The government’s announcement to hold down public-sector pay increases to about 2 percent over the next three years is provoking the fury of trade unions that have already been threatening a “winter of discontent” unless the government relaxes pay norms in the next round of negotiations. The pre-budget report commits the Treasury to “public pay settlements consistent with the government achievement of the government’s inflation target of 2 percent.”

The biggest opposition to the new government policy appears in Whitehall, where 300,000 civil servants are voting on whether to take further industrial action. Not only are pay increases being held to 2 percent but £30 billion ($61 billion) in savings is being demanded by the government to improve efficiency over the next three years. Worst hit will be the Department for Work and Pensions, which will be expected to take even further cuts.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, the country’s largest public service union, said: “Investment in public services must include investment in staff and training. Pay is a crucial factor in maintaining morale.” Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: “The so-called efficiency agenda has already resulted in the spiraling use of consultants, backlogs of post in Customs, as well as delays in people getting help back into work and the closure of over 500 job centres and benefit offices.”

Dutch Want Smaller Differences in Income

A majority of the Dutch population wants the differences in income in the Netherlands to be reduced. Women, older people and those with a lower level of education in particular are in favor of narrowing the income gap. This view is based on a report published by Statistics Netherland (CBS) on Oct. 11.

Almost two-thirds of the voters were in favor of smaller differences in income, according to the National Voters’ Survey that was conducted during the 2006 elections. One in five feels that the differences should be maintained and 13 percent want the differences to be greater.

Women are more often in favor of a fairer distribution of wealth. Seven out of ten want to see smaller differences in income. With men, it is six out of ten. With people over 45, the figure rises to 70 percent. Differences in income in the Netherlands have remained virtually the same since 2001.

Bulgarian Teachers Continue Strike over Wage Demands

Negotiations between two cabinet ministers and trade unions on higher pay for Bulgarian teachers ended Oct. 10, without progress, while the unions claimed an increasing number of teachers have joined the strike. The only concession the unions got from Education Minister Daniel Valchev was that the cabinet might push forward with the first wave of wage boosts, but with no commitment to increase the government’s wage proposal to the unions.

The teachers are demanding 25 percent pay rises in October, February and July, which would almost double their salaries, now averaging BGN 440 ($ 319). a month, according to government data. In response, the government has offered 10 percent raises in January and July next year, with an additional 5 percent only for teachers who qualify under certain performance-based standards.

The unions claim that the government has saved more than BGN 1 billion ($ 724,821) on education since 2004 by eliminating 15,000 teachers. “You [the cabinet] are playing with fire,” warned the strike committee chairman and deputy head of Bulgaria’s influential KNSB trade union bloc.

Kurds’ Minister Supports Iraqi Oil Unions

The Iraqi Kurds’ oil minister, in contrast to the federal oil minister, says what’s best for Iraq is to embrace the oil unions. But the government’s oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristan, has ordered the ministry’s companies and departments to cease dealing with the oil unions. “The trade unions in Iraq now are illegal under the new law passed by Parliament,” Shahristani said, referring to a new labor law called for in the Constitution, but that has not yet materialized.

Iraq’s oil workers were barred from unionizing by Saddam Hussein, one of the few Saddam-era laws kept by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority and subsequent Iraqi governments. Regardless, the workers organized and successfully blocked plans to privatize parts of the oil sector.

Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources for the Kurdistan Regional Government, told UPI news service that his region’s law has incorporated local worker requirements and unions are key to that. “Our key objective is maximize returns for Iraq,” Hawrami said. “so we have no problems with unions and professional organizations, because in a democratic society, we must be inclusive of all these requirements.”

Canadian Labor Urges Government to Protect Workers’ Pensions

The Canadian Labour Congress has demanded that the federal government make sure that the pension investments of working Canadians are not put at further risk by the crisis in the asset-backed commercial paper market. In a letter to the Canadian Ministry of Finance, Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, urges the appointment of an independent monitor to represent the public interest in ongoing efforts to resolve the crisis.

“Some 80 percent of our 3.2 million members belong to defined benefit pension plans, as do many more union retirees,” Georgetti’s letter said. “Many pension plans are at risk of taking a significant hit to their assets because of investments in non-bank ABCPs, according to a major report released Sept. 27 by a respected independent analyst of financial markets, Diane Urquhart.”

The Urquhart report draws attention to the many of the same major financial industry players who are now working to resolve the lack of liquidity in the market, which is likely to be re-established through a downgrading of asset values. Georgetti concludes his letter urging regulatory changes “so that investment products with significant underlying risk are not sold to pension plans as virtually risk-free.”

Migrant Indonesians Who Work as Maids in Malaysia Face Dilemma

Malaysia, one of the richer Southeast Asia neighbors, hosts about two million migrant workers from around Asia‹more than 300,000 who work as domestic helpers or maids. About 90 percent of Malaysia’s maids come from neighboring Indonesia; almost all from a background steeped in poverty and hardship.

These women leave home with the hope that an overseas job will help ease the financial burden they and their families face. But a series of recent cases has highlighted the risks that Indonesian maids encounter in coming to work in Malaysia. Most of the complaints are about unpaid wages, but others have reported incidents of beatings at the hands of their employers, torture and sexual assault.

In 2006, Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia, that maids should be paid directly by their employer and receive some — albeit small — compensation for personal injury and be given time off in lieu of overtime pay. Despite this, it remains common practice for the employer to deposit the maid’s wages with the recruiting agent as repayment of earlier debts, meaning she actually never sees her money. The Malaysian government is not prompt with the investigation or prosecution of abusive employers, Indonesians complain.

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