NEWSFEED: International Union Struggles

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[email protected] #217 - Pakistan: Workers strike as shipyard death toll rises


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Pakistan: Workers strike as shipyard death toll rises



The death toll from the fire in the Gadani shipbreaking yard has risen to 21, with as many as 150 still trapped in the burning ship.

A fire is raging aboard an oil tanker in the shipbreaking yard of Gadani, Pakistan, with up to 150 workers trapped inside. A gas container exploded inside the oil tanker on Tuesday, and firefighters are battling to control the blaze.

Read more




Anniversary of tragic dam disaster in Brazil

As the anniversary of one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters looms, unions are demanding that mine owners BHP Billiton and Vale take responsibility for the dam tragedy and ensure that similar accidents can never be repeated.

Read more




Concern grows at destruction of democracy in Turkey

IndustriALL Global Union again expresses its concerns at the destruction of democracy and the demolition of the rule of law in Turkey.

Read more




Another mining accident in Chile shows need to ratify ILO C176

Another fatal mining accident in Chile stresses the need for the government to ratify ILO Convention 176, on health and safety in mines.

Read more




Georgia: union takes BP to court over alleged discrimination

The Pipeline Union deputy chair has taken a case against BP to the civil court of Georgia.

Read more


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[ckaihatsu]

IUF News

PepsiCo Pakistan workers speak out: why we need the union the company refuses to recognize!

Posted: 03 Nov 2016 10:49 AM PDT



Women workers have been extremely active in the fight for union rights at PepsiCo's Lahore factory, demonstrating regularly to demand union recognition and permanent employment status. Yet they are invisible: the most recent factory inspection report, from March 2016, fails to even indicate their presence in the factory. The report, however, notes that of the more than 1500 workers employed at the factory of the past year, only 134 had permanent employment status. CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PEPSICO!


Bangladesh: union mobilizes to defend workers at public agency supplying seed to farmers

Posted: 03 Nov 2016 07:12 AM PDT



The IUF-affiliated Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation (BAFLF) and the National Women Farmers & Workers Association (NWFA) held a joint rally on October 25 in Dhaka, forming a human chain around the National Press Club to highlight the deteriorating situation of workers at the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and the progressive weakening of public research and seed provision to farmers.

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IUF News

Thousands mourn Korean farmer activist Baek Nam-gi, the struggle continues

Posted: 07 Nov 2016 03:19 AM PST



On November 6, thousands gathered for the funeral procession of farmer leader Baek Nam-gi in Gwangju Geumnamno Square, site of the 1980 democracy uprising. The protestors reiterated calls for the authorities to be held accountable and to hold an official investigation into his death.

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[ckaihatsu]

All Out on Sat., November 19, Day of Action - Boycott Driscoll's Strawberries!


Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I received earlier today a posting from Eddie Rosario, president of the New York City chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) -- which is the Latino affinity group of the AFL-CIO trade union federation.

In this posting [see below], Brother Rosario informs us that NYC LCLAA will be organizing an informational picket at Whole Foods on November 19 (in support of the Boycott of Driscoll's Strawberries) as part of the Global Day of Action in solidarity with the 70,000 farm workers in San Quintin (Baja California, Mexico) who are still fighting for union recognition by -- and the signing of a contract with -- Driscoll's Farms and their Mexican subsidiary, BerryMex.

I would like to urge all of you to get your unions, community organizations, and co-workers to follow the example of NYC LCLAA by supporting this Global Day of Action. I am including as an attachment the November 19 leaflet as well as the resolution on San Quintin that was adopted last August by the national convention of LCLAA in Orlando, Florida.

I should add that since this LCLAA resolution was approved, the workers at Sakuma Brothers Farms in the state of Washington -- organized in Familias Unidas por la Justicia -- won union recognition and a contract, and have since discontinued their boycott of Sakuma Brothers produce as part of the agreement.

But the Driscoll's strawberry boycott is still very much alive, with boycott committees organizing the November 19 Day of Action all across the United States.

Please support the November 19 Global Day of Action in support of the San Quintin farm workers!

Thanks, in advance,

Alan Benjamin,
Editor,
The Organizer newspaper

* * * * * * * * * *

LETTER FROM EDDIE ROSARIO (NYC LCLAA)

Hello Hermanas y Hermanos:
As per the discussion of our NYC LCLAA meeting and the resolution we adopted as a chapter and national convention, please see the below attachment with the electronic flyer for the November 19, 2016, Day of Action in solidarity with the San Quintin farm workers and in support of the boycott of Driscoll Farms.

On November 19, NYC LCLAA will be at the Whole Foods, 12:00 Noon, on 14th Street across from Union Square Park (between Broadway and University Place). Family and friends are more than welcome.

In solidarity,

Eddie Rosario
President
NYC Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)


2 attachments
Nov. 19 Day of Action.JPG
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Solidarity Farmworkers in San Quintin .doc
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21st National LCLAA Convention, Orlando, FL August 18 – 20, 2016

ADOPTED Resolution: Solidarity with the Farmworkers in San Quintin (Mexico) and Skagit County (Washington State)

WHEREAS: as many as 70,000 farmworkers (jornaleros) in the Valley of San Quintin, Baja California (Mexico) have been waging intermittent strikes and organizing road blockades and mass mobilizations since mid-March 2015 to demand an increase in their daily wage from 100 pesos to 200 pesos per day [raise from $7.50 per day to $15], an eight-hour workday, health care, overtime pay and vacation days, an end to the widespread sexual abuse, and, most important, the legal recognition of their independent union — the Alianza de Organizaciones Nacional, Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social del Valle de San Quintin (Alliance National, State and Municipal Organizations for Social Justice in the Valley of San Quintin, or Alianza) — as the bargaining agent for these 70,000 workers; and

WHEREAS: these farmworkers (many of them indigenous workers from Oaxaca) pick strawberries, tomatoes, and other fruit primarily for export to the United States under the label of Driscoll’s, through its Mexican subsidiary, BerryMex; and

WHEREAS: the farmworkers are currently “covered” by “protection contracts” signed between the growers and the CTM, the CROM and the CROC — essentially government run unions — where the contracts signed are nothing more than sweetheart deals favoring the growers; and

WHEREAS: articles in the mainstream media about the conditions of farmworkers in San Quintin describe rat-infested camps, some without functioning toilets, with workers routinely having their wages illegally withheld, and many facing debt after being gouged by the overpricing of necessities sold at company stores, and with pay so low that it amounts to less than one-tenth of what U.S.-based farmworkers earn”; and

WHEREAS: over the weekend of May 9-10, 2015, the Baja California government, instead of opening negotiations with the farmworkers, as promised, sent in police to quash the farmworkers’ protest, severely wounding 70 workers, many with rubber bullets shot at close range, leaving some of the workers in critical condition; and

WHEREAS: the repression against the farmworkers of San Quintin made front-page news and created a huge backlash across Mexico, forcing the government to (1) meet with representatives of the Alianza and promise to legally recognize the workers’ independent union (promising a “registro” to the Alianza) and (2) promise to implement many of the demands raised by the workers that pertain to Mexican labor law; and

WHEREAS: the growers are refusing to abide by the agreement between the Mexican government and the Alianza, arguing that they have more than 60 signed contracts with the CTM, the CROM, and the CROC, and that they will therefore not recognize nor open negotiations with the Alianza; and

WHEREAS: the leadership of the Alianza, soon after the strike began, issued a call to the U.S. labor and community movements to organize a boycott across the United States of Driscoll’s, extending the boycott of Driscoll’s that was launched one year earlier by the FamiliasUnidaspor la Justicia; and

WHEREAS: upon learning of the strike of the farmworkers in San Quintin, unionists and community activists in cities throughout California and other U.S. states launched a campaign incorporating the struggle of the San Quintin workers into the Driscoll’s boycott; and

WHEREAS: many of the San Quintin farmworkers have either worked in the farms owned by Sakuma Brothers in the state of Washington, or have family who work for Sakuma Brothers, where the workers have been subjected to a wide range of abuse for years, such as inadequate piece rates, wage theft, racist and sexist abuse by supervisors, substandard housing and continuous retaliation for their efforts to improve their conditions; and

WHEREAS: the Washington State AFL-CIO has recognized the independent union formed in 2013 by the Sakuma farmworkers — the Familias Unidas por la Justicia — and has endorsed and supported the boycott of Sakuma Brothers Farms; and

WHEREAS: Miles Joseph Reiter is the Chairman of the Board of Driscoll’s Inc. and is also a member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture and this board has responsibility for oversight of this industry. We question and oppose his serving on this board due to the conditions of the striking farm workers and the families in San Quintin, Baja, California;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the 21ST National LCLAA Convention goes on record in support of the struggle of the 70,000 farmworkers in San Quintin and the 468 farmworkers in Skagit County, Washington, for better wages, working conditions, and the recognition of their fighting unions — Familias Unidas por la Justicia and the Alianza de Organizaciones Nacional, Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social del Valle de San Quintin (Alliance of Farm Workers of San Quintin) — as the legitimate bargaining agents for these workers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the LCLAA opposes the “protection contracts” signed between the growers and the company unions, and urges the Mexican government to formally give the “registro” to the Alianza, as promised, that it meet the Alianza’s demands pertaining to Mexico’s labor laws, — and that the government use all its powers to compel the growers to rescind the “protection contracts” with the company unions, negotiate directly with the Alianza, and agree to increase the workers’ wages to 200 pesos a day, while resolving the other demands raised by the workers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, LCLAA reiterates its call on Sakuma Farms to rehire strikers and sign a contract with Familias Unidas por la Justicia in Washington State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that LCLAA calls upon the California Federation of Labor and the entire trade union movement in the United States to add Driscoll’s to their “Do Not Patronize” list and to actively promote a boycott of Driscoll’s – as well as build ties of solidarity with the San Quintin farmworkers, organizing union-to-union solidarity, visits to San Quintin, and tours to the United States of representatives of the Alianza so that these workers can tell their stories; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that LCLAA will link the struggle of the Sakuma Brothers and Driscoll’s workers in the state of Washington, to the struggle of the San Quintin workers; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that LCLAA will send this resolution to the Alianza and Sakuma Farms workers, with copies to the broader labor movement, to be used as a template for further resolutions in solidarity with the farmworkers of San Quintin and Familias Unidas por la Justicia in Washington State.

Respectfully Submitted by New York City, Long Island, and Pittsburgh chapters of the
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

[ckaihatsu]

IUF News

Workers demand union recognition at McDonald's Korea

Posted: 09 Nov 2016 10:38 PM PST



Representatives of IUF Asia/Pacific and the IUF-affiliated SEIU expressed their solidarity with workers organizing for union recognition at a protest action in front of the McDonald's Korea head office in Seoul organized by the Arbeit (Part-Time) Workers' Union.

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[ckaihatsu]

Women workers at PepsiCo Pakistan speak out: why we need the union the company refuses to recognize!


Women workers at PepsiCo Pakistan tell why they want the union the company refuses to recognize

Women workers have been extremely active in the fight for union rights at PepsiCo's Lahore factory, demonstrating regularly to demand union recognition and permanent employment status. Yet they are invisible: the most recent factory inspection report, from March 2016, fails to even indicate their presence in the factory. The report, however, notes that of the more than 1500 workers employed at the factory over the past year, only 134 had permanent employment status!



The workers are determined to defend their union that was officially recognized and granted collective bargaining status in July. Union member Anwar Bibi explains why in these words:

"I have been working at PepsiCo FritoLay Factory in Lahore for five years in the waste department under the no work, no pay system. I always arrived at the factory at 5:00 AM and if I am late only for few minutes I will not get the work because my position is already filled by another woman contract worker that arrived earlier than me. Together with the other women contract workers, we gather in front of the factory gate every day wondering if we can get work. If I don't get the job, I wasted my time and have to pay my transport back home. The company says this is not their problem - but then who is responsible for that?"

PepsiCo has responded to the workers' demand for rights and recognition by harassing and threatening union officers, pressuring workers to leave the union and creating a bogus union to usurp collective bargaining rights.

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PEPSICO!



E-mail: [email protected]
Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
www.iuf.org

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IUF News

Workers at Seoul luxury Sejong Hotel continue the fight to defend their independent union

Posted: 10 Nov 2016 09:17 AM PST



Members of the independent, democratic trade union at the Sejong Hotel in Seoul continue their weekly protest actions to defend their union. Since 2011, management at the luxury 5 star hotel has used new laws allowing multiple unions in the workplace to sponsor a pro-management group and undermine the Sejong Hotel Labor Union, which is a member of the IUF-affiliated KFSU.

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[ckaihatsu]

[LaborTech] Billionaire Jeff Bezos World For Workers-Amazon delivery drivers 'feel compelled to defecate in vans' to save time


Billionaire Jeff Bezos World For Workers-Amazon delivery drivers 'feel compelled to defecate in vans' to save time

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...=facebook-post

Company with contract to deliver for retail giant says 'we have made changes to the way our checks are carried out and taken a number of steps to improve our ways of working'

• Charlotte England
• @charlottengland



Drivers delivering parcels for online retail giant Amazon often work more hours than is legally allowed and earn below the national minimum wage, an undercover reporter has claimed.

Workers for agencies contracted by the company told a BBCjournalist they were expected to deliver up to 200 parcels a day, completing a fixed route.
In order to meet the company’s expectations, some van drivers said they felt compelled to break speed limits and urinate and defecate in their vehicles.

READ
Even when they did not take breaks, drivers, including the undercover reporter, claimed they regularly worked for more than 11 hours per day, exceeding the legal limit placed by EU law on people who drive goods vehicles as their job.

Amazon told the BBC it was committed to ensuring drivers worked safely and legally, and were “fairly compensated”.

Amazon Logistics, the firm's delivery wing, contract drivers through several independent agencies. The undercover journalist, who has not been named, infilitrated the company by getting a job with one these companies, AHC Services.

The reporter worked for two weeks at Amazon’s Avonmouth depot in Bristol, where he was paid a fixed rate of £110 per daily route.



After deductions, including optional van hire for a week and insurance, he took home only £93.47 for three days' work, including at least one shift exceeding 11 hours. This is equal to £2.59 per hour.

When he worked four days in his second week, he received £4.76 per hour.

Several other drivers said they took home less per hour than the national minimum wage because they had to work such long hours to deliver all the packages they were assigned.

Some agency staff said the system did not allow for traffic jams, let alone factor in time for breaks. For this reason, some workers said they sometimes had to defecate in bags and urinate in bottles rather than stopping to find a toilet.

The journalist said he was expected to be available to work six days a week. He found the long hours impacted his relationship and family life.

He also said other drivers told him they drove at 120 mph on the motorway in order to complete their deliveries in a day.

After 15 years, online retail giant Amazon reveals device-like grip on shoppers and its best-selling products in history

A former driver who delivered parcels for Amazon, Charlie Chikaviro, told the BBC the pressure to deliver all his assigned packages left him with no choice but to speed.

“I had to, the way it was designed. You're going to have to do that,” he said.

“I had a few crashes... but not bad crashes.”

Cody Cooper, a former supervisor who left AHC Services a year ago, told the broadcaster she ordered one driver, who fell asleep at the wheel, to stop driving because she feared he could “end up killing someone”.

“It was coming up to school time and there could [have been] a group of schoolchildren walking along... and he could have steered off,” she said.

“I wasn't willing to live with that.”

Agency drivers working for Amazon Logistics are all self-employed, and therefore not entitled to the minimum wage or employment rights like sick pay or holiday pay. A similar model is used by major courier companies like CitySprint, Hermes, and eCourier, and is often referred to as symptomatic of the “gig economy”.

Tonia Novitz, professor of labour law at Bristol University, told the BBC that in her opinion drivers contracted by AHC should not be classed as self-employed, because they do not determine their own routes, days of work or rest periods.

“From the evidence I've seen, which suggests [the undercover reporter] would be regarded as a worker or agency worker, he should be getting the national minimum wage,” she said.

In a statement, Amazon said: “As independent contractors of our delivery providers, drivers deliver at their own pace, take breaks at their discretion, and are able to choose the suggestion route or develop their own.”

The company said it expected drivers to be paid a minimum of £12 an hour “before bonuses, incentives and fuel reimbursements”, and it required independent delivery providers to ensure drivers were fully licensed and insured and obeyed “all applicable traffic and safety laws”.

In the past six months, drivers drove a daily average of 8.5 hours and were on duty for 9.1 hours, it added.

Oxford-based AHC said the claims put to them by the BBC were “historic and based on isolated examples which occurred over a year ago”.

“Since then we have made changes to the way our checks are carried out and taken a number of steps to improve our ways of working," it said.

The firm said it took road safety and the welfare of its contracted drivers “extremely seriously”, and that drivers were free to choose when they worked.
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[ckaihatsu]

Home » LeftStreamed

Chinese Workers’ Uprising:

Unions, Workers, and Resistance in China Today

Toronto — 30 October 2016.

+ YouTube Video

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View on YouTube website

China has been the fastest growing major economy in the world for three decades. It is also home to some of the largest, most incendiary, and most underreported labor struggles of our time. But under China’s labor management system, independent unionism is severely restricted, and the ACFTU official trade union body monopolizes worker representation for more than 800 million workers. Independent organizations are barred from agitating for their interests, despite growing wealth inequalities, and where long hours, safety hazards, and authoritarian management define life in the factories.

But this has not prevented the emergence of workers’ resistance and fightbacks across almost all sectors of work. The China Labour Bulletin reports that the number of strikes has been increasing over the past two decades. At any given time, numerous strikes are taking place, and walkouts and slowdowns over work conditions and pay are a regular and growing occurrence. Workers’ rights NGOs, while operating from a distinct disadvantage, have become increasingly involved and visible.

Lu Zhang and Eli Friedman have each interviewed dozens of Chinese workers, from the auto sector to the factories producing computers and footwear, documenting the processes of migration, changing employment relations, and worker culture underpinning the new Chinese working class and their forms of resistance today.

Moderated by Winnie Ng. Presentations by:

Lu Zhang teaches Sociology at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Inside China’s Automobile Factories: The Politics of Labor and Worker Resistance. [See review by Herman Rosenfeld: “The Roots and Contours of Worker Rebellion in a Changing China.”]

Eli Friedman teaches international and comparative labour at Cornell University in Ithaca. He is the author of Insurgency Trap: Labor Politics in Postsocialist China, and China on Strike: Narratives of Workers’ Resistance (with Hao Ren and Zhongjin Li). See “The Life and Resistance of a Chinese Worker.”

Sponsored by: Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, Centre for Social Justice, Global Labour Research Centre at York University, Socialist Project, and the Unifor Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy.

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[ckaihatsu]

No Piece of the Pie: US Food Workers in 2016


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Dear Chris,

This is International Food Workers Week, when we advocate for the workers who provide the food we eat every day. To mark this event, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, of which ILRF is a member, has released a new report on the state of U.S. food workers and compiled a list of events and actions you can join in support of food workers everywhere.

The report finds that in the past five years, the U.S. food system has added 1.5 million workers and continues to be the largest employer in the country, with 21.5 million workers. It is also the worst employer in the country: food workers earn an hourly median wage of $10, the lowest in the U.S.

The structural racism upon which the food system was built and continues to function creates a systemic wage gap for food workers of color, and especially women workers of color. Asian women earn 58 cents, Latina women 45 cents, Black women 42 cents, and Native women 36 cents for every dollar earned by white men. With such low wages, 20% (4.3 million) of food workers are food insecure, compared to 13% (15 million) of total U.S. households.

Twenty workers from Food Chain Workers Alliance member organizations were interviewed for this report. Their stories of organizing and successes give us hope and strength, especially in light of the results of the recent U.S. election, to continue joining with others to build a movement for justice. We hope that their stories will give you some optimism, too, and encourage you to take action during this International Food Workers Week and beyond.

For the data and stories from workers in the U.S. food system, and recommendations for policymakers and consumers, check out the full report and the executive summary in English and in Spanish. All are available as a free download.

In solidarity,

Abby McGill
Campaigns Director



This email was sent by the International Labor Rights Forum.
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CORRECTION: Teacher sentenced to six years in jail for union activities


This email contains the correct link to the campaign - please ignore the other email you may already have received - thank you!

If the name Esmail Abdi sounds familiar, it's because this is the third time I've written to you about him.

Esmail is a leader of the Iranian teachers union who was arrested in June 2015 while attempting to travel to Canada to attend the congress of the Education International.

Our two previous campaigns generated over 19,000 messages of protest. But the Iranian authorities haven't been listening. We've learned that Abdi has now been jailed for six years on trumped up charges.

His only real crime is his work as an advocate for teachers and for education.

The Education International has asked us once again to flood the inboxes of the Tehran government with messages of protest demanding his release. Please click here to send your message of protest:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/freeesmail

And please forward this message to your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!



Eric Lee

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[LaborTech] Across China, Walmart Faces Labor Unrest as Authorities Stand Aside " as 20,000 people, about a fifth of the company’s work force in China, have joined messaging groups set up by Mr. Wang and other activists on WeChat, a popular app."


Across China, Walmart Faces Labor Unrest as Authorities Stand Aside " as 20,000 people, about a fifth of the company’s work force in China, have joined messaging groups set up by Mr. Wang and other activists on WeChat, a popular app."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/wo...ttom-well&_r=0

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZNOV. 16, 2016


A Walmart store in Shenzhen, China, where the company opened its first store in the country two decades ago. Some of Walmart’s workers in Shenzhen recently filed a lawsuit demanding back pay.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

SHENZHEN, China — In a one-man war room in his apartment, a laid-off Walmart employee named Wang Shishu was tapping out a message on his phone to a group of workers and plotting his next move.

Over the past few months, Mr. Wang, 56, has helped organize a national movement in China against Walmart. Labor strikes have hit stores in the south simultaneously. There have been boycotts in the northeast. And here in Shenzhen, where Walmart opened its first outlet in China two decades ago, employees have filed a lawsuit demanding back pay.

“We want a snowball effect,” he said in the booming baritone of a street preacher. “We want everybody to know what to do next.”

As the Chinese economy has slowed, strikes and labor protests have broken out across the country, mostly scattered episodes targeting a single factory or business. The government has responded aggressively, detaining activists and increasing censorship to keep unrest from spreading.

But activism against Walmart’s more than 400 stores in China in recent months has followed a different pattern: workers in several cities agitating against the same company, bypassing official unions controlled by the Communist Party and using social media to coordinate their actions — while the authorities largely stand aside.

Across China, Walmart employees have raised their fists at protests, chanting, “Workers, stand up!” They have appealed to local officials with patriotic fervor, invoking the struggles of Mao Zedong against foreign imperialists. They have posted screeds online against unkind bosses and “union puppets.”

In doing so, the Chinese work force of the world’s largest retail chain has put the ruling Communist Party in an uncomfortable position, publicly testing its Marxist commitment to defend the working class and pitting that against its fear of independent labor activism.

Ever since the Solidarity trade union helped topple Communist rule in Poland, Beijing has sought to prevent the emergence of a nationwide labor movement, suppressing efforts by workers to organize across industries or localities.

But the authorities appear to be hesitating in the case of Walmart, whose workers have complained of low wages and a new scheduling system they say has left them poorer and exhausted.


Zhai Xiuhua, a Walmart employee in Shenzhen, was one of the most vocal leaders in the fight against the company’s new scheduling system. She was fired in September, after her bosses said she had “severely violated” company policies. CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

In recent months, as many as 20,000 people, about a fifth of the company’s work force in China, have joined messaging groups set up by Mr. Wang and other activists on WeChat, a popular app. In these forums, they vent about company policies, share protest slogans and discuss plans to coordinate demonstrations for maximum effect.

Mr. Wang, a former customer service representative whom Walmart has fired twice, spends his days babysitting his granddaughter and trading messages with workers across the country, often as late as 2 a.m.

“What they’re doing is inhumane,” he said. “I want Walmart to return to the sympathetic company it used to be.”

Eli Friedman, a labor scholar at Cornell University, said the Walmart movement was “probably the most substantive example of sustained, cross-workplace, independent worker organizing we’ve ever seen in China’s private sector.”

The government appears to be keeping a distance because it is worried about provoking a backlash, or about acting on behalf of a prominent American company against Chinese workers at a time when nationalism in China is rising.

But by doing little or nothing, it risks encouraging disaffected workers elsewhere, especially at the growing number of national chain businesses with operations across China. Already, workers at Neutrogena stores and China Unicom, a state-owned telecom operator, have used similar tactics, while avoiding serious punishment.

“We can only expect that online organizing will continue to break down local barriers,” said Keegan Elmer, a researcher for China Labour Bulletin, an advocacy group based in Hong Kong.

The retail sector in particular has become a hotbed of worker activism. The government wants to shift growth from manufacturing to service industries, but many new jobs at restaurants, hotels and stores are low-paying or part-time.

From July through September, there were 124 strikes and protests at service-sector firms, about double the number last year, outpacing episodes in manufacturing for the first time since at least 2011, according to China Labour Bulletin.


You Tianyu, 45, a Walmart employee in Shenzhen, wrote a letter to the president of the company to complain about working conditions. She said her bosses chastised her for speaking out.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Chinese law requires businesses to establish labor unions, but they are almost always controlled by management, and companies generally use the unions to contain worker activism. In the face of labor strife, some businesses have offered back pay, bonuses and other benefits to workers.

But others, concerned that labor activism could force costly concessions, have resorted to tougher tactics, retaliating against those who help organize protests. At Walmart, some of the most vocal workers have been deprived of raises, reassigned, or in some cases fired, according to interviews with more than a dozen employees.

At one store in Zhongshan, west of Shenzhen, a labor activist said a supervisor photographed her in the bathroom as retribution for speaking out. She asked not be identified for fear of further antagonizing her bosses.

Much of the discontent stems from a new scheduling system that Walmart put in place this summer as a way, the company said, of giving workers more flexibility. Workers have argued that it has resulted in cuts to overtime pay and excessively long shifts, and some say they were coerced into signing new contracts agreeing to the system.

Walmart denied that it had treated its employees unfairly or had pressured them to accept the new schedules. Rebecca Lui, a spokeswoman, said that the vast majority of its work force supported the new system, and that employees were free to keep their old schedules.

“Our associates are our most valuable asset,” she said in a statement.

Zhai Xiuhua, a former greeter at a Walmart store in Shenzhen, said she was fired in September after leading a fight against the new scheduling system.

“I told them, ‘Even if you put a knife to my neck, I’ll never agree,’” she recalled at her home, where her uniform and identification badge — No. 14470 — still hang on the wall. Ms. Zhai, worried about medical bills, says she now hopes to find work in her hometown in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Walmart, which has resisted unionization at its thousands of stores across the world, was forced by the government in 2006 to establish branches of the Communist Party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions for its roughly 100,000 Chinese employees, part of a broader push by the party to unionize foreign businesses.

But union branches at many Walmart stores are under the thumb of store managers, and higher-level union officials appear torn about how to respond to complaints from workers like Ms. Zhai.


A Walmart in Shenzhen. About 20,000 people, or a fifth of the work force at the company’s 400 stores in China, have joined groups on WeChat, a popular messaging app, to organize against the retailer.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

While union officials here in Guangdong Province have criticized Walmart for not seeking governmental approval for the new scheduling system, they have not taken more forceful action or helped mobilize workers.

Labor activists at Walmart have cited the ideals of President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s history of protecting workers, and experts said they appeared to be benefiting from a belief among some officials that the influence of foreign companies such as Walmart should be curtailed.

“If the Chinese authorities try to suppress the workers on behalf of Walmart,” said Wang Jiangsong, a Chinese labor scholar, “it will hurt the country’s image.”

When Walmart opened its first store in China in 1996, workers rushed to snap up jobs that paid more than those at Chinese competitors.

Now, some employees say, a Walmart job does not pay enough to comfortably support a family, with wages hovering around minimum wage, or about $300 a month. While Walmart has led a high-profile campaign in the United States to raise pay, salaries in China have remained largely stagnant, workers said, barely keeping pace with inflation.

Walmart has struggled to keep up with the fast-changing tastes of Chinese consumers and tried to re-energize its business by making investments in online retailers.

But the continuing labor unrest poses a potential hurdle.

You Tianyu, 45, a customer service employee at a Walmart store in Shenzhen, caught the attention of her supervisors in August when she wrote a letter to the president of Walmart, Doug McMillon, to complain about the company’s efforts to silence aggrieved workers.

Ms. You said her bosses now harassed her daily because she spoke out, and she has received a diagnosis of anxiety and depression.

She spends most of her nonworking hours rummaging through a mess of worker manifestoes, union laws and pay slips in her tiny apartment, hoping to find a new line of attack against Walmart.

“I’m on the verge of collapsing,” she said. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll last.”

Owen Guo contributed research.

[ckaihatsu]

IUF News

Korea: Unions call on government to resign and demand an end to escalating attacks on rights

Posted: 16 Nov 2016 04:58 AM PST

Up to one million workers and citizens rallied in the Korean capitol Seoul in a national Peoples Rally November 12 to demand the immediate resignation of President Park Geun-hye. Over 150,000 trade unionists also held a Workers' Rally organized by the national center KCTU to highlight demands for the release of all imprisoned trade unionists and an end to the ongoing attacks on democratic rights and workers and their trade unions.

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[email protected] #219 - Support the Korea general strike for workers’ rights!


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#219



Support the Korea general strike for workers’ rights!



Struggling against the government’s attacks on labour rights, unions in South Korean are holding a general strike for workers’ rights on 30 November. IndustriALL is calling for global days of action to support the unions’ fight.

Korean unions are struggling against a government crackdown on labour rights. The administration of South Korean President Park oversaw police raids of trade unions’ offices and the arrest of hundreds of peaceful trade unionists.

Read more




IndustriALL auto unions prepare for future of change

Some 125 trade unionists from 30 countries met in Munich, Germany for IndustriALL Global Union’s Auto World Conference this week, setting out a new action plan as the industry undergoes unprecedented change.

Read more




Turkey: Fired for wanting to form a union

Seven workers were dismissed on 13 November after trying to form a union at Günsan Elektrik, owned by Schneider Electric, in Turkey.

Read more




Brazilian metalworkers protest against Nissan

Unions took to the auto show in São Paulo, Brazil, on 10 November to protest against Nissan’s anti-trade union practices and bad working conditions at their plant in Mississippi, USA.

Read more




Carpet and power loom workers in Pakistan win significant wage increase

IndustriALL Pakistan affiliate representing carpet workers in Lahore and power loom workers in Gujranwala district have announced success in wage negotiations.

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IUF News

Hotel housekeepers stand up around the world for rights, recognition and safe work in Global Action Week

Posted: 18 Nov 2016 05:36 AM PST



Hotel housekeepers and their unions in 34 countries and over 50 cities around the world held a variety of actions to highlight their fight for rights, recognition and better working conditions during the IUF's 2nd Hotel Housekeepers Global Week of Action from October 31 to November 6.

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Sign to stop labor abuse on Indian tea plantations



International Finance Corporation: Don't Finance Labor Abuse on Indian Tea Plantations


Sign Now


Chris,

In 2009 the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested $7.8 million into a new venture of tea plantations in India called the Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL). The goal was to empower workers, but years later, the group continues to overlook claims of labor abuse at APPL plantations.

Please sign the petition to shine a light on the IFC and urge them to take responsibility by addressing labor abuses on plantations it finances.

The IFC has a responsibility to finance for-profit ventures that will simultaneously help alleviate poverty and promote development. We cannot ignore the IFCs failure to do so at these Indian tea plantations.

A recent investigation by the World Bank found that the IFC has "failed to identify and address basic risks, including the grossly inadequate living conditions for workers and child labor." Wages were also found to be insufficient to maintain worker health, as reports uncovered widespread malnutrition among plantation workers.

This already follows a report from 2013 with similar findings by the IFC's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman. It's clear that the IFC will go on ignoring its responsibility unless we speak up now.

By signing the petition, you'll help expose the labor abuse at IFC-funded tea plantations in India and help pressure the IFC into action. Click here to add your name for Indian plantation workers today.

Thank you for taking action,

Alex B.

The Care2 Petitions Team


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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lu...-idUSKBN13J1HS


Lufthansa pilots' strike hits bookings as more planes grounded

BUSINESS NEWS | Thu Nov 24, 2016 | 9:23am EST

Lufthansa pilots' strike hits bookings as more planes grounded


Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

By Peter Maushagen | FRANKFURT

A walkout by Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) pilots in a long-running pay dispute led to more flight cancellations on Thursday and hit bookings at one of Europe's biggest airlines.

Pilots represented by the Vereinigung Cockpit union began the three-day strike - their 14th since early 2014 - on Wednesday, prompting the grounding of almost 1,800 flights.

Lufthansa said it will scrap a further 830 short- and medium-haul flights on Friday, just over a quarter of its schedule, hitting more than 100,000 travelers. Most long-haul flights will be unaffected, it said.

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Over the three days, the strike action has disrupted the travel plans of more than 315,000 passengers.

Harry Hohmeister, a Lufthansa board member, said cancellations for the first two days of strike action had cost the airline about 20 million euros ($21 million) and customers were making fewer bookings.

"Not only have we suffered severe damage (from the strike), but we're also noticing from mid-term booking numbers that customer behavior is changing," Hohmeister said.

Shares in the company were down 0.4 percent at 1441 GMT (9:41 a.m. ET), underperforming German blue chips .GDAXI, which were up 0.1 percent.

COST SQUEEZE

The union wants an average annual pay increase of 3.7 percent for 5,400 pilots in Germany over a five-year period from 2012. Lufthansa has offered 2.5 percent over six years to 2019.

The airline has urged the union to enter mediation, but the union said it first wants to see a better offer.

Lufthansa, led by CEO Carsten Spohr, insists that despite a record profit in 2015, it has no choice but to cut costs to compete with leaner rivals such as Ryanair (RYA.I) on short-haul and Emirates [EMIRA.UL] on long-haul flights.

It has already agreed deals with the main unions representing ground staff and cabin crew in Germany, leaving an agreement with its pilots outstanding.

ALSO IN BUSINESS NEWS

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"From a shareholder perspective we would rate the efforts of management to make the company financially sustainable in the long term as more valuable, than the short term pain inflicted by the strikes," Commerzbank analysts said in a note.

Pilot strikes in 2014 cost Lufthansa 222 million euros, roughly 21 million euros per day, according to the IW Cologne Institute for Economic Research. In 2015, walkouts by pilots and cabin crew cost it 231 million euros, around 30 million per day.

Despite the row with its German pilots, Lufthansa is also moving forward with plans to expand lower cost operations, using a Eurowings unit based in Austria. It is in talks over bringing operations from Air Berlin and Brussels Airlines into the Eurowings platform.

The row is mirrored at rival Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA), which has also seen pilot strikes in France over plans to lower costs.

(Additional reporting and writing by Caroline Copley in Berlin; Editing by Alexander Smith)

© 2016 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. Site Feedback Corrections Advertise With Us Advertising Guidelines AdChoices Terms of Use Privacy Policy

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Settlement ends 14-week strike at South Africa's Robertson Winery


Following a tough recognition struggle and 14-week strike, CSAAWU, the union representing workers at Robertson Winery in the Western Cape, has reached a settlement which will see workers returning to work on November 28. The union has won an 8% wage increase retroactive to August, a bonus equivalent to an extra month's pay and no disciplinary action will be taken against the strike leaders.

The union did not achieve its wage target, but, says CSAAWU, "The wine industry will never be the same. Workers at the wine cellars across the country will take inspiration from what the Robertson Winery workers have achieved."

The union has expressed its warm appreciation for the significant international solidarity the workers received throughout the long struggle.

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PepsiCo workers in Pakistan are fighting for a union - and they need your support


PepsiCo workers in Pakistan are fighting for their right to have a trade union. The company has responded by harassing and threatening union officers, pressuring workers to leave the union and creating a bogus union.

The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) has launched an international campaign to support these workers. Please take a moment to read the workers' stories in their own words:

http://www.iuf.org/w/?q=node/5208

To send a message to PepsiCo, click here:

https://www.iufcampaigns.org/campaig...ign.cgi?c=1015

And please spread the word - share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!



Eric Lee

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[email protected] #220 - Wave of support as Korean workers prepare for general strike


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#220


Wave of support as Korean workers prepare for general strike



Global days of action in support of the general strike in Korea, on 30 November, continue around the world. IndustriALL Global Union affiliates are taking action in a collective effort to show the world that they will not accept the increasing attacks on workers’ rights in South Korea.

As the #KoreaGeneralStrike approaches, solidarity actions are pouring in. Hundreds of unionists from Kyrgyzstan, Brazil, Germany, India, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, France, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, the USA and Sweden have taken action, taking pictures of themselves holding signs in support of the general strike for workers rights and sharing the images on social media.

Read more




"We will fight for our jobs" declare unions amidst steel crisis

Some 100 delegates from 32 unions in 24 countries organizing in the base metals industries met in Duisburg, Germany, to develop an action plan to tackle the crisis in the industry.

Read more




Pakistan: fair compensation urgently needed for victims of Gadani blaze

More than three weeks after a deadly fire on an oil tanker at the Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan, workers and dependents of those killed are struggling to survive and get proper medical attention.

Read more




Sacked Schneider Electric workers in Pakistan demand reinstatement

When 17 workers at Schneider Electric in Pakistan asked for increased wages the French company responded by dismissing them. IndustriALL affiliate NTUF is demanding immediate reinstatement of the sacked workers.

Read more




Caterpillar workers rally in Geneva

Representatives of Caterpillar workers from across Europe rallied in Geneva today to protest the company’s plans to shut plants in Belgium and Northern Ireland.

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