American Labor Endorses Senator Barack Obama for U.S. President

The AFL-CIO’s General Board, that includes the presidents of its 56 international union affiliates, endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president of the United States. In its endorsing statement, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said that Senator Obama “has secured the nomination of his party in a campaign that has energized millions of Americans and spoken to the hopes and dreams of people from every corner of our nation.”

The AFL-CIO, which has a membership of 10 million, will launch a new website, “Meet Barack Obama,” to promote the presidential candidate’s background, his stand on worker issues and his achievements. Massive labor support will be especially welcome to Obama’s candidacy, since he did not do well among working people and union members during key primaries. He will benefit from the thousands of union volunteers who will be campaigning at worksites and communities in the battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and others to ensure a record voter turnout.

Obama was previously endorsed by Change to Win, a rival federation with six million members, who also dread the thought of Senator John McCain occupying the Whit e House. Both labor organizations have for weeks been conducting a full-scale campaign against McCain who has an anti-worker record hardly different from that of President George Bush.

Iran’s Sugar Workers End 42-Day Strike; Form an Independent Union

Workers at Iran’s Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Plantation and Industry Company ended their 42-day strike on June 16 by forming an independent trade union, electing officers, and agreeing to return to work for 15 days to test a management promise to pay three months of unpaid wages. Haft Tapeh, an integrated complex in the southern city of Shush, is the country’s only sugar refinery.

The 5,000 workers employed at the site (including 3,000 contract workers) have had to resort to repeated strike action in the past two years on the issue of unpaid wages and in support of basic worker rights. Throughout this time, workers have been continually harassed, with suspected militants subject to frequent arrests and public whippings.

The latest conflict began on May 5 when thousands of workers from every department stopped work to protest two months without wages. A petition with thousands of signatures to the provincial labor department triggered mass arrests and repeated intervention by police, security forces and Revolutionary Guards. On June 16, a mass demonstration decided to end their strike. It was then that they formed an independent union, elected officers and began a 15-day test of the employer’s promise to pay back wages.

Local Government Employees in the U. K. Take Strike Vote

Some 70,000 local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be voting on whether to strike over a pay dispute, it was announced by their union, the Local Government Employees Organization (LGE). Unite, Britain’s biggest union, says its members are angered and frustrated by the Local Government Employer’s pay offer, which amounts to 2.45 percent, almost half the rate of inflation; The government’s initial offer was rejected by a 3 to 1 vote of union members.

Unite, which represents local government workers in social care, refuse collection, administrative services and environmental health, will be meeting with other local government unions to discuss coordinated action in the event workers vote to strike.

Peter Allenson, a Unite national officer, says: “Local government employers must understand that local government workers are struggling with soaring energy and food costs. This pay offer is a pay cut and it’s totally unacceptable. It is now up to the local government employers to get real and make an offer which recognizes the pressure these had-working public servants are under,” Allenson said.

‘Voluntary’ Overtime by Japanese Workers Is Being Challenged

Hard-pressed Japanese workers are finally making some progress in their fight against a major problem: “voluntary” overtime, a practice in which busy full-time employees work an extra 80 hours or more free of charge every month. Toyota and McDonald’s are among a growing group of companies taking the lead in reforming their overtime policies, regarding quality control programs outside normal hours, that were until now unpaid.

Starting this month, Toyota will begin paying 40,000 factory workers for supposedly voluntary work. The decision follows a Nagoya court ruling concerning a 30-year-old Toyota employee, who died suddenly in 2002 after conducting more than 100 hours a month of unpaid quality control work in addition to paid duties.

In another high-profile decision, McDonald’s Holdings, Japan’s largest fast-food restaurant chain, said in May that it will begin paying overtime to store managers. Like that of Toyota, the McDonald’s decision followed a court ruling. In January, the Tokyo District Court deemed the company was guilty of creating phony management positions to avoid paying employees overtime, because, under Japanese labor law, employers don’t have to pay overtime to supervisors and managers.

Egyptian Government Required to Reopen Labor Rights Center

The Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity issued a decree on June 26 to reopen the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS), following an administrative court ruling last March which recognized the center’s legitimacy. CTUWS was established in 1990 to defend labor rights, independent of the government and political parties.

In April 2007, the government decided to shut down CTUWS, claiming that the organization was behind a wave of labor unrest, and that it was not a recognized non-government organization (NGO). At the time, Human Rights Watch and other international organizations condemned the Egyptian government’s decision to close it down.

However, about a year later, the Giza Administrative Court ruled in favor of CTUWS, saying the government had no reason to suppress the pro-worker organization. Its statement said: “Throughout one full year, the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services witnessed a series of arbitrary procedures: its premises were closed and its activities were stopped.” CTUWS greeted the good news that it can now reopen with a brief statement, calling the court’s ruling “a good initiative worthy of appreciation.”

Workers Protest Meat Company’s ‘Toilet Break’ Rule

A British meat company supplying Tesco, an international retail grocery chain, has been accused of “Dickensian employment practices” by making workers clock off when they go to the toilet. The workers, members of Unite, are angry that time spent in the toilet was not included in their work week. The company said the policy was part of a deal agreed to with workers and their unions to ensure production ran smoothly. “They have been paid to manage their own lavatorial affairs,” a company spokesman said.

An employee, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that a single toilet break could take up to 10 minutes. “We have to clock out, take off our wellies, overalls and hairnets; we have to run upstairs, have to come back in to get dressed again.”

A union spokesman said the Tesco chain should take responsibility for the working practices of its suppliers. “They pick their suppliers, They sign up to ethical codes. We think they should intervene and stop it,” the spokesman said.

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