Strike action

Thousands of workers in Cyprus, including government employees, teachers and builders walked off the job Thursday for an island-wide, three-hour work stoppage to protest what they claim is employers' backpedaling on a deal for inflation-linked pay increases.

The strike initiated by the United Metal Workers Union at the factory of Schneider Energy in the northwestern province of Kocaeli's Çayırova has been postponed for 60 days by a presidential decree.

Thousands of ambulance workers held another strike across England and Wales yesterday, in escalating industrial action as unions called the government to hold talks on improving pay and conditions.

Ambulance workers began strike action on December 21 last year and further dates are planned for February.

Workers at municipal construction services announced on Friday that they will be holding a series of walkouts and strikes from January 23 through February 13.

The Federation of Local Government Workers' Unions (POE-OTA) has called a 24-hour strike on Tuesday following the work-related death earlier this month of a sanitation worker at the Municipality of Xylokastro in the northern Peloponnese.

The British government has dangled the prospect of public-sector pay hikes next year in an attempt to end strikes by nurses and ambulance staff that have piled pressure on an already overburdened health system.

The U.S.'s third largest railroad union rejected a deal with employers Monday, renewing the possibility of a strike that could cripple the economy. Both sides will return to the bargaining table before that happens.

Freight railroads and their unions are facing increasing pressure from business groups and the White House to settle their contract dispute before Sept. 16's looming strike deadline.

While the confrontation between the education union and the authorities continues, the strike in education has left almost 320,000 pupils out of class since September 1.

Pilots are on strike again after negotiations over a new collective agreement failed