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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Labor Headlines 8-10-02 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
10 Aug 2002
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Headlines as broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM Champaign. British Unions Oppose War on Iraq, South Korean Unionists Call for Amnesty, Civilian Deaths Condemned in Colombia, Mine Worker President Criticizes Bush on Mine Safety, Bush Administration Threatens to Intervene if Dockworkers Strike, Bush Signs Fast Track Bill. |
British Unions Oppose War on Iraq
George Bush's only ally in his proposed invasion of Iraq may be forced by popular demand to change sides, according to a report in the Times of London. On August 9, the Times reported that although British Prime Minister Tony Blair personally supports George Bush's invasion plan, his party -- the Labour party -- may pass resolutions opposing the war during the party's upcoming national conference. While not yet public, the Times reports that the resolutions are being drawn up by four of the UK's large national unions. In an early signal of the unions’ hostility towards any military action, nine general secretaries last week signed a letter claiming there was no evidence that Saddam had acquired weapons of mass destruction or was a threat to the US. The letter added, quote, "We believe we are representative of public opinion in Britain and internationally in rejecting George W Bush’s push for military action against Iraq. Such a war would be outside international law and bring further instability to the entire region." unquote. Although Blair could ignore such a resolution, such action would significantly weaken the labor party by driving away its key constituency, organized labor. In addition to British unions, in the past week, both the Anglican Church and German Chancellor Gerhart Schroeder have both come out strongly against a US invasion of Iraq.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-378500,00.html
South Korean Unionists Call for Amnesty
On July 31, the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions demanded that the government grant a pardon to the confederation's leader, Dan Buyng-ho, and to more than 1800 workers who either remain in prison or are wanted by police for staging what the police call "illegal strikes." The strikes were staged in protest of economic restructuring mandated by the International Monetary Fund after the 1997 economic meltdown in a nation once hailed by global financial institutions as a model for economic development. The restructuring requires privatization of public services and dissolution of national industries, two changes which force working people to bear nearly all the pain for a mismanaged economy, according to South Korean unions. The KCTU is a 600,000-member progressive labor group, and in a statement about pardoning the union leaders and activists, the confederation said, quote, "The Kim Dae-jung administration and the Millenium Democratic Party should pardon Dan and the 1,832 unionized workers and restore their civil rights in order to facilitate social unity and console the nation's workers who have suffered more than anyone from the 1997 economic crisis." The government is expected to grant a mass amnesty on South Korea's August 15 independence day.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/07/31/200207310042.asp
Civilian Deaths Condemned in Colombia
Amnesty International condemned an attack in the Colombian capital Bogotá that killed at least seventeen civilians on Thursday. The attack came during the inauguration of new Colombian president Alvaro (ALL-va-roe) Uribe (oo-REE-bay). Amnesty says that one mortar shell exploded in a poor district of the capital, several blocks away from the parliament building where Uribe was being sworn in. Another explosion occurred a few streets away, and more fatalities were encountered at a military base. In addition to the seventeen killed, more than sixty were injured. No armed group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, yet Uribe has made his intentions clear that he will engage in war, rather than negotiations, with armed rebels who control about a third of the country. Amnesty said that the attacks must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible should be brought to justice. Amnesty stressed that the investigations must be impartial and independent, and that their results must be made public. The organization said in a statement, quote, "Too many of the thousands of appalling violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in Colombia remain shrouded in impunity, leaving the victims and the population at large ever more vulnerable," unquote. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on all parties in the Colombian civil war to reach a humanitarian accord to ensure that the civilian population can be protected from the conflict.
www.amnesty.org
Mine Worker President Criticizes Bush on Mine Safety
Following the incredible rescue of nine coal miners trapped hundreds of feet underground, United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts called on President Bush to stop his efforts to weaken mine safety. Writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Roberts recalled a terrible accident that occurred twelve days after the September eleventh attacks, at the Jim Walter Resources mine #5 in Blackwood, Alabama. In that tragedy, an explosion took place, trapping a miner underground. After the twelve of the trapped miner's fellow workers re-entered the mine to save him, another explosion ripped through the mine, killing the twelve rescuers and their injured brother. An investigation into that disaster has revealed that the mine operator had been cited for 31 violations, including high levels of free-floating combustible coal dust. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration never followed-up on those violations. Roberts notes that the Bush administration recently issued a policy decreasing the number of times that an operator needs to sample coal dust levels inside mines, and he criticizes Bush for filling key regulatory posts with representatives from mine operators with poor safety records and who have an interest in decreasing mine safety regulations. Finally, Roberts notes that the George Bush, despite staging a widely publicized meeting with the miners, has proposed a six percent reduction in federal funding for mine safety.
http://www.umwa.org/pressreleases/jul02/073002.shtml
Bush Administration Threatens to Intervene if Dockworkers Strike
The San Francisco Chronicle reported last week that The Bush administration is prepared to block a work slowdown or strike by West Coast port workers if contract negotiations fail, Labor Department officials said Monday. The administration is exploring several options to intervene to keep cargo moving. The most likely is for President Bush to declare a national economic emergency, forcing a strike delay for 80 days. The Bush administration has convened a task force with officials from the Commerce, Labor and Transportation departments and the Homeland Security office. It has been exploring federal intervention, monitoring talks and meeting with both sides, according to officials, who insisted on anonymity. The existence of the task force was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. A work slowdown or walkout by the 10,500 port workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union could have a devastating effect on the world economy. The union's contract with the Pacific Maritime Association controls the flow of about $260 billion in cargo through the nation's 29 major West Coast ports. Under the Taft-Hartley Act, President Bush could force the delay of a strike for 80 days. The act was last invoked in 1978, when President Jimmy Carter unsuccessfully tried to end a national coal strike. A representative for the union said the Labor department also threatened to undercut the union's ability to strike through legislation that would put the ILWU under the jurisdiction of the National Railway Labor Act. The government representative also threatened to bring in the National Guard to take over the ports, an action that the union said would be very dangerous because National Guardsmen are not trained to operate the huge boom cranes that load and unload cargo. Talk of intervention by the Bush administration shouldn't come as a surprise. Bush has aggressively intervened in other union strikes, but through presidential powers under a different labor law reserved for airline and railroad disputes. In December, he signed an executive order one day before a strike deadline, imposing a cooling-off period between United Airlines and its mechanics. Both sides later accepted a settlement proposed by the presidential emergency board. In March 2001, Bush intervened four days before Northwest Airlines mechanics' strike deadline, barring a walkout. An agreement was later reached. At American Airlines, just hours before Bush planned to step in and block a strike by flight attendants in June 2001, both sides reached an agreement.
http://www.ilwu.org/SolidarityDay/SFChronicle20020806.htm
Bush Signs Fast Track Bill
"President" Bush signed the fast track bill, absurdly claiming that free trade bills like NAFTA--that have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US--will help US workers.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020806-4.html
http://www.tradewatch.org/ |
