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News :: Labor |
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Labor Headlines 1-25-03 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
(No verified email address) |
25 Jan 2003
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Headlines broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Thai workers take direct action to collect back pay, GE Strikers Received Global Solidarity, Champaign Council to Study Living Wage Issue, Federal Government Hides Bad Economic News, Commentary: Mine Explosions Kill Dozens, Trade Agreements Put Everyone at Risk |
Thai workers take direct action to collect back pay
In Thailand, workers are taking direct action to claim their nationally-mandated severance pay following the sudden closure of a factory that made products for brand name companies like Nike, Levi's, Reebok, Adidas, and several American universities and professional athletic teams. According to the Campaign for Labor Rights, the employees of Thailand's Bed & Bath Prestige Company suddenly lost their jobs when the company's owners closed the factory and disappeared. Workers were owed a total of about $400,000 in back wages, and according to Thailand's 1998 Labor Protection Act, the government should have provided severance pay and compensation. However the Thai Ministry of Labour has failed to fulfill its obligation. The workers have been organized since the crisis began--when the factory closed, 12 worker representatives met with a representative of the employer, who promised that the factory would reopen quickly. After three months of inaction and workers facing hardship including the loss of their homes, and inability to pay for their childrens' education, the workers staged a rally on January 9. In the action, 210 workers chopped off their #hair# in protest of the Ministry of Labour's failure to provide severance pay. A worker explained that hair is part of the life given by one's parents; cutting off hair is akin to cutting off life itself. Now, the workers are calling on Nike, Levi's, Reebok, Adidas, as well worldwide supporters of workers' rights to take action on their behalf. More information about the Thai Bed & Bath workers can be found at www.thailabour.org.
GE Strikers Received Global Solidarity
On January 14 and 15, 18,000 workers at General Electric staged a two-day walkout to protest a company-mandated increase in health care costs. In that action, the workers received support from their global union federation, the 20-million member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers. Frank Higgs, the general secretary of ICEM pledged complete support for the GE workers, stating, quote, "General Electric's attempt to shift health care costs onto its American employees and retirees at a time when it earned $14.1 billion in profits in 2001 and a projected $16 billion in profits in 2002 is unconscionable. Shifting health care costs on those least able to afford them is not an answer to the health care crisis in the United States" unquote. Higgs also expressed his condolences regarding the killing of ''Michelle'' Rodgers, a striker on the picket line. Rodgers was killed by a police car during the first day of the strike, in Louisville, Ky.
Champaign Council to Study Living Wage Issue
According to the News-Gazette, the Champaign County Living Wage Association succeeded on Jan. 21 in getting the issue of a living wage put on the agenda for a Champaign City Council study session. The Association wants a living wage ordinance that would pay all city workers at least $8.70 an hour, require that firms awarded city contracts also pay their workers at that rate, and require that the city provide group health insurance benefits for all full time employees and their dependants. The Association further wants the city to agree that any full-time position that is contracted out would be filled by an employee who gets the living wage and health insurance benefits. All full-time city employees in Champaign are already being paid at least the living wage. For more information about the Champaign County Living Wage Association, visit www.prairienet.org/livingwage/
Federal Government Hides Bad Economic News
On December 24, 2002 the Department of Labor published its final issue of its Mass Layoffs news release. A short note at the top of the release stated simply, quote, "This will be the last Mass Layoffs news release that you receive by email due to the termination of the BLS Mass Layoffs program for lack of funding." The program, which reports on mass layoffs across the United States, had been in effect since 1994. The final rport stated that in November 2002, 2150 employers initiated layoffs of at least 50 people from a single establishment. The total number of workers laid off in November was 240,000. The Bush administration didn't disclose why they stopped funding the program, but the economic news contained in the reports was not good. The reports showed that the number of mass layoffs increased by 50% during Bush's first year in office, and the total number of people laid off during that year increased by 36%. Since the 2002 statistics were cancelled before the year was complete, no statistics for 2002 will be available. The archived mass layoff statistics may be found on-line at www.bls.gov/mls/
Commentary: Mine Explosions Kill Dozens, Trade Agreements Put Everyone at Risk
On Wednesday, the News-Gazette ran a nine-line story stating that three workers were killed and nine injured when a coal mine exploded in West Virginia. The article stated that the workers were about 1000 feet underground when the accident occurred. An on-line news search on the Yahoo web site found no references to the explosion in West Virginia, although several other stories did show up, and they are startling. The first headlines reads, "Chinese coal mine explosion kills at least 27." That one happened a year ago and was reported by the Australian Broadcasting Company. The World Socialist Web Site reported on a late September 2000 explosion in a Chinese mine that killed over fifty; CNN reported on a March, 2000 explosion in a mine in the Ukraine that killed at least 80; and the BBC reported on a South African mine explosion that killed 18 in 1999. Last year, President Bush took a photo opportunity with the coal miners rescued in West Virginia after their mine was flooded. The hypocrisy was bald: his own administration had proposed cutting funds for federal mine safety programs. Globally, mining remains an extremely hazardous job, but these stories rarely reach the general public. Moreover, global trade agreements such as NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas will make efforts to enhance workplace safety more difficult because those agreements prevent buyers of products, such as coal, from giving preferential treatment to producers or countries that have stronger safety rules. I would be WTO-illegal for the United States to stop buying coal from countries where mines are notoriously unsafe. The only thing that matters in the new global economy is the cash price; it is Global Trade-illegal to consider such things as the human price. As the Bush administration prepares to expand existing trade agreements and negotiate new ones, workers need to remain aware that their incomes, their benefits, and even their safety, are being sacrificed.
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