Greek pensioner commits suicide - calls for uprising
A 77-year old Greek pensioner, retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, wen down to Syntagma square in Athens and committed suicide on Wednesday, April 4, leaving a note explaining his reasons.
A 77-year old Greek pensioner, retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, wen down to Syntagma square in Athens and committed suicide on Wednesday, April 4, leaving a note explaining his reasons.
As we have reported previously, the period since the fall of Mubarak in February 2011 has seen a growing level of militancy amongst workers and trade unionists in Egypt. In particular, waves of strikes were seen in September 2011 by both public and private sector workers.
Most of Portugal’s public transport system, including the ports, was paralysed on March 22, as workers took part in the general strike called by the largest union federation, the CGTP (the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers), which organises over 700,000 workers. Unfortunately, the country’s second-largest union, the UGT (the General Workers’ Union), with its 500,000 members did not back the action this time. This explains the weaker impact of this latest strike.
As part of its austerity programme the Tory-LibDem coalition is planning to cut police officers’ wages and making it easier to sack them. There are to be wage cuts, job losses and more stringent requirements to enter the police force. The starting salary would be £19,000, down from the current £23,500. Those on “restricted duties” for more than a year could lose 8 per cent of their salary and after two years would be asked to take “ill-health retirement”. Anyone refusing to “retire” or take staff jobs would be subject to dismissal, i.e. the sack! There is also the proposal to raise the age of retirement to 60 from the present 55.
Hundreds of thousands marched across South Africa as part of COSATU's one day general strike against labour brokers and road tolls. Here are some videos and pictures of the day's action.