeed, even without returning to Malthusian catastrophe theories, we are forced to admit that the planet’s resources are not inexhaustible. These resources could provide for humanity’s needs, but only if they are used in a reasonable and rational way, i.e., in a manner directly opposed to capitalist logic, which in itself is a source of imbalance.

The Ecological Challenge: Three Revolutions are Necessary
by Alternative Libertaire

Building Worker newsletter - Autumn 2007

Newsletter containing articles on organising site workers ahead of the Olympics, fighting the blacklist in Manchester, pay and holiday pay, a recent strike against racism and the dangers of trusting union officials.

If you want or need help organizing and would like to meet rank and file union members with enough experience of how to help and advise you. Phone UK R&F BWC on 07942 252280. We’ll gladly meet you in a pub or anywhere else you choose after work near your site for a chat.

300-strong wildcat in Milford Haven ends

300 workers walked out in support of Omar Mohamed (pictured)

Workers at South Hook LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) have gone back to work following a 26-hour stoppage in support of a colleague who claims to have suffered from racial abuse on site.

The Western Telegraph reports:

Three hundred men working for Shaw stopped working at 10 am on Thursday, and marched on the offices of main contractors Chicago Bridge and Iron. The men came out in support of fellow worker, Omar Mohamed, who alleges that he has suffered racial harassment from workers from another company sub contracting to CB&I.

UK: Two fatal accidents at construction sites this weekend

A 20-year-old man has been killed on a construction site on Plymouth, just one day after a similar accident took the life of an 18-year-old in Scotland.

In the latest incident, a worker on a Kier Western site at Cattedown Enterprise Centre was hit on the head by a skip or pallet of bricks, according to the Plymouth Herald. It is believed that the man was walking under a telehandler carrying the bricks when the accident happened.

Canada: carpenter's wildcat spreads to other workers

250 carpenters at the Petro-Canada site launched the wildcat strike after their planned strike was banned by anti-union laws.

The region's 4000 carpenters are asking for a rise equal to that earned by metal-workers earlier in the summer. According to Martyn Piper of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ) some 20 issues have been resolved during negotiations and that the only disagreement is over a wage increase.

1886: The Bay View Massacre

The little known history of the massacre that occurred in Milwaukee, when 7,000 building workers and 5,000 Polish workers demanded the eight-hour work day.

The deadly stand-off between workers and the National Guard was the culmination of events that began on Saturday May 1, 1886.

A historical marker, pictured above, is located at Russel and Superior on Jones Island in Bay View. It commemorates the Bay View Massacre.

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