The World of Labor - June 13, 2009



	THE WORLD OF LABOR — June 13, 2009 By Harry Kelber 76 Unionists Murdered, Thousands Victimized In 2008 Global Survey 2008 was another difficult and dangerous year for trade unionists around the world, according to this year’s ITUC Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights that covers violations of workers’ rights in 143 countries. A total of 76 trade unionists were killed during actions in defense of workers, and thousands were attacked physically or were subject to harassment, intimidation or arrest by the authorities. While the number of killings fell from 91 in the previous year, the number of killings in Colombia, considered the most dangerous place on earth for trade unionists, reached 49, an increase of 10 over the previous year. The upsurge in killings in Colombia took place despite assurances from President Alvaro Uribe that the situation was improving. Aside from the appalling toll in Colombia, nine unionists were murdered in Guatemala, four each in the Philippines and Venezuela, three in Honduras, two in Nepal and one each in Iraq, Panama, Nigeria, Tunisia, Turkey and Zimbabwe. Governments in at least nine countries (Burma, Burundi, China, Cuba, Iran, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey and Zimbabwe) were responsible for imprisoning trade unionists because of their legitimate activities in support of working people Week-Long Strike by Dock Workers Cuts World’s Cocoa Shipments Cocoa shipments from Ivory Coast’s port of Abidjan, which accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s exports of the bean, have been halted and stocks are rising because of a week-long strike of dock workers. The strike, which has also affected the offloading of incoming goods, including rice, has caused ships to be diverted to Accra in Ghana, Monrovia in Liberia and Lagos, Nigeria. About 6,000 dockworkers are striking over a pay dispute, and their protests have prompted intervention from riot police, with tanks now stationed at the port. “The dockers are asking the president to intervene in this situation because he is the only one who can resolve it,” said Alec Landri, chairman of the National Collective of Dockers. "The root problems are not being resolved.” The union represents about 80 percent of the dockworkers. Ivory Coast (officially Côte d’Ivoire), a country in sub-Saharan Africa, is the world’s biggest cocoa producer. It accounts for about two-fifths of the world’s supply of the chocolate ingredient and ships 60 percent of its output through San Pedro port in the West. 1.6 Million Children in Colombia Perform Child Labor More than 1.6 million Colombian children between 5 and 17 years of age perform labor; 760,000 work actual jobs, the national government says, but it is forgetting another 841,000 who perform labor in and around the house, the International Labor Organization (ILO) says. Colombia’s main labor union, CUT, is worried about the high number of working children. According to the union, children are rejecting their education to work at all kinds of jobs “in street vending, in wholesale, in shops, in the fields, in the mines and in the small and medium-sized manufacturing factories.” The economic crisis is forcing many parents to send their children off to work. Children are also subjected to forced recruitment by the illegal paramilitary groups and drug gangs. There is no exact figure, but estimates differ between 5,000 and 8,000 minors that make up part of the ranks of the illegal military groups. According to the ILO, the social and economic development of a country is linked to the amount of children performing child labor. That explains why Colombia is doing worse than other Latin American countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Australia’s Public Sector Unions at War with Government over Pay Caps The Australian government is set for a bitter showdown with powerful public sector unions over a provocative plan to cut wages. In its efforts to trim budgetary expenditures, the government of Premier Ann Bligh proposes to restrict pay increases of public employees to 2.5 percent a year. This is a sharp about-face from the current agreement with most public sector unions that allows for increases of a 4.5 percent, 4 percent and 4 percent over three years. The government says the pay restrictions are in line with economic reality. The unions insist that the latest government move represents another broken promise and a betrayal of trust. One of the first major unions likely to be affected is Queensland's Police Union, which has its enterprise bargaining agreement due for renegotiation early next year The move on public service wages comes at a time of rising tension and speculation, that the government may try to reduce generous entitlements for many of the public sector’s 190,000 employees. Already, the Bligh government, which is facing a $14 billion revenue shortage because of the faltering world economy, has said it will scrap Queensland's fuel subsidy scheme and sell off about $15 billion worth of state assets and parts of Queensland Rail “The path we are on is self-evident, given what has occurred in the world in the last nine months,” said the government’s treasurer, Andrew Fraser. Bermuda Nurses Resume Their ‘Sick-Out’ to Protest Pay Freeze The Bermuda nurses resumed their nationwide “sick-out” campaign in Freeport on June 11, as more than half of the nursing staff scheduled to work reportedly failed to show for medical reasons. The nurses’ protests are based on the government’s decision to forego their salary increases and put on hold their proposed health insurance benefit. A large number of nurses phoned in sick or submitted sick certificates excusing themselves from work on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the Public Hospitals Authority’s three public hospitals short-staffed. The nurses intend to work two days out of seven, and will report for duty every third day, in what is described as a two-days off, one-day on cycle. While both the Ministry of Health and the Department of Health issued statements telling the public to use the hospitals only for emergency cases, they made no comments on the nurses’ demands or indicated whether they were receptive to serious negotiations. Bermuda, a tourist attraction, is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Hundreds of Jobs on the Line as MySpace Considers Cuts Faced with falling numbers of users and reduced advertising revenue, MySpace, a global social networking site, is currently considering closing down offices around the world, as it attempts to cut costs and recover from a slump that has left it trailing its rivals, MySpace executives are discussing the possibility of shutting down operations in California, Italy, France and Spain, which will mean the loss of hundreds of jobs. The network’s European staff will probably be concentrated in two offices in the U.K. and Germany. My Space began its restructuring phase in April, when the site's co-founders, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson were moved out of their jobs at the top of the company and replaced by Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook executive. The moves, which took place suddenly, are thought to have been brought about by Jonathan Miller, the former head of AOL, who is now Rupert Murdoch’s lieutenant for digital business. The cuts would come at a turbulent time for the My Space website and its parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which bought MySpsce in a surprise deal worth $580 million. The closures could be announced as early as next week. Visit our web site: https://www.laboreducator.org/

THE WORLD OF LABOR — June 13, 2009

By Harry Kelber

76 Unionists Murdered, Thousands Victimized In 2008 Global Survey

2008 was another difficult and dangerous year for trade unionists around the world, according to this year’s ITUC Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights that covers violations of workers’ rights in 143 countries. A total of 76 trade unionists were killed during actions in defense of workers, and thousands were attacked physically or were subject to harassment, intimidation or arrest by the authorities.

While the number of killings fell from 91 in the previous year, the number of killings in Colombia, considered the most dangerous place on earth for trade unionists, reached 49, an increase of 10 over the previous year. The upsurge in killings in Colombia took place despite assurances from President Alvaro Uribe that the situation was improving.

Aside from the appalling toll in Colombia, nine unionists were murdered in Guatemala, four each in the Philippines and Venezuela, three in Honduras, two in Nepal and one each in Iraq, Panama, Nigeria, Tunisia, Turkey and Zimbabwe. Governments in at least nine countries (Burma, Burundi, China, Cuba, Iran, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey and Zimbabwe) were responsible for imprisoning trade unionists because of their legitimate activities in support of working people

Week-Long Strike by Dock Workers Cuts World’s Cocoa Shipments

Cocoa shipments from Ivory Coast’s port of Abidjan, which accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s exports of the bean, have been halted and stocks are rising because of a week-long strike of dock workers. The strike, which has also affected the offloading of incoming goods, including rice, has caused ships to be diverted to Accra in Ghana, Monrovia in Liberia and Lagos, Nigeria.

About 6,000 dockworkers are striking over a pay dispute, and their protests have prompted intervention from riot police, with tanks now stationed at the port. “The dockers are asking the president to intervene in this situation because he is the only one who can resolve it,” said Alec Landri, chairman of the National Collective of Dockers. "The root problems are not being resolved.” The union represents about 80 percent of the dockworkers.

Ivory Coast (officially Côte d’Ivoire), a country in sub-Saharan Africa, is the world’s biggest cocoa producer. It accounts for about two-fifths of the world’s supply of the chocolate ingredient and ships 60 percent of its output through San Pedro port in the West.

1.6 Million Children in Colombia Perform Child Labor

More than 1.6 million Colombian children between 5 and 17 years of age perform labor; 760,000 work actual jobs, the national government says, but it is forgetting another 841,000 who perform labor in and around the house, the International Labor Organization (ILO) says.

Colombia’s main labor union, CUT, is worried about the high number of working children. According to the union, children are rejecting their education to work at all kinds of jobs “in street vending, in wholesale, in shops, in the fields, in the mines and in the small and medium-sized manufacturing factories.” The economic crisis is forcing many parents to send their children off to work.

Children are also subjected to forced recruitment by the illegal paramilitary groups and drug gangs. There is no exact figure, but estimates differ between 5,000 and 8,000 minors that make up part of the ranks of the illegal military groups. According to the ILO, the social and economic development of a country is linked to the amount of children performing child labor. That explains why Colombia is doing worse than other Latin American countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

Australia’s Public Sector Unions at War with Government over Pay Caps

The Australian government is set for a bitter showdown with powerful public sector unions over a provocative plan to cut wages. In its efforts to trim budgetary expenditures, the government of Premier Ann Bligh proposes to restrict pay increases of public employees to 2.5 percent a year. This is a sharp about-face from the current agreement with most public sector unions that allows for increases of a 4.5 percent, 4 percent and 4 percent over three years. The government says the pay restrictions are in line with economic reality. The unions insist that the latest government move represents another broken promise and a betrayal of trust.

One of the first major unions likely to be affected is Queensland's Police Union, which has its enterprise bargaining agreement due for renegotiation early next year The move on public service wages comes at a time of rising tension and speculation, that the government may try to reduce generous entitlements for many of the public sector’s 190,000 employees.

Already, the Bligh government, which is facing a $14 billion revenue shortage because of the faltering world economy, has said it will scrap Queensland's fuel subsidy scheme and sell off about $15 billion worth of state assets and parts of Queensland Rail “The path we are on is self-evident, given what has occurred in the world in the last nine months,” said the government’s treasurer, Andrew Fraser.

Bermuda Nurses Resume Their ‘Sick-Out’ to Protest Pay Freeze

The Bermuda nurses resumed their nationwide “sick-out” campaign in Freeport on June 11, as more than half of the nursing staff scheduled to work reportedly failed to show for medical reasons. The nurses’ protests are based on the government’s decision to forego their salary increases and put on hold their proposed health insurance benefit.

A large number of nurses phoned in sick or submitted sick certificates excusing themselves from work on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the Public Hospitals Authority’s three public hospitals short-staffed. The nurses intend to work two days out of seven, and will report for duty every third day, in what is described as a two-days off, one-day on cycle.

While both the Ministry of Health and the Department of Health issued statements telling the public to use the hospitals only for emergency cases, they made no comments on the nurses’ demands or indicated whether they were receptive to serious negotiations. Bermuda, a tourist attraction, is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Hundreds of Jobs on the Line as MySpace Considers Cuts

Faced with falling numbers of users and reduced advertising revenue, MySpace, a global social networking site, is currently considering closing down offices around the world, as it attempts to cut costs and recover from a slump that has left it trailing its rivals, MySpace executives are discussing the possibility of shutting down operations in California, Italy, France and Spain, which will mean the loss of hundreds of jobs. The network’s European staff will probably be concentrated in two offices in the U.K. and Germany.

My Space began its restructuring phase in April, when the site's co-founders, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson were moved out of their jobs at the top of the company and replaced by Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook executive. The moves, which took place suddenly, are thought to have been brought about by Jonathan Miller, the former head of AOL, who is now Rupert Murdoch’s lieutenant for digital business.