ILO Conference: Decent work against poverty and food crisis

More than 3,000 government, worker and employer leaders are to meet here from 28 May to 13 June for the annual Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to discuss a wide range of issues including rural poverty reduction, the latest developments in labour rights and enhancing skills development.

France: Sarkozy to boost company profit-sharing schemes

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday announced plans to boost profit-sharing schemes in all French companies as part of a drive to win back voters angry about the state of the economy.

US: State may heed longer lives, raise workers’ pension costs

By Adam Wilson

If you’re a 52-year-old man, you’ve got 28 years left to live. At least, that’s what the state figures as it plans pension payments. It figures the life spans of female employees to be three years longer, and teachers are expected to live to 85.

UK: Temp workers to get more rights

By Kate Hughes and Ben Russell

Agency workers will be given the same rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks on the job following an agreement between employers and unions designed to pre-empt a European directive on the matter.

US: Low wage workers and unions

by Jonathan Tasini

This is a catch-up with an interesting, and not surprising report, from the good folks at the Center for Economic and Policy Research: After decades of disappointing wage growth for many American workers, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) shows that unionization significantly boosts the wages of low-wage workers.

Nigeria: Modern slavery of local workers

By John O. Oba

In 2006, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, as the head of the Anglican Church, apologised on behalf of the church for the sins it committed during the slavery era. Many did not know what exactly the slave master had done during that despicable era that the Caribbean plantation was a “slaughter house” owned by the church.

US: Young workers, positive about unions, face economic squeeze

By James Parks, AFL-CIO

Two new reports show today’s young workers are being squeezed by high costs of living and low or stagnant wages and they want the government to do more to solve this nation’s economic mess.

Asia-Pacific: extending social security

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, is hosting a high level tripartite Asia-Pacific meeting on Socially-Inclusive Strategies to Extend Social Security Coverage, in New Delhi.

Australia: Bring in the workers

By Jeffrey Francis

The acuteness of Australia’s shortage of workers is far greater than is generally realised.So much so, there is a strong possibility that the federal government will consider an employer push for creating a “guest worker” scheme to bring in from overseas unskilled workers.

US: Workers on visas easy to exploit

By Phil Manger

Once again cries are arising from the information technology industry that it is facing a huge and desperate shortage of qualified programmers and software engineers. To remain competitive – and to maintain America’s lead in IT – industry leaders insist they must bring in hundreds of thousands of guest workers from abroad. That’s the hype.