By Harry Kelber

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GM Is Likely to Face Bankruptcy in Canada, Union  Leader Warns
General Motors will probably seek bankruptcy court protection in Canada and the U.S. in its fight  for survival, said Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) on May 7, referring to the company’s worsening financial condition. His remarks came after parent GM Corp. reported it lost $6 billion (U.S.), the equivalent of $7 billion Canadian, in the first quarter of the year, as revenue tumbled 47 percent, GM’s Canadian subsidiary has lost $82 billion since 2004.

Lewenza said the federal and Ontario governments have issued an ultimatum to the union that if it doesn’t agree to significant concessions within the next week, they won’t provide billions of dollars in crucial public aid, and the company will face liquidation. That threat sets up the prospect of more than 9,000 GM workers voting for concessions  for the third time in one year to help offset the company’s financial woes.

The CAW is faced with a stark dilemma: "If we don’t get a deal, the governments will provide no financing and GM Canada will be liquidated,” Lewenza said. “Plants will close, jobs will be gone, retiree benefits are gone and  pensions are sacrificed. This is an unbelievable situation,” he said.

Hundreds of Iranians Are Attacked and Arrested at May Day Rally
In preparation for May Day 2009,  a number of independent Iranian unions and human rights organizations came together in a May Day Organizing Committee to plan a public rally in Laleh Park, Tehran. The committee included the Haft Tapeh Sugar Workers’ Union, whose leaders were recently sentenced to one-year prison terms, and the Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company Workers’ Union, whose leaders, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi are currently serving five, and three and a half-year, prison sentences.

Days before the rally, the security forces worked overtime to prevent the rally from taking place, issuing court summonses, making threatening phone calls and placing workers and activists under surveillance. Despite the massive police presence, over 2,000 demonstrators turned up and were violently attacked and beaten.  Over 200 people were arrested, including representatives from women’s and student organizations.

A number of global labor organizations have written statements of protest to the Iranian government, condemning the mass arrests and the violent attacks on people who were peacefully demonstrating on May Day. They demand that charges be dropped against those who were arrested and that union leaders in jail be freed.

Workers Form First Union at Starbucks in Latin America
The IWW Starbucks Workers Union has enthusiastically  welcomed the first union of Starbucks workers in Latin America and has pledged its support for the new labor organization. Starbuck’s baristas and shift supervisors in Chile have organized for respect on the job, a dependable work schedule and a living wage, among other issues.

Blunders by Starbuck’s management, including overexpansion and lack of value on the menu have resulted in serious hardships for baristas at  Starbucks, who are facing ,mass layoffs because of a sharp decline in sales. Those who manage to avoid losing their jobs are seeing their working  hours drastically cut.

Founded in 2004, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union is an organization of more than 300 current and former baristas, bussers and shift supervisors who are united for a secure work schedule and an independent voice on the job.  Through direct action, public education and legal advocacy, the SWU is organizing for a Starbucks that rewards hard work with fair pay and respect.

Strike Shuts  Banana Plantations in Northern Colombia
More than 17,000 people working on some 300 banana plantations in northwestern  Colombia’s Uraba region went on strike on May 8 to press for better pay and working conditions. Almost all of the workers voted in favor of the strike at an assembly  held in Apartardo,  the main town in the banana-growing region.

In addition to a 15 percent salary increase and benefits, the workers demand that a fund be created  to pay reparations to the relatives of the victims of violence in  Uraba. Union spokesman Manuel Marquez said  that more than 800 farm workers had been killed in the past 13 years in the banana-growing region.

The work stoppage will seriously affect Colombia’s banana exports. The country normally exports 350,000 boxes of bananas per day. Banana growers say that ”more than 100,000 families” depend on the banana export trade and that a “half-million people" benefit from the agro-industry in Uraba.

British Postal Workers Oppose Any Sale of Royal Mail
Postal workers have continued a series of rallies around the U.K. to express their opposition to the government’s proposal to sell a stake in Royal  Mail. The legislation, providing for the sale of about 30 percent of the postal service, will be  debated in the House of Lords on May 11. The government says that Royal Mail  needs outside investment to survive,

But union speakers at a  “Keep the Posr Public” rally in Newcastle argued that part-privatization was not the only option open to the government. TUC regional secretary Kevin Rowan aid: “The Communication Workers Union and workers in the industry are very committed to making it a successful enterprise that returns a surplus into the government.”

Ministers have rejected a suggestion that Royal Mail be turned into a not-for-profit company like Network Rail, insisting that the plan to sell off a stake remained the best option, But they have failed to convince many in their own party, with 148 Labor MPs opposing part-privatization.

Croation Doctors and Teachers to Strike  Against Wage Freeze
Thousands of Croation doctors and teachers will go on strike next week to protest a wage freeze the government is enforcing to combat recession this year, a union leader said. The strike will come only a week before nationwide local elections on May 17 that will test the rating of the Conservative coalition led by Prime Minister Ivo Sander’s HDZ party.

Doctors and teachers, who make up three quarters of Croatia’s 250,000-strong public sector, have rejected  the government’s wage freeze, that abolished a previously agreed on  six percent pay increase. More than 70 percent voted for the strike in a test vote by the eight unions that represent the doctors and teachers.

The average monthly salary in Croatia is 5,200 kuna ($ 940.10), and unemployment in March stood at 15 percent. The government enforced a series of major spending cuts  worth about $1 billion last month to fix Croatia’s strained public finances. It also planned to save  around 1.4 billion kuna on salaries.


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