Global Union Leaders Present Recovery Plan at World Forum in Davos

The global crisis now threatens to become a time bomb if the world’s governments don’t act together to save and create jobs, according to global trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The unions are delivering a tough message to business representatives at the forum, as additional millions face unemployment, home repossessions, and lost savings and pensions.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), with its national affiliates in 157 countries and its Global Union partners, is pushing a comprehensive recovery package, with top priority on sustainable employment. Ensuring workers’ right to union representation and collective bargaining have to be the core of recovery efforts to enable consumer spending to steer economies onto the path of growth, the ITUC said.

In addition, the global union movement is putting forward a detailed framework for new regulations to put an end to the rampant speculation and financial profiteering that has caused the global crisis. “We have witnessed three decades of stagnation or falling real incomes by the vast majority, while huge and undeserved pay and bonuses are still being gouged out of companies by those at the very top of the corporate tree, even when they have utterly failed to deliver,” said Guy Ryder, ITUC General Secretary.

Huge Crowds in France Demonstrate to Protect Wages and Jobs

Hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets in France to protest the handling of the economic crisis, causing the disruption of rail and air services. Overall, the government estimated that a quarter of the country’s public sector workers had joined the action, which was called by eight major French unions. A spokesman for the CGT union said that 2.5 million people across the country had taken part in the day’s protests. The French police put the figure at just over one million,

CGT leader Bernard Thibault called on President Sarkozy to recognize the gravity of the situation and “reassess his measures” for dealing with the economic crisis. Sarkozy said that concerns over the crisis were legitimate and the government had to listen and act. He will meet union and business leaders next month to discuss what level of reforms to follow this year, he said.

Many people are furious that Sarkozy said there was no money left to raise wages and consumer spending power, but he nevertheless managed to find billions of euros to bail out floundering French banks. A Jan. 5 poll by CSA Opinion for Le Parisian showed 69 percent of the French public in support of the protest.

Angola Diamond Workers Strike Industry over Wage Dispute

Workers at a subsidiary of state-owned diamond firm Endama began a strike on Jan. 29 over wages, in a sign that the country’s most luxurious export is losing its luster in the global economic slowdown. Some of Endama’s 130 employees, who provide logistical support and transportation for the company’s diamond mines, are demanding higher wages. Talks are underway to try to meet their demands, a company spokesperson said.

Angola’s diamond production has been growing at a fast clip, since a 27-year-old civil war ended in 2002. The country, which rivals Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer, is also the world’s fifth largest diamond exporter. But the global economic slowdown is taking its toll on the once-booming industry.

“2009 will be a difficult year,” Endama’s chairman told employees, adding that the demand for diamonds was falling because banks were cutting back on loans to traders, who purchase gems from countries like Angola. The United States accounts for about half of the world’s diamond demand.

Iceland Appoints Gay Minister as the Country’s Prime Minister

Iceland’s next leader will be an openly-gay former flight attendant who parlayed her experience as a union organizer into a decades-long political career. Both parties in Iceland’s new coalition government support the appointment of Johanna Sigurdardottir, the island nation’s 66-year-old social affairs minister, as Iceland’s interim prime minister. “Now we need a strong government that works with the people,” she said.

Sigurdardottir will lead until new elections are held, most likely in May. Analysts say she is unlikely to remain in office, chiefly because her Center-Left Social Democratic Alliance isn’t expected to rank among the major parties after the election. In opinion polls, it trails the Left-Green Movement.

Sigurdardottir was Iceland’s most popular politician in November with an approval rating of 73 percent. “It’s a question of trust. People believe that she actually cares for people,” said Olifar Hardarson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. ”She is a senior parliamentarian, who is respected and loved by all of Iceland,” said Environmental Minister Thoeunn Sveinbjamardottir’s fellow Alliance member.

Israel’s Prize-Winning Orchestra Fires Its 50 Musicians and Closes

Two and a half years after winning the Israel Prize and being defined as an Israeli cultural icon, the Ashdod-based Israel Andalusian Orchestra fired all of its 50 musicians and lyricists on Jan. 29 and shut down.

Nine months ago, orchestra members had declared a labor dispute in an effort to improve "degrading” work conditions, and tried to persuade the orchestra management to negotiate a collective agreement. However, when negotiations failed to produce satisfactory results, the musicians declared a full-scale strike and cancelled scheduled concerts, hoping someone would intervene to broker the dispute. But instead, they were shocked to learn — from the media — that they were fired, and the orchestra was being shut down.

The orchestra, founded in 1994, showcased the Sephardi Jewish traditional combination of music and poetry. Two-thirds of its members are Russian immigrants. The remainder are Sephardim, whose parents came to Israel from Morocco. The orchestra was financed jointly by the Ashdod municipality and the culture ministry. It had 6,000 regular subscribers.

Wildcat Strikes by Angry Workers Spread Across Great Britain

A wave of wildcat strikes swept across the country on Jan. 30 as British workers angrily protested that they had been excluded from construction jobs by companies favoring foreign workers, The government called in mediators to try to end the unofficial walkout by about 3,000 workers at oil and power plants in support of workers at the Lindsey refinery at North Killingshire. The British Trade Union Congress (TUC) claimed the refinery owner, Total, had made an “apparent attempt to undercut the wages, conditions and union representation of existing staff.”

Total had put a contract out to tender for a £200 million ($292 million) construction project with 5 UK firms and two European contractors. The Italian company IREM won the contract and supplied its own permanent workforce. It is understood that 100 Italian and Portuguese workers are already on site and 300 more are expected next month. Union leaders were furious that with unemployment rates soaring, British workers had been overlooked.

Bobby Buieds, a regional officer for the union Unite in Scotland, said: “The argument is not against foreign workers. It’s against foreign companies discriminating against British labor. This is a fight for work. It is a fight for the right to work in our own country. It is not a racist argument at all.”

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