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The strikes started on September 19th with workers working out of Otara McDonald's, to be accompanied on the picket line by a giant inflatable rat. October 3 saw staff at six different McDonald's walk out, five in Auckland and one in Hamilton.

Around 300 teachers started Sunday with the occupation and "liberation" of a motorway tollbooth near to Chilpancingo, giving free passage to motorists, a tactic also used in support of the 50 day long (and counting!) teachers' strike in the bordering state of Morelos, which is also in protest

On September 1, workers at the Volkswagen-Audi factory in the city of Curitiba began a one-week strike. Workers at the Volvo and Renault/Nissan plants in the same town also went on strike on the same day.

During that week, 24-hour strikes occurred at Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes Benz and Scania in cities in the interior of Sao Paulo state.

The union Usdaw said hundreds of workers at the site in Aintree were set to strike from 0500 BST on Sunday. It said staff were unhappy after being offered what it said was a below-inflation pay rise of 3%.

The 2,500 Unite members who work for Metroline voted 88.5 per cent in favour of strike action in a recent ballot by the union. Unite submitted a London wide claim to all bus operators in March of this year to challenge the current system whereby drivers (and other grades) performing identical jobs within the TfL regulated industry, receive hugely varying pay and conditions.

As well as striking, the teachers - from Sección 19 of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores para la Educación (SNTE) - have established a plantón (permanent encampment) in the city of Cuernavaca and also have employed motorway blockades, the "liberation" of tollbooths and even marched 85km north to Mexico City in order to demand the reform's reversal.

A new report by the Prisons Reform Trust has accompanied the end of the “consultation” period on the government's policy of constructing huge new “titan” prisons, which Gordon Brown has stated will mean the beginning of construction of the jails.

On Saturday, the workers at the CCR plant walked off the site in protest against what they described as unfair treatment of women employees by management.

Recently, NTU managers formally de-recognised the UCU branch after ongoing attempts by the university to amend the union's recognition agreement with the university - which would result in cutting union-rep facility time by 80% and marginalising campus unions "in favour of a 'consultation and informatio

More than 100,000 Bollywood actors, technicians and cameramen have gone on strike for better pay and working hours, halting dozens of movies and television productions.

The stoppage, between 10. 30am and 11. 30am hitting offices across the UK and the ACAS helpline, follows delays in settling this year’s pay and a pay offer of 2% which will result in real term pay cuts.

This year’s pay increase was due on 1 August and follows a 10-month hold up to last year’s 2007 pay increase.

“The market for stainless precision strip is oversupplied and this business in Sheffield has been loss-making for several years,” the world’s No. 2 stainless steel maker said. “The proposal is part of Outokumpu’s performance improvement actions to ensure global competitiveness.”

With the recent arrest of Hyundai Motor Branch First Vice-President Kim Tae-gon on September 16 and the arraignment of Jung Gab-deuk, president of the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), on September 18 on charges of obstructing business, members of the KMWU are bracing for more assaults. Leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have also been targets of arrest.

Reports from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir said the strike was total.

According to workers, they have not been paid their August salary despite continuing to bear heavy workloads.

The company owes VND500 million (US$30,000) in August salaries but blames late payments from customers for the delay in payment, local authorities said.