Nearly 7,000 tax collectors from Cairo and 13 other local governments picketed before the main headquarters of the General Workers Union in Cairo on Nov. 14 as others went on strike elsewhere to other governates. The cause of the strike is the refusal of the finance ministry to give the real estate tax collectors the same status and benefits as the public tax collectors.

Picketing workers clashed with the police before the main headquarters of the union, where they accused the police of assaulting a number of picketing workers as they marched and held placards. They were angered when Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali rejected their demand for equality. They appealed to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to intervene in their behalf by issuing a new ministerial decree.

Meanwhile, Hussein Megawer, president of the General Workers Union, repeated that Ghali had promised the president of the National Democratic Party that the real estate tax collectors would be annexed to the finance ministry. He added that an agreement had been signed with Ghali to implement the pledge, once the new real estate law is passed by Parliament in the ensuing term.

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French Unions to Meet with Sarkozy While Strike Spreads

France is braced for a second day (Nov. 16) of chaos after transport workers from two large unions voted to prolong strike action over President Nicholas Sarkozy’s pension reforms. Electricity and gas workers staged targeted power cuts and reduced energy output from national grids.

The first signs of a possible compromise came when the biggest rail union, the powerful, communist-leaning CGT, agreed to sector-by-sector between the government, unions and employers. Sarkozy ordered letters to be sent to the unions, laying out plans for negotiations. French media observed that neither the unions nor the government would benefit from a prolonged “arm wrestle.”

New talks could allow the president to secure his pension reform plan, protecting his image as a modernizer, while offering terms the unions could swallow, Students yesterday blocked at least 30 of France’s 85 universities in protest at a higher education reform that allows universities to charge for tuition and attract private funding.

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Unilever’s Pakistan Plant Fires Masses of Casual Workers

Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world’s consumer product brands, has escalated its assault against the union at its Rahim Yar Khan factory in Pakistan, with the mass firings of hundreds of casual workers who were seeking recognition of their legal right to permanent employment status.

When casual workers arrived for the first shift (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.) on Oct. 20, armed police officers, posted at the factory gate, ordered them into a meeting room where management staff, backed by police officers handed out termination letters, which the workers were forced to sign. Workers on the second shift went through the same process. Management also illegally terminated 23 casual workers who had already applied for permanent status at the Labour Court.

A special meeting of the Unilever Employees Federation of Pakistan, attended by unions from other Unilever sites, pledged their support of the workers at the Rahim Yar Khan plant. An Action Committee was also set up at another meeting of about 50 unions, journalists, and NCOs to broaden and intensify the struggle for union rights at Unilever’s Pakistan factory.

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Huge Protests in South Korea Against U.S. Trade Deal

Tens of thousands of South Korean farmers and workers clashed with riot police on Nov. 11 at a massive rally against a free trade agreement with the United States. Seoul police in riot gear used water cannon and fire extinguisher sprays to attack protesters, who fought back with sticks and stones. Organizers estimated that about 50,000 attended the protest meeting while the police said there were only 20,000 demonstrators.

Trade chiefs from both countries signed the trade accord in June, concluding months of tough negotiations to lower or eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers on a wide range of industries and services. The propose agreement must be endorsed by the legislatures of both countries before it goes into effect. The South Korean government submitted the proposal to parliament in September for approval.

“We will thwart the passage of the FTA [Free Trade Agreement]. It would deepen the polarization of our society,” said Woo Moon-sook, a spokeswoman for the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, one of the organizers of the rally near Seoul City Hall. The deal is the largest for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) more than a decade ago, and the largest ever for South Korea.

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Mozambique Company Ordered to Pay 11 Years of Overtime

The Mozambique branch of Wackenhut., a security guard company, has lost its appeal against a Labour Ministry order to pay over 11 years of overtime owing its employees. Wackenhut actually admitted that between 1994 and 2005, it had not paid any overtime to hundreds of Mozambique security guards who had been working 12-hour shifts, four hours more than the standard eight-hour day.

After repeated demands from its workers that the company pay what it owed them, Wackenhut in 2005 agreed to send the overtime dispute to arbitration. The arbitration gave its ruling in May 2006. It declared that Wackenhut did have to pay the overtime, but added that the exact sum claimed by the workers (about $1.3 million) had not been proved.

Wackenhut ignored the arbitrator’s decision that within 10 days it had to present a proper calculation of the overtime worked during those 11 years, based on a legal formula to be provided by the Ministry of Labour. The Ministry then thought it was in its rights to demand that Wackenhut pay the entire $1.3 million claim.

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Israeli Police Arrest Hundreds of Palestinian Workers

Haider Ibrahim, secretary general of the Palestinian Workers Union, stated that Israeli police arrested 270 Palestinian workers inside Israel this month. He added that Israeli border guards, police units, security personnel and military police took part in the raids in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jaffa.

The police claimed that the Palestinians captured in the raids did not have the proper work permits to work inside of Israel. The police transferred the arrested people to interrogation centers in Haifa, al-Afoula and al-Jalama. Twenty of those arrested, including five women, were sentenced to parole and forced to pay fines.

The Israeli government insists that surveillance of Palestinians in their country is necessary to guard against terrorism. While Israeli authorities continue to claim they are easing the restrictions on Palestinian workers. Ibrahim charges that the opposite is true. They refuse to issue work permits to thousands of workers who are authorized to work inside Israel, he says.

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