Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Are we headed for a summer of discontent and disruption?
Is it just me, or are we hearing about more labour unrest this year than in the past few years? Click the link above to see google results for 2006 labour unrest. There are pages and pages of articles about it. Workers on strike or threatening strike or other job actions, not just in one industry or one location. France, Russia, Iran, China, North America, hotel workers, metal workers, teachers, airlines, public sector workers.
Hotel contracts expire soon in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and have already expired in much of Toronto.
AK steel has been stopped for 2 months now. A second strike at another AK facility seems to have been averted just yesterday (still to be voted on).
The Cooper Tools strike outside of Syracuse has just ended, after 5 weeks.
Before I get caught in a firestorm, I'm not passing judgement on these situations - I don't know enough about any of them, let alone the totality of them. It just seems like I'm running into more and more descriptions online every day. Is that because there more information online these days or is labour unrest really on the rise?
Hotel contracts expire soon in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and have already expired in much of Toronto.
AK steel has been stopped for 2 months now. A second strike at another AK facility seems to have been averted just yesterday (still to be voted on).
The Cooper Tools strike outside of Syracuse has just ended, after 5 weeks.
Before I get caught in a firestorm, I'm not passing judgement on these situations - I don't know enough about any of them, let alone the totality of them. It just seems like I'm running into more and more descriptions online every day. Is that because there more information online these days or is labour unrest really on the rise?