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LABOUR-GULF : Drive to Nationalise Jobs Fuels Harassment
Meena Janardhan
DUBAI - The nationalisation drive sweeping across countries in the Gulf seeks to set right the demographic balance and give better job opportunities to locals, but these same employees are now complaining of harassment by expatriates as a result of this policy.

RUSSIA : Red Fades to a Pale Shade of Pink
Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - May Day celebrations in Russia became a picture of changed times since the Soviet days.

IRAN : Workers Protest Ban on Demonstrations
Ramim Mostaghim
TEHERAN - Workers around Teheran who had planned to demonstrate May Day against low minimum wages, now plan to protest because they were not allowed to demonstrate.

BOLIVIA : Growing Discontent among Already Desperate Workers
Alejandro Campos
LA PAZ - Bolivian workers will celebrate International Labour Day Thursday but amidst uncertainties about the future of their jobs and deep frustration, which threatens this impoverished country's democratic stability.

SPAIN : Women Bear Brunt of Growing Unemployment
Alicia Fraerman
MADRID - Unemployment in Spain rose to 11.73 percent in the first quarter of this year -- the highest rate among the 15 European Union (EU) countries. But women have been hit hardest, according to a new government survey.

LABOUR-LATAM : Brazil an Exception to Trade Union Crisis
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - The hard times that have befallen Latin American trade unions, dating to the early 1990s, have been aggravated in recent years by political factors in the region, but Brazil has proved a notable exception.

FRANCE : The Spectre of 2020 Haunts Powerful Unions
Julio Godoy
PARIS - The Labour Day comes two weeks too early for French unions. They are in the midst of rallying workers against a government plan to deprive them of their well-deserved comfort in old age. Opposition to the planned 'reform' will also be the central issue on May 1 - ahead of what is scheduled to be ”a day of action, of protests, and of strikes, to force the government to modify its choices on the issue of pensions”.

GERMANY : Anger at 'Agenda 2010'
Clive Freeman
BERLIN - Perhaps it is hardly surprising that a Pop Song making cruel fun of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder should recently shoot straight to the top of the charts and become Germany's No.1 hit.

CENTRAL AMERICA : More than 1.9 Million Child Workers
Néfer Muñoz
SAN JOSE - More than 1.9 million children in Central America face a serious threat to their chance of obtaining an education and pulling out of the vicious circle of poverty because they have to earn their daily bread.

US-CENTRAL AMERICA : Anxiety Plagues Immigrant Workers
Néfer Muñoz
SAN JOSE - The United States government has not yet announced whether or not it plans to grant a new extension of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) enjoyed by 347,000 Central American immigrants, which expires in the next few months.

THAILAND : Gov't Eyes Crackdown on Undocumented Workers
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - As the Thai government's harsh crackdown on the drug trade draws to an end, the country's law enforcement officials have named a new group to face the heat of a similar high profile 'war' - undocumented migrant workers.

ZIMBABWE : Political Crisis Deepens
Sam Khumalo
HARARE - -The political crisis in Zimbabwe has deepened as the main trade union, The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), defied threats by President Robert Mugabe's government and engaged in a three day stayaway whose first day has been heeded by workers.

LABOUR : A Drop in the Membership of South Africa's Largest Federation
Anthony Stoppard
JOHANNESBURG - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the largest labour federation in the country, has been weakened by a financial crises and a drop in its membership ahead of a showdown with the government over the country's economic policy.

IRAN : Labour Week After a Year Without Pay
Ramin Mostaghim
TEHERAN - Karamat Aqaee was laid off work as an accountant from the Ahvaz Steel Company in Khozestan in the south of Iran eight years ago. His views were found to be incompatible with the ideology of the Islamic government.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL : Rural Slavery Tough to Root Out
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - An estimated 25,000 men, women and children continue to work today as slave labourers in rural Brazil, despite persistent complaints by human rights organisations and promises by the new government to eradicate the practice over the next four years.

ECONOMY : Coffee Giant Spurns Fair Trade Outreach to Shareholders
Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Oxfam International's first effort to bring its campaign to save the livelihoods of some 25 million coffee farmers in poor countries to the notice of company shareholders was stymied Tuesday by one of the world's largest roasters, Kraft Foods.

LABOUR : Fortress Japan Warming to Foreign Workers
Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO - Mai is 32, lives in Tokyo with her daughter, and has come a long way from her days of selling chicken in Thailand. A Thai, she asks that her Japanese name, 'Mai', be used to refer to her.

IRAQ : ICFTU Ready to Assist Workers
Stefania Bianchi
BRUSSELS - The creation of a free and democratic trade union movement is essential for the future of democracy in Iraq, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

 

 


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  International Labour Day


In 1889, the First Congress of the Second Socialist International selected May 1st as a day for international celebration of workers around the world. The date was chosen in commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre, which occured in Chicago in 1886 during a general strike that broke out across the United States in which workers demanded labour rights, such as the eight-hour workday.


  Related Web Sites


International Labour Organization
LabourStart
Canadian Labour Congress
Labor History
U.S. Department of Labor
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan
Department of Labour, South Africa
Department of Labour, New Zealand
U.S. National Labor Relations Board
America's Union Movement

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