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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.

In May 2008, Krzysztof Pruszewicz would have been 21. He was killed on April 16 in an industrial accident in the Vobro Chocolate Factory in Brodnica, Poland.

Distribution workers voted overwhelmingly for strike action; close to 70% of those voting in the ballot voted for strike action with a turnout of over 75%.

This stoppage will be followed by a 24 hour stoppage on Thursday 24th July followed by 4 day total stoppages beginning on 30th July as workers take staggered strike action.

May 28, 2008

Flaum Appetizing, a kosher food distributor, terminated 20 IWW members last week. The IWW had a strong presence at Flaum, with about two-thirds of the warehouse being union members. Workers had been struggling for respect from the boss for almost a year before the firings occurred.

Michelin - Workers at the factory in Toul (Meurthe et Moselle) began strike action after plans were announced to close it down. As well as occupying and blockading the plant with pickets of burning tyres the 826 workers also confined two managers to their offices during the four-day strike.

The strike was organised by the CGT CFDT and FO unions to pressurise management over pay and conditions, specifically part-time working and holiday working in a sector employing over 636,000 people.

The workers, members of local 1251 of the public service union have been striking since January 10th; pay negotiations broke down at the end of November and no new negiotiations were scheduled.

The, mostly female, striking workers were injured at the Miko factory in Saint-Dizier on Tuesday. Police were sent in after workers had confined the manager, Prakash Patel, to his office the previous day and occupied the site. The ice cream manufacturer recently announced a restructuring plan which will see 254 of the 493 employees lose their jobs.

Gulf News reported that the Labour Ministry had to intervene after the firm's sales and marketing department refused to work.

It meant no chickens were delivered by the company yesterday since the department covers distribution, Delmon Poultry Company Employees Union chairman Sayed Salman Jaffar Al Mahfood told the GDN.