The World of Labor (April 8, 2005)

The World of Labor (April 8, 2005)
By Harry Kelber

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Boeing in Australia Wins Right to Discriminate Against Workers

More than 2,500 employees of Boeing's Australian aircraft factories are worried about their job security, after New South Wales joined Victoria and Queensland in granting the giant American-based company the right to discriminate against workers whose nationalities don't meet U.S. security standards.

Boeing officials said the company needed an exemption from Australia's Anti-Discrimination Act in order to hold onto a multi-million dollar U.S. defense contract. Under its three-year exemption, Boeing can demand citizen and residency details from the 800 employees in New South Wales, a move that brings it in line with regulations in Queensland and Victoria.

Ken Morton, a spokesman for Boeing Australia, said: "If the U.S. Department of State says that there is a problem with a certain worker, then we would say, okay, that worker moves off those U.S. defence contracts and onto commercial business that doesn't require those security clearances."

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One in Seven London Workers Receive Pay Below Poverty Level

A major new report of the Living Wage Unit established by the Mayor of London finds that one in seven of London's employees are paid at rates which leave their income, even taking into account benefits and tax credits, below poverty levels.

The Living Wage Unit calculates a "poverty threshold wage" in London at £5.80 an hour ($10.90). This is significantly above the new national minimum wage £5.05 (or $9.50) an hour, to be introduced in October.

The Mayor's Living Wage will ideally become a standard against which major employers in the capital can be called to account. "We want to see a situation where firms and organizations in London who aspire to be seen as Œsocially responsible' will feel an obligation to ensure their staff and their contract staff earn at least the Living Wage," said Deborah Littman, co-chair of London Citizens Living Wage Campaign.

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U.S. Workers to Wall Street: Don't Destroy Social Security

Thousands of union members and community activists in more than 70 cities carried signs proclaiming "Don't Pick Our Pockets to Line Yours," as they rallied at offices of leading Wall Street firms, demanding that they stop pushing the privatization of Social Security.

The AFL-CIO's March 31 National Day of Action for Retirement Security is labor's largest mobilization in the campaign to defeat President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security.

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A German ŒSlave Auction,' Where Lowest Bidder Gets the Job

Imagine an auction where the lowest bidder wins. This is happening in Germany where the online sale is as controversial as it is successful, because the objects being auctioned off are people looking for employment on the website , where they undercut one another to win work.

Founder Fabian Löw, 31, has provoked a torrent of anger from unions and politicians, who claim his website is a "slave market," where people are hired for as little as $3.75 an hour.The concept is simple: jobseekers, from engineers to office workers to janitors, state the minimum pay they will accept. On a different page, employers advertise jobs stating the most they will pay. Buyers and sellers remain anonymous until the auction is over. There is a four-week trial period before contracts are signed.

The site is legal because Germany has no statutory minimum wage. Germany's unemployment rate is 12.5%, higher than at any time since the Second World War.

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Jewelry Workers in China Dying of Incurable Lung Disease

Thousands of workers, most of them from poverty-stricken provinces, are hunched over their workbenches in foreign-invested factories in southern China, polishing semi-precious stones which will be sold in luxury stores overseas.

Over the past two years, about 60 workers in several of these jewelry factories have been found to be in the late stages of pneumoconiosis or silicosis (also known as "lung dust disease"), working without adequate protective equipment or proper ventilation. When they become too sick to work, employers refuse to give them any compensation.

At a national conference on occupational disease in Beijing on March 16, Jiang Zuojun, China's Vice-Minister of Health, reported that about 10,000 new cases of pneumoconiosis emerge every year.

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South African Miners Call Off Strike After Gaining a Contract

The National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) said around 21,000 striking workers in the Free State would resume work on April 6. They ended their 8-day strike after ratifying an agreement with Harmony Gold, the world's sixth biggest gold producer.The NUM had threatened to extend the strike to all Harmony operations if no agreement had been reached this week. The company said the work stoppage had cost it $18 million in lost revenue.

Although not part of the formal issues behind the strike, the company's restructuring plan to shut down some shafts and eliminate 5,000 jobs was an important reason for the union's tough action. The issue of company restructuring is expected to be discussed between union and management representatives in the next two weeks.

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Our weekly "LaborTalk" and "The World of Labor" columns can be viewed at our Web site: www.laboreducator.org.

My e-mail address is: hkelber@igc.org.