Protests spread across Europe

Inflation, energy coast and demand for better pay and living conditions has spurred protests in England, Germany, Neatherlands, Spain, Portugal and France…reports Asian Lite News

Over 15,000 demonstrators braved the bitter cold in Brussels to call for more measures to shield them from high energy prices and better pay to counter runaway inflation.

The protests, backed by the three main unions, disrupted public services throughout Belgium, especially rail and subway systems in and around the capital as well as Brussels international airport.

With people increasingly under pressure from high prices, the unions demanded pay increases at a time when companies such as energy giants are making massive profits. They’re asking for a freeze in energy prices and increased taxation on capital.

“We won’t stop unless workers get what they deserve,” the unions said in a statement.

Meanwhile, demonstrators in several cities across Italy took to the streets after two of the country’s largest unions, CGIL and UIL, staged a one-day walkout.

They protested the government’s 2023 General Budget, which, they say, does not account for the loss of purchasing power due to inflation.

In London, the job satisfaction of the railway workers, who have begun another 48 hours of industrial action, has long since been derailed.

Backed by the RMT union, this is the sector’s second two-day strike so far this week and it looks like it will not be the last of this year.

In France, train controllers, who are threatening to strike during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, have until Monday to respond to a proposed wage increase from management.

Here are details of some of the industrial action and demonstrations.

Britain

• Some 400 fast-food delivery staff employed by Tesco-owned (TSCO.L) Best Food Logistics have voted to strike over pay, the GMB union said on Thursday.
• Postal workers began a two-day walkout on Thursday and a six-day strike in the run-up to Christmas looked set to go ahead after the Communication Workers Union rejected a pay offer from Royal Mail on Nov. 23.
• More than 70,000 staff at British universities and teachers in Scotland walked out on Thursday to demand better pay.
• Thousands of British railway workers will stage further strikes over the next two months in a long-running dispute over pay, the RMT union said on Nov. 22, signalling travel disruption before and after the Christmas holiday period.

• Hundreds of workers at British security company G4S have voted to strike for 48 hours in early December in a dispute over pay, trade union GMB said on Nov. 22, warning the walk out could cause cash shortages over Christmas.
• Thousands of British civil servants plan one month of “sustained industrial action” through the winter in an ongoing pay dispute, the Public and Commercial Services union said on Nov. 18, after the biggest strike vote in its history.
• Trade union Unite said more than 700 workers at Bakkavor’s food manufacturing factory in Lincolnshire will strike from late November until the new year over pay, which the union said would hit Christmas food supplies to supermarkets Sainsbury, Tesco and Marks and Spencer.

Germany

• Volkswagen agreed on Nov. 23 a two-year wage deal for around 125,000 workers at its western German factories, offering around 8.5% more pay – below inflation but more than other employers have yielded in recent weeks.
• Germany’s IG Metall union agreed on Nov. 18 a below-inflation pay deal in a powerhouse region, setting the benchmark for 3.9 million metal and electrical sector workers nationwide.
• Trade union Verdi said on Nov. 18 it had reached a wage agreement with energy company RWE for roughly 18,000 employees that includes one-off 3,000 euro ($3,122) payments and an increase in salaries of at least 6% from Feb. 1.
• Lufthansa and the UFO union have reached a pay agreement for 19,000 cabin crew members, the German airline said.
• German carmaker Audi is in favour of offering employees one-off tax-free payments instead of permanent wage increases, its human resources director said.

Netherlands

• BP said on Nov. 22 that the planned restart of its large refinery in Rotterdam after it was closed due to a technical problem was on hold after unions said they would not help with the return to service due to a pay dispute.

France

• The UNAC and SNGAF trade unions said they were calling for strike action over work conditions at Air France (AIRF.PA) during the Christmas holidays from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2.
• France’s EDF said on Oct. 27 it had formally signed a wage agreement for its workers in the country with all unions present at the company.

Spain

• A union group representing shop assistants at fashion retailer Zara has called a two-day strike over pay during the “Black Friday” sales on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25 in stores in the company’s home town of A Coruna in northern Spain.
• Insurer Mapfre will pay a one-time 400 euro ($417.32) bonus at Christmas to its approximately 10,000 employees in Spain to help them cope with soaring inflation. The company provided a 350 euro bonus in July.
• Thousands of Spaniards packed Madrid’s landmark Plaza Mayor square on Nov. 3 to demand higher pay, in the country’s first mass protest since the start of the cost of living crisis.

Portugal

• Thousands of Portugal’s doctors, nurses, teachers and civil servants walked off the job on Nov. 18 to demand wage increases amid rampant inflation.

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