VenEconomy: Unions Create a Détente Zone in Venezuela

The Chávez administration, with its totalitarian appetites run riot since February 15, has wanted to lay everything waste, from constitutional rights to citizen freedoms. Among the rights and freedoms that the President has sought to abolish are having a decent job that does not depend on party membership or supporting a given ideology and the right to independent trade union representation that fights for workers’ rights.

This Thursday, for the first time in more than seven years, leaders of trade union groups sympathetic to both the government and the opposition joined forces in what could be interpreted as a détente in the conflictive labor situation that is brewing in the country, and the Labor Solidarity Movement or MSL was formed. This movement seeks to create a united front to defend the rights of workers in both the public and private sectors. And while it does not include the majority of the country’s trade unions, for the moment, it is a starting point for achieving a united front while allowing for diversity.

Given the climate of labor conflict that is brewing, it is most timely that trade union leaders of all political stripes are sitting down at the same table to discuss which is the best path to take to achieve a true defense of the working class, setting aside political interests, desires to hold on to office or indulgence towards individualistic hegemonic projects.

According to some members of the MSL, this movement has come about as a result of pressure from the grassroots trade unions, which are seeing how the benefits they have won for their members are being eroded.

According to comments made by many of its most conspicuous spokesmen, as far as the Chávez administration is concerned, the importance of the trade union struggle is not simply socioeconomic benefits or labor rights or even people’s legitimate aspirations to a better standard of living. What is essential for Chávez and his cohorts is the ideologizing and indoctrination of the worker (read deadening of awareness) so that he blindly follows the orders of the “commander” and supports his project; in other words, a worker and a trade unionism as styled in Fidel’s Cuba.

However, there are incipient signs that Chávez has taken the wrong path this time. His eagerness to control did not take account of Venezuelans’ idiosyncrasies. The majority of the opinion polls agree that the aspirations of the Venezuelan worker is to have an equal opportunity to get a job, to have a decent job with fair pay, and that this job will allow him to improve his social status and the standard of living of his family. The majority are against donning a uniform, joining a party or voting for candidates imposed by the powers that be as a prerequisite to getting a job.

There is still much to be done and the acid test will be in the discussions over the innumerable labor contracts to come.

There are also many barriers to overcome, the most important being the renewal of an obsolete, tired leadership that is clinging on to posts in the highest echelons of the trade union movement and surviving the attacks that the government will eventually make on any trade union leaders who act independently, trying to criminalize them and put them out of commission.

VenEconomy has been a leading provider of consultancy on financial, political and economic data in Venezuela since 1982.
http://www.laht.com/index.asp

Union movement urges intervention over escalating repression in Iran

The global trade union movement is pressing the International Labour Organization (ILO) for action in response to a growing tide of oppression against trade unionists in Iran.

Representatives of the ITF, Education International, the International Union of Food Workers and the International Trade Union Confederation made the appeal in a letter to the ILO’s director-general, Juan Somavia, on 9 March. In it they expressed concern over “an escalating pattern of arrests and intimidation of trade unionists in Iran”. They had “reason to fear for the physical and the psychological wellbeing and even the lives of the latest victims of state repression.” That was why they believed the ILO’s intervention was necessary.

The group referred to the latest wave of repression against the Haft Tapeh union, which represents some 5000 sugar cane plantation workers. Five of the union’s elected members had been charged with acting against national security following a strike over unpaid wages and were awaiting a verdict. Three others including the union’s president, Ali Nejati, had also been arrested. All except Nejati had been released.

The unionists also highlighted how teacher, Farzad Kamangar, currently in Evin Prison had received the death penalty and expressed alarm over reports that two executive board members of the Tehran bus workers’ union, the Vahed Syndicate, had last month been summoned by the secret police. They reminded Somavia that the union’s president, Mansour Osanloo and vice-president Ebrahim Madadi were both still in prison.

New incidences of harassment of other labour and human rights activists were regularly being reported, they said.

They urged the ILO to intervene to secure the release of Ali Nejati, Mansour Osanloo, Ebrahim Madadi and others. They also asked the organization to impress on the Iranian authorities that Kamangar’s case should be revisited and that any plans for an execution should be called off. It should, in addition, demand that charges against the Haft Tapeh workers be dropped and full legal guarantees ensured.

http://www.itfglobal.org/index.cfm

Bus strike hope after deal struck

Dublin,Ireland - Dublin Bus has threatened a strike action that may be averted after the deal that has hammered out between trade unions and management

The two sides were locked in talks by the Labour Relations Commission consecutively about the planned of layoff about 60 workers as part of to cut cost.

But compulsory lay-off proposals have now been scrapped and all drivers are being guaranteed a minimum five days pay under a new agreement, according to trade union Siptu.

Single Combined Union for Francheshini

(AGI) - Rome, 11 Mar. - "Trade union unity will inevitably come into being. How long it takes us to get there depends on the will of the union leaders and the calls of their membership. I think that today in Italy, as in an all modern democracies, there is a call for a united trade union front, strong, which defends the rights of workers and those who have lost their jobs, and pensioners, rather than suffering internal divisions.'' These were the words of Dario Franceschini on the topic of union unity. The PD (Democratic party) leader was interviewed from the Rai studios on 'Unomattina', added that ''history will undoubtedly lead in that direction, and for all that we are able to do, in our fully independent roles and with respect for reciprocal independence, we are headed towards a single combined union.''

http://www.agi.it/home

FICTU General Secretary’s house stoned

The House of Fiji Islands Council Trade Union General Secretary Attar Singh was stoned at around 3 this morning while the family was asleep.

The house located at Kula Street in Samabula, was attacked by a group of unidentified men who threw large stones which damaged the front side of the house and the two rear windows of his car.
Singh believes this morning's stoning incident which damaged the glass of his vehicles and a window of his house is the work of those people who do not like what he is doing.

Singh, who is still waiting for the police investigation report into the matter, said the incident was planned as they struck at a time when no-one would see them.

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Police have taken the statements of the neighbors and an investigation is currently underway.

Meanwhile, the National Federation Party (NFP) has labeled the stoning of FICTU General Secretary Attar Singh's house as an act of cowardice.

General Secretary Pramod Rae said the fact that Lovo stones were used is the work of cowards who resort to violence when faced with the truth.

Rae goes on to add that this is the latest of scares given to those who speak out publicly, citing the case of where Singh was attacked in 2006 and another being the case of Kenneth Zinck whose car was smashed outside his home early this year.

The Party added that people should realize that such actions do not act a deterrent but only strengthens their resolve to continue with their work.

http://www.fijivillage.com

Silence of majority speaks volumes: no more murders

After the violence, finally the peace. They came in their thousands to rallies across Northern Ireland yesterday to protest against the murders of three members of the security forces by republican terrorists.

They were ordinary citizens for the most part – what you might call Ulster’s silent majority. Housewives, firefighters, office workers, teachers and carers. Catholics and Protestants and people of other faiths and no faith. These were the voices that you rarely, if ever, hear, because they have been drowned out by the guns, the marching feet, the jeering sectarian chants of decades of conflict.

So they stood together in silence, a great wall of silence pushing back at the 48 hours of mayhem that killed two soldiers and a police officer, a spasm of violence that left Northern Ireland staring back into its dark past.

The largest rally was in Belfast, but others were held across the Province, in Londonderry, Newry, Downpatrick and Lisburn. Ordinary people in extraordinary times were, yet again, staring down the violence and challenging it with their silence.

Belfast has seen many rallies down the years. Not all of them were about peace, but this was one of the most affecting. It was from here that Ian Paisley, the Big Man of Intransigent Unionism, bellowed out his message of “Never, never, never” to a united Ireland in the mid1980s.

With the Union of Northern Ireland and Great Britain probably never more secure in its history – Sinn Féin operating British ministerial posts and urging its supporters to give any information on republican “traitors” to the police – silence was perhaps a more appropriate response to this week’s killings and a deadlier weapon.

Peter Bunting, the assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which helped to organ-ise the protests, said people were delivering a strong message that they did not want a return to bloodshed.

“This lunchtime, thousands of citizens are gathering to collectively share moments of silence,” he said.

“The trade union movement stands together with all citizens in solidarity to prevent any derailment of the peace process. The callous attacks of the past few days were an assault on every citizen who supports peace.

“Here in Belfast, and in Newry, and in Londonderry, and at spontaneous gatherings across our land, workers and their families are making clear their abhorrence at these murders and the direct threat to the peace process.”

A Scottish piper played a lament and then the crowds, stretching back down Royal Avenue, fell silent.

A few people wept soundlessly. Others clutched one another. Fathers jigged toddlers sitting astride their shoulders, gently urging them to join the silence.

Among the banners and placards were the messages: “A Better Life Together”, “An Injury to One is An Injury to All” and “Our Peace Our Future”. A couple of hard-looking men unfurled a simple message: “Combined Loyalists For Peace – Any Chance Lads?”.

“I am here today because I don’t want my teenage sons to have to grow up in the same Northern Ireland that I grew up in,” said Carroll Black, who recalled the battle-scarred city that she had to cross every day as a schoolgirl studying in the Falls Road.

“I grew up in an area where the police were the enemy,” said Aidan Kane, who was with his six-year-old son. “Now things have changed so completely for the better.

“If my wee lad here wants to be a policeman when he grows up, I’d be proud. I shouldn’t have to worry that some nut might shoot him for serving his community.”

The demonstrators received support from about 40 MPs and peers in London who gathered at St Stephen’s Gate at Westminster for a moment of silence.

The impromptu vigil, organised by the Labour MP for Blaydon, David Anderson, followed a series of tributes made in the Commons and attracted politicians from across the political spectrum, including former Northern Ireland secretaries Peter Hain and John Reid.

MPs and peers stood, eyes forward, resolute and silent, as Big Ben struck in the background.

“We are here to send a very, very clear message,” Mr Anderson said afterwards. “We are united and we will never ever give in.”

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown said that the vigils showed “the unyielding resolution to say with one voice that the peace that the people of Northern Ireland are building no murderers should ever be allowed to destroy”.

The Prime Minister sent his condolences to the families and friends of Sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, who were shot dead on Saturday by the Real IRA, and PC Stephen Carroll, 48, who was killed on Monday by the Continuity IRA.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said that the most important thing was that everyone in the Province worked with the Police Service of Northern Ireland to ensure the “callous killers” were caught, charged and convicted.

The Pope joined in the condemnation of the killings, describing them as “abominable acts of terrorism” during an address to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City.

Away from the rallies, an even quieter gesture was taking place. The parents of Sapper Azimkar and his girlfriend visited the scene of his murder at Massereene Barracks, An-trim, to lay flowers and tributes. One from his girlfriend said: “Never have I met someone as wonderful as you. This doesn’t seem real, it can’t be. You’ re my best friend, my soulmate.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

Women start legal fight to get equal pay

WOMEN council workers fighting for equal pay will start their legal battle before an employment tribunal in Glasgow next week.

Six staff with Glasgow City Council are to fight a test case on behalf of 40-50 other claimants, which could determine the outcome of thousands of women's equal pay cases against the authority.

Some 35,000 equal pay claims had been made against public authorities in Scotland, which could end up costing councils more than £1billion.

The test case, being brought on behalf of cleaners, home carers, dinner ladies, bus escorts, special needs drivers and other predominantly low-paid manual jobs, is the first to reach this stage of an employment tribunal after several preliminary hearings.
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The women will argue they are entitled to be paid the same as men employed in comparable jobs that the council's job evaluation scheme has rated as equivalent.

Carol Fox, head of litigation (Scotland) with Stefan Cross Solicitors, who is representing the six women, said "This hearing is of significant importance for 5000 Glasgow City Council women employees with similar claims."

It will be argued that additional bonus payments to some men mean they can be earning up to 50% or even more, per hour, than women.

If successful, the women can be awarded compensation for the pay shortfall dating back five years from the date they complained and up to the time the matter is determined.

A number of cases date back to 2005, meaning in the event of success, compensation could be awarded for nine years' of pay shortages.

The case will start on Monday and is scheduled to last two weeks.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/