IDEALS

LISBON, (Aug. 21, 2009) IPS/GIN – Some 200 million people, three
percent of the world’s population, have left their country of
origin to pursue happiness elsewhere, according to the
International Organisation for Migration. But their dreams are
often shattered by human trafficking rings and unscrupulous
employers.

Violence, extortion, wage “deductions,” working from dawn till
dusk, hunger and fear are part of the daily grind for many
immigrants in countries with a centuries-long tradition of
emigration, like Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal.

In Portugal, which has a population of 10.7 million within its
borders and another five million people living abroad, several
dramatic cases were reported recently in the Lisbon newspaper
P£blico. Read the rest of this entry →

MEXICO CITY, (May 26, 2010) IPS/GIN – “Our male coworkers have had
to acknowledge it: we have worked side by side in this struggle,”
says Emilia Pe§a, describing the role of women in driving forward
the battle waged by thousands of workers to reopen a state power
company in Mexico.

Pe§a, wearing denim work pants and no makeup, has been unemployed
for seven months after working 27 years for the state-owned power
utility Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LFC), which was shut down with
little warning by presidential decree in October 2009. Read the rest of this entry →

PHOENIX, Arizona, (Aug. 14, 2009) IPS/GIN – It has been two months
since Katherine Figueroa shared a meal with her parents. Both of
them are undocumented workers that were arrested in a workplace
raid last June by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office here.

While President Barack Obama set forth new federal guidelines to
focus on employers that break the law by hiring undocumented
workers, local authorities in Maricopa County are going in the
opposite direction – increasing the crackdown on employees. Read the rest of this entry →

LA PAZ, (May 5, 2010) IPS/GIN – Strikes and demonstrations against
the Bolivian government’s wage policy marked the end of a honeymoon
between workers and leftwing President Evo Morales.

The government capped general wage hikes at five percent, and at
three percent for the police and armed forces. It also raised the
national minimum wage by five percent to 679 Bolivian pesos (96
dollars) a month, 32 pesos higher than in 2009. Read the rest of this entry →

COLOMBO, (May 8, 2009) IPS/GIN – Trade unions from Bahrain, Jordan
and Kuwait came together with their Sri Lankan counterparts here
to strike an unprecedented agreement on the welfare of migrant
workers.

The Colombo agreement is seen as breaking the tight grip on migrant
workers of recruitment agencies here and in recruiting countries.
It grants all internationally recognised labour rights to Sri
Lankan workers, with unions in receiving countries ensuring
implementation.

Union officials said this landmark deal will be followed by similar
agreements with unions in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the
Philippines, which have large populations of workers in the Middle
East. Read the rest of this entry →

SANTIAGO, (Jun. 6, 2009) IPS/GIN – While women are pleased with
Chile’s new law establishing equal wages for men and women doing
the same work, the discrimination they’ve experienced in the
workplace make them wary of premature optimism.

On May 20, the Chilean parliament unanimously approved the law to
close the wage gap, introducing the principle of equal remuneration
for men and women into the Labor Code.

The following day, in her traditional state of the nation speech
to Congress, socialist President Michelle Bachelet praised
lawmakers for passing the law. Read the rest of this entry →

SEATTLE, Washington, (Jun. 8, 2009) IPS/GIN – For Pablo Alvarado,
a Los Angeles janitor strike in 1999 marked a genesis. When
cleaning companies came to the street corners and centers where day
workers had gathered,  the workers turned down their job offers and
refused to cross the picket lines, he recounted.

“The workers said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks – we won’t do that,’”
Alvarado told IPS. “Instead, 260 day laborers joined 2,000 janitors
who marched across the landscape of Los Angeles.” Read the rest of this entry →

SEATTLE, Washington, (Jun. 15, 2009) IPS/GIN – Up the Pacific Coast
from California to Washington, through the heartland in Texas and
Illinois, and over to the Atlantic Seaboard in New Jersey and New
York, local trade unions and mainly immigrant workers centers are
experimenting with new modes of cooperation.

In some places the form has been an organizational alliance through
the local labor council. In others, they are joining forces on ad
hoc projects that give both groups traction on common goals.

Much of the collaboration has taken place around construction work.
But in Southern California, campaigns are underway to organize
warehouse and carwash workers. Read the rest of this entry →

GENEVA, (Jun. 15, 2009) IPS/GIN – World leaders, employers and
trade unionists, meeting here at a crisis summit on employment,
welcomed a new ‘Global Jobs Pact.’ Yet, some warn that any delay
in its implementation could deepen problems already created by
battered world-wide financial markets.

“For those who think this is a temporary crisis, it’s a suicidal
approach. We can’t wait… we have waited too long. We must act
now,” warned French President Nicholas Sarkozy, speaking at the
3-day International Labor Organisation (ILO) Jobs Crisis Summit
here. Read the rest of this entry →