prices

In the latest show of distress with fuel prices, Spanish truckers on Monday began a blockade of their country's border with France, lining up their rigs and slowing them to a crawl to protest the cost of fuel. The strike blocked the highway in both directions in southwestern France.

Over 1,000 workers walked out of a Panasonic factory in Hanoi over the weekend demanding higher pay. This came in the wake of a strike by 5,000 at a shoe factory in Hai Phong City last month.

Rising food and consumer goods prices have led to a wave of strikes across Vietnam. The strike at Long An follows a strike and lockout of 17,000 workers in the same province last month.

The new measure reflects widespread economic hardship in the West Bank after seven years of conflict with Israel, including international economic sanctions and tough Israeli restrictions. Many Palestinians are unable to pay even routine bills and have run up huge amounts of debt.

Two articles on the riots are included, by local historian Bob Saunders, and an excerpt from the Newgate Calendar:

THE MERTHYR RISING 1831
Bob Saunders
BACKGROUND

Part of a wave of unrest which hit the USSR in the IPO, Lower Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Ukraine and Belorussia, the strike was one of the most significant of the 1930s, winning reforms nationally as a result of the threat it posed to the Soviet authority.

The wildcat action was linked to increases in the price of meat in the Bamako district over the last few months. Local butchers blamed the price increases on a lack of livestock that had been caused by a poor supply of animal feed. It is also linked to the loss of value of the CFA Franc, the currency used in many former french colonies.

Two major train companies have announced large price rises this month, with Arriva deciding to raise their off-peak fares by over 30% and South West Trains 20%.

In the spring of 1993, San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan launched an attack on the living standards of the city’s working class by demanding a fare increase of 25 cents per ride on MUNI. MUNI is San Francisco’s main public transit system, made up of motor coaches, trolleys, metro trains, and the world-famous cable cars, with approximately 686,000 passenger boardings every weekday.

Workers for the state-run mining company demanded an increase in their salaries and pensions and an end to the involvement of private companies, especially the use of subcontractors who do not offer benefits such as retirement plans to employees.