Global Trade Union Meets with European Banking Groups on Crisis

UNI-Europa Finance, the European trade union for the banking and insurance industry, met with representatives of three European banking groups to share information about the impact of the financial crisis and to discuss the way forward. It was the first time these groups came together in their history to exchange ideas and data and consider future work together for a combined solution to widespread financial industry problems.

“It is very important that we address the current challenges together. Banks and employees share the same concerns and have a common interest in managing the crisis and ensuring a sound and stable financial sector for the future,” said Allan Bang, president of UNI Europe Finance at the Jan. 28 meeting in Brussels, UNI Europa Finance and the three employer organizations said they will monitor developments of the financial crisis, and agreed to share data on employment trends in the sector.

“We are faced with reforming the financial system. Employees can provide a complementary bottom-up perspective in assessing the impact of and effectiveness of regulation. It is an essential element for gaining a comprehensive picture of what went wrong and what should be done to avoid a similar crisis in the future,” Allan Bang said.

ILO Says 7.2 Million More Asians Will Be Jobless in 2009

Asia is likely to have 7.2 million more jobless people in 2009 than last year due to the fallout from the global economic crisis, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported Feb. 18. It said that the ranks of the unemployed would likely balloon to 97 million in 2009 in Asia, the world economy’s star performer in recent years but where a third of the population still live on a little more than 1 dollar a day.

An estimated 51 million new jobs will be needed this year and next to absorb Asia’s growing labor force, with most jobs needed in the region’s giant economies: 20.2 in India, 10.9 million in China and 3.6 million in Indonesia. In the most pessimistic scenario, the number of unemployed could swell to 113 million, or 22.3 million more than last year.

Remittances from the region’ s army of migrant workers has begun to slow down. Remittances comprise a third of gross domestic product in Tonga, 17 percent in Nepal, and 11 percent in the Philippines. The poor now face a double crisis: the high cost of basic necessities on which they spend a majority of their income, along with economic stagnation that threaten their livelihood.

Berlin Raises Teachers’ Salaries by Almost Half

In a bid to keep Berlin’s teachers from escaping to higher-paying jobs in other cities, the city-state government has decided to increase their salaries by almost 50 percent each month. “It is a step that costs a lot of money,” Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit said, noting that it would mean an expenditure of an additional 30 million euros ($ 38.5 million) a year,

The average pre-tax wage for s newly-employed teacher in Berlin was 2,000 euros ($2,567) a month, but beginning in August, it will be almost 3,900 euros per month — a more competitive rate that the city hopes will make Berlin more attractive for newcomers. Despite the salary increase, Berlin teacher salaries will remain well below those in other parts of Germany.

Some 20,000 teachers work as public servants in the capital, while approximately 6,000 are regular employees. Civil servants, or "Beamier," are considered to have superior benefits that include a special health plan, an excellent pension and virtually no chance of losing their jobs.

Spain’s Court System Shuts Down as Judges Go on Strike

The Spanish court system ground to a halt Feb. 18, when judges staged the first strike of its kind. They were supported in their 24-hour work stoppage by their clerks. Legal secretaries and other court officials. The judges have been in a bitter dispute with the government over understaffing. They say they need at least another 1,500 judges and complain about a lack of money for modernization of offices, many of which do not have computers.

The organizers say that more than half of the 4,500 judges supported the strike and many others took part in demonstrations outside the court building. The Audiencia Nacional, which investigates and tries major criminal cases, continued its business as usual, as did judges conducting weddings or investigating violent crimes.

The judicial process is notoriously slow in Spain, with an enormous backlog of outstanding cases. There were some 2.4 million cases pending by the end of last year, and the number grows all the time. On occasion, a sentence has not been enforced because the courts simply forgot to issue the warrant.

Norwegian Church and Union Clash over Offshore Oil

Norway’s state church has proposed a five-year moratorium on new offshore oil and gas licenses for environmental reasons, joining a debate about opening more waters for exploration to sustain oil production. The moratorium proposal triggered an angry response by Norway’s main labor union, LO, which fears that such a move would hurt the offshore services sector and spark mass layoffs at a time when Norway’s economy already faces recession.

Norway is the world’s number four oil exporter and number three in natural gas, but no big discoveries have been made in years, pressuring authorities to open up large swaths of waters off the Lofoten Islands and in the Barents Sea. More than 80 percent of Norway’s 4,7 million citizens at least nominally belong to the church, headed by Norway’s King Harald.

The moratorium proposal comes seven months before a general election, whose result may decide if Norway opens more Arctic waters for exploration — seen by the oil industry as a needed lifeline amid declining output from ageing North Sea fields.

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