US: what after Edwards for working americans?

John Edwards has dropped out of the presidential race. From trade to an ability to really talk about unions and on many other issues, Edwards shaped the Democratic presidential debate speaking for voiceless working class Americans. What will happen now? Here is how labour and political writers Jonathan Tasini (Working Life) and Jonathan Stein (Mother Jones) commented.

Italy: Tod’s fashion group’s antiunion policy

by Vittorio Longhi

‘An isolated nineteenth-century master that still does not allow unions and dialogue’. That is how Italian trade unionists describe Tod’s fashion group chief Diego Della Valle who decided unilaterally to hand out a 1,400 euro (nearly $2,000) bonus to his workers, for this year, allegedly to help them with a penalizing price increases that are putting average Italian salaries in the doldrums.

US: recession and unemployment in 2008

‘A recession in 2008 would raise the national unemployment rate by between 2.1 and 3.8 percentage points, increasing the number of unemployed Americans by between 3.2 million and 5.8 million’. This is what the economists John Schmitt and Dean Baker from US Center for Economic and Policy Research (Cepr) foresee in a paper just released and entitled “What We’re In For: Projected Economic Impacts of the Next Recession”.

Olympic games in China: officials confirm six workers’ deaths

A Chinese official said six workers have been killed during the construction of Olympic venues in the past three years. The statement appears to be the first time Beijing has acknowledged fatalities in the series of construction projects under way for the August Olympics. Mei fong, journalist of the Wall Street Journal, reports. 

Nepal: urgent action to protect migrant workers

by Indra Gurung, Kathmandu

More than 650 Nepali youths leave each day in search of green pastures elsewhere in the world. The figures started soaring up during the insurgency period in the late 90s, when the country’s economy was in doldrums and employment generation was a meagre.

US: union rates increase in 2007

By Ben Zipperer and John Schmitt (Cepr)

For the first time in the past quarter of a century, in 2007 U.S. unions increased their share of membership among workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) annual union membership report released today. Unions added about 310,000 members last year, raising the unionized share of the workforce to 12.1 percent from 12.0 percent in 2006.

Davos: dangerous complacency over global economy

Political and business leaders at this week’s Davos World Economic Forum meeting are showing few signs of recognising their failure to tackle governance of the global economy, according to the international trade union delegation attending the gathering. “Governments have got it badly wrong and are showing dangerous complacency even as the obvious cracks in the world economy are widening” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.

Unions join WSF Global Day of Action

On January 26th, millions of people around the world will gather in more than 700 activities that will happen in more than 80 countries. It’s a Global Day of Action promoted by the World social forum: an international journey to make our demands and show that the world can be free of war, patriarchy, sexism, enviromental destruction, poverty, militarism, privatization of public spaces and resources, imperialism, violation of human rights, restriction of expression and all kinds of oppression. Also the ITUC is joining the Day of Action,

Media killing: 172 deaths last year

For the third year in succession, the International Federation of Journalists reports an extremely high number of deaths of journalists and people who work with them. Many killings were targeted attacks, some were crossfire casualties in war zones, and others were deaths in accidents. The IFJ total of 172 is again dominated by the body count of Iraqi journalists in a war that has now accounted for more than 250 media killings according to the IFJ’s affiliate the Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists.  Conflict areas like Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka also had high numbers of casualties as well.

EU climate change package: consider social and labour issues

The European Commission today adopted a package of proposals aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in the European Union by 2020. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) considers this package to be a major step, but it stresses that social and employment issues must be taken into account, particularly in a globalised context.