New German Law Requires Employers to Submit Their Data Base

Under new legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, 2010. German employers must now submit their employees’ income data to a government-sponsored central information storage hub, affecting as many as 40 million workers throughout the country. Employers must now send monthly information to the so-called ELENA database regarding workers’ contributions to Germany’s social programs.

Beginning in 2012, Germany’s social welfare authorities will be able to use this data to assess whether to pay out or refuse benefits to applicants. In addition to data on employee salaries, the central data base will also store information about whether an employee has participated in strikes and data on worker absenteeism.

Frank Bsirske, head of the powerful Ver.di union, said the ELENA system was ripe for misuse, while the junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government, the Liberal Free Democrats, referred to the new hub as a “data monster.”

Industrial Unrest Looms in Britain as Unions Brace for Spending Cuts

Britain is ushering in the new year with the threat of widespread unrest, as civil servants, tube drivers and rail workers are poised to ballot on strike action. After a year of factory occupations, indefinite walkouts, and the debacle of the strike ballot by 12,000 British Airways cabin crews, there is a sense of heightening industrial militancy.

Relations between unions and management look likely to be further tested, The Public and Commercial Services Union is set to ballot its 270,000 members this month, threatening disruption at job centers, revenue and customs, immigration, the coast guard and other bodies in a dispute over redundancy terms. The National Union if Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers is likely to ballot 10,000 London Underground workers over pay.

Last year, wildcat strikes on construction and industrial sites were sparked by the hiring of foreign labor at the Lindsey oil refinery. In October, workers rejected .an offer from employers which they said did not stop them from being undercut by cheaper—and often more skilled--foreign workers. Union membership stands at about 7 million, half that of the 1980s, although three-fifths of public jobs are unionized.

Chile Copper Plant Trims Contract Offer to Workers

Chilean state-owned mining giant Codelco reduced the size of its proposed bonus on Dec. 31 in the latest contract offer to workers in the company’s northern division, who promptly rejected the bid. In their second assembly this week, the miners set Jan. 1 as the start of a strike by roughly 5,600 workers at Chuquicamata, the world’s second largest copper mine, located about 932 miles north of Santiago.

Codelco, the globe’s No. 1 copper producer, told union leaders that, because the workers turned down the company’s three-year contract offer, its new offer on Dec. 31, would cut the bonus from 11.5 million pesos ($23,500) per worker to 6.5 million pesos. The revised offer retains a 3.8 percent pay raise, as well as no-interest loans worth about $6,000 to each employee.

Union officials responded that the workers wanted a 4.7 percent raise and a bonus comparable to the 14 million pesos ($28,000) each that BHP Billiton paid out earlier this year to secure labor peace at its La Escondido copper mine.

In Spain, Jobless Rate for Young People Soars to 42.9%

Spain is the extreme, but the experience of younger workers here reflects similar problems in the United States, as well as other European countries still struggling to emerge from the recession. In the last 12 months, the jobless rate in the United States among workers aged 16 to 24 has risen to 19.1 percent from 13.9 percent. Economists expect the rate to remain high even as the overall jobless rate in the U.S.—now 10 percent—begins to shrink.

That is because the sectors that employ young people in the greatest numbers—fast food, construction, retail—are expected to take the longest to recover. ”In the U.S., workers on the first rung of the job market run the risk of lower earnings, even after the economy gets going,” says Paul Osterman, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. “There is a cohort of people who are condemned to a permanently stagnant career path,” he says.

Adding to Spain’s woes, the government is unable to inject more stimulus and offer further support for job creation while its economy languishes as one of the weakest in Europe. The outlook on Spanish sovereign debt was recently downgraded and the government is moving to raise taxes and cut spending.

1,639 Killed in Occupational Hazards in Bangladesh Last Year

Some 1,639 workers were killed and 1,858 were injured in 2009 in different occupational hazards and workplace violence in Bangladesh, according to a survey by the Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHA), released Dec. 28.

OSHA revealed the statistics after monitoring 16 national daily newspapers from Jan.1 to Dec, 31, 2009. The highest number of casualties took place in the garment sector (942), followed by the transport sector (927), service sector (411) and construction center (165)

The survey showed that poor implementation of existing labor laws, lack of safety training programs and poor wage and effective industrial policies were the key reasons for the increase in industrial accidents and unrest among workers.

More Applicants but Fewer Low-Paid Jobs in Finland

Competition for low-wage jobs has picked up in some sectors, with job applications up 20 percent from last year. However, fewer jobs are available. The Finnish cleaning and services group ISS Palvelut is sifting through an additional 10,000 applications. More people are applying for jobs behind store cash registers or at fast food chains. The situation is a familiar one, according to the Employment and Economic Development Offices.

Workers’ backgrounds are also more diversified than before. For example, older people are applying for jobs at fast-food restaurants. “Applicant profiles have changed. This year applicants have more varied backgrounds and different situations. They also represent different age demographics,” says Maarit Latvia, the staff director at McDonald’s.

It has always been difficult to recruit young workers in low-wage jobs into unions, because many of them work part-time and often consider their job temporary. Unions are reluctant to try to organize companies like fast-food chains, where there is a rapid and constant turnover of employees.

Learn about workers and their unions in other countries by reading our weekly “The World of Labor” here and at our web site:https://www.laborsvoiceforchange.org .