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MADRID Unions at Spanish airline Iberia on Monday called off a six-day strike in December to avoid disrupting holiday travel while warning that protests over massive job cuts might follow later. The strikes, planned largely for the week before Christmas, threatened to damage Spain’s image and the finances of the loss-making airline. Rivals would have also been hit by the absence of Iberia baggage handlers at many Spanish airports. Unions failed to reach any agreement with Iberia over a major restructuring of the company at the latest round of talks on Monday, opening the door for strikes at another time. [...]

Flight attendants of Compass Airlines, a feeder service for Delta Air Lines Inc , said they sought arbitration by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that will allow them to strike if management fails to negotiate a new agreement. The flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), said if the NMB grants its request and agrees that management has refused to make significant movement, negotiations will be declared deadlocked leading to a “cooling off” period and a strike deadline. Compass Flight Attendants have been seeking an agreement that provides fair wages, better working conditions and benefits, AFA Compass [...]

Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party launches a general strikeThe strike is to protest the arrest and trial of the party’s top leadersThose letters face charges of war crimes during the country’s war of independence in 1971Dhaka, Bangladesh — Anti-riot police patrolled the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and elsewhere in the country Tuesday as angry protesters took to the streets, damaging motor vehicles and burned used tires in a general strike, police and witnesses said.Protesters from the country’s largest Islamic party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, clashed with police in Dhaka and other major cities, blocking roads and highways.The strike, taking effect all over the [...]

N The union that represents Boeing Co’s engineers said Saturday it is trying to halt efforts by some of its members to call a one-day, unauthorized strike next week against the plane maker to protest the slow progress of labor talks. Union leaders have circulated a letter “asking members to ignore the call for a wildcat strike,” said Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) said in an email to Reuters. “We’ve also posted such messages on our Facebook page.” The response comes after union members apparently sent emails from fake accounts calling [...]

Hostess Brands Inc said it will ask a U.S. bankruptcy judge for permission to liquidate if enough striking workers do not return to work by the end of Thursday to let the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread resume normal operations. The announcement escalates a bitter dispute between the company and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, whose members comprise about one-third of Hostess’ nearly 18,000 employees. Unionized workers at Hostess plants across the country had gone on strike or refused to cross picket lines on November 9 to protest court-ordered pay cuts. Hostess said that, [...]

JOHANNESBURG Anglo American Platinum has made a new offer to striking workers at its South African operations to end two months of a wildcat strike, a labor leader said on Wednesday. “Yesterday we has a meeting with the management and today we are giving the miners feedback. There is a new offer,” Evans Ramokga, a labor leader at Amplats, told Reuters. The striking workers had until today to return to work or face sacking. (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda; editing by David Dolan)

Journalists attend a protest in Athens on November 5, 2012, as public transport and media workers began a week of strikes.A 31.5 billion euro bailout installment is due from the European Union and IMF The Greek parliament is expected to pass new austerity measures beforehandLocal media say the vote will be a cliffhanger, with narrow passage expectedUnemployment has soared to 25% under existing austerity measures The nation of Greece comes to a screeching halt again for two days starting Tuesday.Unions have called for a 48-hour general strike ahead of an anticipated vote by the Greek government on yet another round [...]

TORONTO Unionized workers at a Wescast Industries Inc plant in Strathroy, Ontario, have gone on strike, the auto parts maker and the union said on Saturday. Wescast, which supplies exhaust manifolds and other components for cars and light trucks, said union members at the machining plant began a legal strike on Saturday morning. “The company has put plans in place to ensure continued supply of parts to customers,” it said in a brief statement. The Canadian Auto Workers union said in an email to Reuters that 75 workers have walked off the job. The union said in an earlier statement [...]

TAIPEI/SAN FRANCISCO Foxconn, the Taiwanese made-to-order electronics giant that assembles Apple Inc’s products, denied reports that a plant in China was crippled by a strike, saying on Saturday that its production is on schedule at an important time for Apple. The report of a strike issued by China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, came weeks after Apple kicked off its largest-ever global rollout for the new iPhone 5 smartphone. Apple is already struggling with tight availability of the phones in stores, analysts say. The labor group said 3,000 to 4,000 workers struck at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou complex in central [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Thousands of workers went on strike Friday at a Foxconn plant in China that makes Apple Inc’s iPhone 5, paralyzing production of the smartphone, rights advocate China Labor Watch reported. The reported strike comes at a crucial time for the U.S. corporation, weeks after kicking off its largest-ever global rollout of the smartphone. Apple is already struggling with supply constraints, analysts say. Citing workers, the labor group said 3,000 to 4,000 workers began their strike at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou complex in the afternoon, incensed by over-exacting quality controls as well as demands they work through the week-long “Golden Week” [...]