World Labor and G-20 Meetings to Focus on Global Economy
A demand that the world’s economy be restructured and reformed with an emphasis on workers’ rights and needs will be the focus of a meeting in Canada this week, attended by some 1,000 labor leaders, representing 178 million workers from 158 countries and territories.

The delegates at the Second World Congress of the International  Confederation of Trade Unions (ICTU) will discuss the warning by union leaders in the G-20  that they remind their governments that cutting budgets and imposing austerity now could plunge the international economy into another deeper recession.

In addition, leaders at the World Congress will discuss the unique  problems faced by migrant workers across the globe, and develop more strategies for dealing with climate change and HIV/AIDS. In their statement last week, the G-20 union leaders also stressed the need for governments  to focus on progressive revenue-raising measures and on action to implement a financial transaction tax.

Wal-Mart Offers  Its Chicago Workers an $8.75 Hourly Minimum
Wal-Mart offered on June 21 to pay its Chicago employees a minimum urban wage  of $8.75 an hour to break the stalemate that has stalled a $1 billion plan to build “several dozen”  Chicago stores over the next five years. After six years of stonewalling labor’s demand that Wal-Mart pay its employees “a living wage,” the world’s largest retailer yielded to pressure from Mayor Daley to establish a new wage standard for Chicago.

The $8.75 an hour minimum Chicago wage would be 50 cents above Illinois’ minimum wage, but far less than the $11.03 an hour that unions have  asked for.  Jorge Ramirez, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, promptly rejected the offer, outlined during the second face-to-face meeting between Wal-Mart and  organized labor, and the first since May 3.

Wal-Mart says if it gets the City Council approval, its billion-dollar  plan for new stores would create 10,000 permanent jobs plus 2,000 construction jobs. With dozens of stores and thousands of jobs hanging on the City Council vote, Mayor Daley is now hoping labor’s allies will be afraid to vote “no.”

French Strike over Plans to Raise Retirement Age to 62
Workers went on strike in France to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to raise the retirement age to 62. Neighboring countries suffered along with Paris commuters, as walkouts by drivers delayed or canceled trains from Italy and Switzerland.  Unions say that money for the pension system should come from higher taxes or charges on those who are still working, and  regard cost-cutting in the pension system as an attack on a hard-fought way of life.

France has one of Europe’s lowest retirement ages, allowing workers to retire at 60 in most sectors. The government says the reform to the money-losing pension system is an “obligation,” given France’s  burgeoning deficit and its ageing population. The French civil aviation  authority, DGAC, asked airlines to cancel 15 percent of their flights out of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports because of strikes by air traffic controllers.

  The French pension reform plans  are far less drastic than  changes elsewhere in Europe. Germany, for example, plans to gradually raise its retirement age from 65 to 67. starting in 2012. The French pension reform is expected to be instituted progressively and also stretch out the number of years people have to work to receive full pension payments.

U.S. Steelworkers and Mexican Union to Explore Merger
The United Steelworkers (USW) and the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers of the Mexican Republic—known as Los Mineros—announced a joint declaration on June 20 to create a cross-border commission to explore unification of a potential union  representing one million workers in Mexico, Canada, U.S. and the Caribbean’s.

In signing the declaration over the weekend, USW President Leo W. Gerard and Napoleon Gomez, general secretary for Los Mineros, jointly  renewed the two unions “common commitment to democracy, equality and solidarity for working men and women throughout North America and throughout the world.”  The USW represents 850,000 workers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, while Los Mineros represents about 180,000 in Mexico.

The declaration establishes a joint commission of five members  from each of the two unions’ executive boards to propose “immediate measures to increase strategic cooperation between our organizations, as well as the steps required to form a unified organization.”

Tension in Korea Mounts over New Union Rules
A feud between management and labor is reaching a fevered pitch as a revised law on full-time union officials is set to take effect on July 1. Businesses on June 25 vowed to strictly implement the “time off,” no pay system, which was introduced after 13 years of disputes, while labor groups ratcheted up protests against the new rules.

A labor law was revised in 1997 to ban companies from paying wages to full-time union officials, but its implementation has been delayed three times because of adamant opposition from labor circles, who say it would hurt their activities. The Korean Employers  Federation held a meeting of representatives of some of the largest companies on June 24, where they vowed to enforce the ban on pay for full-time union officers.

Among 170 companies where collective bargaining is under way over wages, 85  saw their management and labor representatives moving to guarantee the wages of full-time unionists beyond the legal limits, claimed the Korean Metal  Workers Federation. The time-off regulations are expected to deal a blow to unions in a dozen large companies that employ 10,000 or more workers.

New Zealanders Lured by $74,000 Job in Afghanistan
It’s hot, back-breaking work in spartan surroundings, thousands of miles from the family and home comforts. But the thrill of adventure and the lure of a no expenses $74,000 salary (U.S. $53,000) to help load and unload military cargo planes in Afghanistan is attracting a lot of New Zealanders’ attention.

Simone Tozer, recruiting manager of Queensland-based First International,  said the company had been inundated with more than 100 inquiries from people around the world, wanting to work in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, after advertising vacancies last week. The U.S. contractor looking for workers, DynCorp International, employs  more than 20,000 people worldwide and has 60 years’ experience contracting to the military.

Applicants have also come from Australia, Britain, Ireland,  Lebanon, South Africa,  the United States and Samoa,  Ms. Tozer says that many of the applicants are seeking a career change and others are looking for a job that pays well. Depending on what skills are needed, successful applicants may be deployed to other parts of the region to use their personal skills. “There are drains to dig and pipes to lay,” she said.