In Uzbekistan, the second largest exporter of cotton in the world, as many as 450,000 children are exploited to harvest record cotton crops, as a “result of a deliberate coercion policy adopted by the central government” states a group of human rights activists who are urging the international community to boycott Uzbek cotton. As much as half of the country’s cotton harvest is said to come from child labor. And with one out of every four garments in Europe containing Uzbek cotton, activists say that the business brings in huge profits only to the ruling elite.

Starting in September, many elementary schools are shut down for several months. School children and their teachers are sent to the cotton fields to harvest what is dubbed “white gold.” “We stay in the building of a kindergarten or school. We sleep on a concrete floor. There are no windows,” says a 12-year-old boy from the central Uzbek city of Bukharin. “We get a piece of bread and tea in the morning, some pasta for dinner and a thin soup for lunch.”

On Nov. 16, rights activists from inside and outside of Uzbekistan sent an open letter to the European Union and the governments of United States, Russia and China, as well as key world financial institutions, calling for a boycott of Uzbek cotton, unless the government adopts corrective measures. The letter states that Uzbek children work “at least eight hours a day” in cotton fields with no days off and inhale dust saturated with residues of chemicals, pesticides and defoliants.

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Vietnamese Strike for Higher Pay at Company Making Nike Shoes

Workers who produce about 10 percent of the 75 million pairs of shoes made for Nike in Vietnam annually have gone on strike for more pay, bonuses and cost of living allowances. They feel their demands are justified because the inflation rate is 9.5 percent and may be rising.

The plant in Dong Nai, near Ho Chi Minh city, employs about 14,000 workers. The average monthly salary at the South Korean-owned plant is $62, about 20 percent more than the minimum wage. “Given the fact that inflation is so high now, it is hard to say that they [the strikers] are being too demanding,” said Kieu Minh Sinh, an official with Dong Nai Provisional Trade Union.

A spokesman for Nike said: “There is a strike at the factory, one of several factories in Vietnam that produce Nike footwear.” It is not clear what action Nike management will take to resolve the dispute, except to say that it is “encouraging workers and management to resolve their differences.” The Nike spokesman added: “All our contract factories are required to comply with company standards, regarding working conditions and with local laws and regulations.”

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Australian Labor Hails Victory on Worker Rights

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says that the results of the Nov. 24 federal election is in part due to the wide community dissatisfaction with the Howard government’s Work Choices industrial policies. ACTU president Sharan Burrows said: “I’m very proud of those working men and women out there today standing up for a decent Australia, standing up for a Rudd labor government that will put rights at work back in place.”

Kevin Rudd, the Labor Party candidate who will be the country’s next prime minister, was swept into power in a landslide victory over the conservative incumbent. John Howard, whose industrial relations legislation angered the unions. Rudd, 50, is a former diplomat with relatively limited experience in domestic affairs. Unlike Howard, Rudd has pledged to pull combat troops out of Iraq and to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

The Labor Party needed to win at least 76 seats in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament to oust the Howard government. Initial results indicated it won at least 86 seats. Many unions are already making their first demands on the Labor Government with calls for AWAs (Australian Workplace Agreements) to be banned from the first week in January, rather than later in the year when Parliament passes the new legislation.

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Italy Faces Transport Chaos as Unions Plan One-Day Strikes

Italian transport unions plan a day of strikes on Nov. 30 that will stop planes, trains, buses and ferries for most of the day. Central Rome was brought to a halt for a second consecutive day on Thursday by taxi drivers staging a separate protest, which would compound Friday’s transport chaos if it continued.

Transport union leader Claudio Claudiani announced the major stoppage after the breakdown of talks with the government over public sector cutbacks in the 2008 budget and the overhaul of state-owned airline Alitalia, which is up for sale. Hundreds of Rome’s taxi drivers, fighting the city’s plans to issue 500 new taxi licenses to match demand, blocked the central Piazza, causing chaos for cars and buses.

National trade union leader Rafaela Banana told reporters that commuters would suffer from job cutbacks. “Commuters are reduced to third world level of service. But where does the government cut back? Right there,” he said.

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South Korea Arrests Migrant Trade Union Leaders

The three top executives of South Korea’s Migrant Trade Union (MTU) were arrested Nov. 27 by immigration officials in three coordinated morning actions, targeting these workers at their places of work and residences. The MTU is a union of undocumented migrant workers, supported by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), that has been active for three years in advocating for migrant workers’ rights.

In response to the arrests, the KCTU has issued a petition calling for the release of the three MTU leaders and a halt to the crackdown against undocumented workers.

The number of foreign residents in South Korea has recently approached one million, with some 230,000 said to be undocumented. These numbers have swelled in recent years under the expansion of the Korea Employment Permit System (EPS), an increase in the number of transnational marriages, and new laws governing the migration of ethnic Korean Chinese.

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Independent Union Wins Vote at Mexican Jean Factory

Defying employer harassment and intimidation, mass firings and threats of a factory closure, workers at the Vaquerros Navarra jean factory in Tehuacan, Mexico voted on Nov. 23 in favor of the independent September 19 Union, an affiliate of the Authentic Labour Front (FAT). The final vote count, which included the votes of approximately 45 dismissed workers, was 263 for the September 19 Union, 187 f or the CROM and 3 for the CROC.

Both the CROM and the CROC are “official unions,” supported by the employer and the state government. The CROC currently holds the title to the :collective agreement at the factory. The victory of the September 19 Union was even more impressive, considering the nature of the election. Each individual worker had to walk up to a table where employer and union representatives were standing and verbally state which union he/she supported.

Despite its precedent-setting victory, the September 19¹s struggle is far from over. The workers, most of whom are young, indigenous women, showed their courage by facing up to their employers. The election is being protested by the employers and the two official unions. The independent union is now focusing on pressing the employer to accept the election results and negotiate a contract with it.

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