Europeans Fear Crisis Threatens Liberal Benefits
The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II. Europeans have boasted  about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.

Europeans have benefitted from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also  translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-the-grave safety net. But all over Europe, governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.

Figures show the severity of the problem.  Gross public social expenditures in the European Union increased from 16 percent  of gross domestic product in 1980 to 21 percent in 2005, compared with 15.9 percent in  the United States. In France, the figure now is 31 percent, the highest in Europe, with state pensions making up more than 44 percent  of the total, and health care,  30 percent.

Strike Has Forced Honda to Shut Plants in China
A strike in a crucial parts factory has forced Honda to shut down all four of its joint venture assembly plants in China. It was the clearest sign  yet of growing labor unrest in a country that now stands at the cornerstone of companies’ global supply chain. Industrial wages have been climbing steeply in the export zones of China’s coastal provinces, but workers’ expectations have been rising even more steeply.

All 1900 workers at a transmission factory in Foshan, about 100 miles northwest of Hong Kong, have been on strike for higher wages since May 21. The factory is wholly-owned by  Honda’s  Chinese subsidiary , which is continuing talks with the workers. According to state-controlled Chinese media, workers earn $150 to $220 a month and are demanding to be paid the same wage as Honda’s assembly plant workers, who earn $300 to $370 a month.

China emerged last year as the world’s largest car market, surpassing the United States. Auto parts exports to the U.S. are rising rapidly, but are still mainly lower-tech products, not transmissions. Multinationals have been watching closely for signs of unrest in China, because most of them do not have the capability to switch quickly to other suppliers.

U.S. Congress Takes Holiday, Delaying Action on Jobs Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives postponed consideration of a jobs bill on May 28, deciding to go home and enjoy the Memorial Day Holiday, that will extend to June 7, when Congress is scheduled to reconvene. The bill before Congress could save or create one million jobs through various measures and would extend unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to the end of 2010 for 6.7 million workers who have been  without jobs for 27 weeks or more.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates that the bill’s package of aid to the states, infrastructure projects, extension of UI benefits, creation of summer jobs and guarantees for small business will save or create more than one million jobs. The bill’s target of one million jobs is only about one-seventh of the 15.3 million people officially listed as unemployed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The bill, costing $143 billion, is running into opposition from many House and Senate Democrats, who are uneasy about spending more money on job creation, when they are under heavy pressure from the public and Republicans to cut the mountain of public debt. They are aware that government spending and budget reductions will be among the key issues in the mid-term elections, and those seeking re-election are looking for political cover.

100 Top Officials  Are Confined by Mine Strikers in Bangladesh
The angry miners at Maddhapara Grande Mining Company Ltd. have kept over 100 officials and staff confined, including the managing director, in the company’s residential complex since May 24.   Electricity and water supply to the complex have been  cut off since the strike at the mine began three days ago. Miners’  leaders denied an allegation by the company that strikers had cut the power lines. stating that the power sub-station went out of order as manhandled by untrained manpower.

The managing director of the mine said that the strikers were obstructing his staff from attending to their work “We tried to go to our workplace, but the miners stopped us,” he said. Sources  said the strikers blocked the two main entrances to the complex Monday night as their talks with the authorities ended inconclusively. The strike also forced the authorities to suspend the sale of rocks.

Meanwhile, Labor and Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharatt Hossain asked local lawmakers to take immediate measures to break the stalemate. After three days on strike, the miners still see no serious movement to reach an agreement based on their demands.

French Workers Protest Raising Retirement Age Past 60One million people took to the streets in cities and towns across France on May 25 during a general strike in protest against the government’s decision  to raise the retirement age past 60. Workers employed by the government and private companies from Nestlé to oil giant Total walked off the job and took part in mass union-led rallies across the country.

The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT), France’s largest union, called the protest against President Nickolas Sarkozy’s decision to raise the retirement age, possibly to 62. Sarkozy’s right-wing administration is also considering raising the number of working years required to receive a full pension. Currently, 40 years  are required in most professions, and this will rise to 41 in 2012, but the figure could go higher if the new reform hits the stature books.

The Sarkozy government has been criticized for following the reform plan of Germany, which recently raised  the retirement age from 65 to 67 to offset an ageing population. The French government will finalize its pension reform proposal in July—the heart of the holiday season, when it is harder for unions to organize opposition.

ILWU Fights Police Takeover of Costa Rican Longshore Union
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has asked the Obama administration to investigate illegal ousting of elected union leaders. Declaring that Longshore workers are united beyond international borders, the ILWU denounced  the May 26 takeover of SINTRAJAP,  the union representing longshore worker in the Caribbean ports of Limón and  Moin, Costa Rica, and promised to increase its months-long campaign to help restore union democracy in the Central American country.

According to the Costa Rican newspaper El Pais, a group of  60 armed police closed streets around the building of JAPDEVA’s union in Limon, while several knocked down the doors and stormed the building at 4 a.m. in the Costa Rican Caribbean port. In January, the democratically elected leaders of the union were replaced in what the ILWU calls ”a sham election forced by the government in apparent violation of international labor law.”

ILWU President Robert McEllrath sent a message to President Obama, which stated: “Dockworkers worldwide are of a strong and unique fraternity that transcends nationalism. Cargo vessels and  their owners are not dependent on any one industry. Neither are dockworkers. An injury to one is an injury to all.”  A letter signed by 25  U.S. Senators and Representatives has asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to investigate the situation.