Metal Unions in Southeast Asia Agree on Strategy
Trade union leaders from four southeastern Asian countries met in Thailand from July 13-15 to discuss union-building strategies in a seminar  arranged by  their umbrella organization, the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF)  The participating countries--Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—adopted a strategic plan that aims to strengthen the trade union movement in their region and to build solidarity, locally, regionally and at the global level.

The seminar began with an evaluation of the IMF’s work in the region since the last congress in 2005. It showed that IMF increased its activities in organizing and union-building in the region. Yet, despite organizing new members,  this had yet to translate into a growth in IMF affiliations in the region. In fact, the level of new affiliations had decreased.

Representatives of the IMF’s executive committee members in the region (Australia, Indonesia and Japan) provided an overview of the different approaches and structures within the development of their own unions. Participants also shared information on organizing strategies and discussed how to build future sustainable approaches, despite each country having a different culture and each union  having a different history.

Strikers at Honda China Supplier Demand Apology
Striking workers at a plant supplying parts to Honda Motors in China operations have issued a long list of demands for returning to work, aiming to win better conditions commensurate with China’s rising economic clout. Stoppages at foreign-run factories across China by workers demanding pay increases disrupted operations for several weeks in May and June, but the wave of unrest tapered off by the end of last month.

The latest strike began on July 12 when the plant operated by Atsumitec tried to fire 90 workers demanding better pay and conditions. They also asked the Japanese management to apologize to Chinese workers  for its conduct during the standoff, and to promise not to lay off any employee for the next two years. The workers are also seeking a pay increase of about 500 yuan ($74) per month. Wages currently average 980 yuan.

A worker confirmed that some production had restarted after the company brought in outsiders to work. Meanwhile, the factory had ceased to provide drinking water to the strikers. The factory  makes car gear sticks in the south China city of  Foshan.

'Labour Start' Holds Global Solidarity Conference on July 9-11
Participants from more than 50 countries will hear first-hand reports about the struggles of working people around the world at the July 9-11  conference at the  McMaster University’s School of Labor Studies in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The conference is sponsored by Labor Start, the global online labor news service, to promote international labor solidarity.

With the support of its 800 volunteer correspondents across the globe, Labour Start daily publishes links to  hundreds of labor stories in 23 languages. Working closely with national and global union federations, Labour Start  spearheads action campaigns in multiple languages. It has promoted use of new media through its labor web site photo and video of the year contests.

Eric Lee, the founder of Labour Start, says: “ The conference represents a major step forward for Labour Start in particular and for international labor networking in general. We’ve gone beyond the format of the small invitation-only event and are holding an event that is utterly unique, one that includes rank-and-file activists, trade union staffers and senior elected union officers from all over the world.  It promises to be an exciting and important event.”

Sodexo under Scrutiny by Workers and Unions in Six Countries
Workers and union leaders from six countries convened in Paris on July 1 to discuss Sodexo’s efforts in the United States and Colombia to stop workers from forming a union and  to hear reports of substandard working conditions in those countries. At the meeting were labor leaders from France, England, Colombia, Turkey, the Dominican Republic and the United States, represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The leaders vowed to step up the campaign for a global agreement that guarantees the rights of Sodexo workers to form a union and improve their working conditions.

Despite making more than a billion dollars in profits in 2009, and being the 22nd largest corporation in the world, Sodexo  pays its workers in the United States as little as $7.50 an hour and does not offer affordable health-care options to its food service and similar-type employees. Two-thirds of non-managerial employees in the U.S. do not have coverage under the medical insurance plans offered by the company.

The Paris meeting of the six-country coalition of labor leaders  was held after repeated unsuccessful attempts to get Sodexo to sign a global agreement. The meeting heard testimony from Sodexo workers about the anti-union activities of the company and discussed new strategies to organize the multinational giant.

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.

ILO Takes Big Steps Toward Domestic Workers Rights
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has taken a giant step forward in its fight to create workplace justice for the millions of housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers around the world. At its conference in Geneva, which ended June 16, the ILO began the process which establishes  a first-ever international  standard “convention”  to protect the rights of domestic workers.

 If the convention is passed at the ILO’s meeting in 2011, it will require governments that ratify it to ensure that domestic workers are covered by the fundamental rights and principles of the ILO, which include the freedom to form unions, elimination of forced labor, abolition of child labor and an end to discrimination. Employers would be responsible for making sure workers are informed of the agreed upon conditions of work, preferably through a written contract, defining wages and working conditions.

In the United States, domestic workers have few rights. They were not even covered on the rights relating to wages until 1974. Early this month, the New York Senate extended basic rights to more than 200,000 domestic workers in the state.  The State Assembly passed a similar bill last year. A new law on domestic worker rights will take effect on Jan. 1, 2011.

ITUC Survey shows 30% rise in murdered unionists in 2009
The Annual ITUC Survey  reveals an increase of 30 percent in the number of trade unionists murdered in 2009, bringing the total of killings for the year to 101. The survey, released June 10,  also  shows growing pressure on fundamental workers’ rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened. Of the 101 murdered, 48 were killed in Colombia, 16 in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six in Mexico, six in Bangladesh, four in Brazil,  three in the Dominican Republic,  three in the Philippines,  and one each in India,  Iraq and Nigeria.

This year’s report records an extensive list of 140 countries where trade unions are struggling  to defend workers’ interests against violations of government labor laws.  Numerous cases of strike-breaking and repression of  striking workers were documented in each region, including reports by thousands of workers claiming unpaid wages and harsh working conditions.

The undermining of internationally-recognized standards  has caused more and more workers to face insecurity and vulnerability in employment, with some 50 percent of the global workforce now in precarious jobs. The ITUC report notes that 2009 was the 60th anniversary of the ILO convention 98 on the Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively, which has still not been ratified by about half the world’s nations, including Mexico, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and the United States.

Honda Strike in China Ends with a  24% Wage Increase
Workers at a Honda auto parts factory in China have returned to work with a 24 percent wage increase, after taking strike action that shut down Honda assembly plants to protest low wages. Production restarted on June 3 after the company agreed to the raise. Around 1,900 workers are employed at the factory in Foshan, China. The strike began May 21.

The average monthly  wage at the transmission plant was  around $150. Workers were demanding a wage hike of $117. The strike at the plant drew media coverage when a closure resulted in the shutdown of several of Honda’s assembly plants in China. The company announced that production of cars at four factories will restart June 4.

The official China Daily newspaper  ran an editorial on May 28, citing the Honda strike as evidence that government inaction on wages might be fueling tension  between workers and employers. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions reports that nearly a quarter of Chinese employees have not had a pay raise in five years.

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.

South Africa’s Unions May Strike during World Cup
Unions representing South Africa’s public employees will consider striking during the soccer World Cup, unless an independent mediator helps to end a wage dispute with the government,  the Public Servants Association said. Government negotiators offered to raise wages for about one million workers, including nurses and teachers, by 5.3 percent from July 1, increasing its previous offer  of 5.2 percent. The unions reduced their pay demand to 10.5 percent from 11 percent. The mediator has 30 days to end the impasse.

The soccer World Cup, the world’s most watched sporting event, is due to kick off on June 11. The government expects about 300,000 international visitors to attend the 32-nation tournament, which is being held in Africa for the first time. South Africa’s  state-owned transportation company, Transnet Ltd.,  has proposed increasing workers’ pay by 11 percent in a bid to end a strike that began on May10.

“If there is no solution of the wage dispute, unions will then ballot their members on whether to strike,” said Manie Clercq, the association’s deputy general manager. “If the strike goes ahead, it will be in the middle of the World Cup.”

25,000 Zimbabwe Miners Strike with Demand for Higher Wages
Thousands of mine workers in Zimbabwe went on strike for better pay on May 13 after negotiations with employers collapsed, union leaders said.  “This is a national strike which covers the entire country, and so far, 25,000 workers have headed the call to go out on strike,” said Tinago Ruzive, president of the Associated Mine Workers Union of Zimbabwe. “The Chamber of Mines has refused to negotiate with us,” he said.

The workers are demanding 200 dollars a month for the lowest employees, who  earn  $140 a month. Ruzive  said that a labor tribunal had already awarded  a 140-dollar monthly wage to the mine workers, but the national chamber of mines  has instructed its members not to pay out the full increase.  Zimbabwe’s mining sector, which employs 40,000 workers, is showing signs of recovery after an economic crisis that saw hyperinflation erase the value of the local currency, which was abandoned last year.

Most of the mines were placed under maintenance or shut down, due to hyperinflation. Stringent government regulations compelled companies to sell minerals through the central banks.  The country’s economy has been stabilizing since a power-sharing government was formed last year between President Robert Mugabe and former opposition leader  Morgan Tsvangiral, and the U.S. dollar was established as the nation’s currency.

U.S. Labor Denounces Arizona Immigration Law
“Arizona’s new immigration law is an affront to American values of fairness and respect for our Constitution. The AFL-CIO joins with people of conscience around the country to condemn the law, which will make racial profiling the norm—if not a requirement—in Arizona and will be impractical, unenforceable and a waste of scarce public resources,” said AFL-CIO President  Richard Trumka.

The law requires a police officer to stop a person and demand proof of immigration status when the officer has “reasonable suspicion” to believe the person is not authorized to be in the United States, regardless of whether he or she is suspected of a crime. The law puts Arizona’s entire Latino population—the great majority of whom are U.S. citizens or legal residents—at risk of arrest.  The law was signed by Gov  Jan Brewer. It goes into effect in August, 90 days after the Arizona state legislature adjourns.

The harsh law against immigrants has sparked widespread opposition, not only among union members, but also faculty and students at the state’s university, Democratic politicians, human rights advocates and  players on professional sports teams. Latino organizations and individuals have called for a boycott of Arizona. The  law has triggered a demand that Congress take up the Comprehensive Immigration Act that would offer immigrants a path to citizenship.

New Global Movement called ‘TULIP’ Is Launched

Mexican Striking Miners Say They’ll Destroy Mine if Evicted

Hundreds of striking miners occupying Mexico’s largest copper pit said on April 22 they are prepared to destroy the mine if the government tries to evict them after a court ruled they could be fired. The miners first walked off the job at the massive Cananea copper mine near the U.S. –Mexican border nearly three years ago over health and safety standards in a protracted labor dispute that has been fought back and forth in the Mexican courts.

Mexico’s Supreme Court this week upheld an earlier court ruling allowing mine owner Grupo Mexico to terminate the contracts of the strikers and hire new workers. But the miners at the historic copper pit have refused to turn over the mine and say if police or soldiers come to dislodge them, they are prepared  to take extreme measures.

“We  are not going to turn over the mine to Grupo Mexico, let that be clear,” national mining union spokesman Sergio Beltran said. “First we will burn it down. We have people already inside, we have a plan in  place to burn it if necessary, if they want to force us out.” The union has successfully negotiated contracts with other companies in Mexico, including a wide-ranging agreement last month with global steelmaker ArcelorMittal.

Trade Unions Ask India and Pakistan to Sign Nuclear Treaties

Trade union leaders in India and Pakistan have urged the two countries to sign the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and use the trillions they spend on bomb-making and the arms trade for poverty eradication and the welfare of their peoples.

At a conference organized by the International Trade Union Confederation of the Asia Pacific Region in Singapore on April 7-8, union leaders from the two countries joined with their counterparts  from Japan, the Philippines, Mongolia, Indonesia and other countries in the region  in demanding that the nuclear stockpiles of the two nations be scrapped.

The conference adopted a resolution pointing out that war was not something the people of either India or Pakistan wanted. Millions of people in this region are poor, unemployed and starving, and need food, education and jobs instead of the false security offered by nuclear weapons, the resolution said.

India and Pakistan have been in dispute for decades over Kashmir, a territory that is controlled 65 percent by India and 35 percent by Pakistan, where a large majority of the population is Muslim. The conflict between two of the world’s most populous  countries, both with nuclear capability, has the ominous potential to escalate into a nuclear war.

Global Unions Support Tax on financial Transactions

A grass-roots campaign in favor of a tax on financial transactions has spread quickly throughout Europe. The goal is to have the G-20 governments agree to a minuscule tax on every trade in stocks, bonds, currencies and derivatives. The proceeds would be put into a global fund directed at poor countries or climate change. At the same time, the tax would encourage traders to think twice before engaging in reckless behavior.

“We want to make the case for it, because we think the case is extraordinarily strong,” said Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), representing 175 million workers in 155 countries. France and Germany are leading the European campaign for the tax, while the Obama administration has not taken a position on the matter.

While sentiment for the tax is growing in Canada, the country’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, is opposed to the idea. Harper will be host to the G-20 meeting in Toronto on June 26-27, 2010. The European Union has said the financial tax could raise about $70 billion a year, while non-governmental agencies say the amount is more than $400 billion annually.

OECD Lists Wage Gap Between Men and Women in 21 Countries

The wage gap between South Korean male and female workers is the highest among key industrialized economies, a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed. The report, released to mark this year’s International Women’s Day, revealed that of the 21 OECD countries checked, South Korea had the widest disparity between genders.

According to the findings, women employed as regular workers in South Korea received, on average, 38 percent less than their male counterparts Japan came in second in terms of wage disparity with women making 33.0 less, compared to men, followed by Germany, Canada and Britain. The difference in Germany stood at 23. while those for Canada and Britain reached 21.0 percent each.

For the United States, the average wage gap was 19.0 percent, with Belgium having the least disparity with a male employee earning 9.3 percent more than a woman worker. The Paris-based OECD is made up of 30 members, with South Korea joining the organization in 1996.

New ITUC Campaign on Organizing Young People

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is initiating a new campaign on March 26 to connect global trade union work to the recruitment and organizing of young people. The new Youth Campaign uses a range of different tools, including video, social networking, posters and websites, as well as a special campaign guide.

Research in many countries has shown that young peoples’ attitudes on the issues that trade unions deal with  have not changed greatly over the years, but that changes in the workforce, technology and society have meant that unions need to reach out to youth in different ways than in the past. This campaign aims to show that by joining a trade union, young people can influence issues and events which they are concerned about at a global level, as well as improving their own working lives.