Workers Around the World: 11/6/97 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the November 6, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- WORKERS AROUND THE WORLD: NOVEMBER 6, 1997 SOUTH KOREA: AUTO WORKERS STRIKE Over 30,000 auto workers at Kia Motors and Asia Motors in south Korea walked off the job on Oct. 22. The workers are protesting government plans to take over the company on behalf of the larger Samsung conglomerate. The strike opened up into running battles between workers and cops in the streets of Seoul on Oct. 24. When police refused to release 13 workers arrested during a rally, thousands pelted the cops with bottles and rocks. Kia petitioned for court protection in September, weighed down by debts of $10.4 billion. Unions charge that the government, through the courts, is maneuvering to take over the company and sell it back to Samsung. South Korean President Kim Young-Sam, himself the target of a general strike in January, vowed to take action against the strikers. "The government should take strenuous legal measures against illegal activities by Kia workers," he said on Oct. 27. The Kia workers have received strong backing from the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. KCTU spokesperson Yoon Young-mo vowed that the union federation would lead strikes to protect job security. "We will launch a general strike unless the government and creditors retract their decision to place Kia under receivership," stated an Oct. 22 KCTU statement. CANADA: TEACHERS STRIKE, DEFYING GOV'T Picket lines went up at schools across Ontario on Oct. 27 as 126,000 teachers fought government plans to cut the education budget and slash 10,000 jobs. The teachers braved snowstorms and court injunctions, vowing to prevent anyone from entering the struck schools. It is the biggest teachers' strike ever in North America. At issue is Bill 160, which would drastically change the province's educational system. The bill cuts teachers' paid preparation time and allows some classes to be taught by unlicensed instructors. "Bill 160 is a smokescreen to enable the government to cut another $1 billion [US $720 million] from education," charged Ontario Teachers Federation President Eileen Lennon. The union termed the strike a political protest as well as a strike. It has won support from other sectors of Canada's organized-labor movement. Canadian Auto Workers President Buzz Hargrove vowed on Oct. 23 that his members would walk the picket lines with the teachers. "If the government defeats the teachers, it could be the worst thing that's ever happened to education in this province," he said. Forty thousand janitors, custodial workers and secretaries represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees also pledged to honor teachers' picket lines. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: GENERAL STRIKE SET Popular organizations in the Dominican Republic are preparing for a nationwide general strike on Nov. 10 and 11. The 48-hour action will culminate a series of strikes and demonstrations in the past months. Some of them have broken out into battles between protesters and police. Isidro Torres, a leader of the Coordinating Committee for People's Struggle, announced the strike on Oct. 21. The group charges that President Lionel Fernandez' economic policies have aggravated widespread electricity shortages and raised the cost of living. Electricity shortages cause blackouts of up to 16 hours per day in some sectors of the capital, Santo Domingo. Skyrocketing prices of basic goods have driven more people into poverty. SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU SUSPENDS GENERAL STRIKE CALL Following negotiations with its allies, the Congress of South African Trade Unions suspended its call for a two-day general strike in late October. COSATU met on Oct. 21 with the South African Communist Party and the ruling African National Congress on the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, currently being discussed in parliament. "Most of the gaps that existed between the Alliance on core issues have been closed and some areas significantly reduced," according to an Oct. 22 COSATU news release. "The COSATU Central Executive Committee meeting scheduled for Nov. 4-6, 1997, will make further assessment of how our concerns have been resolved and take the final decision on the matter of the General Strike and mass mobilization." COSATU has been pressing for a 40-hour work week, six months' maternity leave, and a minimum working age of 16 to be enshrined in the bill, which will shape the ground for future labor battles. KAZAKHSTAN: STRIKERS FACE POLICE Thousands of striking factory workers in the southern Kazakh town of Turkestan faced off with police blocking their march on Oct. 24. The workers are demanding months of unpaid wages. "Five buses filled with police officers wearing helmets and carrying shields surrounded the strikers and prevented them from crossing a bridge on the Turkestan river," said one union spokesperson. Among the demonstrators were 1,000 factory workers from the southeastern town of Kentau who have been marching toward the country's capital of Almaty since Oct. 1. Police blocked that march on Oct. 2 in Turkestan. The workers and their families have been living in a tent city there, supported by the local population. Employers owe workers some $810 million in unpaid wages, dating back to 1996. ITALY: COMMUNIST REFOUNDATION RALLY DRAWS 200,000 An estimated 200,000 people took to the streets of Rome on Oct. 25 in support of the Communist Refoundation Party. Demonstrators carried slogans demanding a 35-hour work week- -a rallying cry both in Italy and in neighboring France. The strong showing was a slap in the face for those politicians who scolded the Communist Refoundation for withholding parliamentary support for an austerity budget in early October and nearly forcing the government's collap se. The party agreed to support the budget after winning a pledge to introduce the 35-hour week by 2001 and restore some $300 million from budget cuts. Business leaders are already howling about Prime Minister Romano Prodi's commitment--however vague--to a shorter work week. CR leaders Fausto Bertinotti and Armando Cossuta announced that 1,600 people had joined the party since the parliamentary showdown. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. 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