Workers in Cambodia will hold a "people's tribunal" next week to investigate pay and conditions at factories working for fashion brands including H&M and Gap.
An international panel of judges will hear evidence from workers, factories and multinational brands including Puma and Adidas. H&M said it would not attend but would supply information about how it was addressing wages at its suppliers' factories in the country.
The two-day hearing aims to raise awareness of low pay and long working hours that workers say are partly responsible for a series of "mass faintings" involving hundreds of workers at factories supplying H&M, Gap and sports brands.
Up to 300 workers will give evidence about the fainting incidents and about living conditions resulting from low wages.
The minimum wage in Cambodia is the equivalent of just $66 (£42) a month, a level that human rights groups say is almost half that required to meet basic needs.
Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Coalition for Apparel Workers Democratic Unions, said: "Because the workers get low wages they try to work 10 to 13 hours a day to get the money they need for their family."
He said workers needed a basic wage equivalent to at least $100 (£63) a month to get by without putting their health in danger. "Workers are fainting because of long working hours and the environment in the factory," he said.
Fumes from chemicals, poor ventilation, malnutrition and even "mass hysteria" have all been blamed for making workers ill. ...
Jobcentres tricking people out of benefits to cut costs, says whistleblower
Soaring number of sanctions against unemployed amid claims that DWP staff are being told to trip people up with paperwork
John Domokos
Friday 1 April 2011
The Guardian has been told that unemployed people are being tricked into breaching the rules so that benefits can be held back
Rising numbers of vulnerable jobseekers are being tricked into losing benefits amid growing pressure to meet welfare targets, a Jobcentre Plus adviser has told the Guardian.
A whistleblower said staff at his jobcentre were given targets of three people a week to refer for sanctions, where benefits are removed for up to six months. He said it was part of a "culture change" since last summer that had led to competition between advisers, teams and regional offices.
"Suddenly you're not helping somebody into sustainable employment, which is what you're employed to do," he said. "You're looking for ways to trick your customers into 'not looking for work'. You come up with many ways. I've seen dyslexic customers given written job searches, and when they don't produce them – what a surprise – they're sanctioned. The only target that anyone seems to care about is stopping people's money.
"'Saving the public purse' is the catchphrase that is used in our office … It is drummed home all the time – you're saving the public purse. Feel good about stopping someone's money, you've just saved your own pocket. Its a joke."
The claims came as the big businesses handed contracts to get the long term jobless into worktoday said the government should privatise jobcentres so that their firms could work with people who have been jobless for less than a year.
Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show the total number of cases where people have lost their benefits has soared since the beginning of 2010 to 75,000 in October, the latest month available. The figures also reveal the number of claimants with registered disabilities being cut off has more than doubled to almost 20,000 over the same period. ...
Soaring number of sanctions against unemployed amid claims that DWP staff are being told to trip people up with paperwork
John Domokos
Friday 1 April 2011
The Guardian has been told that unemployed people are being tricked into breaching the rules so that benefits can be held back
Rising numbers of vulnerable jobseekers are being tricked into losing benefits amid growing pressure to meet welfare targets, a Jobcentre Plus adviser has told the Guardian.
A whistleblower said staff at his jobcentre were given targets of three people a week to refer for sanctions, where benefits are removed for up to six months. He said it was part of a "culture change" since last summer that had led to competition between advisers, teams and regional offices.
"Suddenly you're not helping somebody into sustainable employment, which is what you're employed to do," he said. "You're looking for ways to trick your customers into 'not looking for work'. You come up with many ways. I've seen dyslexic customers given written job searches, and when they don't produce them – what a surprise – they're sanctioned. The only target that anyone seems to care about is stopping people's money.
"'Saving the public purse' is the catchphrase that is used in our office … It is drummed home all the time – you're saving the public purse. Feel good about stopping someone's money, you've just saved your own pocket. Its a joke."
The claims came as the big businesses handed contracts to get the long term jobless into worktoday said the government should privatise jobcentres so that their firms could work with people who have been jobless for less than a year.
Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show the total number of cases where people have lost their benefits has soared since the beginning of 2010 to 75,000 in October, the latest month available. The figures also reveal the number of claimants with registered disabilities being cut off has more than doubled to almost 20,000 over the same period. ...
The US supreme court heard oral arguments Tuesday on what could be the largest class action civil rights suit in US history. Or it could be the case that stops class action history in its tracks. Monster megastore Walmart is challenging a lower court's decision to permit women employed at thousands of Walmart stores to join together to contest alleged gender discrimination in pay and promotion practices.
"This has been a ten-year process," says plaintiff Edith Arana. What keeps the women of Dukes v Wal-Mart going, she says, is the belief that something bigger than them is at stake. (Walmart revised the form of its name a few years back.) Says Arana:
"I know what happened to me and it's not just me. The women of this lawsuit are the poster children for the all the women who couldn't do this, and they each have families and names and faces."
That, when it comes to class action lawsuits, is the whole point. Class action lawsuits have probably been the best tool since the passage of the 1964 civil rights act to bring forth claims and win cases against companies that discriminate. The case now before the court will decide not only if women like Arana and Betty Dukes experienced discrimination, but if an entire class of workers did.
It couldn't be a more contentious issue, at a more contentious moment. As Columbia University political science professor Dorian Warren noted on GRITtv this week, the Walmart case comes before a court that has been sceptical not just of discrimination cases, but of the very idea of "class action". And it comes before a nation that – from Madison to Main Street in just about every state – is in the streets over that very concept.
Coming up on 4 April is a nationally coordinated day of action by US trade unions and their allies: We Are One. The protesters will be recalling Dr Martin Luther King's legacy – on the anniversary of his assassination. But they could do worse than to take a tip from the Tea Party types and read the US Constitution while they're at it. Listen in to one of those Tea Party recitations and you'll find constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, of the press and of the right peaceably to assemble and petition government for redress. For working Americans living in the most dramatically divided economy in a century, every one of those avenues is under attack.
Freedom of the press? Concentration of media ownership is consolidating press power into a few mighty hands. As in the recently approved NBC/Comcast merger, the power in question is the power to shut others out.
Assembly? After weeks of inconvenient public protest for labour rights and against draconian cuts to public services and the people who provide them, the city of Madison just restricted speech in the people's Capitol building to a small "free speech zone" – for the first time in Wisconsin history. In Albany, New York, protesters faced a sign that told them only "senators, staff and lobbyists" were welcome in the state's house. ...
"This has been a ten-year process," says plaintiff Edith Arana. What keeps the women of Dukes v Wal-Mart going, she says, is the belief that something bigger than them is at stake. (Walmart revised the form of its name a few years back.) Says Arana:
"I know what happened to me and it's not just me. The women of this lawsuit are the poster children for the all the women who couldn't do this, and they each have families and names and faces."
That, when it comes to class action lawsuits, is the whole point. Class action lawsuits have probably been the best tool since the passage of the 1964 civil rights act to bring forth claims and win cases against companies that discriminate. The case now before the court will decide not only if women like Arana and Betty Dukes experienced discrimination, but if an entire class of workers did.
It couldn't be a more contentious issue, at a more contentious moment. As Columbia University political science professor Dorian Warren noted on GRITtv this week, the Walmart case comes before a court that has been sceptical not just of discrimination cases, but of the very idea of "class action". And it comes before a nation that – from Madison to Main Street in just about every state – is in the streets over that very concept.
Coming up on 4 April is a nationally coordinated day of action by US trade unions and their allies: We Are One. The protesters will be recalling Dr Martin Luther King's legacy – on the anniversary of his assassination. But they could do worse than to take a tip from the Tea Party types and read the US Constitution while they're at it. Listen in to one of those Tea Party recitations and you'll find constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, of the press and of the right peaceably to assemble and petition government for redress. For working Americans living in the most dramatically divided economy in a century, every one of those avenues is under attack.
Freedom of the press? Concentration of media ownership is consolidating press power into a few mighty hands. As in the recently approved NBC/Comcast merger, the power in question is the power to shut others out.
Assembly? After weeks of inconvenient public protest for labour rights and against draconian cuts to public services and the people who provide them, the city of Madison just restricted speech in the people's Capitol building to a small "free speech zone" – for the first time in Wisconsin history. In Albany, New York, protesters faced a sign that told them only "senators, staff and lobbyists" were welcome in the state's house. ...
US authorities are considering charging BP managers with manslaughter after decisions they made before the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion last year killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in US history.
Sources close to the process told Bloomberg that investigators were also examining whether BP's executives, including former chief executive Tony Hayward, made statements that were at odds with what they knew during congressional hearings last year.
The US justice department opened criminal and civil investigations into the spill last June. The department filed a civil lawsuit against BP in December and has not filed criminal charges. An official at the department told Reuters these charges could include manslaughter, but the official declined to confirm this was under consideration.
According to Bloomberg, authorities are investigating BP managers who worked both on the rig and onshore to determine if they should be charged in connection with the workers' deaths. The investigation aims to determine whether decisions by BP managers to cut costs and increase speed on the project led to fatal safety sacrifices.
As well as the testimony of Hayward and others before congress, investigators are reviewing emails and other documents to determine what BP officials and its partners in Deepwater Horizon knew when they testified last June.
In January, a presidentially appointed national commission filed its report on the Deepwater Horizon spill and concluded that the "explosive loss" could well have been prevented. In a final report Fred Bartlit, chief counsel of commission, laid considerable blame on BP.
Bartlit said BP had been aware of problems with lab tests of Halliburton cement used to seal the well for three years. He said BP decided not to install a safety device known as a lockdown sleeve in order to save $2m (£1.2m) in costs. He also said BP's well-site leader missed a critical test known as a negative pressure test that indicated something was wrong, a test he should have supervised. ...
Sources close to the process told Bloomberg that investigators were also examining whether BP's executives, including former chief executive Tony Hayward, made statements that were at odds with what they knew during congressional hearings last year.
The US justice department opened criminal and civil investigations into the spill last June. The department filed a civil lawsuit against BP in December and has not filed criminal charges. An official at the department told Reuters these charges could include manslaughter, but the official declined to confirm this was under consideration.
According to Bloomberg, authorities are investigating BP managers who worked both on the rig and onshore to determine if they should be charged in connection with the workers' deaths. The investigation aims to determine whether decisions by BP managers to cut costs and increase speed on the project led to fatal safety sacrifices.
As well as the testimony of Hayward and others before congress, investigators are reviewing emails and other documents to determine what BP officials and its partners in Deepwater Horizon knew when they testified last June.
In January, a presidentially appointed national commission filed its report on the Deepwater Horizon spill and concluded that the "explosive loss" could well have been prevented. In a final report Fred Bartlit, chief counsel of commission, laid considerable blame on BP.
Bartlit said BP had been aware of problems with lab tests of Halliburton cement used to seal the well for three years. He said BP decided not to install a safety device known as a lockdown sleeve in order to save $2m (£1.2m) in costs. He also said BP's well-site leader missed a critical test known as a negative pressure test that indicated something was wrong, a test he should have supervised. ...
Trade unions representing a million state employees are drawing up plans for strikes that could bring Britain's schools, universities, courts and Whitehall to a standstill as early as June in protest over government plans to end so-called "gold-plated" public sector pensions, the Guardian has learned.
Lord Hutton, the Labour former work and pensions secretary charged by the coalition with reviewing public sector pensions, will publish his final report on Thursday, and it now looks likely to act as a starting gun for extended industrial action against the government's austerity programme.
The report will recommend that 6 million nurses, teachers, local government and other public sector workers should pay more into their pension pots, retire later and receive less when they do. All state employees will be affected, and it will create the first legal basis for simultaneous strikes across the public service unions. ...
Lord Hutton, the Labour former work and pensions secretary charged by the coalition with reviewing public sector pensions, will publish his final report on Thursday, and it now looks likely to act as a starting gun for extended industrial action against the government's austerity programme.
The report will recommend that 6 million nurses, teachers, local government and other public sector workers should pay more into their pension pots, retire later and receive less when they do. All state employees will be affected, and it will create the first legal basis for simultaneous strikes across the public service unions. ...
The governor said he had “thought about” hiring outside agitators to disrupt demonstrations by thousands of union workers against a bill that would remove their collective bargaining rights.
His remarks are only likely to stiffen opposition to his proposals. On the call, Mr Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, and said it would "be outstanding" to be flown out to California by businessman David Koch for a good time after the battle was over.
Mr Koch donated $43,000 to the governor’s 2010 campaign and with his brother Charles own Koch Industries, which is the largest privately-owned company in America which has significant operations in Wisconsin.
The conversation was posted on the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website based in New York. The governor also said he would tell 14 Democrat state senators, whose absence denied the Senate a quorum needed for a vote on his proposal, that he was "willing to sit down and talk" with them but "only ... if they came back to the Capitol with all 14 of them".
Mr Walker said on the call that his legal advisers believed the presence of the 14 in the Capitol building alone, but not the Senate chamber, would allow the Republicans to declare a quorum in the chamber and pass the measure. ...
His remarks are only likely to stiffen opposition to his proposals. On the call, Mr Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, and said it would "be outstanding" to be flown out to California by businessman David Koch for a good time after the battle was over.
Mr Koch donated $43,000 to the governor’s 2010 campaign and with his brother Charles own Koch Industries, which is the largest privately-owned company in America which has significant operations in Wisconsin.
The conversation was posted on the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website based in New York. The governor also said he would tell 14 Democrat state senators, whose absence denied the Senate a quorum needed for a vote on his proposal, that he was "willing to sit down and talk" with them but "only ... if they came back to the Capitol with all 14 of them".
Mr Walker said on the call that his legal advisers believed the presence of the 14 in the Capitol building alone, but not the Senate chamber, would allow the Republicans to declare a quorum in the chamber and pass the measure. ...
French strikes and protests: live updates
19 Oct 2010
Protests against president Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reforms escalated today adding to widespread travel disruption, alarm about petrol supplies and the closure of schools. Follow live updates
3.03pm: Here's a summary of the main developments today:
• Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in scores of towns and cities across France to protest against Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reforms. Police and unions differed sharply on estimates of the number of people involved, but YouTube footage in various locations showed the scale and breadth of the demonstrations.
• Violence between police and protesters has continued for another day in some areas. The worst clashes occurred in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, and a school burnt down in Le Mans.
• Sarkozy warned of a crackdown against "troublemakers" and said he had a duty to push ahead with the reforms. A crucial Senate vote on raising the retirement age to 62 has been delayed until later in the week.
• Almost a third of French petrol stations have run out of fuel, as panic buying continues. But the government claims supplies will be back to normal within five days.
• The strikes caused the closures of hundreds of schools, the cancellation of around a third of flights, and continuing disruption to the rail network. But there is an expectation that the protests will fade once the pension reforms are passed in the Senate.
2.51pm: Around 30% of French petrol stations have run out of fuel, according to the France energy minister Jean-Louis Borloo. He said 4,000 petrol stations out of 13,000 were awaiting fuel supplies, according to Reuters.
But in an effort to stop panic buying the prime minister Francois Fillon claimed that supplies would be back to normal within four or five days following measures to tackle problems caused by refinery strikes.
2.33pm: Yet more videos of protests from another crop of French cities have been uploaded to YouTube...
... 2.06pm: Videos of protests across France are emerging thick and fast on YouTube. ...
... 1.37pm: When there are petrol shortages, someone usually stands to gain. In this case it's Belgian garage owners.
They are rubbing their hands with glee as French drivers cross over the border to get petrol, according to La Voix du Nord.
1.32pm: AP has details of the disruption to the French railway network. It has also been talking to disgruntled passengers:
Many commuters' patience was beginning to wear thin. Only about one in two trains were running on some of the Paris Metro lines, and commuters had to elbow their way onto packed trains.
At Paris' Gare Saint Lazare, which serves the French capital's western suburbs and the northwestern Normandy and Brittany regions, commuters waited on crowded platforms for their trains. Only about half of regularly scheduled trains were running out of the station Tuesday.
Caroline Mesnard, a 29-year-old teacher said she expected her commute to take about twice as long as usual as it has since last Tuesday's start of the open-ended strike on France's trains.
"All I can say is that after eight days, it's beginning to get a bit tiresome," said Mesnard.
"I'm really tired, but there's nothing to be done but hang on and wait for this to end."
1.24pm: Around 240,000 people have taken to the streets of Marseille, the CGT union told La Provence. ...
... 1.02pm: The minister of the interior, Brice Hortefeux, says he wants to agree a new way of calculating the size of demonstrations after wildly different estimates from the authorities and the unions.
Here's a case in point in Bordeaux, where unions say 140,000 people are taking part in demonstrations and the police say only 34,000 are involved.
12.49pm: How's this for a post modernist update? The French news site 20 minutes notes in its live blog that that the Guardian is also live blogging the protests (13h16). (He says, disappearing down an echo chamber).
More importantly, it has a useful map of today's protest route through Paris. ...
19 Oct 2010
Protests against president Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reforms escalated today adding to widespread travel disruption, alarm about petrol supplies and the closure of schools. Follow live updates
3.03pm: Here's a summary of the main developments today:
• Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in scores of towns and cities across France to protest against Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reforms. Police and unions differed sharply on estimates of the number of people involved, but YouTube footage in various locations showed the scale and breadth of the demonstrations.
• Violence between police and protesters has continued for another day in some areas. The worst clashes occurred in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, and a school burnt down in Le Mans.
• Sarkozy warned of a crackdown against "troublemakers" and said he had a duty to push ahead with the reforms. A crucial Senate vote on raising the retirement age to 62 has been delayed until later in the week.
• Almost a third of French petrol stations have run out of fuel, as panic buying continues. But the government claims supplies will be back to normal within five days.
• The strikes caused the closures of hundreds of schools, the cancellation of around a third of flights, and continuing disruption to the rail network. But there is an expectation that the protests will fade once the pension reforms are passed in the Senate.
2.51pm: Around 30% of French petrol stations have run out of fuel, according to the France energy minister Jean-Louis Borloo. He said 4,000 petrol stations out of 13,000 were awaiting fuel supplies, according to Reuters.
But in an effort to stop panic buying the prime minister Francois Fillon claimed that supplies would be back to normal within four or five days following measures to tackle problems caused by refinery strikes.
2.33pm: Yet more videos of protests from another crop of French cities have been uploaded to YouTube...
... 2.06pm: Videos of protests across France are emerging thick and fast on YouTube. ...
... 1.37pm: When there are petrol shortages, someone usually stands to gain. In this case it's Belgian garage owners.
They are rubbing their hands with glee as French drivers cross over the border to get petrol, according to La Voix du Nord.
1.32pm: AP has details of the disruption to the French railway network. It has also been talking to disgruntled passengers:
Many commuters' patience was beginning to wear thin. Only about one in two trains were running on some of the Paris Metro lines, and commuters had to elbow their way onto packed trains.
At Paris' Gare Saint Lazare, which serves the French capital's western suburbs and the northwestern Normandy and Brittany regions, commuters waited on crowded platforms for their trains. Only about half of regularly scheduled trains were running out of the station Tuesday.
Caroline Mesnard, a 29-year-old teacher said she expected her commute to take about twice as long as usual as it has since last Tuesday's start of the open-ended strike on France's trains.
"All I can say is that after eight days, it's beginning to get a bit tiresome," said Mesnard.
"I'm really tired, but there's nothing to be done but hang on and wait for this to end."
1.24pm: Around 240,000 people have taken to the streets of Marseille, the CGT union told La Provence. ...
... 1.02pm: The minister of the interior, Brice Hortefeux, says he wants to agree a new way of calculating the size of demonstrations after wildly different estimates from the authorities and the unions.
Here's a case in point in Bordeaux, where unions say 140,000 people are taking part in demonstrations and the police say only 34,000 are involved.
12.49pm: How's this for a post modernist update? The French news site 20 minutes notes in its live blog that that the Guardian is also live blogging the protests (13h16). (He says, disappearing down an echo chamber).
More importantly, it has a useful map of today's protest route through Paris. ...
Strikes Force Travelers to Weave a Tangled Web Through Paris
By NICOLA CLARK
Published: October 19, 2010
PARIS — International travelers passing through Paris faced disruptions on Tuesday due because of strikes by public transport workers and air traffic controllers. But airlines said they were striving to maintain most, if not all, of their international flights to and from the French capital.
A spokesman for Aéroports de Paris, which operates the two main Paris airports of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, said the terminals were calm and far less crowded than on a typical day, when roughly 160,000 travelers pass through their halls. Civil aviation authorities had asked airlines over the weekend to reduce their flight schedules by 30 percent at Charles de Gaulle and 50 percent at Orly airport in preparation for Tuesday’s action.
“All passengers would normally have been contacted by their airline either yesterday or the day before if their flight was going to be affected,” said a spokesman for the airport.
Air France said on its Web site that it was operating 100 percent of its intercontinental flights Tuesday, as well as roughly 80 percent of its domestic and inter-European flights from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport and 50 percent from Orly. Air France passengers whose flights had been canceled were being offered, when possible, seats on flights operated by its Dutch partner airline, KLM, or other members of the SkyTeam alliance.
Still, some passengers encountered delays. At Orly on Tuesday afternoon, Marianna Aptrah, a 40-year-old doctor from Cordoba, Argentina, had just wrapped up a weeklong vacation in France with her husband and was about to miss her connecting flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires. Her Iberia Airlines flight from Paris to Madrid had been canceled because of the strike.
“We checked on the web this morning and our flight was still okay,” Ms. Aptrah said. “Then we get here and we see it is not going anywhere. We have no hotel booked here, and I must go home for work. This is awful. I know the French workers are angry, but I am angry too.”
Public buses to and from the Paris airports were operating a normal schedule, the Paris transport operator, RATP, said. But those seeking to get to the airports by rail were facing significant delays. On the train line that runs from central Paris to the two main airports of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, just 50 percent of trains were operating, and platforms and train cars were packed with people and luggage.
Taxis were running, although streets on the city’s Left Bank, especially the areas along the main protest route near Place d’Italie, Montparnasse and the Esplanade des Invalides were blocked by police officials for most of the day Tuesday in anticipation of tens of thousands of marchers in the afternoon.
Tourists planning to rent cars in France on arrival should be aware that shortages of gasoline — due to a weeklong strike by refinery workers — could make filling up their tanks difficult. Unions and associations representing independent fuel suppliers estimated late Monday that more than 2,500 gas stations across the country were running dry. Those groups could not be reached immediately for projections on Tuesday.
According to news reports, the areas most affected by the gasoline shortages included the Paris region, most of the north, Strasbourg in the east, much of western France and around the cities of Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and Marseille.
By NICOLA CLARK
Published: October 19, 2010
PARIS — International travelers passing through Paris faced disruptions on Tuesday due because of strikes by public transport workers and air traffic controllers. But airlines said they were striving to maintain most, if not all, of their international flights to and from the French capital.
A spokesman for Aéroports de Paris, which operates the two main Paris airports of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, said the terminals were calm and far less crowded than on a typical day, when roughly 160,000 travelers pass through their halls. Civil aviation authorities had asked airlines over the weekend to reduce their flight schedules by 30 percent at Charles de Gaulle and 50 percent at Orly airport in preparation for Tuesday’s action.
“All passengers would normally have been contacted by their airline either yesterday or the day before if their flight was going to be affected,” said a spokesman for the airport.
Air France said on its Web site that it was operating 100 percent of its intercontinental flights Tuesday, as well as roughly 80 percent of its domestic and inter-European flights from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport and 50 percent from Orly. Air France passengers whose flights had been canceled were being offered, when possible, seats on flights operated by its Dutch partner airline, KLM, or other members of the SkyTeam alliance.
Still, some passengers encountered delays. At Orly on Tuesday afternoon, Marianna Aptrah, a 40-year-old doctor from Cordoba, Argentina, had just wrapped up a weeklong vacation in France with her husband and was about to miss her connecting flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires. Her Iberia Airlines flight from Paris to Madrid had been canceled because of the strike.
“We checked on the web this morning and our flight was still okay,” Ms. Aptrah said. “Then we get here and we see it is not going anywhere. We have no hotel booked here, and I must go home for work. This is awful. I know the French workers are angry, but I am angry too.”
Public buses to and from the Paris airports were operating a normal schedule, the Paris transport operator, RATP, said. But those seeking to get to the airports by rail were facing significant delays. On the train line that runs from central Paris to the two main airports of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, just 50 percent of trains were operating, and platforms and train cars were packed with people and luggage.
Taxis were running, although streets on the city’s Left Bank, especially the areas along the main protest route near Place d’Italie, Montparnasse and the Esplanade des Invalides were blocked by police officials for most of the day Tuesday in anticipation of tens of thousands of marchers in the afternoon.
Tourists planning to rent cars in France on arrival should be aware that shortages of gasoline — due to a weeklong strike by refinery workers — could make filling up their tanks difficult. Unions and associations representing independent fuel suppliers estimated late Monday that more than 2,500 gas stations across the country were running dry. Those groups could not be reached immediately for projections on Tuesday.
According to news reports, the areas most affected by the gasoline shortages included the Paris region, most of the north, Strasbourg in the east, much of western France and around the cities of Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and Marseille.
In France, Labor Strikes Head for Showdown
By ALAN COWELL
Published: October 19, 2010
PARIS — Hundreds of flights were canceled, frantic drivers lined up for fuel and hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, took to the streets of Paris and other cities on Tuesday as protests over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to change France’s pension system mounted in advance of a final parliamentary vote this week.
The protests came on the sixth day of national strikes or demonstrations since early September. Initial figures from government ministries said fewer public workers had participated than in previous stoppages. Overall, the Interior Ministry said 480,000 people were demonstrating across France by midday, comapred to 500,000 in protests a week ago. But the number of high schools reporting class boycotts and other student protests had risen to 379.
Garbage workers, teachers, armored truck drivers supplying automated teller machines and an array of others joined the strikes on Tuesday. Protest organizations said demonstrations were planned at more than 260 venues across the country during the day, ratcheting up the battle of nerves between the authorities and unions demanding that the government retreat from reforms as previous administrations did when confronted by outrage against tax and labor law changes in 1995 and 2006.
While most protests seemed orderly, around 300 young people threw up barricades of garbage cans to snarl traffic in the Place de la République in central Paris and scuffles between students and riot police were reported from there and from the suburb of Nanterre.
The disruptions have gained momentum since the first national protest on Sept. 7, and have been compounded by an eight-day strike at oil refineries and blockades of fuel depots, leaving motorists scrambling.
In central Paris, drivers lined up at gas stations hoping to fill their tanks before a two-week school vacation begins this weekend. Many waited for as long as an hour, creeping toward pumps in the hope that they were not yet empty of fuel. Some drivers from the suburbs said they had tried to fill up at other stations on their way into the city, but without success. At least one fifth of France’s 12,000 service stations have run out of some products.
But Mr. Sarkozy has shown no sign of abandoning his plan to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.
“The reform is essential and France is committed to it and will go ahead with it just as our German partners did,” he told reporters late Monday in the Normandy resort of Deauville, Reuters reported.
On Tuesday, he said it was his duty to enact the reforms and he promised measures to guarantee fuel supplies.
Mr. Sarkozy was speaking after talks with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The government in Berlin resolved in 2007 to raise its retirement age from 62 to 63 by 2029, in line with a broader European trend. Overall, the continent is aging and, as people live longer with smaller families, fewer young people are available to pay for the continent’s social safety nets.
On Tuesday, police said a high school in Le Mans, southwest of Paris, was destroyed by arson in the early hours, but it was not clear if the blaze was linked to the protests. Transport authorities in Paris said commuter rail services would be cut by as much as a half.
The national railroad authority also announced cancellations of around half its high-speed and normal services on Tuesday, but said the Eurostar Paris-London link would not be affected. The authority said support for the strike among railroad workers seemed to be running at around 30 percent compared to 40 percent for the previous stoppage one week ago.
At the Gare du Nord station in Paris, travelers waited on benches, then raced for trains running on a reduced schedule. “It’s absolutely absurd,” said Emmanuel de Boos, 56, a writer from the western city of Nantes. “We absolutely need to reform the retirement system as it exists today.”
“I think these strikes are more about other things,” he said, likening them to a referendum on Mr. Sarkozy. “ This is a reaction against the elite.”
Yannick Kalu, 25, a student from a northern suburb of Paris, called Mr. Sarkozy’s reforms a bad idea. “For those who began working early in life it’s going to be rough.” He agreed that the strikes were about the broader issue of Mr. Sarkozy’s rule. “I really do hope it’s going to stop,” he said, but added, “We can’t hold it against people to worry about their retirements.”
In the central Chatelet neighborhood, Marie Rodriguez, 35, a middle school teacher, said the broad response to the protests “proves that not only one group is against the reform but that everybody is concerned. I support the strike.”
At Orly airport near Paris, where half of the scheduled flights were grounded, travelers peered at departure boards recording cancellations and delays.
Martin Raggio, 31, and Alejandro Molettieri, 29, who both work at a brewery in Buenos Aires, had come to Orly after their train to Barcelona was canceled. “I guess we will wait here, we will sleep here in Orly maybe, until we can leave,” Mr. Roggio said glumly. “We knew about the strike but we were hoping we would be okay.”
At other French airports, around a third of flights were expected to be affected as the test of wills between labor unions and the government intensified.
Presenting himself as a champion of necessary change, Mr. Sarkozy had proposed the retirement measures to help wrest France from the economic doldrums gripping many parts of Europe and to reverse years of declining fortunes before elections in 2012. With a final Senate vote on the measures expected this week and lower house approval already in hand, he believes he can bank on success.
Initially, the vote was set for Wednesday but French news reports said that it could now be held on Thursday or even as late as Sunday, extending the confrontation as the Senate plows its way through some 400 amendments introduced by the opposition. Those tactics will delay, but probably not alter, the outcome.
By ALAN COWELL
Published: October 19, 2010
PARIS — Hundreds of flights were canceled, frantic drivers lined up for fuel and hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, took to the streets of Paris and other cities on Tuesday as protests over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to change France’s pension system mounted in advance of a final parliamentary vote this week.
The protests came on the sixth day of national strikes or demonstrations since early September. Initial figures from government ministries said fewer public workers had participated than in previous stoppages. Overall, the Interior Ministry said 480,000 people were demonstrating across France by midday, comapred to 500,000 in protests a week ago. But the number of high schools reporting class boycotts and other student protests had risen to 379.
Garbage workers, teachers, armored truck drivers supplying automated teller machines and an array of others joined the strikes on Tuesday. Protest organizations said demonstrations were planned at more than 260 venues across the country during the day, ratcheting up the battle of nerves between the authorities and unions demanding that the government retreat from reforms as previous administrations did when confronted by outrage against tax and labor law changes in 1995 and 2006.
While most protests seemed orderly, around 300 young people threw up barricades of garbage cans to snarl traffic in the Place de la République in central Paris and scuffles between students and riot police were reported from there and from the suburb of Nanterre.
The disruptions have gained momentum since the first national protest on Sept. 7, and have been compounded by an eight-day strike at oil refineries and blockades of fuel depots, leaving motorists scrambling.
In central Paris, drivers lined up at gas stations hoping to fill their tanks before a two-week school vacation begins this weekend. Many waited for as long as an hour, creeping toward pumps in the hope that they were not yet empty of fuel. Some drivers from the suburbs said they had tried to fill up at other stations on their way into the city, but without success. At least one fifth of France’s 12,000 service stations have run out of some products.
But Mr. Sarkozy has shown no sign of abandoning his plan to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.
“The reform is essential and France is committed to it and will go ahead with it just as our German partners did,” he told reporters late Monday in the Normandy resort of Deauville, Reuters reported.
On Tuesday, he said it was his duty to enact the reforms and he promised measures to guarantee fuel supplies.
Mr. Sarkozy was speaking after talks with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The government in Berlin resolved in 2007 to raise its retirement age from 62 to 63 by 2029, in line with a broader European trend. Overall, the continent is aging and, as people live longer with smaller families, fewer young people are available to pay for the continent’s social safety nets.
On Tuesday, police said a high school in Le Mans, southwest of Paris, was destroyed by arson in the early hours, but it was not clear if the blaze was linked to the protests. Transport authorities in Paris said commuter rail services would be cut by as much as a half.
The national railroad authority also announced cancellations of around half its high-speed and normal services on Tuesday, but said the Eurostar Paris-London link would not be affected. The authority said support for the strike among railroad workers seemed to be running at around 30 percent compared to 40 percent for the previous stoppage one week ago.
At the Gare du Nord station in Paris, travelers waited on benches, then raced for trains running on a reduced schedule. “It’s absolutely absurd,” said Emmanuel de Boos, 56, a writer from the western city of Nantes. “We absolutely need to reform the retirement system as it exists today.”
“I think these strikes are more about other things,” he said, likening them to a referendum on Mr. Sarkozy. “ This is a reaction against the elite.”
Yannick Kalu, 25, a student from a northern suburb of Paris, called Mr. Sarkozy’s reforms a bad idea. “For those who began working early in life it’s going to be rough.” He agreed that the strikes were about the broader issue of Mr. Sarkozy’s rule. “I really do hope it’s going to stop,” he said, but added, “We can’t hold it against people to worry about their retirements.”
In the central Chatelet neighborhood, Marie Rodriguez, 35, a middle school teacher, said the broad response to the protests “proves that not only one group is against the reform but that everybody is concerned. I support the strike.”
At Orly airport near Paris, where half of the scheduled flights were grounded, travelers peered at departure boards recording cancellations and delays.
Martin Raggio, 31, and Alejandro Molettieri, 29, who both work at a brewery in Buenos Aires, had come to Orly after their train to Barcelona was canceled. “I guess we will wait here, we will sleep here in Orly maybe, until we can leave,” Mr. Roggio said glumly. “We knew about the strike but we were hoping we would be okay.”
At other French airports, around a third of flights were expected to be affected as the test of wills between labor unions and the government intensified.
Presenting himself as a champion of necessary change, Mr. Sarkozy had proposed the retirement measures to help wrest France from the economic doldrums gripping many parts of Europe and to reverse years of declining fortunes before elections in 2012. With a final Senate vote on the measures expected this week and lower house approval already in hand, he believes he can bank on success.
Initially, the vote was set for Wednesday but French news reports said that it could now be held on Thursday or even as late as Sunday, extending the confrontation as the Senate plows its way through some 400 amendments introduced by the opposition. Those tactics will delay, but probably not alter, the outcome.
Almost half a million people in France are taking part in a sixth national day of action over planned pension reforms, officials say.
Strikes are disrupting travel and schools, a refinery blockade is hitting fuel supplies, and protesters and police have clashed in several cities.
The government wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67.
President Nicolas Sarkozy insists he will press ahead with pension reforms. ...
Strikes are disrupting travel and schools, a refinery blockade is hitting fuel supplies, and protesters and police have clashed in several cities.
The government wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67.
President Nicolas Sarkozy insists he will press ahead with pension reforms. ...
China promises help over shooting of Zambian miners
Bill Smith
Oct 19, 2010
Beijing - China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday promised to cooperate with Zambian authorities over the shooting of a group of Zambian miners by Chinese coal mine managers.
'The Chinese embassy in Zambia has taken timely measures to cope with the incident, such as to direct relevant companies to properly handle disputes and to visit the victims and their family,' ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.
Ma said the problem at the Chinese Collum Coal Mine was 'largely resolved' but he said the Chinese government would continue 'cooperating closely with Zambia.'
Zambian police arrested two Chinese mine managers on Monday after they 'accidentally wounded some Zambian miners during a clash sparked by disputes over working conditions' at the mine in the southern town of Sinazongwe, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The Zambian news website zambianwatchdog.com said 10 miners and one bystander were injured in the clash at the Chinese-run coal mine last week.
The miners had been 'presenting their grievances of poor working conditions' to the managers, Zambian Watchdog said.
Local residents protested and blocked the main road to the mine after the shooting, it said.
Bill Smith
Oct 19, 2010
Beijing - China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday promised to cooperate with Zambian authorities over the shooting of a group of Zambian miners by Chinese coal mine managers.
'The Chinese embassy in Zambia has taken timely measures to cope with the incident, such as to direct relevant companies to properly handle disputes and to visit the victims and their family,' ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.
Ma said the problem at the Chinese Collum Coal Mine was 'largely resolved' but he said the Chinese government would continue 'cooperating closely with Zambia.'
Zambian police arrested two Chinese mine managers on Monday after they 'accidentally wounded some Zambian miners during a clash sparked by disputes over working conditions' at the mine in the southern town of Sinazongwe, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The Zambian news website zambianwatchdog.com said 10 miners and one bystander were injured in the clash at the Chinese-run coal mine last week.
The miners had been 'presenting their grievances of poor working conditions' to the managers, Zambian Watchdog said.
Local residents protested and blocked the main road to the mine after the shooting, it said.
Chinese managers 'mistakenly hurt' Zambian miners: China
Oct 19 2010
China said the managers of a Chinese private company in Zambia 'mistakenly hurt' 12 coal miners protesting the poor working conditions prevailing in the pits.
Asked about reports that Chinese managers shot and wounded 12 Zambian workers at a coal mine on October 15, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Chinese managers mistakenly hurt several local workers.
Both the government took serious note of the incidents and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has directed the local company to 'properly' handle the dispute with visits to the injured and their families.
The situation was brought under control with joint efforts of Chinese and Zambian governments.
The Chinese government will continue close cooperation with the Zambian government and continue close cooperation and properly handle aftermath and safeguard the safety and legitimate interest of Chinese personnel, he said.
Reports from Zambia said two Chinese managers who allegedly shot and wounded 12 miners protesting against poor working conditions at a Chinese run coal-mine have been arrested.
Oct 19 2010
China said the managers of a Chinese private company in Zambia 'mistakenly hurt' 12 coal miners protesting the poor working conditions prevailing in the pits.
Asked about reports that Chinese managers shot and wounded 12 Zambian workers at a coal mine on October 15, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Chinese managers mistakenly hurt several local workers.
Both the government took serious note of the incidents and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has directed the local company to 'properly' handle the dispute with visits to the injured and their families.
The situation was brought under control with joint efforts of Chinese and Zambian governments.
The Chinese government will continue close cooperation with the Zambian government and continue close cooperation and properly handle aftermath and safeguard the safety and legitimate interest of Chinese personnel, he said.
Reports from Zambia said two Chinese managers who allegedly shot and wounded 12 miners protesting against poor working conditions at a Chinese run coal-mine have been arrested.
Chinese anger at 37 coal mine deaths
Thirty seven miners trapped after an explosion at a Chinese coal mine have been confirmed dead, prompting comparisons to the Chilean mine rescue and triggering anger at China's inability to ensure mine safety.
Thirty seven miners trapped after an explosion at a Chinese coal mine have been confirmed dead, prompting comparisons to the Chilean mine rescue and triggering anger at China's inability to ensure mine safety.
Ryanair boss should be 'sacked' and replaced with flight attendant, says pilot
The controversial boss of the budget airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, should be sacked and replaced with a flight attendant, a senior pilot for the carrier has claimed.
By Andrew Hough
14 Sep 2010
Captain Morgan Fischer, a senior pilot based in Marseilles, insisted the no-frills airline could save thousand of pounds in salary, perks and stock options by undertaking the measures.
The 41 year-old, who also trains other pilots from the company’s base in the south of France, mounted the rare public challenge after the latest cost-cutting proposal from his boss.
His comments, in a letter to the Financial Times on Tuesday, followed Mr O’Leary’s call for co-pilots to be removed from the flight deck to save money. The Irish airline's outspoken chief executive also claimed that air stewardesses could instead be trained to land an aircraft in the event of an emergency, but his comments earlier this month were condemned by pilots and passenger groups who questioned Mr O’Leary’s commitment to passenger safety.
In his letter Captain Fischer said he was aware of the company's desire to reduce costs "whenever feasible" to keep ticket prices down for the travelling public.
"I would propose that Ryanair replace the chief executive with a probationary cabin crew member currently earning about €13,200 (£11,000) net a year," he wrote to the paper. "Ryanair would benefit by saving millions of euros in salary, benefits and stock options. The position of CEO could, in fact, become a source of ancillary revenue for Ryanair. Currently, Ryanair's contract cabin crew providers charge new recruits for the cost of their training – €3000 in fact." He added: "Ryanair could similarly charge €3000 for the training required to become chief executive."
Captain Fischer, who has 20 years flying experience with airlines including Trans World and American, added there would be no need to get approval from regulators for the appointment.
While he declined to comment further on Tuesday it appears his comments were meant as a serious criticism of his boss, but in a typically mischievous response, Mr O'Leary conceded that a flight attendant would be a "far more attractive" chief executive and claimed the suggestion was being seriously examined. ...
The controversial boss of the budget airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, should be sacked and replaced with a flight attendant, a senior pilot for the carrier has claimed.
By Andrew Hough
14 Sep 2010
Captain Morgan Fischer, a senior pilot based in Marseilles, insisted the no-frills airline could save thousand of pounds in salary, perks and stock options by undertaking the measures.
The 41 year-old, who also trains other pilots from the company’s base in the south of France, mounted the rare public challenge after the latest cost-cutting proposal from his boss.
His comments, in a letter to the Financial Times on Tuesday, followed Mr O’Leary’s call for co-pilots to be removed from the flight deck to save money. The Irish airline's outspoken chief executive also claimed that air stewardesses could instead be trained to land an aircraft in the event of an emergency, but his comments earlier this month were condemned by pilots and passenger groups who questioned Mr O’Leary’s commitment to passenger safety.
In his letter Captain Fischer said he was aware of the company's desire to reduce costs "whenever feasible" to keep ticket prices down for the travelling public.
"I would propose that Ryanair replace the chief executive with a probationary cabin crew member currently earning about €13,200 (£11,000) net a year," he wrote to the paper. "Ryanair would benefit by saving millions of euros in salary, benefits and stock options. The position of CEO could, in fact, become a source of ancillary revenue for Ryanair. Currently, Ryanair's contract cabin crew providers charge new recruits for the cost of their training – €3000 in fact." He added: "Ryanair could similarly charge €3000 for the training required to become chief executive."
Captain Fischer, who has 20 years flying experience with airlines including Trans World and American, added there would be no need to get approval from regulators for the appointment.
While he declined to comment further on Tuesday it appears his comments were meant as a serious criticism of his boss, but in a typically mischievous response, Mr O'Leary conceded that a flight attendant would be a "far more attractive" chief executive and claimed the suggestion was being seriously examined. ...
... Jamaat-e-Islami has a large following among the country’s majority, and mostly illiterate, Muslim population. But as a political party it ranks fourth after the Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ex-premier Begum Khaleda Zia and the Jatiya Party led by former army ruler Hossain Mohammed Ershad.
Police arrested the three top Jamaat leaders after another religious group, the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, filed a court case in March, saying two had compared the Jamaat party chief with Prophet Muhammad.
In Islam, Muhammad is beyond comparison. Police named the arrested leaders as Jamaat chief Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid and another key party leader, Moulana Delwar Hossain Saidee.
Jamaat said around 25 other party members were detained in police in overnight raids in various districts.
Many Bangladeshis accuse Jamaat of collaborating with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war of independence, in which around three million people were killed and thousands of women raped.
Jamaat denies the charges, and in turn has accused the government of Sheikh Hasina of trying to curb its activities using war crime charges and is likely to see the arrests as a ploy to push that effort.
Police using clubs, tear gas and water cannon were also locked in street battles with textile workers demanding back pay and an immediate rise in monthly wages now equivalent to less than $24. Witnesses said at least 30 people, including 10 police, were injured.
The clashes, with workers erecting street barricades, pelting police with stones and attacking cars, were the second in as many weeks involving workers producing garments for global brands and earning wages well below the poverty line.
The violence took place three days after a one-day general strike called by opposition parties closed most businesses and prompted further confrontations between marchers and police.
Bangladesh garment factory workers currently earn a minimum monthly salary of 1,660 taka, or less than $24, and have demanded an increase of 300% to 5,000 taka. Owners last week said they could pay no more than 3,000 taka a month.
Garments, Bangladesh’s biggest export, account for more than 80% of the impoverished South Asian country’s $15bn in annual export earnings, according to Commerce Ministry data. ...
Dear BrightKnight hipped me to this news story.
Police arrested the three top Jamaat leaders after another religious group, the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, filed a court case in March, saying two had compared the Jamaat party chief with Prophet Muhammad.
In Islam, Muhammad is beyond comparison. Police named the arrested leaders as Jamaat chief Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid and another key party leader, Moulana Delwar Hossain Saidee.
Jamaat said around 25 other party members were detained in police in overnight raids in various districts.
Many Bangladeshis accuse Jamaat of collaborating with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war of independence, in which around three million people were killed and thousands of women raped.
Jamaat denies the charges, and in turn has accused the government of Sheikh Hasina of trying to curb its activities using war crime charges and is likely to see the arrests as a ploy to push that effort.
Police using clubs, tear gas and water cannon were also locked in street battles with textile workers demanding back pay and an immediate rise in monthly wages now equivalent to less than $24. Witnesses said at least 30 people, including 10 police, were injured.
The clashes, with workers erecting street barricades, pelting police with stones and attacking cars, were the second in as many weeks involving workers producing garments for global brands and earning wages well below the poverty line.
The violence took place three days after a one-day general strike called by opposition parties closed most businesses and prompted further confrontations between marchers and police.
Bangladesh garment factory workers currently earn a minimum monthly salary of 1,660 taka, or less than $24, and have demanded an increase of 300% to 5,000 taka. Owners last week said they could pay no more than 3,000 taka a month.
Garments, Bangladesh’s biggest export, account for more than 80% of the impoverished South Asian country’s $15bn in annual export earnings, according to Commerce Ministry data. ...
Dear BrightKnight hipped me to this news story.
Police in Bangladesh have used clubs, tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of textile workers protesting low wages in capital city Dhaka.
The clashes erupted Wednesday in the Mirpur and Sheorapara areas of the capital, forcing several factories to close down. Authorities say the protesters erected street barricades and hurled bricks at police.
Witnesses say at least 40 people, including police officers, were injured in the violence.
The unrest is the latest in a series of violent protests involving low-paid workers producing garments for global brands. Garment factories accounted for 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual export earnings last year.
Supporters of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the arrests of three of their leaders the day before. At least 20 people were detained during the demonstrations in Dhaka and other parts of the country. ...
Dear BrightKnight hipped me to this news story.
The clashes erupted Wednesday in the Mirpur and Sheorapara areas of the capital, forcing several factories to close down. Authorities say the protesters erected street barricades and hurled bricks at police.
Witnesses say at least 40 people, including police officers, were injured in the violence.
The unrest is the latest in a series of violent protests involving low-paid workers producing garments for global brands. Garment factories accounted for 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual export earnings last year.
Supporters of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the arrests of three of their leaders the day before. At least 20 people were detained during the demonstrations in Dhaka and other parts of the country. ...
Dear BrightKnight hipped me to this news story.
May 27, 2010
Suicide attempt prompts panic at Foxconn
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent
The spiralling suicide crisis at Foxconn appeared to be worsening last night after another employee of the electronics plant tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists.
The suicide attempt was made just hours after the death of a 23-year-old employee.
Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk openly of a “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the vast factory in Shenzhen, southern China, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs for big-name clients.
The death today brought the toll among the company’s staff to 11 since January. The Times has learnt that Sony has begun “re-evaluating” the working environment at Foxconn.
With panic starting to show among Foxconn’s management, the company is understood to have asked employees to sign a pledge that they would seek medical help if they were ever overcome by suicidal thoughts.
The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.
The latest victim, like the nine other young employees who have committed suicide at the plant since January, leapt from the seventh floor of his dormitory.
The company has made hastily contrived efforts to improve conditions for its workers, the majority of whom stand in the same position for 12-hour shifts and receive the equivalent of about £90 each month in salary. Those measures include the use of “soothing” music on the factory floor, the recruitment of hundreds of dance instructors and the establishment of a suicide hotline. ...
Suicide attempt prompts panic at Foxconn
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent
The spiralling suicide crisis at Foxconn appeared to be worsening last night after another employee of the electronics plant tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists.
The suicide attempt was made just hours after the death of a 23-year-old employee.
Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk openly of a “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the vast factory in Shenzhen, southern China, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs for big-name clients.
The death today brought the toll among the company’s staff to 11 since January. The Times has learnt that Sony has begun “re-evaluating” the working environment at Foxconn.
With panic starting to show among Foxconn’s management, the company is understood to have asked employees to sign a pledge that they would seek medical help if they were ever overcome by suicidal thoughts.
The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.
The latest victim, like the nine other young employees who have committed suicide at the plant since January, leapt from the seventh floor of his dormitory.
The company has made hastily contrived efforts to improve conditions for its workers, the majority of whom stand in the same position for 12-hour shifts and receive the equivalent of about £90 each month in salary. Those measures include the use of “soothing” music on the factory floor, the recruitment of hundreds of dance instructors and the establishment of a suicide hotline. ...
A Chinese electronics assembly worker threw himself from the roof of his dormitory in Shenzhen yesterday, the latest suicide by a worker toiling to feed the world’s craving for cheaper iPods, laptops and mobile phones.
The migrant worker, 19, earning a basic salary of 900 yuan (£19) per month, was the ninth employee at Foxconn’s immense plant in the southern Chinese city to take his life since January, and the tenth in the company as a whole. He had worked at the plant for only 42 days.
Li Hai’s death echoes that of a 21-year-old logistics worker at the same factory three days earlier and came a day after the chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, declared that his company was “not running a sweatshop”.
Many think that the boom in electronic equipment and market pressures have given the industry the characteristics for which the textile industry is notorious: physically punishing, mind-numbing work at low wages. ...
The migrant worker, 19, earning a basic salary of 900 yuan (£19) per month, was the ninth employee at Foxconn’s immense plant in the southern Chinese city to take his life since January, and the tenth in the company as a whole. He had worked at the plant for only 42 days.
Li Hai’s death echoes that of a 21-year-old logistics worker at the same factory three days earlier and came a day after the chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, declared that his company was “not running a sweatshop”.
Many think that the boom in electronic equipment and market pressures have given the industry the characteristics for which the textile industry is notorious: physically punishing, mind-numbing work at low wages. ...
A ninth worker fell to his death at a southern Chinese factory run by the electronics giant Foxconn today, as campaigners protested against working conditions at the company's Hong Kong offices.
The Taiwanese-owned firm's plant in Shenzhen had already seen eight suicides this year and two more attempts. Another worker committed suicide at a smaller Foxconn factory in Hebei province, in the north of the country, in January, according to the Associated Press.
The 19-year-old man from central China had been working at the plant for only a month and a half, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Police say they are determining the cause of death and Foxconn did not offer immediate comment.
The company ‑ which is believed to make goods for Dell, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Apple among others ‑ has installed safety nets around buildings to try to prevent further deaths. It has also called in counsellors and introduced music on production lines to attempt to relieve the monotony of working practices.
But campaigners have demanded a more comprehensive overhaul of working practices, saying that higher wages, shorter hours and greater variety of work are needed. They also called for independent workers' committees to air employees' grievances. ...
The Taiwanese-owned firm's plant in Shenzhen had already seen eight suicides this year and two more attempts. Another worker committed suicide at a smaller Foxconn factory in Hebei province, in the north of the country, in January, according to the Associated Press.
The 19-year-old man from central China had been working at the plant for only a month and a half, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Police say they are determining the cause of death and Foxconn did not offer immediate comment.
The company ‑ which is believed to make goods for Dell, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Apple among others ‑ has installed safety nets around buildings to try to prevent further deaths. It has also called in counsellors and introduced music on production lines to attempt to relieve the monotony of working practices.
But campaigners have demanded a more comprehensive overhaul of working practices, saying that higher wages, shorter hours and greater variety of work are needed. They also called for independent workers' committees to air employees' grievances. ...
Foxconn employee dies in 11th fall this year in China
Mon May 24, 2010
BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - An employee of the tech firm Foxconn died early on Tuesday after falling from a building in southern city of Shenzhen, state media reported, the ninth such death at the firm's manufacturing hub this year.
Two workers have also survived similar falls at the sprawling manufacturing hub of the firm, whose clients include Apple and Sony Ericsson.
The company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on the latest fall, just four days after a 21-year-old man died in the same way.
The man who fell on Tuesday was a teenage vocational school graduate from central China who had worked at the plant for a month and a half, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Police are investigating whether the death was suicide or an accident, but Xinhua quoted sources saying the man left a suicide note, apologising to his father.
"This is really a public relations crisis for Foxconn," said Jenny Lai, an analyst at CLSA in Taipei. "The key right now is for the company to get out there and reassure their clients that they have put in place a system that will ensure that any new cases are minimised."
Shenzhen's police chief was leading an investigation into previous falls, Xinhua reported earlier.
Foxconn has 420,000 employees based in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported earlier this month, most under 30.
The unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry has come under criticism from labour groups over its working conditions after the spate of apparent suicides.
Hon Hai's chairman, Terry Gou, on Monday defended the firm and its working conditions at a business forum.
"I believe, we are not a sweatshop...a team of 900,000 workers is very difficult to manage, there are many things to do every day, however I have confidence that we can stabilise the situation very quickly," local television showed him saying.
Mon May 24, 2010
BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - An employee of the tech firm Foxconn died early on Tuesday after falling from a building in southern city of Shenzhen, state media reported, the ninth such death at the firm's manufacturing hub this year.
Two workers have also survived similar falls at the sprawling manufacturing hub of the firm, whose clients include Apple and Sony Ericsson.
The company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on the latest fall, just four days after a 21-year-old man died in the same way.
The man who fell on Tuesday was a teenage vocational school graduate from central China who had worked at the plant for a month and a half, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Police are investigating whether the death was suicide or an accident, but Xinhua quoted sources saying the man left a suicide note, apologising to his father.
"This is really a public relations crisis for Foxconn," said Jenny Lai, an analyst at CLSA in Taipei. "The key right now is for the company to get out there and reassure their clients that they have put in place a system that will ensure that any new cases are minimised."
Shenzhen's police chief was leading an investigation into previous falls, Xinhua reported earlier.
Foxconn has 420,000 employees based in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported earlier this month, most under 30.
The unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry has come under criticism from labour groups over its working conditions after the spate of apparent suicides.
Hon Hai's chairman, Terry Gou, on Monday defended the firm and its working conditions at a business forum.
"I believe, we are not a sweatshop...a team of 900,000 workers is very difficult to manage, there are many things to do every day, however I have confidence that we can stabilise the situation very quickly," local television showed him saying.
8th Suicide Reported at Foxconn Factory
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: May 21, 2010
SHANGHAI — For the eighth time this year, a worker has apparently committed suicide at a factory in China operated by Foxconn Technology, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other global companies.
The worker, a 21-year-old man named Nan Gang, jumped from a four-story factory after leaving work at 4 a.m. Friday, Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported. It was the 10th time a Foxconn worker has apparently committed or attempted suicide this year. Two workers survived with serious injuries.
No one has been able to explain what is happening at Foxconn this year. But not for the first time, the events are raising questions about the harsh regimens used by Chinese factories to produce a growing share of the world’s goods.
Labor rights groups have called some of the deaths suspicious and asked for an independent investigation of the two massive Foxconn factory sites, which together employ about 420,000 workers in Shenzhen, China.
A spokesman for Foxconn, a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan, could not be reached Friday. But the company recently said it had hired counselors, was planning to bring in monks and had set up a help line for troubled workers.
Representatives of Apple, Dell and H.P. also could not be reached Friday for comment. But all three companies have long said that their factory suppliers abide by international labor standards. ...
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: May 21, 2010
SHANGHAI — For the eighth time this year, a worker has apparently committed suicide at a factory in China operated by Foxconn Technology, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a major supplier to Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other global companies.
The worker, a 21-year-old man named Nan Gang, jumped from a four-story factory after leaving work at 4 a.m. Friday, Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported. It was the 10th time a Foxconn worker has apparently committed or attempted suicide this year. Two workers survived with serious injuries.
No one has been able to explain what is happening at Foxconn this year. But not for the first time, the events are raising questions about the harsh regimens used by Chinese factories to produce a growing share of the world’s goods.
Labor rights groups have called some of the deaths suspicious and asked for an independent investigation of the two massive Foxconn factory sites, which together employ about 420,000 workers in Shenzhen, China.
A spokesman for Foxconn, a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan, could not be reached Friday. But the company recently said it had hired counselors, was planning to bring in monks and had set up a help line for troubled workers.
Representatives of Apple, Dell and H.P. also could not be reached Friday for comment. But all three companies have long said that their factory suppliers abide by international labor standards. ...
MILLIONS of households and businesses face postal delays this week with a series of Royal Mail walkouts in a dispute over pay and jobs.
Postal workers have already walked out from depots in Bristol, Peterborough and Edinburgh. Further strikes are planned early this week in East Anglia, the West Midlands and London.
Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: “Royal Mail management is trying to crush the British postal service. They have been criticised by government for failing to tackle industrial relations problems, yet they still refuse to address the concerns of postal workers.” ...
Postal workers have already walked out from depots in Bristol, Peterborough and Edinburgh. Further strikes are planned early this week in East Anglia, the West Midlands and London.
Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: “Royal Mail management is trying to crush the British postal service. They have been criticised by government for failing to tackle industrial relations problems, yet they still refuse to address the concerns of postal workers.” ...
New inquiry into exploitation of the work-for-free interns
Employers and MPs taking advantage as graduates struggle to find jobs
Polly Curtis, education editor
Friday 31 July 2009 22.05 BST
A government watchdog is to investigate whether companies are exploiting thousands of graduates by employing them on unpaid, long-term internships during the recession, the Guardian has learned.
The Low Pay Commission is expecting to include recommendations on internships in its annual review in the new year amid concerns that companies are taking advantage of the tough jobs market.
A Guardian inquiry has also discovered that MPs could be breaking the rules. Ministers have estimated that unpaid interns work up to 18,000 hours a week inside parliament, a saving of more than £5m a year on the national minimum wage. MPs are each given a staffing allowance of £104,000pa. ...
Employers and MPs taking advantage as graduates struggle to find jobs
Polly Curtis, education editor
Friday 31 July 2009 22.05 BST
A government watchdog is to investigate whether companies are exploiting thousands of graduates by employing them on unpaid, long-term internships during the recession, the Guardian has learned.
The Low Pay Commission is expecting to include recommendations on internships in its annual review in the new year amid concerns that companies are taking advantage of the tough jobs market.
A Guardian inquiry has also discovered that MPs could be breaking the rules. Ministers have estimated that unpaid interns work up to 18,000 hours a week inside parliament, a saving of more than £5m a year on the national minimum wage. MPs are each given a staffing allowance of £104,000pa. ...
I'd love to give mr corker a nice welcome.
Wal-Mart faces $12M bias claim in firing
Doug Guthrie
The Detroit News
December 19, 2008
DETROIT -- A Dearborn man has sued Wal-Mart for $12 million, claiming the merchandising giant fired him because he complained about discriminatory harassment he suffered on the job at the hands of fellow employees and supervisors.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court by Louay N. Kezy, 42, alleges the company allowed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias and taunting at the Dearborn Wal-Mart on Mercury Drive. Kezy worked in the stock department from the store's opening in March until he was fired Aug. 14 after filing a complaint with managers.
"It is absurd that his supervisors think they can take this action against an Arab American without consequences right in the middle of the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East," said Kezy's lawyer, Nabih Ayad. ...
Doug Guthrie
The Detroit News
December 19, 2008
DETROIT -- A Dearborn man has sued Wal-Mart for $12 million, claiming the merchandising giant fired him because he complained about discriminatory harassment he suffered on the job at the hands of fellow employees and supervisors.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court by Louay N. Kezy, 42, alleges the company allowed anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias and taunting at the Dearborn Wal-Mart on Mercury Drive. Kezy worked in the stock department from the store's opening in March until he was fired Aug. 14 after filing a complaint with managers.
"It is absurd that his supervisors think they can take this action against an Arab American without consequences right in the middle of the largest Arab community outside of the Middle East," said Kezy's lawyer, Nabih Ayad. ...
M'tags say it all, kids.
Axle strikers eye Detroit 3 issues
Workers fight movement to cut wages
BY JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
April 13, 2008
By walking the picket line outside of American Axle & Manufacturing's plants in Detroit three days a week, Steve Conner says he hopes not only to preserve his wage to support his wife and nine children, but also so workers at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC don't face the same fight in a few years.
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Conner, a machine operator, sees a correlation between the contract the UAW reaches at his company, and what others in the industry may face in a few years.
"It's like writing on the wall," said Conner, 46, of Madison Heights, about the effect American Axle's deal could have on the rest of the industry. "If they are able to accomplish this here, it is going to go to GM, Ford and Chrysler." ...
Imagine your own response to your wage's being halved.
Workers fight movement to cut wages
BY JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
April 13, 2008
By walking the picket line outside of American Axle & Manufacturing's plants in Detroit three days a week, Steve Conner says he hopes not only to preserve his wage to support his wife and nine children, but also so workers at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC don't face the same fight in a few years.
Advertisement
Conner, a machine operator, sees a correlation between the contract the UAW reaches at his company, and what others in the industry may face in a few years.
"It's like writing on the wall," said Conner, 46, of Madison Heights, about the effect American Axle's deal could have on the rest of the industry. "If they are able to accomplish this here, it is going to go to GM, Ford and Chrysler." ...
Imagine your own response to your wage's being halved.
American Axle, union continue talks
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 8, 2008
Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. expect to continue talks today, as the two sides try to reach a contract that would end a strike, now nearly two weeks old, at the Detroit-based auto supplier.
The strike at American Axle, which counts General Motors Corp. as its largest customer, has forced the automaker to shut down seven assembly plants. By Monday, the strike is expected to impact, through production cuts or shut downs, as many as 29 GM factories, including engine plants in Romulus and Flint.
The UAW brought 3,650 of its members at American Axle on strike early Feb. 26, after negotiations collapsed and the contract between the UAW and the supplier expired. At the time, the two sides were far apart on issues including wages, buyouts and pensions. The company had proposed cutting the wage of production workers by about half to $14.50 an hour, saying that it needs the savings to compete with companies that already have cut their labor costs....
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 8, 2008
Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. expect to continue talks today, as the two sides try to reach a contract that would end a strike, now nearly two weeks old, at the Detroit-based auto supplier.
The strike at American Axle, which counts General Motors Corp. as its largest customer, has forced the automaker to shut down seven assembly plants. By Monday, the strike is expected to impact, through production cuts or shut downs, as many as 29 GM factories, including engine plants in Romulus and Flint.
The UAW brought 3,650 of its members at American Axle on strike early Feb. 26, after negotiations collapsed and the contract between the UAW and the supplier expired. At the time, the two sides were far apart on issues including wages, buyouts and pensions. The company had proposed cutting the wage of production workers by about half to $14.50 an hour, saying that it needs the savings to compete with companies that already have cut their labor costs....
American Axle to resume talks with UAW on Thursday
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 5, 2008
American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and the UAW agreed to resume contract talks at noon on Thursday, the company said in a statement this morning.
This would be the first time that the two sides have scheduled formal talks since 3,600 UAW-represented American Axle workers went on strike Feb. 26 protesting the company's proposed reductions for wages and benefits. ...
The company's proposed reductions would halve employees' pay and benefits! No wonder they struck!
By JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
March 5, 2008
American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and the UAW agreed to resume contract talks at noon on Thursday, the company said in a statement this morning.
This would be the first time that the two sides have scheduled formal talks since 3,600 UAW-represented American Axle workers went on strike Feb. 26 protesting the company's proposed reductions for wages and benefits. ...
The company's proposed reductions would halve employees' pay and benefits! No wonder they struck!
Court rules employee worked to death
Fri Nov 30, 2007
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Toyota Motor Corp employee died of overwork after logging more than 106 hours of overtime in a month, a judge ruled Friday, reversing a ministry's earlier decision not to pay compensation to his widow.
The Toyota Labor Standards Inspection office, a local branch of Japan's labor ministry, refused to pay the widow the usual compensation for a spouse's work-related death, saying the man had only logged 45 hours of overtime in the month before he died, Japanese media reported. ...
Fri Nov 30, 2007
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Toyota Motor Corp employee died of overwork after logging more than 106 hours of overtime in a month, a judge ruled Friday, reversing a ministry's earlier decision not to pay compensation to his widow.
The Toyota Labor Standards Inspection office, a local branch of Japan's labor ministry, refused to pay the widow the usual compensation for a spouse's work-related death, saying the man had only logged 45 hours of overtime in the month before he died, Japanese media reported. ...
As automakers sputter, exec pay issue looms
Fri Aug 3, 2007
By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. automakers are expected to ask for major health-care concessions in contract talks with the United Auto Workers, citing those costs as a disadvantage with Japanese rivals, but the union says the executive pay gap deserves scrutiny as well.
After the three Detroit-based auto companies posted a combined loss of about $15 billion last year, the focus of the high-stakes round of negotiations is on reducing labor costs to make the companies more competitive.
But who should take the pay cut? And how much -- if anything -- should senior executives have to give up?
... The UAW has shot back that labor costs represent only 8 percent of the cost of an average vehicle. The union also says its members' wages have only kept pace with compensation growth across the U.S. economy in recent years.
A 2006 study by economists at the University of Indiana concluded that Japanese CEOs earn one-third of the pay of their U.S. counterparts. The economists used tax records to estimate the pay of the Japanese executives.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said last month as contract talks began, "Let the people coming forth who are so critical of what we make, start off by telling us what they make. And how does it also apply to management? Is there a differential?" ...
Fri Aug 3, 2007
By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. automakers are expected to ask for major health-care concessions in contract talks with the United Auto Workers, citing those costs as a disadvantage with Japanese rivals, but the union says the executive pay gap deserves scrutiny as well.
After the three Detroit-based auto companies posted a combined loss of about $15 billion last year, the focus of the high-stakes round of negotiations is on reducing labor costs to make the companies more competitive.
But who should take the pay cut? And how much -- if anything -- should senior executives have to give up?
... The UAW has shot back that labor costs represent only 8 percent of the cost of an average vehicle. The union also says its members' wages have only kept pace with compensation growth across the U.S. economy in recent years.
A 2006 study by economists at the University of Indiana concluded that Japanese CEOs earn one-third of the pay of their U.S. counterparts. The economists used tax records to estimate the pay of the Japanese executives.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said last month as contract talks began, "Let the people coming forth who are so critical of what we make, start off by telling us what they make. And how does it also apply to management? Is there a differential?" ...