Union Members Mobilize to Help Victims of Haiti Earthquake
Organized labor is responding to the devastating effects of the earthquake in Haiti by mobilizing its members to provide massive financial and technical aid for the country's victims, who desperately need food, water, shelter and medicine to survive. To contribute urgently needed funds, send donations to either of three organizations (or another of your choice) that are on the ground in Haiti, offering needed services to the stricken population:

Doctors Without Borders http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
Partners in Health www.pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html
American Red Cross International Response Fund www.redcross.org

Union members are also contributing their special occupational skills and experience that are in great demand in a country that has been stripped of vital public services, especially medical, sanitation and electric facilities. More than 3,400 registered nurses from across the United States responded in less than one day to the call by the Union of Nurses United to provide assistance to Haiti. Members of the firefighters local unions are already in Haiti, working on the search and rescue teams to save as many lives as they can.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has called for a major international mobilization of humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Haiti. Trade unionists in neighboring Dominican Republic have informed the ITUC that they are planning to travel to Haiti to assist with relief operations. The Canadian Auto Workers Union has responded by setting a $250,000 goal for Haitian Earthquake Relief. Many unions are conducting their own fund-raising activities, including messages of support for the Haitian people.

Unemployment in Eurozone Hits 11-Year Peak
The EU's statistics agency, Eurostat, says the unemployment rate in eurozone-the 16 nations that use the euro-is at its highest level since 1998. In November of last year, another 102,000 people lost their jobs, bringing the overall figure above 15 million.

Altogether, more than three million jobs were lost in the eurozone in 2009. The worst-hit country was Spain, where unemployment is currently over 19 percent, while in Germany some 23 million people are jobless.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy warned that the long-term economic outlook for Europe was "cloudy," and called for an annual growth rate of at least 2 percent of gross domestic product to keep pace with the rest of the world. "The balance of power has shifted and Europe is more on the defensive than it was a few years ago," Rompuy said.

Debt-Heavy Kraft Could Put 30,000 Cadbury Jobs at Risk
Despite its colossal debt of 22 billion euros ($31.4 billion), Kraft is seeking a hostile takeover of Cadbury, the world's second largest, London-based confectionery company, putting 30,000 jobs at risk and threatening the independence of Cadbury itself. Unite, the country's largest union, has put out a leaflet to Cadbury investors warning them of the dire consequences of a Kraft takeover.

Kraft's need to service its colossal debt puts jobs and investment under serious threat and has led to extensive outsourcing, Between 2004 and 2008 alone, Kraft shed 19,000 jobs and closed 35 stores to help pay down its debt, Unite contrasts this with Cadbury's own performance, which has seen the company grow by 6 percent year by year for the past four years.

Unite warns that Kraft's ownership could see control of Cadbury move from the U.K. to Illinois, U.S.A. in the process putting at risk. 7,000 direct jobs and at least 20,000 more in the wider supply chain.

Burmese Workers in Jordan End 9-Day Work Stoppage
After a nine-day work stoppage in the wake of a brawl inside the factory, nearly 600 Burmese workers at the Century Miracle Ltd. Textile Company in Jordan's Ar Ramtha resumed work on Jan. 14. Nayef Obeidat, the company's administrative manager, said the issue had been resolved after the Burmese Ambassador to Israel visited and intervened.

On Jan. 5, a Burmese female worker and a Bangladeshi male had a fight, which later turned into a group skirmish between the two nationalities, injuring about 20 Burmese workers. "We now have an assurance from the company promising to protect us in accordance with Jordanian labor laws," a Burmese worker said.

Fiji Government Cuts Payments to Dissenting Pensioners
Fiji's interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has announced that pensioners who criticize his coup-installed government will have their pensions stopped. He made the announcement on Jan. 13, declaring that a decree to stop payments to regime critics had passed last week, and that payments to old-age pensioners who have spoken against the government had already ceased.

Attar Singh, general secretary of the Fiji Islands Confederation of Trade Unions, condemned the move. "It was quite shocking, pensions which have been earned over time to loyalty and service, is under attack, and that is always a very serious issue, and I would like to think the government has really thought this one through," he said.

Big Salary Gap between Chinese Top Executives and Workers
Executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) earn 20 times more than workers and one hundred times more than farmers. Their salaries have risen to around 600,000 yuan (about $88,000) a year, according to China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

SASAC director Li Rongrong stated that a large portion of executive salaries was performance-related, and was in his opinion not too high. Executive salaries have nearly doubled in the past five years, and now stand at about 20 times that of SOE employees.

The average wage of an SOE worker is usually higher than one in the private sector and significantly higher than that of a migrant worker, many of whom lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts last year during the economic downturn in export-oriented industries.