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Europe
Italian rail workers strike for pay, conditions, more investment in the rail system
Rail workers for Trenitalia, Trenord and other rail divisions of FS, Italy’s state-owned railway holding company, held a 21-hour strike Monday through Tuesday, causing widespread disruption.
The CUB Transporti and USB union members stopped work in protest at the new contract proposed by FS, which does not address their demands for a cost- of-living increase, better and safer working hours and more investment in the rail system.
French air traffic controllers strike for more staff and improved working conditions
270 French air traffic control personnel out of a national workforce of 1,400 began an indefinite strike Thursday. Flights via Paris, Nice, Marseilles, Lyon and other airports were cancelled, with a knock-on effect throughout Europe.
The members of the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions-Air Traffic Controllers and the General Confederation of Labour-Civil Aviation Union complain of significant understaffing, outdated technology, low wages and oppressive management practices.
At the root of the fragmented European Air Traffic Control network is a competitive capitalist economic system, which has inevitably led to a lack of investment from governments and the airlines themselves.
Academic staff at Lincoln University, England walk out over redundancies
Academic staff at Lincoln University, England held a one-day walkout on July 4 over threatened job cuts. They held a picket and leafleted prospective students attending the university for an open day.
The University and College Union (UCU) members were protesting the university’s plans to cut 285 staff and close some departments, including the International Business School and history department.
As with disputes at other UK universities, the UCU sees the sticking point as compulsory redundancies, while accepting voluntary job losses. The branch chair said “the university hasn’t ruled out compulsory redundancies.” The university cut 220 posts last year via voluntary severance and redundancy.
The UCU members voted by an 86 percent majority for the stoppage.
Planned walkouts this week by UCU members at Bradford University were called off to allow for negotiations between management and the UCU. They walked out for the day on June 30 to protest planned cuts of around £16 million, amounting to the loss of around 300 full-time equivalent posts.
UK civil service pension administration staff walk out over union recognition
Around 150 staff working for the UK civil service pension provider MyCSP began a six-week stoppage Monday.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members are protesting over MyCSP’s refusal to recognise the PCS union for negotiations. Currently MyCSP is in the process of TUPE (Transfer of Undertaking Protection of Employment) negotiations with major outsourcing company Capita.
The strikers have set up picket lines at MyCSP offices on Tithebarn Street in Liverpool and Landmark House, Station Road in Cheadle, both in northwest England.
Strikes by underground rail system workers in Glasgow, Scotland over working conditions
Around 100 drivers and station staff in Scotland employed by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) on the Glasgow underground rail system are due to strike Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Unite union members are protesting chronic understaffing, which has led to workers routinely working up to 10 hours beyond their contracted 39 hours and repeatedly being called to take shifts at short notice. The extra worked hours do not attract improved shift, overtime or weekend allowances.
They previously walked out on June 25, 27 and 28 over the same issue. They began an overtime ban June 13. An offer by SPT to try and resolve the issue was rejected by the workers.
Further stoppages by teachers at UK school trust over plans to extend teaching day
Teachers at 14 schools run by the Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT), held further stoppages from Tuesday to Thursday this week.
The action by National Education Union (NEU) members is in response to OGAT’s plan to increase the school day by 30 minutes at all 28 sites run by the trust from September this year.
The schools affected are: Outwood Academy Grange, Outwood Academy Freston and Outwood Academy Hemsworth in Wakefield; Outwood Academy City, Sheffield; Outwood Academy Danum, Doncaster; Outwood Academy Easingwold, North Yorks; Outwood Academy Foxhills, North Lincolnshire; Outwood Academy Shafton, Barnsley; Outwood Academy Hindley, Wigan; Outwood Academy Kirby, Outwood Academy Portland and Outwood Academy Valley, Nottinghamshire, Outwood Academy Redcar, Redcar and Cleveland and Outwood Academy Newbould, Derbyshire.
Talks between OGAT and the NEU and NASUWT unions under the auspices of the government mediation service, Acas were due to take place Thursday.
Further action by NEU members is scheduled for July 14-17.
In a separate dispute, NEU members at Beckenham school in south London walked out Tuesday. The school is run by the UK’s second biggest academy chain, the Harris Federation. The NEU accuses the trust of targeting teachers recruited from Jamaica, saying they are being bullied by management and overworked to the point of exhaustion, working an excess of 95 hours over the school year. Additionally, they say the teachers are underpaid and owed money.
Middle East
Lebanese civil servants strike over low wages
On July 2, civil servants across Lebanon walked out in protest over inadequate pay. They were joined on July 3 by legal professionals, who held sit-ins in courthouses across the country in solidarity with the League of Civil Servants of the Public Administration.
Lebanon has an ongoing economic crisis, with the Lebanese pound plummeting in value, high inflation and a drastic lowering of living standards. Recent attacks by Israel have exacerbated the situation.
Continuing protests in Iran in face of repression by authorities
On July 1, Iranian security forces in the city of Hamedan opened fire on workers protesting dire poverty, killing two young men and injuring a third. A funeral procession for the dead on July 3 was turned into a mass protest as mourners vented their anger at the killings.
Also on July 1, security forces attacked Baluchi women in the village of Gunich in Khash, killing one and wounding several. The women responded by repelling the attack with a hail of stones and blocking roads with burning tyres to prevent the security forces from re-entering the village. The Baluchi is a group of nomadic pastoral people.
Iran is undergoing an economic collapse, with 70 percent of Iranian workers living below the poverty line. This is exacerbated by US sanctions and the recent bombing attacks orchestrated by the Trump administration as it seeks to reorganise the Middle East as a prelude to war on China.
Africa
Public sector workers at the Nkomazi Local Municipality, South Africa continue pay strike
Public sector workers at the Nkomazi Local Municipality, South Africa marched to the municipal offices July 2, demanding overtime pay and travelling expenses. They have been on strike since June 23.
The COSATU and South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) members handed in a memorandum of demands. The stoppage affected waste collection and water meter readings.
SAMWU members at KwaDukuza Municipality and Ratiou Local Municipality have also been on strike over pay and conditions, but the union has kept the disputes separate.
Daybreak Farm workers in Mpumalanga, South Africa protest unpaid wages as firm goes into liquidation
Around 100 workers at Daybreak Farm in Mpumalanga, South Africa blocked the R50 road using rocks to protest unpaid wages for June. Since February, they were paid just 50 percent of their salaries. 200,000 starving chickens were culled, as the firm had not bought feed and they were too small to go to market.
The company, owned by the Public Investment Corporation, paid two directors six-figure salaries in May. The Farm is one of four Daybreak farms in business rescue, affecting 3,000 workers.
Nigerian university lecturers begin nationwide strike
Nigerian university lecturers began nationwide strike action on July 7, following the delay in payment of the June 2025 salaries.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities president, Professor Chris Piwuna, said the union was responding to the government’s “No work, no pay” policy with its own policy, “If there is no pay, there will be no work.”
Teachers’ unions in Abuja, Nigeria end three-month pay strike
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has instructed its members to return to work on July 9, after three months on strike.
The stoppage by NUT and National Union of Local Government Employees members began on March 24 over the non-implementation of the minimum wage of N70,000 and other entitlements.
The NUT said it decided to suspend the strike following the intervention of the Federal Capital Territory Minister. As part of the union’s agreement with the government to end the strike, N16 billion from the Area Councils’ share of Internally Generated Revenue was distributed to pay wages and clear part of the outstanding arrears.