The World of Labor - June 6, 2009



	THE WORLD OF LABOR — June 6, 2009 By Harry Kelber Argentina Has Factories Controlled by Workers, Not Bosses While many workers around the world are worried about downsizing, layoffs and how to protect their jobs, workers in Argentina have come up with their own solutions to business closings — Occupy, Resist and Produce. Many factories, like the Zanon Ceramics plant, with 470 workers,. have been running without bosses for almost a decade. In response to Argentina’s economic crisis in 2001, workers decided to occupy their workplaces and start up production without bosses in order to safeguard their jobs. Since the plant began production under worker control in 2002, they have faced numerous eviction threats and violent attacks. The government has tried to evict them five times, using police operatives. At one government eviction attempt, 5,000 community members from Neuquén came out to defend the factory. This month, the collective is a step closer to winning permanent control of the factory. The legislature of the provincial government presented a bill for the expropriation of the factory. If this bill is passed — and it looks favorable — it would mean a solution to the workers’ long-standing legal woes. “In eight years, we haven’t asked the state for anything other than an expropriation law,” said one of the plant’s workers. 20 Years after the Chinese Uprising in Tiananmen Square Twenty years after Chinese troops dispersed pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square with murderous gunfire, some 50 protesters still languish in jail. Most of the prisoners were workers at the time. None of them was a student. While the world remembers the six weeks of mass rallies in Beijing’s central square as a cry for freedom by idealistic students, the workers and other Chinese ordinary citizens who bore the brunt of the repression remain largely forgotten. Yet the severity of the punishment meted out to workers was no coincidence. The ones who made the big sacrifices in 1989 were not the students or the intellectuals, but the workers and other citizens,” argues Wang Hui, one of the last students to leave the square as the tanks moved in. Now a history professor at Beijing’s Tsingua University, he adds, “The government’s biggest worry was social unrest, and the Autonomous Workers’ Federation was their top target.” The support that workers and ordinary citizens gave the students — offering them food, water, money and goodwill — “was very important,” says Professor Wang, “but if it had just been a a group of students protesting, as had happened before, they would have immediately disappeared. But 1989 was different. There was massive social mobilization. “ The Autonomous Workers’ Federation had a short existence. U.S. Employers Getting Tougher Against Unions, Study Reveals Employer opposition to U.S. trade unions has intensified and become more punitive than in the past, according to a Cornell University study by Kate Bronfenbrenner. Employers are more than twice as likely to use 10 or more tactics — including threats and actual firings — in their threats to block workers’ organizing efforts. The report shows that from 1999 to 2003, 63 percent of private sector employees interrogated workers in one-on-one meetings with supervisors; 54 percent threatened workers in such meetings; 57 threatened to close the worksite; 47 percent threatened to cut wages and benefits, and 34 percent fired workers. Even when workers succeeded in forming a union, 52 percent went without a first contract a year after the election, and 37 percent remained without a contract after two years. The study, published by the American Rights at Work Education Fund and the Economic Policy Institute, illustrates the need for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), that will protect workers’ right to join a union and bargain for better wages, benefits and a secure retirement. Singapore Unions Speed Aid to Needy Members The labor movement is moving rapidly to help 194,000 members affected by the recession this year with $23.2 million worth of cash and vouchers. Mindful that many families need help urgently, some programs were rolled out immediately on June 4 by the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), which represents 500,000 unionized workers. “We are cutting back all bureaucracy and working through the unions, and this way, we can reach out to workers a lot faster,” said Lim Swee Say, NTUC secretary-general. To do this, NTUC will give individual unions a sum of money so they can quickly disburse the aid, instead of workers applying to the NTUC. “We recognize the sum is not that big. However, for low-wage workers earning between $600 and $1,000, it means a lot to them,” Lim said. About 50,000 workers and those on shorter workweeks will benefit from the immediate cash assistance of between $100 and $300 under the $6.5 million U Care Immediate Assistance Program. Haitian Government Raises Minimum Wage to $5.50 per Day Haitian labor activists have applauded the Preval government’s decision to raise the minimum wage in Haiti from 70 to 200 gourdes (from $1.76 to $5.50) per day. However, the increase has been strongly opposed by Haitian industrialists. Georges Sassine, president of ADIH (an association of Haitian industrialists) warned that the minimum wage increase would cost tens of thousands of jobs. He claimed that similar wage increases in Cambodia have proven disastrous. The government has also banned the practice of garment factories of using a piece-work system to avoid paying their workers the minimum wage. Paul Chéry, secretary-general of the Haitian Confederation of Workers (CTH), one of Haitian’s largest labor organizations, has noted that in real terms, the Haitian minimum wage is actually lower today than it was 25 years ago, before the new minimum was instituted. While the Preval government’s action to raise the abysmally low wage standards is regarded as a “positive step,” it has been strongly criticized in recent months for its delay in holding legitimate senate elections and its failure to clean up Haiti’s human rights record. Day-Care Strikes Continue in Germany Despite New Date for Talks Striking public day-care workers chose to continue putting pressure on state employers on June 5 for better wages and working conditions, despite agreeing on a new date for negotiations. In the state of North Rhine Westphalia, some 2,500 educators and social workers did not show up for work at 200 day-care centers, known as Kitas. On June 9, public workers’ union Verdi and Science Workers’ Union (GEW) plan to meet with employers in Frankfurt to renew negotiations, after weeks of strikes have forced parents across the country to find alternative care for their children. The strikes are part of an ongoing dispute by unions to get better wages and health-care options for 220,000 educators across the country. According to union figures, only 58 percent of social workers and 26 percent of educators see themselves reaching retirement in good health under the current working conditions. Depending on salary brackets, the unions want a wage increase of between 200 and 1,000 euros ($279 and $1,397). Visit our web site: http://www.laboreducator.org/

THE WORLD OF LABOR — June 6, 2009

By Harry Kelber

Argentina Has Factories Controlled by Workers, Not Bosses

While many workers around the world are worried about downsizing, layoffs and how to protect their jobs, workers in Argentina have come up with their own solutions to business closings — Occupy, Resist and Produce. Many factories, like the Zanon Ceramics plant, with 470 workers,. have been running without bosses for almost a decade. In response to Argentina’s economic crisis in 2001, workers decided to occupy their workplaces and start up production without bosses in order to safeguard their jobs.

Since the plant began production under worker control in 2002, they have faced numerous eviction threats and violent attacks. The government has tried to evict them five times, using police operatives. At one government eviction attempt, 5,000 community members from Neuquén came out to defend the factory.

This month, the collective is a step closer to winning permanent control of the factory. The legislature of the provincial government presented a bill for the expropriation of the factory. If this bill is passed — and it looks favorable — it would mean a solution to the workers’ long-standing legal woes. “In eight years, we haven’t asked the state for anything other than an expropriation law,” said one of the plant’s workers.

20 Years after the Chinese Uprising in Tiananmen Square

Twenty years after Chinese troops dispersed pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square with murderous gunfire, some 50 protesters still languish in jail. Most of the prisoners were workers at the time. None of them was a student. While the world remembers the six weeks of mass rallies in Beijing’s central square as a cry for freedom by idealistic students, the workers and other Chinese ordinary citizens who bore the brunt of the repression remain largely forgotten.

Yet the severity of the punishment meted out to workers was no coincidence. The ones who made the big sacrifices in 1989 were not the students or the intellectuals, but the workers and other citizens,” argues Wang Hui, one of the last students to leave the square as the tanks moved in. Now a history professor at Beijing’s Tsingua University, he adds, “The government’s biggest worry was social unrest, and the Autonomous Workers’ Federation was their top target.”

The support that workers and ordinary citizens gave the students — offering them food, water, money and goodwill — “was very important,” says Professor Wang, “but if it had just been a a group of students protesting, as had happened before, they would have immediately disappeared. But 1989 was different. There was massive social mobilization. “ The Autonomous Workers’ Federation had a short existence.

U.S. Employers Getting Tougher Against Unions, Study Reveals

Employer opposition to U.S. trade unions has intensified and become more punitive than in the past, according to a Cornell University study by Kate Bronfenbrenner. Employers are more than twice as likely to use 10 or more tactics — including threats and actual firings — in their threats to block workers’ organizing efforts.

The report shows that from 1999 to 2003, 63 percent of private sector employees interrogated workers in one-on-one meetings with supervisors; 54 percent threatened workers in such meetings; 57 threatened to close the worksite; 47 percent threatened to cut wages and benefits, and 34 percent fired workers. Even when workers succeeded in forming a union, 52 percent went without a first contract a year after the election, and 37 percent remained without a contract after two years.

The study, published by the American Rights at Work Education Fund and the Economic Policy Institute, illustrates the need for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), that will protect workers’ right to join a union and bargain for better wages, benefits and a secure retirement.

Singapore Unions Speed Aid to Needy Members

The labor movement is moving rapidly to help 194,000 members affected by the recession this year with $23.2 million worth of cash and vouchers. Mindful that many families need help urgently, some programs were rolled out immediately on June 4 by the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), which represents 500,000 unionized workers.

“We are cutting back all bureaucracy and working through the unions, and this way, we can reach out to workers a lot faster,” said Lim Swee Say, NTUC secretary-general. To do this, NTUC will give individual unions a sum of money so they can quickly disburse the aid, instead of workers applying to the NTUC. “We recognize the sum is not that big. However, for low-wage workers earning between $600 and $1,000, it means a lot to them,” Lim said.

About 50,000 workers and those on shorter workweeks will benefit from the immediate cash assistance of between $100 and $300 under the $6.5 million U Care Immediate Assistance Program.

Haitian Government Raises Minimum Wage to $5.50 per Day

Haitian labor activists have applauded the Preval government’s decision to raise the minimum wage in Haiti from 70 to 200 gourdes (from $1.76 to $5.50) per day. However, the increase has been strongly opposed by Haitian industrialists. Georges Sassine, president of ADIH (an association of Haitian industrialists) warned that the minimum wage increase would cost tens of thousands of jobs. He claimed that similar wage increases in Cambodia have proven disastrous.

The government has also banned the practice of garment factories of using a piece-work system to avoid paying their workers the minimum wage. Paul Chéry, secretary-general of the Haitian Confederation of Workers (CTH), one of Haitian’s largest labor organizations, has noted that in real terms, the Haitian minimum wage is actually lower today than it was 25 years ago, before the new minimum was instituted.

While the Preval government’s action to raise the abysmally low wage standards is regarded as a “positive step,” it has been strongly criticized in recent months for its delay in holding legitimate senate elections and its failure to clean up Haiti’s human rights record.

Day-Care Strikes Continue in Germany Despite New Date for Talks

Striking public day-care workers chose to continue putting pressure on state employers on June 5 for better wages and working conditions, despite agreeing on a new date for negotiations. In the state of North Rhine Westphalia, some 2,500 educators and social workers did not show up for work at 200 day-care centers, known as Kitas.

On June 9, public workers’ union Verdi and Science Workers’ Union (GEW) plan to meet with employers in Frankfurt to renew negotiations, after weeks of strikes have forced parents across the country to find alternative care for their children. The strikes are part of an ongoing dispute by unions to get better wages and health-care options for 220,000 educators across the country.