Labor Action Here And There

The here part: Auto workers have walked out of Chrysler plants today in the second United Auto Workers strike this year.

DETROIT - Thousands of Chrysler LLC autoworkers walked off the job Wednesday after the automaker and the United Auto Workers union failed to reach a tentative contract agreement before a union-imposed deadline.

It is the first UAW strike against Chrysler since 1997, when one plant was shut down for a month, and the first strike against Chrysler during contract talks since 1985.

The UAW apparently is not striking at five plants that Chrysler already had shut down this week because of sagging sales of some models, according to a person familiar with the walkout who asked not to be identified because the situation is in flux.

For the worker's sake, I hope it is settled soon. The earlier strike against GM lasted a lot less time than everyone thought it would - only a couple of days.

Meanwhile, in labor action there, zookeepers in Colombo, Sri Lanka used "strike" in a completely different sense of the word: that of striking one another. A full scale brawl erupted over death benefits for zookeepers.

Several staff were injured in fighting that broke out over pay and conditions at the National Zoo in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwala. One senior manager was beaten so badly he needed to be taken to hospital.

"We have brought the situation at the zoo under control," a police officer said.

"It was open to the public after being shut for about two hours this morning. Police went in to restore order."

The animals were reportedly highly amused at the silly human tricks.