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Vol. 73/No. 19      May 18, 2009

 
On the Picket Line
 
Professors at University
of Quebec settle strike
MONTREAL—Meeting in a general assembly April 24, striking professors at the 40,000-student University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) voted by 91 percent to accept a settlement reached by their union leadership with the university administration and the Quebec government.

The strikers forced the university to grant them salary parity with other University of Quebec branches, with an 11 percent increase over four years. UQAM administrators are also committed to hiring 145 new professors over five years. The strikers originally demanded 300, with the administration offering only 25. The vote was taken as the government prepared to call a weekend session of the Quebec National Assembly to pass a strikebreaking “special law.”

Since the beginning of the strike March 16 there have been a series of actions in support of the professors, including three demonstrations and two public meetings involving hundreds of professors, students, and others.

—Michel Prairie and John Steele

Bulgaria steelworkers
demand back pay
More than 500 workers from Bulgaria’s Kremikovtzi steel plant marched in Sofia, the capital, April 30 to demand back pay and unemployment compensation.

The workers first marched to the economy ministry, where an official read a statement outlining steps the Bulgarian government says it has taken to aid the plant. After no one from the ministry agreed to meet with them, the workers marched to Parliament.

The workers told the Sofia News Agency they had learned that 1,500 workers would be laid off in the coming days, followed by another 1,000 by the end of May.

The unions are demanding that each laid-off worker receive 30 months’ pay as compensation.

—Sam Manuel

Bahrain contract workers
strike over death in camp
More than 600 workers went on strike April 28 against a labor contract company in Bahrain after a coworker from India died in one of the company’s camps, reported the Bahrain Daily News.

According to the News, Bala Krishna, 30, had completed his two-year contract more than nine months ago but it had not been renewed. Workers said that their pleas to the company to assist Krishna, who had become ill, fell on deaf ears.

One worker said that hundreds had either completed their contracts or had been terminated by the Habib Ali Awachi labor contract company but remained in Bahrain because the company claimed it couldn’t afford to send them home.

“We will continue to stay away from work unless our grievances are addressed,” a worker told the News.

—Sam Manuel  
 
 
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