MUMBAI, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - A strike that hit production in Bollywood was called off Friday after unions and producers announced they had thrashed out a deal for better pay and working conditions.

BERLIN, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's biggest industrial trade union IG Metall started wage talks with employers Thursday seeking an eight-percent pay hike for 3.6 million workers in the metalworking and electronics industries.

MUMBAI, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - More than 100,000 workers in Bollywood began an indefinite strike on Wednesday, protesting against low wages, late payments and the use of non-union members in the Indian film industry.

ROME, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Unions representing Alitalia flight attendants said Friday they would spend the weekend mulling whether to accept a rescue package for the loss-making airline, the ANSA news agency reported.

'There has been progress towards an agreement,' Antonio Divietri, president of the Avia union, told ANSA. 'We'll meet again on Monday.'

ROME, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - The Italian government will allow talks with unions on a rescue plan for loss-making Alitalia to go on indefinitely, allowing a second deadline to expire on Friday, media reports said.

ROME, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - Italy's leading union CGIL on Thursday dropped its objections to a rescue plan for the national airline Alitalia, signing an agreement with the government, the ANSA news agency reported.

The left-wing union had rejected the agreement signed last week by three other unions, which were also present at Thursday's meeting.

FRANKFURT, Sept 23, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's top trade union said on Tuesday it wants an eight percent pay hike for 3.6 million workers in the key metal and electronics industries, the biggest increase it has sought in 16 year.

MONZA, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has been appointed as chairman of a new Formula One teams' organisation - a union designed to protect the teams' interests.

WOLFSBURG, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of workers demonstrated at Volkswagen's headquarters Friday against what they see as threats to their jobs from Porsche's takeover efforts and from EU regulators.

WOLFSBURG, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of workers demonstrated at Volkswagen headquarters on Friday to ward off what they see as threats to their jobs from both Porsche and the European Commission.

WOLFSBURG, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Workers began gathering at Volkswagen headquarters Friday for a mass Demonstration against two beasts they see as threatening their jobs -- Porsche's boss and the European Commission.

BERLIN, September 8, 2008 (AFP) - Powerful German trade union IG Metall called Monday for a pay hike of seven to eight percent for the 3.5 million employees in the metalworking, electrical engineering and automaking sectors.

TEHRAN, August 26, 2008 (AFP) - Iran has handed the leader of the teachers' union a five-year suspended jail term over his participation in a protest demanding better pay, Iran's labour news agency ILNA reported on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe should be barred from an upcoming regional summit if power-sharing ...

BERLIN, August 7, 2008 (AFP) - Flights from several German airports were disrupted on Thursday by a strike by pilots with Lufthansa subsidiary Cityline, the union Cockpit announced.

The 36-hour strike started at midnight (2200 GMT Wednesday) at all airports served by Cityline: Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Berlin-Tegel in the west, Munich in the south and Hamburg in the north.

FRANKFURT, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - The head of the German trade union Verdi said Monday he would reimburse a free first-class holiday ticket to Los Angeles with Lufthansa used a few days before union members staged a strike at the airline.

SYDNEY, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Qantas flight attendants want assurances from management that the Australian carrier's planes are safe after a third mid-air incident in two weeks, a union official said Sunday.

FRANKFURT, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa struck a pay deal with ground personnel that will end a costly strike in the middle of the peak summer holiday season, the company said.

FRANKFURT, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - German national airline Lufthansa and the Verdi service-sector union reached a deal on a pay rise Friday that will end a five-day strike by maintenance and catering staff, the company said.

The agreement will see 5.1-percent salary increase for ground personnel backdated to July 1 and another 2.3-percent hike from July 2009.

FRANKFURT, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - German national carrier Lufthansa planned to cancel 128 flights Thursday on the fourth day of a strike by maintenance and catering staff demanding a sizeable pay hike, a spokeswoman said.

BERLIN, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Passengers felt the impact Tuesday as German flag carrier Lufthansa cancelled 70 flights on the second day of an open-ended strike, while Berlin warned of the potential economic blow of the walkout.

BERLIN, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Lufthansa, the biggest German airline, said Tuesday it had cancelled 70 flights on the second day of an open-ended strike by the Verdi trade union for higher wages.

BERLIN, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Workers at Germany's biggest airline, Lufthansa, on Monday began an indefinite strike at the height of the holiday season to press for higher pay, in the latest walkout to hit Europe's biggest economy.

BERLIN, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Workers at Germany's biggest airline, Lufthansa, walked off the job Monday to press for higher pay in the latest strikes to hit Europe's biggest economy.

Ground personnel and flight crews walked out at midnight (2200 GMT Sunday) after members of the Verdi service sector union voted overwhelmingly last week for a strike.

FRANKFURT, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Workers at German airline Lufthansa walked out on strike Monday to press for higher pay, but service did not appear to be serious affected in the action's early hours.

'There have been no cancellations and no delays,' an employee at Frankfurt's airport told AFP.

BERLIN, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Lufthansa, the biggest German airline, faces a tumultuous strike during its busiest season after members of the German trade union Verdi voted to press demands for pay raises.

BERLIN, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Lufthansa, the leading German airline, faces a major strike next week after members of the German trade union Verdi voted on Friday for a strike to press demands for higher wages.

BERLIN, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Members of the German trade union Verdi voted Friday for a strike at the airline Lufthansa to press demands for higher wages, Verdi said.

Ground personnel and flight crews were to stop working on Monday at midnight (2200 GMT), the union said.

Its members approved the action by an overwhelming majority of 90.7 percent, it added.

FRANKFURT, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - Members of the German trade union Verdi voted Friday for a strike at the airline Lufthansa to press demands for higher wages, Verdi said.

Ground personnel and flight crews were to stop working on Monday at midnight (2200 GMT), the union said.

Its members approved a strike by an overwhelming majority of 90.7 percent, it added.

JOHANNESBURG, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - A huge crowd of protestors brought the centre of Johannesburg to a standstill on Wednesday as they marched against the rising cost of electricity, food and fuel in Africa's economic powerhouse.

ZAGREB, July 13, 2008 (AFP) - Croatian trade unions are accusing the government of adopting measures that have only benefited the rich in response to an economic crisis resulting from soaring oil and food prices.

After being stable at around three percent since 2004, Croatia's inflation rate stood at 6.4 percent in May, according to the statistics bureau.

FRANKFURT, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Wage talks between the German trade union Verdi and Lufthansa have failed, an airline spokeswoman said Thursday, putting it at threat of a strike as summer holidays kick into gear.

Verdi was not immediately available for comment.

BRUSSELS, July 3, 2008 (AFP) - An umbrella group representing leading European trade unions blasted an ECB interest rate hike on Thursday as 'dangerous' and warned it could harm European growth.

OTTAWA, June 7, 2008 (AFP) - Unionized auto workers angry about job losses stepped up their ongoing protest against General Motors on Saturday by shutting down a pickup assembly plant in the Canadian town of Oshawa, Ontario.

DETROIT, June 6, 2008 (AFP) - Canadian Auto Workers officials Friday refused to end a blockade of General Motors Canada headquarters despite an offer to potentially bring new car production to a complex where a truck plant is slated for closure.

OTTAWA, June 4, 2008 (AFP) - Dozens of laborers on Wednesday blocked the entrance to General Motors's Canadian headquarters to protest job cuts announced a day earlier, saying it is a 'betrayal' of