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Faculty at 14 Pennsylvania state universities went on strike Wednesday morning, affecting more than 100,000 students, after contract negotiations between the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the faculty union hit an impasse. The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties announced on its website that its members went on strike at 5 a.m. because no agreement could be reached. The union represents more than 5,000 faculty and coaches across the state, and a walkout was expected to halt classes midsemester. […] This is the first strike in the system’s 34-year history. The union includes faculty from Bloomsburg,...

The Fabulous Philadelphians are on strike. Friday night, a crowd of about 1,000 sat in Verizon Hall waiting for the orchestra to appear for the scheduled start of the Opening Night Gala. But no Philadelphia Orchestra appeared on stage. Unbeknownst to most in the audience, the 96 musicians and two librarians belonging to American Federation of Musicians Local 77 had decided to go out on strike about an hour before curtain time. Finally, about 20 minutes after the scheduled start, orchestra president Allison B. Vulgamore came out on stage to say that no labor agreement was in place for "one...

The Pennsylvania company that makes marshmallow Peeps as well as Mike and Ike candies has filed a federal lawsuit claiming a workers' strike is illegal. Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 6 workers walked off the job Sept. 7. The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Just Born Quality Confections says that violates a no-strike provision of a contract that expired June 18. The company says the no-strike clause was still in effect until Sept. 18 under a contract extension.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wrote a letter Thursday to the soon-to-be unemployed workers of the Trump Taj Mahal casino, accusing their union of inciting them to destroy their own jobs by participating in the longest strike by Atlantic City's main casino workers union. Icahn told the workers that officials of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union knew that the company had made its final offer, but rejected it anyway, knowing a strike would result.

China strikes and protests up 20% Friday, July 15, 2016 Strikes and protests in China during the first half of 2016 rose almost 20% compared to a year earlier as an early boom in construction-sector unrest gave way to sustained growth in collective action by workers in transportation, the Financial Times reports. In June, China saw 169 strikes nationwide, down about 5% year on year, according to figures provided by China Labour Bulletin’s strike map. But it saw a total of 1,456 strikes and protests as of end-June, up 19% from the first half of 2015, according to the Financial...

Baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, airplane cleaners, and other workers at Philadelphia International Airport voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to walk off their jobs in protest during the Democratic National Convention this month, according to a union that wants to organize them. The workers are seeking better scheduling, clarity on sick pay, a more predictable disciplinary system, and to be able to unionize. The vote, which took place at the airport, was 461-5 in favor of striking out of 500 on shift Tuesday participating. The workers, who number about 1,000, work for subcontractors hired by various airlines.

PARIS — Fuel shortages, cancelled flights, disrupted trains: France is on strike yet again. The stakes get higher each day. The Euro 2016 soccer championship, which will see hundreds of thousands of visitors traveling to France to root for their national soccer teams, is set to start on June 10. At the same time, Paris is dealing with a constant terrorist threat and now record flooding. From afar, it’s easy to see these latest strikes, prompted by a new government attempt at labor reform, as the exclamation of an over-unionized nation stubbornly holding onto protections and privileges that are hardly...

Staff in France's 19 nuclear plants have voted to go on strike on Thursday as part of protests over a labour reform, a CGT union official told Reuters on Wednesday. Industry experts say planned strikes are unlikely to provoke blackouts because of legal limits on strike action in the nuclear industry and France's ability to import power from neighbouring countries.

Pakistan said the United States drone strike that reportedly killed a Taliban leader violated its sovereignty, The Guardian reported . Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in an airstrike on Saturday in Pakistan, CNN confirmed , according to sources within al Qaeda and the Taliban. U.S. officials said the drone strike was authorized by President Obama. But Pakistan said Sunday the U.S. government didn't tell Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of its plans ahead of the strike. “This is a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” Sharif told reporters in London, according to The Guardian. The Guardian reported that the American government...

While everyone is talking about the failure of the Doha negotiations, Kuwait has more than made up for OPEC’s failure all on its own. Kuwait’s oil workers walked off the job this weekend, flexing their muscles over a pay dispute. The state-owned Kuwait Oil Company took to Twitter to report the damage done by the workers strike, announcing that oil production fell to 1.1 million barrels per day on Sunday, a catastrophic development considering it normally produces nearly 3 mb/d. Also, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state-owned refining company, said that its production of refined products dropped from 930,000 to 520,000...

Bernie Sanders was hit hard last week when the CEO of Verizon called him out on his hypocritical support of employment practices that will make it harder for Bernie’s voter base—Millennials—to earn a living wage. “Feeling the Bern of reality yet, Bernie?” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam asked after the socialist senator accused Verizon of planning to “outsource decent paying jobs” due to “corporate greed”—and then hugged union supporters on the Verizon picket line in Brooklyn, New York. Verizon workers went on strike in Washington, D.C. and nine eastern states last week. It’s notable that New York’s presidential primary is on...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Brussels Airport canceled half its flights on Wednesday as anger mounted over a second day of industrial action by some air traffic controllers hampering a return to normality after last month's suicide bombings. Some 200 of 400 scheduled flights were canceled, an airport spokeswoman said. A later statement said the outlook for Thursday was still unclear. One of Europe's busiest, Brussels airport had reopened 10 days ago at much reduced capacity following the Islamic State attacks on March 22.

36,000 Verizon workers have walked off the job Wednesday after failing to reach a new labor agreement. This is the largest strike in the United States since Verizon workers last walked off the job in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That strike involved 45,000 workers. Most of the striking workers service the company's landline phone business and FiOS broadband network -- not the much larger Verizon Wireless network. They have gone without a contract since August, and their union, the Communication Workers of America, says it is fighting to get Verizon to come to the table...

CHICAGO — Thousands of Chicago teachers plan to walk off the job for one day on Friday, shutting down schools in the nation's third-largest district in what could be an early glimpse of a more prolonged strike still to come. Some 27,000 Chicago Teachers Union members have been working without a contract since June. They've overwhelmingly authorized an open-ended strike like the one that closed schools for more than a week in 2012, though that would still be weeks away. The union and its allies say Friday's action is an attempt to draw attention to their fight for a new...

The US-led coalition carried out the first air strikes on Islamic State (ISIS) chemical weapons sites, the Pentagon said Thursday, acting on crucial information from a captured senior insurgent. The successful multiple bombings came as a result of intelligence from Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, also known as Abu Dawud, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said, confirming the name of the ISIS group operative said to be a chemical weapons expert for the terrorists. His capture by US special forces in February - Dawud was transferred Thursday into Iraqi custody after interrogation - appears to be a major boon in the fight...

Recent sickouts that have kept at least 34,000 students in Detroit Public Schools from attending classes may mean that future sickouts could cost school districts some of their state aid. That's because a three-bill package to put more enforcement powers behind Michigan’s nearly 70-year-old law against teacher strikes has started moving in the Legislature. But as they sit in the Michigan Senate, they may have to wait until efforts to rescue the Detroit school system are played out. Senate Bills 713, 714 and 715, were introduced in reaction to organized teacher sickout strikes that have recently been shutting down schools...

Nearly 3,000 operations have been canceled as junior doctors in England take part in a second 24-hour strike over pay and conditions. Checkups, appointments and tests are also set to be disrupted as a result of the walkout, which began at 08:00 GMT. Formal talks broke down in January and there is mounting speculation ministers may soon seek to impose a new contract, potentially inflaming the row further. The key sticking point appears to be payments for working on Saturdays. ...

A series of sickouts orchestrated by Detroit Public School teachers that has closed 83 schools since Dec. 10 is jeopardizing the chances of a bailout being approved by the Legislature, according to some Republican lawmakers. The sickouts, which have impacted more than 34,000 students, come as the Legislature is being asked to approve Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan for a $715 million bailout of Detroit Public Schools. Snyder’s proposal needs legislative approval. “The timeliness of it (sickouts) is rather unfortunate, because we are right in the middle of addressing the governor’s proposal,” said Sen. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake. “It is going to...

U.S. military pilots who have returned from the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq are confirming that they were blocked from dropping 75 percent of their ordnance on terror targets because they could not get clearance to launch a strike...

Thousands of airport workers in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, and Fort Lauderdale are expected to strike on Wednesday night and into Thursday. The workers, mostly cabin and airport cleaners, are subcontracted by outside companies to work with various airlines, including JetBlue (JBLU), Delta (DAL) and United (UAL). They will be striking for new contracts, which include medical benefits and higher wages of $15 an hour.