The World of Labor - August 16, 2008



	THE WORLD OF LABOR — August 16, 2008 By Harry Kelber Firestone Plantation Workers in Liberia Win First Historic Contract After four months of negotiations, a historic three-year contract was reached between the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) and the management of the Firestone Plantation. The contract, the first between the two parties, covers more than 4,500 workers and was signed on Aug. 6. Two days later, union leaders, together with those of the newly-merged Liberian Labor Congress, briefed Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on the content of the agreement. The contract comes seven months after the Liberian Supreme Court ruled that the union was the legitimate bargaining representative of the Firestone workers. In July 2007, FAWUL defeated a long-standing "yellow" union in an internationally-monitored election. That victorious election came after an arduous union-building project on behalf of the Firestone Workers by the U.S. Steel Workers (USA) and the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center. FAWUL affiliated with the global ICEM union, after the mid-2007 election. The contract grants rubber tappers a 24 percent wage increase, averaged over three years and is retroactive to Jan. 2007. Other plantation workers get a 21 percent pay raise, with the same retroactivity clause. The agreement reduces rubber tree quotas by 20 percent, which means that each worker will tap 150 fewer trees. Both parties agreed on the terms of a mechanized transportation system by which natural rubber is brought to weight stations, relieving workers from the 150-pound buckets they had to carry for long stretches. Telecom Workers Win Strike in Pakistan A two-week strike by telecom workers in Pakistan was called off but only after management accepted the strikers' main demands and signed an agreement with their union, the United Workers Alliance (UWA), giving them an immediate 35 percent pay raise. The workers won a total of 13 concessions and benefits in the new contract, union leaders said. About 8,000 contract workers have been "regularized" and will also get the 35 percent increase, as well as the benefits to all telecom workers. A committee will be formed to review pay scales and to prepare new ones to be used in future collective bargaining in the telecom sector. The union victory was unusual, because the labor movement in Pakistan is weak and there are few industrial struggles taking place. The country's political instability is also a factor they will have to deal with in future negotiations with telecom companies. But workers feel more confident and hope to remain strong and united, union leaders say. UWA leaders realize that they will be facing difficult conditions in future negotiations with telecom companies Malaysia Considers Allowing Foreign Workers to Join Unions The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has come out in support of suggestions by non-government agencies (NGOs) and trade unions that foreign workers be allowed to form unions or join existing ones. Human Rights Commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam said the commission would recommend the move to the government in its annual report, which will be published later this year. "Suhakam believes a worker - local or foreign - deserves to be treated the same and enjoy the same privileges," he said after Suhakam's roundtable discussion with trade unions Aug. 13. The discussion was spurred by reports that a Nike T-shirt factory here, owned by a local factory, had allegedly abused its foreign workers, mainly from Bangladesh and Vietnam, by confiscating their passports and garnishing their wages. Many companies still mistreat their workers to the point where it borders on slavery, disregarding the ILO convention. Suhakam conceded that the commission's previous recommendations to the government on the rights of foreign workers had not been well received. Philippine Women Forced to Kiss Drunken Employer Every Morning It was not in the job description, but kissing the drunken owner of this 18-year-old rubber boot and shoe factory in Muntinlupa was the first thing the Philippine women had to do when they reported for work at 6 o'clock in the morning. They lined up not just to have their timecards punched. They lined up for their daily dose of sexual harassment. The company, Bleustar Manufacturing Inc., produces as many as 10,000 pairs of rainboots and shoes daily, with a workforce of 205, of which 85 percent are female, all of them subject to the crude, humiliating sexual advances of owner Jimmy Ong. Bleustar pays its workers poverty wages and goes to great lengths to prevent them from forming or joining a union. In the past ten years, workers tried to form a union, but management found many ways to prevent them. But on Oct. 27. 2007, they successfully registered the Bleustar Workers Labor Union (BWLU) with the Bureau of Labor Relations, But 13 days before the election was scheduled, the company shut down operations and prepared to remove about 25 machines and other equipment to another site. When some 60 workers, including union officers, blockaded the factory's passageway to prevent the machinery from leaving the plant, the owner dismissed all of them. The union forced a certification election on July 25, but no results have been announced, because of legal challenges. Meanwhile, workers continue to picket the plant daily, determined to win their struggle. Indonesian Nurses Move to Japan under Free Trade Agreement Japan accepted more than 200 Indonesian nurses on Aug. 14, an unprecedented move as Tokyo struggles to quell a labor shortage triggered by declining fertility rates. The arrival of 205 Indonesians, an exception allowed under a bilateral economic agreement signed with Jakarta in April, signal a loosening of immigration procedures in a country where many people equate foreigners with social disorder. The Indonesians, all registered nurses in their homeland, will work as assistants while training for Japanese certification, roughly half of them as nurses and half as caregivers to work in nursing homes and other facilities. "The program opens the door for them to stay here and work in those professions, as long as they pass Japan's national test," said Haruhiro Joni, an official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Japan has long been reluctant to host outsiders for fear of disrupting its tight and orderly society. Despite increased immigration, Japan's population of 127 million is expected to plunge to about 100 million by about 2050, when more than a third of the Japanese will be 65 and older and less than half of them will be of working age of 16 to 65. Two South Korean Auto Unions to Stage Series of Partial Strikes Unionized workers at Kia Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. will launch a series of partial strikes over a wage dispute. Both day and night shift workers at the country's top two automakers, plan to stage six-hour walkouts and to reject overtime work. Workers at the two automakers have already staged partial strikes for four days this month, costing Hyundai and Kia a total of 341.7 billion won ($328.7 million), according to company estimates. But the losses are usually made up in overtime after the unions and management agree on a wage deal. The labor action will cause the companies to lose a combined 124.8 billion won ($121.5 million) in production, company officials say. This does not include the Daewoo auto plant, an affiliate of General Motors, that has launched eight partial strikes since July 8. Check our web site: http://www.laboreducator.org

THE WORLD OF LABOR — August 16, 2008

By Harry Kelber

Firestone Plantation Workers in Liberia Win First Historic Contract

After four months of negotiations, a historic three-year contract was reached between the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) and the management of the Firestone Plantation. The contract, the first between the two parties, covers more than 4,500 workers and was signed on Aug. 6. Two days later, union leaders, together with those of the newly-merged Liberian Labor Congress, briefed Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on the content of the agreement.

The contract comes seven months after the Liberian Supreme Court ruled that the union was the legitimate bargaining representative of the Firestone workers. In July 2007, FAWUL defeated a long-standing "yellow" union in an internationally-monitored election. That victorious election came after an arduous union-building project on behalf of the Firestone Workers by the U.S. Steel Workers (USA) and the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center. FAWUL affiliated with the global ICEM union, after the mid-2007 election.

The contract grants rubber tappers a 24 percent wage increase, averaged over three years and is retroactive to Jan. 2007. Other plantation workers get a 21 percent pay raise, with the same retroactivity clause. The agreement reduces rubber tree quotas by 20 percent, which means that each worker will tap 150 fewer trees. Both parties agreed on the terms of a mechanized transportation system by which natural rubber is brought to weight stations, relieving workers from the 150-pound buckets they had to carry for long stretches.

Telecom Workers Win Strike in Pakistan

A two-week strike by telecom workers in Pakistan was called off but only after management accepted the strikers' main demands and signed an agreement with their union, the United Workers Alliance (UWA), giving them an immediate 35 percent pay raise. The workers won a total of 13 concessions and benefits in the new contract, union leaders said.

About 8,000 contract workers have been "regularized" and will also get the 35 percent increase, as well as the benefits to all telecom workers. A committee will be formed to review pay scales and to prepare new ones to be used in future collective bargaining in the telecom sector.

The union victory was unusual, because the labor movement in Pakistan is weak and there are few industrial struggles taking place. The country's political instability is also a factor they will have to deal with in future negotiations with telecom companies. But workers feel more confident and hope to remain strong and united, union leaders say. UWA leaders realize that they will be facing difficult conditions in future negotiations with telecom companies

Malaysia Considers Allowing Foreign Workers to Join Unions

The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has come out in support of suggestions by non-government agencies (NGOs) and trade unions that foreign workers be allowed to form unions or join existing ones. Human Rights Commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam said the commission would recommend the move to the government in its annual report, which will be published later this year.

"Suhakam believes a worker - local or foreign - deserves to be treated the same and enjoy the same privileges," he said after Suhakam's roundtable discussion with trade unions Aug. 13. The discussion was spurred by reports that a Nike T-shirt factory here, owned by a local factory, had allegedly abused its foreign workers, mainly from Bangladesh and Vietnam, by confiscating their passports and garnishing their wages.

Many companies still mistreat their workers to the point where it borders on slavery, disregarding the ILO convention. Suhakam conceded that the commission's previous recommendations to the government on the rights of foreign workers had not been well received.

Philippine Women Forced to Kiss Drunken Employer Every Morning

It was not in the job description, but kissing the drunken owner of this 18-year-old rubber boot and shoe factory in Muntinlupa was the first thing the Philippine women had to do when they reported for work at 6 o'clock in the morning. They lined up not just to have their timecards punched. They lined up for their daily dose of sexual harassment.

The company, Bleustar Manufacturing Inc., produces as many as 10,000 pairs of rainboots and shoes daily, with a workforce of 205, of which 85 percent are female, all of them subject to the crude, humiliating sexual advances of owner Jimmy Ong. Bleustar pays its workers poverty wages and goes to great lengths to prevent them from forming or joining a union.

In the past ten years, workers tried to form a union, but management found many ways to prevent them. But on Oct. 27. 2007, they successfully registered the Bleustar Workers Labor Union (BWLU) with the Bureau of Labor Relations, But 13 days before the election was scheduled, the company shut down operations and prepared to remove about 25 machines and other equipment to another site.

When some 60 workers, including union officers, blockaded the factory's passageway to prevent the machinery from leaving the plant, the owner dismissed all of them. The union forced a certification election on July 25, but no results have been announced, because of legal challenges. Meanwhile, workers continue to picket the plant daily, determined to win their struggle.

Indonesian Nurses Move to Japan under Free Trade Agreement

Japan accepted more than 200 Indonesian nurses on Aug. 14, an unprecedented move as Tokyo struggles to quell a labor shortage triggered by declining fertility rates. The arrival of 205 Indonesians, an exception allowed under a bilateral economic agreement signed with Jakarta in April, signal a loosening of immigration procedures in a country where many people equate foreigners with social disorder.

The Indonesians, all registered nurses in their homeland, will work as assistants while training for Japanese certification, roughly half of them as nurses and half as caregivers to work in nursing homes and other facilities. "The program opens the door for them to stay here and work in those professions, as long as they pass Japan's national test," said Haruhiro Joni, an official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Japan has long been reluctant to host outsiders for fear of disrupting its tight and orderly society. Despite increased immigration, Japan's population of 127 million is expected to plunge to about 100 million by about 2050, when more than a third of the Japanese will be 65 and older and less than half of them will be of working age of 16 to 65.

Two South Korean Auto Unions to Stage Series of Partial Strikes

Unionized workers at Kia Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. will launch a series of partial strikes over a wage dispute. Both day and night shift workers at the country's top two automakers, plan to stage six-hour walkouts and to reject overtime work.

Workers at the two automakers have already staged partial strikes for four days this month, costing Hyundai and Kia a total of 341.7 billion won ($328.7 million), according to company estimates. But the losses are usually made up in overtime after the unions and management agree on a wage deal.

The labor action will cause the companies to lose a combined 124.8 billion won ($121.5 million) in production, company officials say. This does not include the Daewoo auto plant, an affiliate of General Motors, that has launched eight partial strikes since July 8.

Check our web site: http://www.laboreducator.org