Worldwide Turmoil - Protests against economic problems

[Barking_Mad]

Madagascar death toll rockets as authorities shoot demonstrators

Almost 30 people were killed and over 200 injured when presidential guards opened fire on protestors in Madagascar as unrest on the Indian Ocean island rose to new heights.

A huge crowd demonstrating against president Marc Ravalomanana was marching on his palace in Antananarivo at the weekend when its defenders began shooting.

"In the city's three main hospitals, we counted 28 dead and 212 wounded," said the national police spokesman Captain Lala Rakotonirina, while one medical official said 90 per cent of the injured had suffered bullet wounds.

Amid a tense calm the street leading to the president's office was blocked off by security forces on Sunday. The street was littered with orange shoes and caps – the colour of the opposition party led by Andry Rajoelina.

Violence first broke out in Madagascar, the world's biggest vanilla producer, two weeks ago, when more than 60 people died amid rioting and looting, many of them in a department store that was burned down.

But the weekend's killings are the first time the authorities have intervened on a major scale in the protests.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Thousands protest crisis in Italy

Tens of thousands of factory workers, public employees and jobless people marched through the streets of the Italian capital Friday to protest the government's handling of the economic crisis.

Cars and buses came to a standstill across much of Rome as three demonstrations made their way through the historic center with protesters holding up red union flags and banners demanding "more wages, more rights" and "no more false promises."

The marches wreaked havoc for traffic already snarled by heavy security measures in place for the Group of Seven industrial nations finance meeting here through Saturday.

The protests were part of a nationwide strike staged by Italy's largest union, the CGIL, which wants the conservative government to take stronger measures as the country faces its worst economic slowdown in three decades.

"We don't want to pay for this crisis," said Stefano Arzilli, an Olivetti worker who came down from the Turin area to join the protest. "The financiers who started it should pay for it."

Large U.S. banks on edge of insolvency, experts say
With the global slump being felt across Europe, Italy on Friday reported its worst slump since 1980, with gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2008 contracting by 1.8 percent from the previous quarter and 2.6 percent from a year earlier. It was the third straight quarter of contraction.

"This crisis has dimensions that have yet to be defined and we must watch and we are watching with concern," Premier Silvio Berlusconi told a press conference.

The government has passed some measures, including aid for the ailing car industry in the form of consumer incentives and, just Thursday, an €8 billion welfare package for laid-off workers.

But unions and opposition politicians say those measures pale in front of the multibillion stimulus packages and bailouts passed in the United States, France and other European countries.

"Compared to other countries, not enough has been done," said Mauro Bianchi, a CGIL representative in Cesena, northern Italy. "They are trying to cure a serious illness with aspirin."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Mass protest over economic crisis

A national mass demonstration will be held in cities and towns across the country in protest at the Government's response to the economic crisis, it has been revealed.

Trade union chiefs have also drawn up a 10-point plan for recovery as an alternative to the measures outlined by the state.

The campaign day will be held on February 21, with marches expected to take place in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Athlone and possibly Limerick.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Workers protest as economic woes spread in Balkans

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Hundreds of workers rallied in the Balkans on Monday to demand salary payments and government support to offset falling metal prices in a sign global financial crisis has hit the region with full force. In Bosnia, workers of Bosnia's only alumina producer Birac protested in the main square of Banja Luka, the seat of government, carrying signs reading "The Factory is Our Life" and "Who will Feed our Children?" In Montenegro's capital Podgorica, aluminium workers demanded to be paid their salaries and an immediate restart of suspended production

Non-European Union countries of former Yugoslavia have been spared some immediate effects of the global financial crisis because of their isolation from western European economies. Monday's protests were a reminder that this relatively poor region which has suffered jolts of political instability in the past is not immune from the pain spreading across Europe.

Birac employs about 1,100 people. But the jobs of nearly 1,000 additional miners in nearby Milici could also be affected, in addition to jobs in railways and transportation, as the bauxite mines there sell all of their output to Birac.

"If the alumina plant stops operating, we too shall stop operating," said Mirko Dukic, the leader of the Milici mines trade unions. "I cannot think what will happen to us and our families unless the government helps us."

The company was forced to halt production in early January after gas supplies from Russia were cut. It has only restored the production of zeolite -- a chemical used in the production of detergents -- since then.

Birac, majority owned by Lithuania's Ukio Bank Investment Group (UKB1L.VL), has felt the effects of the downturn since last year, when the prices of alumina and aluminium begun to fall on the world market.

"This crisis began in August and originated in the global economic crisis," said Predrag Tomic, president of the Birac trade union. "The whole production process has been brought into question, as well as the livelihood of nearly 6,000 people."

Alumina is a raw material made from bauxite which is used in the production of aluminium.



MOUNTING DEBTS

Birac employees in Banja Luka, the biggest town of Bosnia's Serb Republic, demanded the government help the company stave off closure by rescheduling debt payments and granting it subsidies for gas, electricity and transportation.

"The employer cannot solve it alone, they need the government help to continue production that has been reduced to a minimum 20 percent capacity," Tomic said.

In Montenegro's capital Podgorica, aluminium workers demanded to be paid their salaries and an immediate restart of production at the Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP), a Russian-owned aluminium plant.

Metal workers from the central town of Niksic and tobacco workers from Podgorica said they would rally in front of Montenegro's main government building later on Monday.

The Bosnian alumina plant has accumulated debt for electricity, gas and transportation estimated at 80 mln marka ($53 million). Trade union leader Tomic said the price for alumina had dropped from $435 per tonne in August to $170 today, while production costs remained the same, at $320.

Trade union leaders want the Serb Republic government to reschedule debt payments for the past three months.

In August, Birac reported its first profit after years of losses, which it explained by investment in modernisation. In 2007, output at Birac fell to about 300,000 tonnes of alumina, down from 470,000 tonnes in 2005.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Russian Police Break Up Economic Protest In Red Square

MOSCOW (AFP)--Russian police Thursday swooped on a group of leftist torch- waving protesters who gathered on Red Square to demand economic reforms and the government's ouster, police and activists said.

About 30 activists from two far-left youth groups - the Left Front and Red Youth Avant-garde - had just enough time to light flares and unfurl black and white flags that read "Government Resign!" before police dragged them away.

"We believe that an immediate shift in course towards liberalization is the only way to solve the current problems in our country," a spokesman for the activists, Sergei Udaltsev, told AFP by telephone after the demonstration.

Nine activists were arrested and were being held in a central police station, police spokesman Anatoly Lastavetsky told AFP.

Though still not gaining mass appeal, the number of protests across Russia has increased in recent weeks as the effects of the global financial crisis have buffeted this resource-rich country.

Protests by leftist groups such as former world chess champion Garry Kasparov's Other Russia coalition are often broken up with force by police.

Some groups have taken to quick, unpublicized meetings, in an attempt to avoid what they consider a heavy-handed response.

Those detained Thursday will be charged with holding an unsanctioned demonstration, said Lastavetsky.

could sound familiar here eh?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Kasparov is not a leftist by any manner of means.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Economic Troubles Reach to France's Territories

The global economic downturn is hitting France's overseas territories particularly hard. A wave of protests and strikes has shuttered supermarkets, gas stations and schools in the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The government has vowed to respond but the protests threaten to spread to France's other overseas regions.

Residents of Guadeloupe and Martinique in particular are protesting the high cost of living, mostly imported food and fuel, in territories where salaries are generally lower, and unemployment significantly higher than in mainland France. The unrest has been particularly intense in Guadeloupe, where garbage is piling up and stores and schools are closed after a month of strikes and demonstrations. Tourists, who are a mainstay of these Caribbean island economies, are staying away.

And there are fears the protests could spread to France's other overseas territories, there have also been strikes in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, as well as to the rest of France. A recent survey published in France's regional Sud-Ouest newspaper found 63 percent of respondents believe the unrest could also take place on the mainland. Already an estimated one million people took to the streets of France two weeks ago to protest government reforms and demand protection against the economic crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a government body to review the country's policies toward its overseas territories, which also include regions in South America and off the Canadian coast. And the country's minister for overseas territories, Yves Jego, says steps are being taken to address the complaints of residents in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

In a recent interview with France-Info radio, Jego said the government had already managed to meet many demands of disgruntled Guadeloupe residents. The government was also checking complaints about the high price of consumer items and fuel and the lack of competition.

Concern in France over rising unemployment and falling growth has taken a toll on President Sarkozy's popularity ratings. The French leader is meeting with unions Wednesday to forge an agreement on economic stimulus plans to fight the economic downturn.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Argentine farmers start protest

Argentine farmers and cattle ranchers have begun four days of demonstrations and stoppages ahead of a crucial meeting on Tuesday with the government.

They are calling for taxes on the country's lucrative grain and soya exports to be postponed for six months.

They also want to be allowed to export more meat, milk and wheat.

Their demands come as Argentina begins to feel the full force of the global downturn and the drop in demand for its agricultural products.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Thousands of union members to protest in Dublin

A mass demonstration is taking place in Dublin today in response to the pension levy being imposed on public sector workers and the way the Government is dealing with the economic crisis.

Thousands are expected to turn out for the march from Parnell Square to the Dail.

The day of protest has been organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and is being backed by civil servants, gardai, students, teachers, transport workers and bank officials.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Peru Miners May Strike in March to Protest Job Cuts, Pension

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Peruvian miners may go on strike on March 15 for more than a month to protest “unjustified” job cuts as companies say the global financial crisis lowered metal prices, said Luis Castillo, head of the Mining Federation.

Workers will meet from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25 in Lima to decide their final demands, which includes seeking Congressional approval of a bill to modify pension requirements and profit sharing, Castillo said. The miners also will ask companies to rehire about 8,000 workers fired since November, he said.

“There is a high possibility of a new strike next month,” said Castillo. “Companies are using lower metal prices as an excuse to get rid of workers. I imagine a long strike because the solution to these demands won’t be found easily.”

Mining companies including Glencore International AG, Hochschild Mining Plc and Pan American Silver Corp. are shutting mines in Peru and slashing jobs because of slumping metals prices. Copper, zinc and lead have all fallen at least 35 percent since the start of July as the global crisis eroded demand.

Hans Flury, president of Peru’s National Society of Mining, Petroleum & Energy, wasn’t available for comment. Flury will explain the firings to a Congressional committee on Feb. 24, a Society spokesman said.

Peru is the world’s largest producer of silver, the third- largest miner of copper, zinc and tin and No. 5 for gold. Exports from the Andean country fell 33.6 percent in December from a year earlier, prompting the trade surplus to shrink to $42 million from $1.1 billion a year earlier.

 

[greenman]

The Latvian government has fallen -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7901902.stm

Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis and his centre-right government have resigned, amid turmoil triggered by economic crisis in the Baltic state.

President Valdis Zatlers has accepted the resignations and is beginning talks to try to form a new administration.

The country's economy is in recession and is set to contract by up to 12% in 2009, with unemployment rising by 50%.

Latvia's is the second European government, after Iceland, to fall as a direct result of global economic woes.

 

[nino_savatte]

Big protest in Dublin

Hot on the heels of Lenihan's godawful cock up ("I didn't read the report", he said), there was a huge protest in Dublin yesterday against the economic policies (if that's what you can call them) of the Fianna Fail led coalition government.

About 100,000 people have taken part in protests in Dublin city centre to vent their anger at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession.

They oppose plans to impose a pension levy on 350,000 public sector workers.

Trade union organisers of the march said workers did not cause the economic crisis but were having to pay for it.

In a statement, the Irish government said it recognised that the measures it was taking were "difficult and in some cases painful".

The pension levy was "reasonable", the government said.

It reflected "the reality that we are not in a position to continue to meet the public service pay bill in the circumstances of declining revenue", it added.

Reports say the plan could cost the 350,000 public sector workers between 1,500 euros and 2,800 euros (£2,500) a year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7903518.stm

If anyone was thinking that maybe Fine Gael would form a better government, think again.

According to this blog, the real winner in this crisis has been Labour eek
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/feb/20/fianna-fail-civil-servants

In order to form a government, FG would have to look to Labour for support. A curious situation, when one thinks back to the 20's and 30's and where FG came from.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Kazakhs demand resignations at rare crisis protest

ALMATY, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Kazakh opposition groups demanded the government and parliament's resignation over their handling of an economic crisis at a rare public protest on Saturday.

Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy, has been hit hard by the global crisis because of its reliance on foreign borrowing and commodity exports. Economic growth has nearly halted, with some industries and regions in recession.

About 300 people gathered for the state-sanctioned protest at a small square in Kazakhstan's commercial centre Almaty. Protests are rare in Kazakhstan because they are tightly regulated by the state which often denies permission.

Some carried banners saying "Down with the government" and one man with shoulder length hair held a red flag with the portrait of revolutionary Che Guevara.

"To hell with this parliament!" said Gulzhan Yergaliyeva, editor of an opposition newspaper to cheers and applause from the crowd.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party took all seats in the lower house in an election in 2007, which was criticised by Western monitors as falling short of democratic standards. Nur Otan also dominates the upper house.

"We must show the authorities that the situation is approaching a critical point," said Ainur Kurmanov, the leader of Socialist Resistance movement.

But speakers stopped short of criticising Nazarbayev, who has run the country for nearly 20 years and instead called on him to sack Prime Minister Karim Masimov.

 

[Barking_Mad]

* BOSNIA -- Workers of Bosnia's only alumina producer Birac protested last week in Banja Luka, demanding salary payments and government support to offset falling metal prices.
Article Controls

* BRITAIN -- British workers have held a series of protests at power plants, demonstrating against the employment of foreign contractors to work on critical energy sites.

-- The protests follow a week-long dispute at the Total-owned Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, which resulted in Total agreeing to hire more British workers on the project. Workers voted to end the unofficial strike on Feb. 5.

* BULGARIA -- Police officers, banned by law from striking, have held three "silent" protests since December to demand a 50 percent pay hike and better working conditions. Bulgaria, the poorest EU nation, has been hit by protests demanding the government take measures to shore up the economy.

-- Farmers blocked the only Danube bridge link with Romania and rallied across Bulgaria this month demanding the government set a minimum protective price for milk and stop imports of cheap substitutes. Last month, Bulgarians rallied to demand economic reforms, calling on the government to act or step down.

* FRANCE -- President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet unions on Wednesday and make a televised address to the nation to try to avert protests over his handling of the crisis. France's eight union federations called for a day of action on March 19.

-- Up to 2.5 million protesters took to the streets of France last month in a day of strikes and rallies to denounce the economic crisis but the strike failed to paralyse the country and support from private sector workers was limited.
Related Stories

-- A union representative was killed and several policemen wounded by protesters on the French Caribbean island in growing violence over the cost of living. Guadeloupe, a region of France and part of the EU, has been brought to a standstill over the past month by a general strike over high prices for food.

* GERMANY -- Thousands of public sector workers staged brief strikes on Feb. 3. Public transport ground to a halt in 10 cities, schools and hospitals saw walk-outs in north Germany. * GREECE -- Greek farmers set up roadblocks in January, protesting against low prices. Most were taken down after the government pledged 500 million euros ($652 million) in aid.

-- High youth unemployment was a main driver for rioting in Greece in December, initially sparked by the police shooting of a youth in an Athens neighbourhood. The protests forced a government reshuffle.

* ICELAND -- Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned in January after protests. The first leader in the world to fall as a direct result of the credit crunch, he was replaced by Johanna Sigurdardottir, who heads a new centre-left coalition.

* IRELAND -- Nearly 100,000 people marched through Dublin on Feb. 21 to protest at government cutbacks in the face of a deepening recession and bailouts for the banks.

* LATVIA -- Latvia's agriculture minister quit on Feb. 3 amid protests by farmers over falling incomes. A 10,000-strong protest last month descended into a riot. Government steps to cut wages, as part of an austerity plan to win international aid, have angered people.

* LITHUANIA -- Police fired teargas last month to disperse demonstrators who pelted parliament with stones in protest at cuts in social spending. Police said 80 people were detained and 20 injured. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the violence would not stop an austerity plan.

* MONTENEGRO -- In Podgorica, aluminium workers demanded to be paid their salaries and an immediate restart of suspended production at the Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP), a Russian-owned plant.

* RUSSIA -- The opposition rallied about 350 people in central Moscow on Feb. 21 to demand early presidential elections, the latest sign of public anger over the government's handling of the economic crisis.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters...IDST_0_FINANCIAL-UNREST-PROTESTS-FACTBOX.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bush spends money = good. Obama spends money = socialism.



Economic woes have average Americans fighting mad

There were as many different reasons to be protesting at Chicago's Daley Plaza as there were people standing in the 25-degree cold Friday. Hoisting handmade signs declaring, "Stop the Spending, Stop the Madness," "Fire Congress" and "Don't Tread on Me," 400 angry taxpayers marched across the Michigan Avenue bridge chanting, "Socialism sucks!" and "USA, USA."

With the stock market hitting 12-year lows, unfathomable Congressional deficit spending, bailouts for greedy Wall Street execs, average Joes stepped up on Daley Plaza benches and shouted: "If we max out our credit cards, we don't just go get more credit cards. How much more does Congress want?" "I just got laid off from my job. Who's gonna bail me out?" "Capitalists, raise your hands!"

One 50-year-old said she'd never marched in a protest before Friday. "I'm just so angry," she said. "Congress is spending and will make our kids pay for it. I want a better life for my kids and grandkids. They shouldn't have to pay for this."

"That's right," her friend said. "We were taught to make sacrifices for our kids. Now we're telling them they're going to have to make sacrifices for us. That's just not right."

Friday's protest was duplicated in 40 other cities nationwide, set into motion by an emotional outburst from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade a few weeks ago. Business reporter Rick Santelli spontaneously expressed frustration with government bailouts for the automobile and banking industries, which is setting our nation into unprecedented debt, now projected to be more than $3 trillion. Santelli's rant was broadcast live on CNBC and has since been viewed by millions via YouTube.

Chicago protesters agree with Santelli. They are frustrated because what they work hard for and sacrifice to achieve never seems to be enough. The government is always demanding more from them, and now is starting on their kids and grandkids. For many, Friday was a game-changing "We're not gonna take it anymore!" moment.

The people marching weren't in the mood to talk about party politics. They were angry at Democratic leadership for pushing through unprecedented national indebtedness to pay for pork projects, earmarks for political buddies and wasteful spending. They were happy that House Republicans unanimously stood against Barack Obama's stimulus plan, and angry at the three Republican senators voted with the Democrats.

Many feared their jobs would be the next to be axed by struggling companies. Some said they had lost much of their retirement pensions to a collapsing stock market. "How can we trust them to do the right thing now?" a man shouted.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Of course in the UK people are free to protest, without being hit over the head or kettled. BBC seem to have lost their irony filter.

Egyptian police stifle protests

Police in Egypt have been deployed in large numbers to prevent a national strike by pro-democracy activists.

Police had orders to arrest anyone taking part, and a number of activists have been held in recent days.

Protests appear to have been small, but about 100 MPs, out of 454, walked out of parliament as part of the protest.

The organisers of Monday's action had urged people to wear black and called for protests including sit-ins at places of work or study.

The call to protest was circulated through SMS messages and social networking sites.

The campaigners are pressing the government to raise the national minimum wage and are calling for a new constitution to be drafted.

Activists were hoping it would build on a protest demanding economic and political reform they held for the first time last year.

Three people died in the protests in April 2008 and hundreds were arrested.

Egypt is run under a emergency law that has been in place since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Italians Rally in Rome to Protest Economic Policies

Italians converged on Rome to protest that the government isn’t doing enough to protect jobs and benefits amid the nation’s worst recession in three decades.

About 200,000 people joined the rally, a police spokesman, who declined to be identified by name, said in the Italian capital today. Enrico Panini, head of organization for CGIL, Italy’s biggest labor union, said in a telephone interview that as many as 2.7 million people were involved.

“I woke up at 4 a.m. to come to Rome,” said Matteo Cascolo, 20, a student and part-time worker at a McDonald’s Corp. restaurant in Pisa, northern Italy. He said the government is allowing employers to cut salaries and benefits.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government plans 40 billion euros ($53 billion) of spending to try to overcome the recession. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said March 31 that Italy has the highest public debt in the euro region, and this has “restrained its discretionary fiscal action.”

Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, speaking in Prague after meeting with his European Union counterparts, said today that “in the middle of a crisis, I think we need to pass from protests to proposals.”

Italy’s economy will shrink 4.3 percent this year and the unemployment rate, which reached a two-year high of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter, will climb to 9.2 percent, the OECD said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Chinese move to quell anger after protest marches

Authorities in northern China moved Saturday to contain a dispute over factory job losses that sparked an unprecedented attempt by workers to mount a mass protest march on Beijing, state media said.

More than 1,000 workers were prevented Friday from marching 140 kilometres (90 miles) to Beijing from the city of Baoding to protest the closure of their textile factory.

But on Saturday the chairwoman of the Baoding Yimian Textile Ltd's board of directors was suspended from the post and authorities launched an investigation into alleged malfeasance by the factory's Hong Kong-based owner, Xinhua news agency reported. ...

Local authorities talked the protesters out of the march after they had gone several kilometres and provided buses to bring them back to Baoding, demonstrators said.

Zheng Ran, an official with Baoding's government, said authorities were meeting to discuss the issue, but some workers were skeptical.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Taiwan labor unions to stage jobs protest on May 1

Taiwanese workers will take to the streets on May 1 to demand long-term jobs and tougher action against lax layoffs, labor groups announced Monday.
The government should create stable jobs and limit abuse by employers of the right to dismiss employees, the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions said at a news conference about plans for a Labor Day march by eight organizations.

The official unemployment rate reached a record 5.75 percent last February, with 624,000 people looking for jobs. The rate is widely expected to cross 6 percent soon, even though the government wants to keep it below 4.5 percent for the whole year by launching several economic stimulus packages.

“The employers have seen spring, but the workers are still in the middle of a cold winter,” was one of the slogans the TCTU presented, referring to statements by some business leaders that a recovery was close.

If the government made no positive response to labor’s demands, the union would try and hand a symbolic dismissal notice to President Ma Ying-jeou during the May 1 march, organizers said.

The financial and electronics sectors have dismissed temporary workers on a large scale during the current global economic crisis, showing the need for more adequate protection of all types of employees, labor activists said, calling for a ban on outsourcing.

 

[dennisr]

Kazakhs demand resignations at rare crisis protest

Kazakhstan:Workers strike at Burgylai oil wells

This would be better placed in this thread as well:
More occupations against closure and redundancies - significent in the case of this strike is the call for nationalisation and fighting attempts to cease production in the ex-soviet state

http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/04/0501.html

One thousand eight hundred workers at the Burgylai oil wells at Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan are on strike demanding the nationalisation of their plant and that the government take emergency measures to stabilise the economic situation in the country, stop mass sackings and guarantee the payment of wage arrears. Unable to get the agreement to start negotiations on these questions, 14 members of a independent workers' trade union at the plant launched an indefinite hunger strike.

The authorities are trying to isolate the strikers and maintain an information blockade. The trade union leaders are being pressured by the local government administration and the 'special police' to end the strike and to prevent it spreading. Huge pressure is being put on Daniyar Bespaev, one of the workers' leaders.

However, workers in another 10 oil fields carried out a one hour solidarity strike on the 26 March in support of the Burgylai workers and sent delegations to meet with them.

Please send urgent messages of support to the Burgylai strikers to

* [email protected]
* Fax: +7 7292 501662.