Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

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Europe

Belgian postal workers strike against job cuts and reorganisation to focus on parcels

Workers at the Belgian postal service Bpost began a series of strikes this week, with delivery workers stopping work on Monday, and stoppages in logistics on Tuesday and sorting offices on Wednesday.

The CGSP and CSC unions say more strikes are planned over the next three weeks. Practically no letters were delivered in Brussels or the French-speaking south of the country, according to media reports.

Postal workers demand job protection and oppose a major restructuring of their working conditions. RTL reported that the end of state subsidies for distributing newspapers could cost as many as 2,000 jobs, and Bpost’s own reorganisation plans threaten 4,000 jobs.

The company, which is just over 50 percent owned by the Belgian state, said a “structural decline” in the number of letters sent “requires continued efficiency efforts… a competitive and constantly evolving parcel market, requires us to evolve ever more quickly,” implying it will force workers into a race to the bottom with Amazon and other parcel companies.

Postal workers at privatised Royal Mail in the UK face similar attacks on wages, jobs and conditions.

Spanish metalworkers continue months-long strike

Around 1,800 metal workers at the Acerinox plant in Cádiz, Spain, have been on strike since February 5 over pay rises and in opposition to the company’s demand for far worse working conditions.

Acerinox made a new proposal last week for a collective agreement. This would include a pay rise of 2.25 percent next year, and 2 percent in every subsequent year until 2027, likely constituting a major cut in real pay.

Europa Press reported that the CEO of Acerinox said the company needed to adapt to a “very volatile world,” which “cannot be done with the rigidity of the workforce.” It threatened that if it could not push through extra “flexibility” and an increase in working time, it would have to resort to an ERTE. This element of Spanish employment law allows temporary cutting of hours.

According to Europa Press, Acerinox’s profits for the first quarter of 2024 were 61 percent lower than the first quarter of last year, but it still made a profit of 53 million euros.

Teachers continue to oppose French government’s “knowledge shock” reforms

Teachers in France continue to oppose the “knowledge shock” education reforms put forward by the government of prime minister Gabriel Attal.

Previous months have seen national strikes against the reforms. Parents and pupils have joined teachers in opposing the plans, which would see students put in streams based on attainment in mathematics and French.

The reforms were denounced by teachers as enforcing “social sorting” and lack any evidence of helping pupils’ education. One mathematics teacher told France Bleu that, given the current resources, “With fifteen students, all in difficulty, I don’t see how it is possible to give them special attention in 55 minutes of lessons.” She added, “In heterogeneous classes, the students help each other… We’re going to lose all that.”

A one-day strike was held in Toulouse on Monday, on the first day of term after the Easter holidays. Other local strikes and protests took place, including in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department with some of the highest poverty rates in France. Teachers there demanded an increase in resources for schools, and parents joined the protests. A mother told France Bleu that due to teacher shortages, one of her children “has had no classes in sculpting for a year, and not in maths for six months.”

French air-traffic controllers strike against restructure of working conditions

Most flights at France’s largest airports were cancelled this Thursday, as air traffic controllers walked out to oppose a planned restructuring of their working conditions.

The UNSA union said the government was demanding “excessive flexibility,” “restrictions on leave,” and “assumed maintenance understaffing, reduction of services.”

According to Le Figaro, 75 percent of flights were cancelled at Paris Orly airport, and 65 percent each at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Marseille airports.

This was the first major strike by air traffic controllers since the government imposed new restrictions on their right to strike. Under the new regime, workers are required to individually declare whether or not they will go on strike 48 hours in advance.

The SNCTA union, which represents around 60 percent of air traffic controllers, supported the restriction of the right to strike in January, and last year agreed not to call any strikes until after the Olympic Games. Indicating the anger of workers and opposition to such blatant corporatism, the SNCTA called the recent strikes, referring to the restructuring plans as “a provocation if not an insult,” Le Figaro reported. Another three-day strike is planned in May.

Workers at recycling company continue long-running strike for a collective agreement in Leipzig, Germany

Workers at the recycling company SRW in the German city of Leipzig have been on strike for more than five months, since November 8.

Around 180 members of the IG Metall union are calling for a collective agreement involving an 8 percent pay rise, higher bonuses and a reduction in working hours, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. IG Metall said that monthly wages at the plant are around 600 euros lower than at other companies.

The EUWID recycling industry news site reported that 79 members of the Bundestag signed an open letter to SRW calling for it to sign a collective agreement and provide what they called “German employment standards.” IG Metall called for the company to sign a collective agreement and restart “our joint working relationship.” SRW made a pay offer well below the striking workers’ demands and claimed it would negotiate with the works council over individual contracts but not sign a collective agreement.

To channel the anger at poor working conditions into nationalism and anti-China agitation, the Bundestag letter, signed by Green and SPD politicians, said the Chinese embassy was contacted about the dispute. SRW is owned by the Hong Kong-based Chiho Environmental Group, which is not state-owned.

Dutch metal workers begin rolling strikes over collective bargaining

Metal workers in the Netherlands began rolling regional strikes this week, stopping work in Friesland on Monday and other provinces on other days.

According to De Telegraaf, the Federation of Technology Employers’ Organisations, representing smaller metal companies, offered a pay rise of 9.19 percent spread across two years. The trade unions called for a pay rise of 12.5 percent to make up for the loss of real wages the last two years.

The FNV union said on Monday that it expected around 300 people to join the strikes in Friesland, but a total of 600 stopped work, the Algemeen Dagblad reported.

Mechanics and electricians hold national one-day strike in Cyprus

Mechanics and electricians held a 24-hour national strike April 18, after the state mediation service declared a “deadlock” in negotiations between the Cypriot Association of Mechanical and Electrical Contractors (SEMIEK) and the employers’ association OEV.