Worker rights abused amid cost-of-living crisis: unions

PARIS — Workers in nine out of 10 countries have seen their right to strike violated over the past year as they battle the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, the International Trade Union Confederation warned Friday.

A decade after launching its first annual Global Rights Index, the ITUC said the results for 2023 provided "a sobering confirmation of its founding purpose".

Eighty-seven percent of the 149 countries reviewed in the index violated the right to strike between April 2022 and March 2023, the union group said.

Seventy-nine percent of countries violated the right to collective bargaining, with companies for instance refusing to comply with collective agreements or rejecting established trade unions, it added.

"As workers have felt the full force of a cost-of-living crisis, governments have cracked down on their rights to collectively negotiate wage rises and take strike action against employer and government indifference to the impacts of spiraling inflation upon working people," the union group said in a report.

Ecuador and Tunisia were highlighted by the IUTC, joining its list of the 10 worst countries for workers in 2023.

Mass protests in Ecuador for democracy and collective rights were brutally repressed, it said.

"In Tunisia, President Kais Saied has continued to tighten his hold on power, undermining workers’ civil liberties and democratic institutions," it added.

Nineteen trade unionists around the world have been murdered, compared to 17 in the previous comparable period.

Luc Triangle, the ITUC's acting general secretary, said this year saw an "urgent need for action" by unions as workers are slammed by rising costs in the aftermath of the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

However, the index shows "a steady attack on workers who dare to demand fair pay for their labour", he said, adding this was seen "across economic and geographical regions".

"Politicians have continued to hold wages down, have refused to honour negotiations with unions, have restricted strike action and have attempted to quash protests claiming that a wage-price spiral must be avoided," Triangle said in the foreword to the index.

Many countries are grappling with cost-of-living crises because wages are not keeping up with inflation prompting central banks to raise interest rates to try to tame the rise in prices.

Agence France-Presse

Court rules Apple must pay California workers during bag checks

LOS ANGELES — The California Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Apple must pay employees for time spent waiting for their bags and personal electronic devices to be searched when they leave work.

The decision means that the tech giant will have to pay millions of dollars to more than 12,000 hourly workers at California retail stores who fall under the mandatory bag-search policy.

According to court documents, Apple employees are required to clock out before submitting to an exit search which can take from five to 20 minutes.

On the busiest days, employees say the wait time can be as long as 45 minutes. Those who refuse to have their belongings searched are subject to discipline, including termination.

A lower court had previously sided with Apple, ruling that time spent by employees waiting for the exit searches cannot be considered "hours worked" under California law.

The plaintiffs escalated the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which asked the Supreme Court to address the state law issue.

The state's high court in its decision issued on Thursday rejected Apple's argument that its employees could easily avoid a search by choosing not to bring a bag or iPhone to work.

Quoting from a US Supreme Court decision, it noted that cell phones are "now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy."

"The irony and inconsistency of Apple's argument must be noted," the court added.

"Its characterization of the iPhone as unnecessary for its own employees is directly at odds with its description of the iPhone as an 'integrated and integral' part of the lives of everyone else."

Apple representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.

The Apple case is the third the state high court has considered in recent years as related to minimum wage and time during which workers are under employers' control.

In 2018, the court ruled that Starbucks has to pay for off-the-clock work -- such as going through the checklist for closing the store -- that can last a few seconds or minutes past someone's shift.

Agence France-Presse

Workers fret at making ends meet as US govt shutdown persists

WASHINGTON - According to President Donald Trump, federal workers affected by the US government shutdown support him as he insists on no deal until Congress funds a wall on the Mexican border.

But rather than cheering him on, many of the 800,000 workers forced either to work without salaries or go on unpaid leave are voicing growing anxiety as they wonder how to pay approaching bills or buy holiday gifts for their children.

After past shutdowns, Congress quickly ensured that federal workers were retroactively paid. But the end of the month is approaching with no headway on reopening the government.

Kevin, a statistician at the Census Bureau, said he recently relocated to Washington with his wife and 2-and-a-half-year-old son from North Carolina in search of the long-term stability of a government job.

But he said he used up his savings to finance the move and that his son has required early intervention services for delayed development.

"Taking care for a kid with special needs is draining physically, mentally and financially," he told AFP in an email.

"Our budget is really tight and getting tighter. I no longer purchase clothes for myself and I cut my own hair."

He may also have to put his rent on a credit card, added Kevin, asking that his surname be withheld because of rules against government employees speaking on politics.

Kevin's colleagues have reassured him that they have survived similar situations. The shutdown is the third this year, after 2 brief funding gaps, and another stoppage in 2013 was resolved after 16 days.

But Kevin is less optimistic this time, saying Trump, facing multiple crises, was acting like a "cornered animal."

Asked Wednesday on a surprise trip to Iraq how long the shutdown will last, Trump replied: "Whatever it takes."

Syl, who works at the Internal Revenue Service, said she only had enough savings to pay her upcoming rent and a few other expenses after spending on travel and gifts for the holidays.

While acknowledging that "I don't have it as bad as other employees" with children, she said that she resented "being used as a political pawn for the wall."

PANIC AS BILLS APPROACH

One of the major unions of federal workers, the National Treasury Employees Union, said nearly 80 percent of members indicated in a survey they were "very concerned" about paying for housing and other living expenses.

Some government employees and their families shared their predicaments online with the hashtag #ShutdownStories.

@katyjb88 wrote that her husband was in the Coast Guard and that they had one child with another on the way. They live in New York where they pay more than $2,000 a month in rent.

While active military are exempted from the shutdown, the Coast Guard is affected. Even if they are paid later, she wrote, "that won't help with bills due on the 1st."

For others, including @Ancient_Scout, consequences are even more immediate. 

"Broke my lease to accept new fed job for which I have to attend 7 months of training in another state. Training canceled with shutdown," @Ancient_Scout tweeted.

"Homeless. Can't afford short(?)-term housing/have to work full-time for no pay/returning Xmas presents."

@juliedotburr said that as a government contractor she will not get paid at all so long as the shutdown persists.

"I am a single mom in panic mode. Picking up extra shifts at my 2nd job but it won't pay the rent!" she wrote.

SOLIDARITY WITH WORKERS 

Signs of solidarity are growing in Washington, where lawmakers return Thursday with no deal in sight.

The Z-Burger restaurant is offering hamburgers free to federal employees, while Spanish chef Jose Andres, a longstanding critic of Trump, has invited the workers for a free sandwich in all of his Washington restaurants from 2pm to 5 pm.

But there are occasional signs of support for Trump, who has made a wall and a tough line on immigration the centerpiece of his 2016 campaign and said Tuesday that federal workers "want border security."

@InsiderIRS, a Twitter user with no followers as of Wednesday afternoon, wrote that federal workers bore a constitutional responsibility to defend against "invasion."

"As an IRS employee, I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with my furloughed comrades to support the sovereignty of our nation," @InsiderIRS wrote.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Chaos and color in May Day rallies across the globe

PARIS - Traditional May Day rallies turned violent in some parts of the world on Tuesday, as workers gathered to defend labor rights. There was looting in Paris and dozens of arrests in Turkey, in contrast to Cuba with its colorful celebrations and new leader.

Here is a round-up of some of the biggest events on the annual workers' holiday.

PARIS RIOTS, LOOTING

A march against French President Emmanuel Macron's public sector reforms descended in to riots in central Paris.

On the sidelines of the May Day union-led demonstration for workers' rights, chaos erupted when a group of protesters began torching a McDonald's restaurant and vehicles at a car dealership.

Around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks shouted slogans such as "Rise up, Paris" and "Everyone hates the police".

Police, who had warned of the risk of extremist groups using the march to spark fresh clashes, used tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators.

The scenes of looting and destruction overshadowed the May Day march, which drew between 20,000 and 55,000 peaceful protesters, according to police and union estimates.

BURNING EFFIGY IN PHILIPPINES

A giant demon in the role of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was burned by protesters near the presidential palace in a lively Labor Day rally.

Thousands of workers marched in Manila to voice anger over what they said was the president's failure to scrap short-term employment contracts.

Police said some 5,500 people attended the marches and that the events were "generally peaceful".

TENSE CRACKDOWN IN TURKEY

Key protest areas were closed off in Istanbul, with the annual workers' holiday often the occasion for confrontation between demonstrators and police in Turkey.

Protesters who sought to defy the ban in central Taksim Square were taken away by police, supported by helicopters, armoured cars and water canon vehicles.

Police said they arrested 84 people in Istanbul.

Thousands of people took part in officially-sanctioned May 1 events in the Istanbul district of Maltepe, and in other cities, at a time when political tensions are running high ahead of snap parliamentary and presidential elections in June.

SHOW OF HOPE IN CUBA

In Havana, the first May Day march of the post-Castro era drew a colorful crowd of close to a million people.

Cubans carried posters of the Castro brothers and fellow revolutionary Che Guevara and unfurled huge copies of the country's flag, while children dressed as soldiers bounced on their parents shoulders.

The annual Workers' Day march at the capital's Revolution Square was the first major appearance for new president Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was accompanied by his predecessor Raul Castro.

FLOWERS AND STONES

Riot police were deployed to control crowds in Medillin, Colombia, where protesters threw stones at officers during clashes.

In Berlin, police officers looked on as demonstrators dressed in black from the "Revolutionary 1st of May Demonstration" lit flares. According to unions, some 500 events were planned nationwide, with many held under the slogan of "solidarity, diversity and justice".

But in Athens demonstrators carried red carnations in union marches through the Greek capital. One of the largest demonstrations of the Greek Communist Labour Union attracted at least 11,000 people.

Supporters of Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption, gathered in front of the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba where he is being held. Wearing red, the color of the Workers' Party, and holding aloft signs calling for his release, they marked May Day by staging a "Good Morning Lula" event.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

This billionaire wants you to have a 3-day work week

MANILA, Philippines - A three-day work week is something Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim believes all employees should have.

Slim, one of the world's richest men, suggested the idea at a business conference in Paraguay.

The downside is, workers would have to put up with longer work hours, up to 11 hours a day and a later retirement age of 70 or 75.

"People are going to have to work for more years, until they are 70 or 75, and just work three days a week – perhaps 11 hours a day," he was quoted by Paraguay.com news agency as saying.

Still Slim believes having four days off would boost productivity and improve the general quality of life.

"With three work days a week, we would have more time to relax; for quality of life. Having four days (off) would be very important to generate new entertainment activities and other ways of being occupied," he added.

Here in the Philippines, a similar proposal was floated by the MMDA in February to ease the traffic situation in Metro Manila. But the four-day work week idea was criticized by labor groups. - ANC

ANC News Now, July 23, 2014

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

California minimum wage rises to $9 per hour

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Good news for minimum wage workers in California — the state with the largest number of Filipinos.

On Tuesday, the Golden States’s minimum wage workers got their first raise in six years.

The state’s minimum wage gets bumped to $9 an hour; the first of two scheduled increases.

On January 16, 2016, workers will get another boost to $10 an hour.

When he signed the law last fall, California Governor Jerry Brown said it was his moral obligation to bring a living wage to a state with the highest cost of living.

But some business owners fear it will be the customers who will pay the price for the increase as the higher cost of doing business would get passed on to them.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Anxiety over rising HIV, AIDS cases creeps into burgeoning BPO sector

MANILA, Philippines - Some workers applying for jobs at call center companies are being asked to reveal if they have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) – a clear violation of the AIDS law that prohibits discrimination against people living with the virus.

This was one of the issues discussed Friday at the National Dialogue on HIV and Human Rights organized by the United Nations Development Programme, and which focused on the forms of discrimination experienced by people living with HIV (PLHIV).

Edu Razon, president of Pinoy Plus, said some business process outsourcing companies have started asking applicants if they have HIV and requiring them to get tested. “If you’re a PLHIV and you’re applying for a job in the BPO, you’re reluctant to apply because of that,” he said.

UNDP officials at the forum advised the support groups working with PLHIVs to document such instances of discrimination in order to make a case against violators.

The concern about HIV cases in the burgeoning BPO sector is not surprising, given recent pronouncements by government agencies pointing to the galloping increase in HIV/AIDS cases in the country.

The National AIDS Registry shows that from one new HIV case detected every three days in 2006, this has risen to 10 cases per day in the first quarter of 2012.

Law bars mandatory testing

Republic Act 8504 or the country’s AIDS law does not prescribe mandatory HIV testing for employment and prohibits discrimination in the workplace on account of having the virus.

The BPO sector employs about 640,000 workers and has so far contributed $11 billion to the economy. It is expected to grow to a $25-billion dollar industry and employ a total of 1.3 million workers.

Document cases – UNDP

Teresita Marie Bagasao, country coordinator of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said, there is a need to document these cases because they provide a clear picture of the different facets of discrimination experienced by those living with the virus.

“It’s very difficult to support an action if you don’t have evidence. You have to establish that such discrimination really exists,” said Bagasao.

Razon, however, noted that some BPO applicants are afraid to file a complaint because that would mean they have to disclose their HIV status. Participants to the dialogue, among them from the Commission on Human Rights, said PLHIV are faced with a dilemma between accessing services for redress and “coming out” publicly.

Jonas Bagas, executive director of TLF-Share, a non-government organization whose work is focused on the gay community, said most men having sex with men (MSM) do not submit themselves for HIV testing because of discrimination.

He cited a 2011 study of the National Epidemiology Center of the health department which showed that while the rate of MSM submitting themselves for testing has increased to 15 percent, only five percent of them come back for the results.

“They stop accessing results because of fear of being disclosed. They don’t want to know (if they’re infected),” he added.

Bagas said MSM are also afraid to go for testing because of the perception that HIV is a “gay disease.”

According to the UNAIDS, the transmission trend of HIV in the country has shifted from heterosexual to male-to-male sex, with five out of six Filipinos being infected with the virus in the country in 2011 coming from the MSM sector.

source: interaksyon.com

Thousands of Asian workers take to streets on Labor Day

JAKARTA -- Colorful protests organized by trades unions and left-wing parties across Asia shared on Tuesday the theme of better wages and conditions, and denunciations of government policy, as living costs spike in fast-growing economies as they commemorated International Labor Day.

In Manila, about 3,000 workers and activists marched to the presidential palace, bearing a giant effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, which depicted him as a dog obedient to foreign capitalists.

They carried banners saying "raise our pay now" and "fight for socialism."

But in a Labor Day speech, Aquino thumbed down labor’s demands for a P125 across-the-board wage hike, saying: "If our wages go even higher, what foreign investor will put his money here? Our economy could fall even further behind."

Thousands of Indonesian workers held Asia's biggest May Day rally on Tuesday, demanding better pay and protection of job security, watched warily by a heavy police and army contingent.

Carrying banners saying "raise our salaries" and "stop outsourcing contracts," more than 9,000 workers gathered at Jakarta's main roundabout before marching to the state palace.

Around 16,000 police and soldiers were deployed to guard the protest, Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto told reporters.

"Living costs have gone up but our salaries remain unchanged. We only make enough to eat but there is no money in the bank, no money for our children's education," protest leader Muhamad Rusdi told AFP.

"There's also no job security. Jobs like telemarketing and production of goods such as electronics are outsourced (to contractors)," he complained. "We always live in fear of losing our jobs."

Indonesia's parliament in March rejected a plan to hike the country's heavily subsidized fuel price by a third, after protests in Jakarta that saw demonstrators hurl stones and police retaliate with tear gas and water cannon.

A rash of workers' strikes that began late last year across the nation of 240 million people saw several provinces hike their minimum wages.

Factory workers on the outskirts of Jakarta blocked major roads and disrupted the international airport early this year, winning an increase from 1.29 million rupiah ($141) a month to 1.49 million rupiah ($162).

Raising the minimum wage was the main demand also for about 5,000 workers, domestic helpers and activists who held a noisy procession through central Hong Kong, clashing cymbals and chanting demands on the city's incoming government.

"The problem with Hong Kong is that the wealth is concentrated on a small number of people, many people are still living in poverty," university professor Fernando Cheung, who teaches social work, said at the rally.

"That's why Hong Kong has one of the world's highest income gaps between rich and poor. We urgently need a redistribution of wealth," he said.

The government in Taiwan is also fretting about its competitiveness in the face of rising global energy prices.

Last month it announced that electricity prices would rise by up to 37 percent from mid-May, following a recent 10 percent increase in petrol prices.

Denouncing the increases, more than 1,000 workers took to the streets in downtown Taipei for a Labor Day rally that also condemned workplace exploitation.

"Oppose exploitation" and "oppose double hikes," the protesters shouted, waving matching placards.

In East Timor, Asia's poorest nation which this month celebrates a decade of formal independence from Indonesia, police fired warning shots and arrested 84 people to disperse some 500 protesters calling for higher wages.

Police said they were forced to intervene to break up the "illegal demonstration" after protesters began hurling stones and marching to a hotel in Dili where some staff had recently been laid off.

source: interaksyon.com