Thousands of demonstrators marched through Athens and Thessaloniki on Feb. 13 to protest government social security reforms as a Greek general strike shut down schools, hospitals and all public services. Port workers and air controllers joined the second 24-hour general strike in about two months, forcing authorities to cancel all flights to and from Greek airports and all regular ferry routes to the islands.

Greece’s two main labor unions called the general strike to protest the conservative government’s efforts to reform Greece’s debt-ridden and fractured pension system. Unions claim the reforms will lead lower pensions and higher retirement ages. Dentists, lawyers, construction workers and civil servants also walked off the job.

Greece has roughly 170 separate pension funds which collectively face estimated future deficits of between $165 billion and $550 billion. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’ government has pledged to unify the funds as part of its reforms, but its efforts have been unpopular.

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Work Stoppage at Three Units of Mexico’s Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex), the country’s biggest retailer, suffered its first-ever strike this week when 300 workers from two stores and a restaurant walked out for a day in a dispute over wages and working conditions. The units affected were a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a Sam’s membership store and a VIP restaurant.

Jaime Camacho, a top official from a grass-roots workers movement that backed the strike, said that black and white strike flags were hung at the entrance of the stores and restaurants at the beach resort of Los Cabos at midday Feb. 13, closing down the establishment. Camacho said the Walmex workers had complained about bad treatment from managers and that they were not being paid overtime or given benefit packages equal to those awarded by other Walmex stores in the country.

Walmex employs more than 150,000 people across Mexico and is considered the biggest private sector employer in the country. Its workers are not unionized. However, Feb. 14, the day after the strike, Walmex agreed to grant some of the workers’ demands.

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U. S. Writers Union Gains Contract after 100-Day Walkout

The membership of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), both its east and west unions, voted overwhelmingly in favor of ending their 100-day strike that began on Nov. 5. A total of 3,776 writers turned out in Los Angeles and New York City to cast ballots or faxes in proxies, with 92.6 percent voting in favor of ending the work stoppage.

Under the agreement, most minimum compensation rates would rise by 3.5 percent a year, although network prime time rates and daytime serial script fees would increase 3 percent a year. The contract spells out residual rates for Internet material. The agreement runs through May 2, 2011. The contract also recognizes the WGA as the exclusive bargaining representative for writers for the new media, such as the Internet and cellular phones

Other contract provisions call for an increase in made-for-pay television residuals to $3,500 (from $3,000) for a half-hour program, and to $6,000 (from $5,000) for a full-hour program. There are also specified rates for Internet materials and “streaming” on new programs initially made for film and television.

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1.6 Million Israelis Lived Below Poverty Line in 2007

Despite the improvement in all of Israel’s economic indicators in 2007, a rise in the minimum wage, increased employment and higher real salaries, the country’s poverty level remained almost unchanged. According to the National Insurance Institute’s semi-annual poverty report released Feb. 14, there were 1,674,800 people in Israel living under the poverty line in 2007, almost one-fourth of the country’s population, and an increase of 20.000 over the preceding year.

The number of children living in poverty reached 804,000 or 35. 9 percent of all Israeli children. There were 168,000 families with one wage earner who were living in poverty, up from 162,000 in 2006. The poverty line for a single person in 2 007 was NIS 2,028 ($564) a month income; for a family of four, it was NIS 5191 ($1,442).

Ofer Eini, chairman of the Histadrut labor federation, said in response to the report: “We need to continue and advance the enforcement of labor laws on one hand, and to create a quality employment program on the other hand‹one that is different from what was instituted in recent years.”

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Toyota Agrees to Japanese Union Demand for Big Bonus

The Toyota Motor Corp, Japan’s prime carmaker, has agreed to fully accept a demand by labor for an annual bonus payment to its workers of 2.53 million yen ($23,516) as part of this year’s wage negotiations, known as “shunto” in Japan, Ntkkei, a business daily newspaper reported on Friday.

This would mark Toyota’s ninth consecutive year of fully granting bonus demands, of its workers, the newspaper said. As for wages, union members are seeking a 1,500 yen ($14) raise, it said.

Toyota has about 300.000 employees worldwide, with more than 500 subsidiaries. In its most recent financial report, it had a net income of $13.9 billion and a revenue of $202.86 billion.

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Morocco’s Public Service Workers Stage 1-Day Strike for Reforms

Public service workers across Morocco held a one-day strike Feb. 14 and joined mounting protests demanding reforms of antiquated civil service statutes that haven’t changed since 1958, shortly after the country received its independence. The workers are seeking to improve upon the guaranteed annual increase of 2 percent they won in April of last year and are asking for inflation-based pay raises;

Their other demands include the establishment of a living minimum wage, improved health benefits and reform of the pension system. They want to increase the quota of internal promotions to 33 percent, allowing all workers to take professional exams after four years of service, with new opportunities for advancement.

The government has thus far refused to negotiate with the independent union, SIMSP, calling it “unrepresentative” despite the fact that it is the largest union in the sector, representing 50 percent of all doctors.

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