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Tel Aviv Stock Exchange disruptions intensified

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange employees intensified work disruptions on Monday by interfering with the orderly conclusion of the trade day.

Management responded by threatening to close down trade entirely if disruptions continue today (Tuesday April 1st). Workers retaliated by diverting all incoming calls to the CEO's office.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: union overtime ban forces trade to end three hours earlier

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Following a declaration on Thursday (March 6th), the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange workers` union has declared an overtime ban. This has resulted in management closing down trading three hours early for two days straight.

The ban took effect on Sunday (March 9th), and has been maintained on Monday (March 10th) as well. This step is a direct response to current conditions, which preclude overtime pay from counting into workers` pension plans.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange employees set to strike on Feb 28th (CANCELLED)

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange workers are set to strike at February 28th. This action was declared about two weeks ago (Feb 5th), and is a response to TASE management's refusal to meet union demands.

These include increasing wages by 4.5% and adding workers hired through HR firms to the group pay agreement. Instead, management is only willing to increase wages to its direct employees, with a 0.5% blanket increase as well as an additional 3% to be rewarded selectively according to individual performance.

Lionbridge: globalizing low wages

In December 2007, a trade-union called “Krajowa Federacja Pracownikow (KFP)” (Worker’s Federation) was formed in Lionbridge Poland, a subsidiary of Lionbridge Technologies, a US-based multinational with subsidiaries all over the world.

Lionbridge specializes in translations and adapting products to local markets (so called “globalization services”). Lionbridge is one of many US-based companies which move jobs from the US to countries with lower wages and working standards.

Canada: bank workers strike over pay

62 workers at CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) in Sudbury went on strike today.

Workers voted in favour of action by only 52% although pickets were out and observance was high. Picketers attributed the close vote to the time of year. Only one of the five branches in Sudbury was open with managers running a scab service.

France: petrol workers win bonus

The strike was launched on Monday at 4am by fuel delivery workers on the island of Réunion from the CFDT union.

The management of the SRPP (Reunion petroleum products company) gave into the workers demands after less than 24 hours. Workers won a shift bonus, which is approximately equivalent to an 8% salary increase.

South Africa: death at housing demonstration

A protester was accidentally killed during clashes between police and Soweto residents demanding improved housing conditions.

Almost twenty years after the end of Apartheid and thirteen years after the election of the ANC residents of the township of Soweto feel they have been left behind. Promises of wealth sharing have proved hollow, with any redistribution of assets seeming to end up in the hands of the emergent black middle class.

New Zealand: 800 Hospital cleaners locked out after strike

Locked out workers at Middlemore Hospital

Around 800 workers contracted to Spotless Services Ltd have been locked out of their kitchen, orderly and cleaning jobs today at 13 public hospitals across New Zealand after they attempted to start industrial action.

The action involved striking for 55 minutes of every hour, 24 hours a day in a struggle for better wages and conditions.

Strikes in Egypt spread from centre of gravity

Ghazl el-Mahalla workers on strike last December. Photo by Nasser Nouri

The longest and strongest wave of worker protest since the end of World War II is rolling through Egypt. In March, the liberal daily al-Masri al-Yawm estimated that no fewer than 222 sit-in strikes, work stoppages, hunger strikes and demonstrations had occurred during 2006.

Take from Middle East Report Online

In the first five months of 2007, the paper has reported a new labour action nearly every day. The citizen group Egyptian Workers and Trade Union Watch documented 56 incidents during the month of April, and another 15 during the first week of May alone.[1]

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