MetaFilter posts tagged with strike

Norman Strike blogs the U.K. miners' strike.

chinston — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:42:26 -0800

Norman Strike is blogging the 1984-85 U.K. miners' strike. From his account of the "Battle of Orgreave" (June 18, 1984): There was the coke works in the distance, squatting on the land and belching out smoke from Yorkshire coal. A black line of police spread across the yellow field in front, with horses to the rear and sides. . . . I began sprinting up the field, trying to avoid the slower lads. I made it to safety but was horrified at what I saw as I looked back down the field. Dogs were biting lads whilst others were being truncheoned by pigs and either led away or dragged away! It was a disgusting sight and one I never thought I’d see in this country. I’ll never forget it but worse was to follow. Every day, the aptly named Norman Strike reposts an entry from his diary kept during the 1984-85 miners' strike in the U.K., which would go on to inspire works like Billy Elliot, U2's Red Hill Mining Town, and the Manic Street Preachers' A Design for Life. Strike can be seen about 3:50 into this video, on stage at a November 1984 performance by the left-wing band The Redskins on Channel 4's The Tube. He tried to give a speech but his microphone was cut off. He later re-recorded the speech, which you can listen to here.

University of California Budget Walkout

spitefulcrow — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:16:55 -0800

Thousands of students, faculty, and staff have walked out today in protest of the University of California's budget cuts. Today marks the first day of classes for eight of the ten UC campuses, all of which have been hit hard by budget cuts as a result of the statewide budget crisis, which has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of reductions to UC's budget. The cuts are being implemented via pay cuts and forced furloughs for UC faculty and staff, and drastic fee increases have been proposed. UC employees are worried about what is seen as the potential privatization of the nation's largest public university system. Many see the California budget process, hampered by a two-thirds majority requirement and numerous ballot initiatives blocking tax increases, as the source of the problem. Local coverage per campus: Berkeley Los Angeles Davis Santa Barbara Irvine

women must be the sex workers, if they're the ones who go on strike...

mdn — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:37:32 -0800

Kenyan women call to mind Greek comedy, though perhaps they have other reasons to take a week off...

Twenty Times a Day

shoesfullofdust — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:57:07 -0800

...the Department of Transportation will not keep secret the data we collect on birds striking airplanes. - Ray LaHood, United States Secretary of Transportation

From the dreaded mourning dove to the nefarious Canada goose to the humble armadillo, the FAA's recently released National Wildlife Strike Database ON-LINE contains information on aircraft/wildlife strikes from over 100,000 reported incidents between 1990 and 2008. The database was referenced previously in the Birdstrike in the Hudson thread, but until this week the the F.A.A. provided only aggregate data about wildlife strikes - collisions by state, not by airport. Submit your query here or download the current version(15 MB MS Access format) from this page. Federal Aviation Administration - Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Home Page. Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United States 1990 - 2007 - A comprehensive analysis of the database (pdf format). Sharing the Skies (TP 13549E) is an online book about the subject of aircraft/wildlife strikes from Transport Canada.

sex strikes

jojo-dancer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:09:44 -0800

rethinking the lipstick index - a nice find: there's an old Greek play called Lysistrata, in which the women of Greece go on a sex strike to stop the Peloponnesian War. Did it work? The play maybe was just a play, but in the last decade there have been (successful?!) sex strikes in Liberia, Colombia, Naples, Sudan... this site gets into some research about ancient women's ceremonies being a coordinated sex strike to get the men to hunt, and that they painted their faces red to suggest menstrual blood... and now i can't help but think of lipstick, and blush, and then there's the lipstick index, the idea that lipstick sales go up during hard times, (supposedly) because its the cheapest female self-indulgence product; but now i wonder... some primal impulse...

à la rue..

pwedza — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:51:32 -0800

Paris manif. A photo-montage of people taking it to the streets in France.

Birdstrike in the Hudson

kdar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:56:32 -0800

US Airways Flight 1549 has crashed into the Hudson. Fortunately, it appears that everyone has survived. The culprit appears to be a bird strike from a flock of geese (as opposed to a single bird, which airplane engines are built to withstand). Not surprisingly, there has been some serious research effort into bird strikes and how they affect airline safety. (The Bird Strike Society has been established to advocate for greater public awareness.)

May Day strike protests Iraq war

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:30:01 -0800

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that it will shut down West Coast ports today, to protest the war in Iraq. Oddly, the ILWU website's top page has no mention of the action. Following a link to their newspaper The Dispatcher, however, we find a page 2 article on the planned action, only available as a PDF. Supporting the action are the San Francisco Labor Council and Vermont AFL-CIO. And while you may not agree with everything the Internationalist Group has to say, you may find some of the photo documentation of past demonstrations on this page to be of some interest.

No sushi for Jew!

ericbop — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:30:36 -0800

"Today there is no eggroll..." As posted at jewschool, your best source for hip heeb hype,

Asian restaurants across [Israel]detante went on a one-day spring roll strike on Tuesday in protest over government plans to rid kitchens of foreign chefs, and said sushi and noodles would be the next items off the menu. The restaurants are angry at the state’s plans to purge Japanese, Chinese and Thai eateries of Asian cooks and replace them with Israelis as part of a broader program to cut the number of foreigners working in Israel. The Ethnic Restaurant Organization said the country’s 300 Asian restaurants refused to serve spring or egg rolls - among their most popular dishes - on Tuesday, and planned a follow-up strike in two weeks for sushi and noodles. “Today there is no egg roll and in two weeks time there will be no sushi and noodles,” Arnon Volosky, head of the organization, told Reuters... The government argues Israelis can be trained. “Everyone can make Chinese food it’s not impossible to learn,” said Shoshana Strauss, a lawyer working on foreign worker issues for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor...Volosky said his organization had asked the Supreme Court to force the government to rethink the decision, arguing it could force many out of business or make them inflate prices to cover the salaries needed to secure “expert” visas for chefs. It's too bad they can't follow the American example of Chinese-Jewish food detente.

I just want more episodes of Metalocalypse

Pope Guilty — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:53:47 -0800

With the Writer's Guild of America strike possibly coming to close in a couple of days, you might be interested in a guide to when the various shows will be coming back.

Force majeure axe

Tehanu — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:27:55 -0800

The WGA strike has entered its third month. Since New Year's, Worldwide Pants, the Weinstein Co., and United Artists have reached interim deals with the WGA, with rumors of more to come. Microsoft announced new deals with Hollywood companies. And on Friday, ABC Studios terminated deals with more than a dozen writers. Tonight, CBS, NBC, and 20th Century Fox have followed suit. Names of producers, writers, and shows affected are still being revealed as letters are received. Force majeure. So far, reports suggest that most or all of the people whose deals were terminated are writers without projects currently on the air-- people with a show in development or with a recent show that's no longer on the air. But names are still being reported so it's not entirely certain yet. Meanwhile, there is a rumor that a deal between the AMPTP and DGA will be announced tomorrow.

Why does the WGA hate freedom and democracy so much?

Tehanu — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:52:03 -0800

On December 7th, talks between the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down. From AMPTP.com: "We are heartbroken to report that despite our best efforts, including sending them a muffin basket, making them a mix CD, and standing outside their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs, our talks with the WGA have broken down."

Howling Mob Society

damnthesehumanhands — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:41:56 -0800

The Howling Mob Society. Looking out over the burning Strip District from the safety of his office in Pittsburgh's Union Station, Thomas Alexander Scott must have been humbled. Only days before, as president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Scott famously suggested that impoverished and striking railroad workers be given “a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread.” Now, with the local Pittsburgh militia all but mutinied and the State Militia rapidly retreating, he must have wondered if his hard-line stance had backfired… "The Howling Mob Society (HMS) is a collaboration of artists, activists and historians committed to unearthing stories neglected by mainstream history. HMS brings increased visibility to the radical history of Pittsburgh, PA through grassroots artistic practice. Our current focus is The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a national uprising that saw some of its most dramatic moments in Pittsburgh." Be sure to check out their signs.

When lightning strikes!

newfers — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:14:08 -0800

Everybody has heard a story of someone being struck by lightning. People who survive such a strike can even join a support group. But if you do survive a strike, beware, as you will undoubtedly suffer adverse side effects!

Striking Out

shotgunbooty — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:28:13 -0800

Striking Out by James Surowiecki. "As TV writers hit the picket lines, Surowiecki discusses the motivations and consequences of labor strikes. Historically, he argues, strikes have rarely ended up benefiting workers; the deals reached are usually similar to offers on the table before workers walk out. So why strike? For one thing, he writes, striking may clarify how serious your employer is about his stated position. And strikes are often about fairness, rather than economics -- people tend to reject deals they view as unfair, even when doing so leaves them worse off. A cogent analysis offering some interesting, timely tidbits of economic theory." [via]

Understanding the WGA Writer's Strike

GoodAaron — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:10:15 -0800

As the Writer's Guild of America strike wears on into its second week, it seems appropriate to remember why they're striking in the first place. If you ask me, the terms seem almost too reasonable. But in the defense of the studios, I'm sure the businessmen involved have gotten used to spending those millions of dollars, and wouldn't want to see them go. Now that Broadway has shut down in allegiance to their Hollywood compatriots, things are looking grim for anything to be resolved without more financial bloodshed.

Hollywood Kabuki

unSane — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 06:30:44 -0800

A Hollywood writer's strike now looks all but certain. With late night TV due to go dark immediately and your favorite network series drying up around Christmas, maybe you'd like to get your popcorn out and follow the fireworks between the writers and the producers. Meanwhile, the trade dailies provide coverage which reflects their dependence on the studio advertising dollar. Me? I'll be writing my novel.

Boeing 757: 2, Birds: 0

drstein — Sun, 13 May 2007 19:58:45 -0800

On 29 April 2007 a Boeing 757 owned by the low-fare carrier Thomsonfly injested 2 large herons, causing a failure of the aircraft's #2 engine. A video camera was present and captured the entire event. The birds did not survive the incident, but the 200+ passengers did.

John Murtari Hunger strike for fathers rights.

IronWolve — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:46:42 -0800

John Murtari hunger strike protest. John Murtari has been on a hunger strike after being jailed without a jury trail. A PHD in aeronautics, Murtari lost his job and took a lower paying job at an ISP. Unable to pay the extremely high child support payment, he asked the courts to re-adjust his payment. The court denied him. The judge offered him probation or 6 months jail time. Murtari chose jail time with protest. Murtari stated Even Terrorists get a trail by jury. He is finally on a feeding tube, forced down his nose, after loosing 28 lbs. Update with protest photos and his comments on the protest.

les manifs

pwedza — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 23:29:00 -0800

The evolution of the French students' CPE protests in photos.

It's Valentine's Day and your restaurant workers go on strike...

angrybeaver — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 19:35:56 -0800

A day without an immigrant.

1913 Massacre

Miko — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 09:38:59 -0800

Take a trip with me to 1913.
To Calumet, Michigan, in the Copper Country.
I'll take you to a place called Italian Hall,
Where the miners are having their big Christmas Ball.

This time of year, Woody Guthrie's haunting ballad "1913 Massacre" brings to mind one of the most tragic incidents in American labor history. At the midpoint of the bitter and violent miners' strike of 1913-14, miners and their families gathered for a Christmas party given by their union. An unidentified "stupid person" gave the shout of "fire", causing a panicked rush to escape. Unable to get out the door, more than 70 people, mostly children, were smothered to death. A forthcoming documentary (main link) explores the legacy of the event, using Guthrie's song as its starting point.

History repeats itself. (NYC transit strike)

Edible Energy — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 21:23:08 -0800

Almost exactly 40 years ago, on New Year's Day 1966, 35,000 transit workers walked off the job in New York City, defying the 1947 Condon-Wadlin Act which forbade strikes by government employees. Mike Quill, the TWU's militant founder and president, 'Called an "irresponsible demagogue" and "lawless hooligan" by the press,' 'would not be daunted by politicians' pronouncements and editorial page attacks.' When served with a court order, "Mike Quill tore up the injunction in front of the television cameras." The strike led to the creation of the Taylor Law, which is now being used in attempt to crush the TWU Local 100 strike of today.

segway stock soars on late news

wakko — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 00:51:17 -0800

So it actually happened. Not going anywhere tomorrow? The last time the MTA went on strike in New York was 1980. This time, one would hope there are plans already in place to cope with what will no doubt be an awful morning for millions, though the information seems dated already. Perhaps ths might be a good opportunity to share any tips and information about the situation. [newsfilter, of course]

It's a start...

newscouch — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 22:38:23 -0800

The world's first strike at a Starbucks reportedly occurred today in Auckland, New Zealand. Sure, it was only an hour-long wildcat strike; but like the multinationals keep telling us, it's a start.