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International Employment Relations Network List
(IERN-L)
A Miscellany of International Employment Relations News
Miscellany 3/2013: 4 February 2013
________________________________________________________________
Subscribe at: http://lists.unisa.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/iern-l
Post to: [email protected]
Access to ADAPT International Bulletin at:
http://www.adaptbulletin.eu/index.php/component/content/article?id=46
bollettinoAdapt.it at
http://www.bollettinoadapt.it/acm-on-line/Home.html
_______________________________________________________________
Contents
Main Stories
Australia: Unions push for apprentices to be paid a living wage
China: Reforms promised after street cleaners stage strikes across Guangzhou
Kenya: Nurses’ strike enters third month
Korea: Key Changes to Korea’s Labor Policies in 2013 (LABOR TODAY 840)
Sweden: Forced Labour for Cameroonian Migrant Workers
Turkey: Luxury brand fails on union rights in Turkey
USA: Robert Reich calls for massive Wal-Mart, McDonalds and hospital labor
unions
__________________________________________________________________
In Brief
Australia: Unions planning new push on jobs
2
Australia: Decision to shelve review on building costs disappoints
Australia: Wages of sin
Cambodia: Cambodian Garment Workers seek support from Walmart, H&M
shoppers.
Canada: Corporate Tax Freedom Day is January 30 - Big businesses hoard cash
from tax giveaways, not investing in jobs
Hong Kong: Company directors sentenced to community service for wage
offences and Labour Tribunal award payment defaults
India: Bank employees to join central trade unions strike
Korea: Hwanwha to turn 2,000 temps into full-time workers
Maldives: Police break strike at Alimatha Resort, arrest two workers
Netherlands: Strike at SABIC plant in the Netherlands hits production
New Zealand: Hope in Ports of Auckland dispute
Palestine: PA employees to end strike
Singapore: Construction Company Owner Faces 85 EFMA Charges
Sudan: Al Bashir to Address African Trade Union Tomorrow
USA: Longshoremen Reach East Coast Port Deal
_________________________________________________________
Opinion
Nigeria: Convicted Pension Thief Must be Retried
South Africa: COSATU Gauteng Press Statement on Court Challenge by
Employers to extension of Bargaining Council Agreement in Textile and Clothing
Sector to Non-Parties
USA: The Decline of Unions Is Your Problem Too
__________________________________________________________________
People
Singapore: Mdm Halimah Yacob appointed NTUC Advisor for Int'l Affairs
__________________________________________________________________
Labour History
USA: Seattle workers general strike for fair wages, 1919
3
__________________________________________________________________
Publications
Calls for Papers, Conferences, Seminars, Symposia
Other Sites
________________________________________________________________
Main Stories
Australia: Unions push for apprentices to be paid a living wage
Australia/IR/Apprentice Wages
ACTU, 31 January 2013 at
http://www.actu.org.au/Media/Mediareleases/Unionspushforapprenticestobepaidalivingwage.
aspx
Unions will push for a wage rise for apprentices to allow them to cope with the cost of living
and ease future shortages in skilled trades.
The ACTU today lodged a submission with the Fair Work Commission calling for wages for
all apprentices aged under 20 to be a minimum of 60 per cent of the trades rate, or $11.15 an
hour. Older apprentices would be required to be paid at the minimum award classification for
their job.
The measure would help turn around apprenticeship completion rates which have dropped to
a worrying 55 per cent. One in three apprentices do not even make it through the first year.
ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said that the apprenticeship system was failing to keep up with
changes in society and apprentices could not meet basic living costs on their current pay.
“The make-up of Australia’s apprentice workforce has changed dramatically in the past three
decades, but pay rates are stuck in a time warp.
“Apprentices today are no longer 15 or 16 years old - more than half of them are in their 20s
and many have mortgages or children to support.
“While they recognise the long-term value of completing an apprenticeship, severe financial
pressures often leave them no choice but to delay or drop out.”
“In some cases apprentices earn barely more than the Newstart allowance.
4
“For example, a first year electrical apprentice will earn $288.37 a week under their Award,
while an 18-year-old trainee at McDonald’s is earning $540 a week – a difference of
$251.63.”
Mr Oliver said research showed that low pay was discouraging school leavers from taking up
apprenticeships in the first place.
He warned that unless pay was increased the drop in both start and completion rates would
increase and damage Australia’s economic future.
“Apprenticeships have been a cornerstone of the training system in Australia and we want
them to stay that way,” Mr Oliver said.
“They provide young people with a combination of work and training that prepares them for
a secure job and a career for life.
“They also ensure that Australia’s productivity is not damaged by shortages of important
trades.”
The full bench of the Fair Work Commission will begin hearings into the review of wages
and conditions for apprentices, trainees and juniors at the start of March. The case is being
heard as part of the two-yearly review of the Modern Awards system which came into being
in 2010.
___________________________________________________________________________
China: Reforms promised after street cleaners stage strikes across
Guangzhou
IR/China/ Guangzhou/Street Cleaners
CLB, 3 February 2013 at http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/110207
The annual meeting of the Guangdong People’s Congress this year was marked by garbage
piled up in the streets of the provincial capital Guangzhou as hundreds of sanitation workers
in more than five districts around city went on strike for higher pay and social insurance
payments.
Cleaners complained they were not properly compensated for their work during public
holidays and that, for some, their actual take-home pay after deductions was less than 1,000
yuan a month, basically the same as it was ten years ago.
5
After one strike in Yuexiu district, the employer did promise an additional monthly subsidy
of 200 yuan and another 200 yuan as a Spring Festival bonus. But the workers were still not
happy and demanded that their monthly salary be doubled from the current level of 1,600
yuan to 3,000 yuan per month.
Experts say the long-standing problem of low pay stems primarily from the contract system
adopted by the city government in 2001. Zhao Dongping, secretary of Guangzhou Sanitation
Industry Association claimed that the government doesn’t have sufficient funds for cleaners,
and doesn’t factor in normal benefits when it comes to public bidding. “That is the primary
reason why it’s difficult for cleaners to have a pay increase,” he said.
In order to win a bid from the Guangzhou City Administration Committee, the government
department responsible for the city’s sanitation contractors, bidding companies are inclined to
set their budget closely in line with the minimum wage. A public tender published in 2011
inviting bids for a five-year cleaning services contract for the streets around the Pazhou
International Exhibition Centre, for example, only mentioned the cap price without setting a
minimum price for bidders.
In response to the cleaners’ protests, Huang Xiaojin, deputy secretary of Guangzhou City
Administration Committee, promised that cleaners’ remuneration would be significantly
improved. Huang claimed the committee was soliciting opinions and that this may take some
time. But the local media pointed out this was only an inter-departmental consultation that
would not solicit opinions from the cleaners themselves.
Guangzhou has nearly 40,000 street cleaners; 65 percent of them work for contracted
sanitation companies, and 70 percent are migrant workers, the city’s Mayor Chen Jianhua,
told the media last week.
While the city government drags it feet, some of the sanitation workers have already
managed to negotiate a better deal for themselves. In an agreement reached late last year,
about 40 cleaners in Panyu district demanded and got the payment of social security benefits
dating back 16 years. The sanitation workers were assisted in their efforts by a local labour
rights group and the Laowei law firm in Shenzhen but as a member of the Panyu labour rights
group said: “It was the workers’ representatives themselves who did the actual collective
bargaining with management.”
6
Following this success, around 50 cleaners from the same district demanded a pay increase
from their employer, a local community centre. The filed a request for collective bargaining
and said they would go out on strike again if they didn’t receive a reply by 4 February.
“During my 18 year’s employment, I have never been paid for my overtime work, and it’s
very difficult for me to take leave to visit my mother at home,” one workers’ representative
said. They demanded an increase in their monthly salary from the current level of 1,100 yuan
to 2,000 yuan per month.
And the sanitation workers also have the very public support of Chen Weixiang, a student
from Sun Yat-sen University, who issued an open letter on 30 January, urging the city
administration committee to conduct a comprehensive survey of the compensation package
offered to Guangzhou’s street cleaners, saying that: “The cleaners’ salary is a test of the city’s
conscience.”
___________________________________________________________________________
Kenya: Nurses’ strike enters third month
IR/Kenya/Public Sector/Nurses/Strike
Daily Nation, 4 February 2013 at http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Nurses-strike-enters-third-
month/-/1056/1682970/-/1x8945z/-/index.html
Services in public health facilities remain paralysed as the nurses’ strike enters its third month
with no breakthrough in sight.
The government has in turn blocked their salaries since December even as it seeks ways out
of the quagmire that has injured healthcare countrywide.
Chief Nursing Officer Chris Rakuom now says the government is doing all it can to ensure
nurses resume duty this week.
Mr Rakuom told the Sunday Nation that they have held meetings with the nurses to discuss
their return-to-work demands.
“We have held a meeting with the officials and so far we are heading in the right direction.
We want to ensure that nurses are back to their stations by next [this] week,” said Mr
Rakuom.
Some of the areas highly affected by the strike are Coast, Western and Kajiado regions.
7
“The process to ensure they go back to work is moving on well; most of the nurses who are
resuming duty are being put back on the payroll immediately. We will reinstate them
immediately if they go back to work,” he said.
But the Secretary General of the unregistered Kenya National Union of Nurses Seth Panyako
said they do not agree with the Chief Nursing Officer’s demands.
“Mr Rakuom wants to victimise nurses. How does he issue orders that have no head or tail?
You cannot deny us our December and January salary nor can you demote an individual
because they went on strike, that is unacceptable,” said Mr Panyako.
Last month, the nurses obtained orders directing the government to give them an audience.
“The orders we obtained are that the government was supposed to engage the nurses union as
presently constituted, so far only the Public Service Commission has been receptive. Other
ministries we are meeting have treated us with arrogance and little regard for our profession”.
___________________________________________________________________________
Korea: Key Changes to Korea’s Labor Policies in 2013 (LABOR TODAY
840)
IR/Korea/ 2013 Policies
Korea Labor Foundation, 25 January 2013 at
http://www.koilaf.org/KFeng/engLabornews/bbs_read_dis.php?board_no=7908
Career and Outplacement Center Opens
ㅇ The Korea Labor Management Foundation’s “Outplacement Support Centers” and
“Career Assistance Centers for Elderly Professionals” have been merged to become a larger
nationwide employment assistance service called “Career and Outplacement Centers.” This
service helps job seekers aged 40 or over find new career opportunities through a variety of
counseling programs relating to career, finance and lifetime planning.
* What is the outplacement service for?
The service helps job seekers 1) make a smoother transition to another job with IAP support,
psychological consultations, lifetime planning, and health and leisure management 2) become
reemployed by providing advice on writing a resume, on becoming an effective interviewee,
8
and on starting a business, and 3), start a business by offering relevant information, on-site
experience programs and support for one-person creativity-driven small businesses.
□ Reemployment Support Programs for Elderly Workers Launched
ㅇ The Ministry of Employment and Labor will launch a program in 2013 to help the
unemployed aged 50 or over participate in internships in small and mid-sized enterprises to
give them more opportunities for reemployment.
ㅇ Employers who employ an elderly job seeker aged 50 or older as an intern will be granted
50% of their contracted monthly wage or 800,000 won, whichever is lower, for up to four
months. If the intern is converted into a regular worker, the employer will receive an
additional 650,000 won per month for six months.
□ Eligibility Requirements for Employment Promotion Subsidy Eased
ㅇ The employment promotion subsidy granted to employers employing disadvantaged
people, such as people with disabilities and women who are breadwinners, will be raised
from 6.5 million won to 8.6 million won per year, and the frequency of payment will be
increased from twice every six months to four times every three months.
ㅇ Until now, the employment promotion subsidy has only been granted to employers hiring
workers who have changed jobs involuntarily, but from this year the subsidy will be extended
to employers employing those who have switched jobs voluntarily. In either case, employers
can only receive the subsidy when employees meet the eligibility requirements.
□ Requirements for Wage Peak Subsidies for Shorter Working Hours Revised
ㅇ The eligibility requirements for the subsidies granted to workers under the wage peak
scheme will be eased so that the subsidies can be paid when working hours are cut by 15-30
hours and wage is cut by 30 percent or more. This will help more young job seekers become
employed at the expense of elderly workers’ working hours.
□ Minimum Wage Raised
ㅇ The minimum wage will be raised to 4,860 Won per hour from January 1, 2013. As a
result, the minimum daily wage for eight hours will be raised to 38,880 Won, the minimum
monthly wage to 1,015,740 Won (4,860 Won × 209 hours) for 40-hour-working-week
9
companies and to 1,098,360 Won (4,860 Won × 226 hours) for 44-hour-working-week
companies.
ㅇ The workers identified in the Labor Standards Act are affected by the minimum wage. The
minimum wage applies to all kinds of workers, including temporary workers, daily workers,
part-time workers, and foreign workers, regardless of nationality and type of employment.
However there are exceptions, although approval for them must be received from the
Minister of Employment and Labor.
□ Retirement Allowance Raised to the Level of Legal Retirement Pay Regardless of Size
of Business
ㅇ Businesses with four or fewer regular workers used to have to pay 50% or more of the
legal retirement allowance to retired workers from December 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012.
From January 1, 2013, however, retired workers with a continuous length of service of one
year or longer will be entitled to at least the full amount of the legal retirement pay, which is
calculated based on thirty or more days of the one-year service period, regardless of the size
of the business.
___________________________________________________________________________
Sweden: Forced Labour for Cameroonian Migrant Workers
IR/ER/Sweden/Migrant Labour
ITUC, 23 January 2013 at http://www.ituc-csi.org/sweden-forced-labour-for
Before arriving in Sweden, the migrant workers had been promised a monthly salary of 18
500 SEK, plus 6000 SEK in per diems. Upon arrival the deal changed and it was no longer a
monthly salary but instead paid at a piece rate of 0.22 SEK. To get close to the monthly pay
that they had been promised, they then had to work day and night and plant about 3500 new
trees a day – which is about double the amount of trees that an experienced worker is capable
of planting a day.
“These contracts are pure forced labour contracts,” wrote LO Sweden in their statement from
last Friday.
“We are now in negotiations with the employers, and SLA (the employer) has promised to
pay according to the contracts. We are hopeful this will be resolved within a few weeks,” said
10
Per-Olof Sjöö, the President of the union GS who is representing the forestry workers in
Sweden.
“It is wrong to let employers handle the system of migration on their own,” said Torbjörn
Johansson of LO Sweden. “The deregulations from four years ago are a miserable muck-up.
During these years we have been able to note upsetting cases of exploitation, falsifying and
bad conditions while the minister in charge of migration, Tobias Billström, keeps stating that
no adjustments to the law are needed.”
Forced labour takes places all over the world – in developed as well as developing countries.
Forced labour is any work or service performed against a person’s will under the threat of
punishment. More than 12.3 million people are in forced labour today.
___________________________________________________________________________
Turkey: Luxury brand fails on union rights in Turkey
IR/Turkey/MNCs/Free Zones/ anti-unionism
Industriall, 31 January 2013 at http://www.industriall-union.org/luxury-brand-fails-on-union-
rights-in-turkey
Ismaco Amsterdam B.V. is a Dutch-based company producing luxury shirts for worldwide-
known brand Ermenegildo Zegna. The company has production facilities in Spain,
Switzerland, Mexico, China and Turkey, which is located at a Free Zone in Tuzla, Istanbul
with around 370 employees. The Turkish plant of Ismaco produces 600,000 pieces annually
which corresponds to 65 per cent of the shirts of Ermenegildo Zegna.
Towards the end of 2012, workers at Ismaco decided to joint IndustriALL Global Union’s
Turkish affiliate Deri-Is because the company did not increase wages over last three years,
worsened working conditions, and used policies of discrimination and violence against the
workforce.
When the company management heard of the unionization efforts at the plant, managers
started to call workers to individual meetings to force them to resign or not to join Deri-Is.
Ismaco management then targeted pioneering members with threats and intimidations, and
finally dismissed union members Cengiz Taşkesen, Fikriye Akgül and Öznur Fazlıoğlu on 18
December 2013 and Munevver Uyar on 8 January 2013.
11
Send your letter of protest the company here and support the dismissed union members who
have been picketing outside of the Free Zone in a tent in freezing winter conditions, as they
are not allowed to enter. Three out of four dismissed workers are female while one is a
disabled man.
Factory manager Francesco Lasorte gathered all the workers on 19 December announcing
that the workers do not need a union, and declared some wage increases, granting a one off
lump-sum bonus, organizing social events, as well as the establishment of a fake employee
representation system to try and prevent the organizing drive inside the company.
On 25 December, Ismaco managers forced all workers to sign a paper saying “we do not
want a trade union at our factory”. Company managers attempted to discredit the union by
spreading rumors that Deri-Is is linked with illegal groups, and anyone joining the union
would be considered as terrorist.
Deri-Is is actively campaigning on behalf of the workers and is getting support from
community, trade unions and NGOs. Their demands are:
Reinstatement of the dismissed workers;
An end to the hostile attitudes of managers against union members and workers
wanting to join the union;
Recognition of Deri-Is as the union representing workers to negotiate problems at the
factory;
Creation of an environment inside the plant that respects freedom of association as a
basic right and ensures that workers can freely become and remain a union member
and execute union activities.
Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, said, “Ermenegildo
shirts are sold with very high prices in big shopping malls, but the company is a long way
from respecting fundamental rights for its employees. This is not acceptable and our global
union family will continue to campaign until the situation at Ismaco plant in Turkey is
improved
___________________________________________________________________________
12
USA: Robert Reich calls for massive Wal-Mart, McDonalds and hospital
labor unions
IR/USA/Unionism
The Global Dispatch, 31 January 2013 at http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/robert-reich-
calls-for-massive-wal-mart-mcdonalds-and-hospital-labor-unions-75470/
Robert Reich, the former Clinton labor secretary turned MSNBC contributor, targeted some
of America’s largest companies calling for a massive union of their forces and argues that
these companies should embrace a labor union.
In the Jan. 29 Huff Po piece, Reich writes:
“Almost a quarter of all jobs in America now pay wages below the poverty line for a family
of four,” wrote Reich. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 7 out of 10 growth
occupations over the next decade will be low-wage — like serving customers at big-box
retailers and fast-food chains.”
“Wealthy Americans,” he continued, “would do better with smaller shares of a rapidly-
growing economy than with the large shares they now possess of an economy that’s barely
moving.”
As a result, they should “support public investments in education and job-training, a world-
class infrastructure (transportation, water and sewage, energy, internet), and basic research —
all of which would make the American workforce more productive.”
Reich continues.
“If they were rational they’d even support labor unions.”
In Reich’s view, employers should support unions coming in and assisting or coordinating
how much they should pay their employees.
After discussing how union membership has plummeted in this country in recent years, Reich
made a bold request.
“Walmart is a microcosm of the American economy,” he said. “It has brazenly fought off
unions. But it could easily afford to pay its workers more. It earned $16 billion last year.
Much of that sum went to Walmart’s shareholders, including the family of its founder, Sam
Walton.”
13
The Clinton aide points out that “the wealth of the Walton family now exceeds the wealth of
the bottom 40 per cent of American families combined.”
In Reich’s view, this is at risk due to the condition of today’s economy and he has this
solution.
“Walmart should be unionized. So should McDonalds. So should every major big-box retailer
and fast-food outlet in the nation. So should every hospital in America.”
___________________________________________________________________________
In Brief
Australia: Unions planning new push on jobs
IR/Australia/migrant workers
The Australian, 4 February 2013 at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-
affairs/industrial-relations/unions-planning-new-push-on-jobs/story-fn59noo3-
1226568210637
UNION leaders are seizing on Julia Gillard's reshuffle to seek major changes to skills and
migration policy amid claims that Australians are missing out on well-paid resource industry
jobs that are going to thousands of foreign workers.
The labour movement will press incoming immigration minister Brendan O'Connor to tighten
the rules on vast resource projects as part of a new agenda that also includes rethinking
policies on skilled migration and apprenticeships. The union push comes as federal Labor
MPs are expected to step up their support for tougher migration rules at a meeting tomorrow
of a key caucus committee aimed at "spreading the benefits" of the resources boom
_____________________________________________________________________
Australia: Decision to shelve review on building costs disappoints
IR/Australia/Construction Industry
The Australian, 1 February 2013 at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-
affairs/industrial-relations/decision-to-shelve-review-on-building-costs-disappoints/story-
fn59noo3-1226566287148
14
INDUSTRY has savaged the Gillard government's decision to dump the inquiry into
construction costs and productivity, warning that unions have been exploiting the existing
framework at the cost of the private sector.
"The Australian Industry Group has been expressing concern for some time about the impact
of the industrial relations environment on construction costs," a spokesman said. "For the past
few years, unions have been pursuing unsustainable improvements in wages and conditions
and there has been a marked increase in industrial action, including unlawful action.
___________________________________________________________________________
Australia: Wages of sin
IR/Australia/Underpayment/Hospitality
ILO/Sydney Morning Herald, 23 January 2013 at http://apirnet.ilo.org/news/wages-of-sin
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 750,000 Australians work in the countries 80,000
restaurants and cafes. In an investigation undertaken by Fairfax Media, over 40 restaurants in
Sydney were found to be paying their staff below the minimum wage of AUD 15.96 per hour,
with some restaurants paying as low as AUD 8 per hour. Such activities mean that they could
face fines of up to AUD 32,000 by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
___________________________________________________________________________
Cambodia: Cambodian Garment Workers seek support from Walmart,
H&M shoppers
IR/ER/ Cambodia
United Sisterhood, 2 February 2013 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD71SHK-X6E
Garment workers making underwear for Walmart and H&M have been left homeless and
unpaid after Kingsland Factory bosses shut the factory in September 2012 and fled
Cambodia.
About 400 workers say Kingsland Garment Factory, supplier to Walmart and H&M, owes
them thousands of dollars in severance and back wages.
________________________________________________________________
Canada: Corporate Tax Freedom Day is January 30 - Big businesses hoard
cash from tax giveaways, not investing in jobs
15
Canada/ER/ Economy/Labour Market
CLC, 29 January 2013 at http://www.canadianlabour.ca/national/news/clc-report-corporate-
tax-freedom-day-january-30-big-businesses-hoard-cash-tax-giveaway
A research study by the Canadian Labour Congress shows that CEOs in Canada could be
dancing in their suites to celebrate Corporate Tax Freedom Day on January 30. Their
companies will by then have paid their share of taxes to all levels of government for the
entire year.
“Corporate income taxes amounted to only 8.3% of all government revenues in 2011, down
from 8.8% in 2010 and from an average of 11% in the 1960s and 70s,” says CLC Secretary-
Treasurer Hassan Yussuff. “In return for tax breaks companies are supposed to be investing
their windfall to create good jobs in Canada but instead they are hoarding cash and paying fat
compensation to their CEOs.”
___________________________________________________________________________
Hong Kong: Company directors sentenced to community service for wage
offences and Labour Tribunal award payment defaults
IR/Hong Kong/Tribunal/Wage Payments
Hong Kong Department of Labour, 23 January 2013 at
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201301/23/P201301230407.htm
Two directors of Fairtol Industrial Limited committed offences relating to wage payment and
defaulting on payment of an award by the Labour Tribunal under the Employment Ordinance.
The two directors were each sentenced today (January 23) at Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts
to 150 hours of community service. The two directors were also ordered to clear the sum
awarded by the Labour Tribunal via the court. The prosecution was launched by the Labour
Department.
The company failed to pay wages and wages in lieu of notice to one employee within seven
days after the expiry of wage periods and termination of employment as required by the
Employment Ordinance. The Labour Tribunal issued an award on June 13, 2012 and ordered
the company to pay the outstanding wages and other sums to the employee. The company
16
defaulted on payment of the award. The outstanding sum awarded was about $280,000. The
two directors were convicted for their consent, connivance or neglect in the offences.
__________________________________________________________________________
India: Bank employees to join central trade unions strike
IR/India/Bank Workers/ Strike
The Economic Times, 3 February 2013 at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-
by-industry/jobs/bank-employees-to-join-central-trade-unions-
strike/articleshow/18315731.cms#write
Bank employees' unions have decided to support the two-day strike by central trade unions
beginning February 20 to press for wage hike in the backdrop of rising inflation.
Nine bank unions under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have decided
to go on a nation-wide strike on February 20 and 21, National Organisation of Bank Workers'
(NOBW) said in a statement.
All 11 central trade unions including Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All
India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Centre of Indian
Trade Unions (CITU) and All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) have already
threatened to go on strike.
Bank unions are pressing for early wage revision of employees, which is due from November
2012, NOBW said.
Besides, bank unions are opposing banking sector reforms and any plan for merger of banks.
Last month, four bank unions went on strike in opposition to amendments carried out in
Banking Regulation Act and Banking Companies Act that enable foreign equity in public
sector banks.
___________________________________________________________________________
Korea: Hwanwha to turn 2,000 temps into full-time workers
ER/Korea/Chaebol/ temporary/fulltime workers status
Korea Labor Foundation International, 28 January 2013 at
http://www.koilaf.org/KFeng/engLabornews/bbs_read_dis.php?board_no=7913
17
Hanwha Group, one of South Korea's top 10 family-controlled conglomerates, said Sunday it
plans to promote a total of 2,043 temporary workers into full-time employees starting in
March.
The planned transition, the first of its kind among the leading conglomerates, would lower the
ratio of non-regular workers to Hanwha's workforce to 10.4 per cent from the current 17 per
cent, the group said.
Of the total, 1,200 female temporary workers will gain full-time status, it added.
The move comes after a Seoul court early this month suspended the imprisonment of group
chairman Kim Seung-youn for health reasons for three months, who was behind bars for
inflicting massive financial losses on the group.
The 61-year-old tycoon was sentenced in August of last year to four years in prison and 5.1
billion won (US$4.8 million) in fines for using his status as the group's controlling
shareholder to illegally use company money to pay for debts of firms he ran under borrowed
names.
According to Statistics Korea, 33.8 per cent of employees hired by local companies were
temporary workers as of August last year.
________________________________________________________________
Maldives: Police break strike at Alimatha Resort, arrest two workers
IR/Maldives/Hospitality/Strike
Minivan News, 3 February 2013 at http://minivannews.com/travelandarts/police-break-strike-
at-alimatha-resort-arrest-two-workers-52265
A strike by Maldivian employees at Alimatha Resort in Vaavu Atoll ended on Friday after
30 police descended on the resort.
Two resort staff were arrested, while 27 were subsequently dismissed. The workers were
striking over a demand for an increase in their service charge compensation.
___________________________________________________________________________
Netherlands: Strike at SABIC plant in the Netherlands hits production
IR/Netherlands/MNC/Strike
18
Saudi Gazette, 3 February 2013 at
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=201302031516
53
A strike by workers at the SABIC Europe Chemicals Geleen plant in the Netherlands has cut
production, Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said in a bourse statement Saturday.
It said talks with a union over working conditions had not yet been successful and that it did
not know what impact the strike would have on profits or production.
“The decrease in production begins Jany. 31, 2013 due to the proactive measure taken by the
union workforce as a consequence of no finalized agreement regarding work conditions,” it
said in the statement.
In Geleen, SABIC has two naphtha crackers and several polymerization plants to produce
polyethylene and polypropylene. Galeen produces 1.25 million tons per year of ethylene,
725,000 tons per year of propylene, 940,000 tons per year of polyethylene, and 620,000 tons
per year of polypropylene.
“It is not possible to determine the financial effect or the effect on production capacity, at this
time, because the affected plants are not yet known,” SABIC added in the statement.
A SABIC spokesman in Europe said the disagreement was over payments to staff who might
become redundant.
De Unie, one of the unions involved in the strike action, said SABIC wanted to cut back
sharply on the support offered to laid-off workers to help them find new jobs.
___________________________________________________________________________
New Zealand: Hope in Ports of Auckland dispute
IR/New Zealand/ Stevadores/ Dispute/ Collective Bargaining
ILO/Stuff 29 January 2013 at http://apirnet.ilo.org/news/hope-in-ports-of-auckland-dispute
Since September 2011, a dispute has been underway which stems from Port’s plan to
introduce flexible working conditions. According to Ports of Auckland, the rationale for this
is to increase productivity and competitiveness.
The Port company and the Maritime Union have been seeking a collective agreement to this
dispute which has seen rolling strikes, lock-outs and mass protests. The dispute has also been
19
blamed for inconveniencing retailers and the public. ERA, the Employment Relations
Authority, has been facilitating discussions between the two parties, and at one point the
Government of New Zealand was also participating in the collective bargaining exercise.
Over the next two days, the Maritime Union will meets its members and the facilitator to
discuss the options being put them.
__________________________________________________________________________
Palestine: PA employees to end strike
IR/Palestine/Public Sector/Israel-Palestine
Ma”an News Agency, 4 February 2012 at
http://maannews.net/ENG/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=561089
Government employees in the West Bank will end their strike against salary delays on
Sunday, their union chief said late Thursday.
Bassam Zakarneh said the union leadership had met with Palestinian Authority
representatives, and were satisfied with their pledge to meet employees' demands.
Israel said on Wednesday it would give the PA around $100 million in tax revenues that had
been withheld in retaliation for Palestine's statehood vote at the United Nations in November.
The tax seizure compounded the government's worsening financial crisis.
Full salaries for public sector workers have not been paid in almost three months and
government initiatives to increase revenue by collecting years worth of electricity and water
bills from the public have been hampered by street protests.
___________________________________________________________________________
Singapore: Construction Company Owner Faces 85 EFMA Charges
ER/Singapore/ Foreign Workers
Ministry of Manpower, 29 January 2013 at
http://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/Pages/PressReleasesDetail.aspx?listid=482
In the Subordinate Courts today, a 29-year-old Singaporean, Umarul Farouk Bin Mohamed
Ibrahim, was charged with 85 counts under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act
(EFMA) of making false declarations in Work Permit applications and recovering levies and
20
receiving prohibited payments as consideration for employment amounting to $250,000 from
46 foreign employees.
___________________________________________________________________________
Sudan: Al Bashir to Address African Trade Union Tomorrow
IR/Sudan/ Incorporated Unionism
Sudan Vision Daily, 4 February 2013 at
http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=219010 (abridged)
President Omar Al-Bashir will address the opening session of the second African trade union
forum of the World Federation of Trade Unions tomorrow morning. The deputy president of
the federation and chairman of the high committee of the forum, Al-Jenaid Ahmed
Mohammed, said that the forum comes at an important stage and is a gain to Sudan and a real
opportunity to promote trade union cooperation.
Mohammed said that the forum aims to discuss several urgent issues of trade in Africa and is
a chance for Sudan to present its issues and its developments. He said it is a chance for Sudan
to clarify its true face, complaining that Sudan has been targeted by foreign media which
seeks to tarnish its image.
Mohammed praised the world union's role in supporting various issues of Sudan
internationally. He said the policy has been managed through civil society organisations,
adding, "We will not become an isolated island." He referred to the participation of the
Sudanese trade union in all the union’s issues.
The secretary for external relations and the secretary-general of the world federation, Dr. Abu
Bakr Al-Siddiq, stressed the importance of the forum as an important gathering. He talked
about Sudan’s role in the African trade union federations.
___________________________________________________________________________
USA: Longshoremen Reach East Coast Port Deal
IR/USA/Collective Bargaining/Stevadores
AFL-CIO, 2 February 2013 http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-
Bargaining/Longshoremen-Reach-East-Coast-Port-Deal
21
The Longshoremen (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance have reached a tentative
agreement covering some 14,000 workers in 15 East Coast ports, the Federal Mediation
Service and Conciliation (FMCS) announced late Friday. The two sides had faced a Feb. 6
strike deadline.
FMCS Director George H. Cohen says the tentative agreement must still be ratified and
several negotiations over local issues must be completed. He did not release details of the
tentative agreement, but says:
The tentative agreement reflects the culmination of good faith negotiations in which the
parties successfully accommodated strongly held competing positions because of their
commitment to problem solving.
The previous contract ended in September and several extensions were agreed to, including
one last month that set a Feb. 6 deadline.
___________________________________________________________________________
Opinion
ILO: “The prescribed cure is killing the patient”, analysis by Raymond
Torres
Nigeria: Convicted Pension Thief Must be Retried
Nigerian Labour Congress, 29 January 2013 at
http://www.nlcng.org/search_details.php?id=364
We are startled at the judgement by an Abuja High court yesterday which convicted a man
who already admitted stealing N23billion out of over N40billion found to have been stolen
from the coffers of the Nigeria Police Pension Fund between January 2008 and June 2011 to
just two years in prison with an option of fine in the sum of N750,000.
That Justice Abubakar Talba could only convict such a high profile thief who has enriched
himself with money reserved for people who have served this country honestly and have
retired into abject poverty and penury to a scandalous two years imprisonment with an option
of fine in the ridiculous sum of N750, 000, shows clearly that the Nigerian judiciary is being
compromised and obviously encouraging corruption in a country that has lost most of her
earnings to a few individuals who have used their public offices to corruptly enrich
themselves.
22
It becomes more alarming that the pension thief's counsel had urged the court to be lenient on
his client as he has ailing aged parents and responsibility to pay the school fees of his
children.
These reasons are as irresponsible, callous just as the offence he committed in the first place.
The money he stole has left thousands of families in hunger, perpetual pains and in some
cases, even death. This thief didn't deserve any leniency.
This judgment is not in the public interest and cannot be acceptable to Nigerians who are
continuously worried about their future in retirement should the judiciary continue to
encourage those caught with public funds with convictions that are clearly not punitive
enough for the convict to be remorseful, the judiciary will be encouraging the Nigerian
people to opt for jungle justice and treat these high profile criminals the same way pick
pockets are treated.
This particular judgement is not only unpatriotic but clearly against national interest as our
people are united against corruption which has brought our collective image to global ridicule
and our national economy to near collapse.
We urge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to immediately appeal against this
judgement or call for a retrial, while we call on the National Judicial Council to investigate
both the judge and the entire case.
Given our commitment to the anti corruption crusade, which we believe members of the
National Assembly must also be committed to, we urge the National Assembly to review our
judicial system to make it more patriotic and function in the interest of democracy which will
be threatened should this type of ridiculous judgement be allowed.
This judgement lacks moral values and has not demonstrated that laws and judicial
institutions are capable of protecting the interest of ordinary people as well as safeguard
national interests. And this portends danger for democracy anywhere in the world.This
judgement, if allowed to stay will be a direct encouragement to corruption and corrupt
officials who will not mind deepening their stealing zeal knowing that the punishment they
will face would be soft and harmless.
Kiri Mohammed, Acting President, Nigerian Labour Congress
___________________________________________________________________________
23
South Africa: COSATU Gauteng Press Statement on Court Challenge by
Employers to extension of Bargaining Council Agreement in Textile and
Clothing Sector to Non-Parties
COSATU, 1 February 2013 at http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=6900
Cosatu in Gauteng note with anger the Court challenge by some frivolous employers to the
collective agreement reached in the Bargaining Council by unions and employers in the
textile sector.
We welcome the extension of the agreement by the Minister of Labour as such is within her
powers as provided by the South African Labour Law and in particular the Labour Relation
Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
We condemn these minority employers who intend to subject workers to poverty and slave
wages. We know for the fact that there are some bigger political forces behind them that
support them both financially and morally to wage a political campaign against our
government and to the collective bargaining frame work. Their challenge smells of apartheid
tendencies which think that to subject workers and black workers in particular to slave wages.
We call upon the Department of Labour to defend the workers’ rights to engage in the
collective bargaining forum with the employers and for the right of the minister to extend the
collective agreements reached by majority parties to none parties to the collective agreement
which they have do so out of their choice by failing to associate and participate in the
collective bargaining processes.
We hope Eskom and Nersa are taking note of these developments in the current process by
the employers to challenge workers increases and also for Nersa to note that currently Putco
is intending to increase transport cost by 15%.
Dumisani Dakile (Provincial Secretary)
COSATU Gauteng Province
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Streets
Braamfontein
___________________________________________________________________________
24
USA: The Decline of Unions Is Your Problem Too
Change to Win, 30 January 2013 at http://www.changetowin.org/news/%E2%80%9C-
decline-unions-your-problem-too%E2%80%9D
It’s a vicious cycle: as unions decline, fewer people see their fates as bound up with unions,
which just accelerates the decline.” This is a tragedy when you consider two facts. First,
“when unions are stronger the economy as a whole does better…and unions lift wages for
non-union members too by creating a higher prevailing wage.” It’s ironic that the very
corporate leaders who are so against workers organizing have spent billions organizing
themselves to rig policy in order to inhibit union growth.
Viewpoint: The Decline of Unions Is Your Problem Too - Time
Unions are also instrumental in stabilizing the economy. If you look throughout America’s
history, our economy (and everyone who was a part of it) did better when labor unions were
at their strongest. “Once union membership started falling, the income divide grew. Since
1973 the drop in union membership accounts for a full third of the growth of wage inequality
among men.” If unions disappear, who will act to defend the rights of workers?
If not unions, then what? - Baltimore Sun
Matt Vidal, a labor sociologist at King’s College London, said that his research clearly
showed the most efficient, productive factories in the U.S. were union factories. Judging by
this article, it’s clear that a unionless future only means an increase in (an already absurd)
income inequality.
Workers of the World, Sit Tight - New York Times Magazine
_______________________________________________________________
People
Singapore: Mdm Halimah Yacob appointed NTUC Advisor for Int'l
Affairs
National Trades Union Congress at
http://www.ntuc.org.sg/wps/portal/up2/home/aboutntuc/newsroom/newshighlights/newshighl
ightsdetails?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/content_library/ntuc/home/about+ntuc/newsroo
m/news+highlights/8b17ed004e305342acf3aec7b9d67807
25
The National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Central Committee has unanimously decided
to appoint Madam Halimah Yacob as NTUC Advisor for International Affairs.
Madam Halimah’s appointment takes immediate effect from 14 January 2013.
The Labour Movement recognises that Singapore needs to continue to be effective in
advancing its cause and protecting core interests in the global labour arena, said NTUC’s
President Diana Chia and Secretary-General Lim Swee Say in a joint media statement.
“Mdm Halimah is well recognised and respected by the international community. She has
represented Singapore at various key international platforms during her tenure with the
Labour Movement,” they added.
Madam Halimah had served as International Labour Organisation (ILO) Governing Body
Workers’ Group Deputy Member from 1999 – 2011; was elected as the Workers' Vice-
Chairperson of the Standards Committee of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in
Geneva in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005; elected as the Workers’ Spokesperson for the ILC
Committee on Human Resources Development and Training in 2003 and 2004; and elected
as Workers’ Spokesperson for the ILC Committee on Decent Work on Domestic Workers
when it was first formed in 2010.
NTUC added that in appointing Mdm Halimah as NTUC Advisor for International Affairs,
the Labour Movement will be able to draw on her expertise, experience and high standing in
the international arena to advance its positions on international labour issues.
She will also be able to help the Labour Movement to nurture a stronger knowledge base with
her insights on the workings of the ILO.
________________________________________________________________________
Labour History
Seattle workers general strike for fair wages, 1919
Global Nonviolent Action Base at http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/seattle-workers-
general-strike-fair-wages-1919
The Seattle General Strike was the first general strike in the U.S. and marked the beginning
of a post-WWI era of labor conflict.
26
Conditions for a general strike in Seattle had been building for decades. Seattle had a strong
labor history with much emphasis on workplace democracy. Also, the Knights of Labor had
been active in the area in the late 1800’s, and by the early 1900’s there were radical labor
factions within the mining and lumber workforce, many of whom were members of the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a radical labor union that advocated the abolition of
the wage labor system. By 1910, the IWW had a strong presence in the Seattle area. In 1915,
the U.S. Employment Service even encouraged unionization in exchange for the agreement
that they would not strike during wartime. Hence, by 1919, there were over 60,000 unionized
workers in Seattle. Shipbuilding and other wartime industries were exempt from getting
drafted into fighting in World War One (WWI), so their unions attracted many radicals who
opposed the war. The lasting influence of the Knights of Labor, the IWW, swift wartime
industrialization, and a high density of workers allowed for a strong culture advocating
workplace democracy and, for some, creating worker owned industries. Some moved toward
this vision through creating worker-owned cooperatives such as workers colleges, meeting
houses, and food markets.
Although there was much solidarity within the labor community, there were three main
factions within the movement: moderates, progressives, and radicals. The moderates
conceded the right of the non-laboring class to profit from their work, but they wanted a fair
wage for it. The progressives were reform socialists who advocated projects like the
cooperatives. Radicals were mostly metal workers and shipbuilders who wanted to use direct
action to take control of industry.
The combination of growing radicalism within the city, as well as the successful Bolshevik
revolution in the USSR two years earlier alarmed the middle and owning classes.
Additionally, reactionary patriotism was on the rise due to the polarization following WWI.
Hence, the city was primed for conflict.
Once the war ended, the Macy Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) decided to
raise wages in shipyards across the country, except in the Seattle area, where some wages
were lowered. The labor community saw this as an effort to undermine the power of unions
by making their wages the same as non-union shipyards in other areas. The Metal Trades
Council (the union of shipyard workers) approved a strike vote on December 10, 1918. After
failed negotiations with employers, the metal workers began a strike on January 21, 1919.
35,000 metal trades employees participated. Most of the press on the strike portrayed the
27
strikers negatively, and some claimed that the workers were coerced to go on strike by a
minority of radicals.
On January 22, 1919, the Seattle Central Labor Council (SCLC), the presiding union body in
Seattle, voted to hold a referendum, allowing affiliated unions to vote on whether or not to
join in a general strike. This would be 130 locals, representing over 30,000 workers. The
motion was passed, and support for the general strike grew amongst labor groups throughout
the city. Only the Gas Workers and Federal Employees opposed the strike (on the grounds
that it was too radical). The SCLC did make it clear that it was a “sympathetic strike,” not a
“mass strike” in which each union lists its grievances and stays on strike until all demands are
met.
The SCLC called for another mass meeting on January 26. The motion to endorse the strike
was carried by a unanimous vote. The SCLC used the Seattle Union Record, a labor
publication, to appeal to the public based on arguments about the benefits that high wages
give to the community (particularly small businesses), and the injustice of exorbitant profits
made by shipowners.
As union after union voted to join, the city began to worry. Newspapers began picking up on
the developments, warning about the pending difficulties of obtaining “the necessities of life”
like food, heat, and electricity. A local citizens committee attempted to facilitate arbitration,
but the government refused to settle. They argued that if they made exceptions for some
workers, no contract would ever be respected again. Rumors also began spreading that
radicals and Bolsheviks were planning on taking over the city. The Seattle Chief of Police
temporarily deputized 3000 soldiers, sailors, guards, and a machinegun squad, while urging
civilians to stay out of the streets. Union publications, on the other hand, did not advocate a
revolutionary agenda, though they did call for a democratic management of their own labor.
February 4, 1919, was the first meeting of the General Strike Committee. Power to make
decisions were passed from the SCLC to a committee of more than 300 members elected by
110 unions. This group decided to delegate power to 15 individuals in order to keep the
decision making process efficient, as well as to put the decision making power in the hands of
a body that was not affiliated with national organizations that might disapprove of the general
strike.
On the morning of February 6, 1919, Seattle, a city of 315,00 people, was shut down. 25,000
union members joined 35,000 already on strike. Most of the remaining workforce was idled
28
as stores closed and streetcars stopped. The General Strike Committee ensured that vital
services were available. No one went without food, lights, or heat, and there was no violence
throughout the strike.
Even from before the strike began, newspapers, politicians, and the AFL denounced the
radicals and said that the strike was a Bolshevik revolutionary plot. Mayor Ole Hanson, who
had won the election on a hyperpatriotic platform, armed new police and brought in the
army’s First Infantry Division. There were also groups of vigilantes running around rounding
up “reds.” International officers of the AFL began flocking to the city to try to end the strike.
Despite threats of repression, the strikers remained orderly. The SCLC published a bulletin
that said “The Workers Can Only Win Through Order.” However, it swiftly became clear that
there was not enough revolutionary intent and action to push the general strike into a spark
for sweeping political change. Enthusiasm quickly waned, largely due to the orderly nature of
the strike. The sense of solidarity and camaraderie that was so vibrant before the strike was
crushed, largely due to the lack of activity and gatherings during the strike itself. By the
morning of the third day (February 8), some streetcar drivers went back to work, as well as
some restaurant and shop workers. There was also tension between the progressives and the
radicals as to whether or not the strike should keep going.
That evening, the Committee of Fifteen presented a resolution to the General Strike
Committee calling off the strike, but this was voted down.
By the fourth day (February 9), only longshoremen and cooks continued the sympathy strike
with the metal workers. The next day a resolution was presented by the SCLC to suspend the
strike, but the metal workers voted it down. Finally, on February 11, the SCLC declared an
end to the strike. Their demands had not been met, but the mayor had continued to increase
military presence in the city, and union leaders questioned the effectiveness of the general
strike in the face of such repressive measures. Union confidence and solidarity waned,
ushering in the end of the strike.
After the strike ended, reactionary responses grew and spread. National headlines declared
that Seattle had been saved from revolution. The mayor said that “Americanism” had won out
over “Bolshevism.”
Anti-syndicalism legislation that had passed earlier that year in the state legislature was used
as the basis for numerous raids on Socialist and IWW headquarters, police disruption of
meetings, and arrests of suspected revolutionaries. Mayor Hanson capitalized on the
29
repression, declaring that “anarchists in this community shall not rule its affairs,” and
immediately resigned and launched a speaking tour in the hope of getting a Republican
presidential nomination.
Research Notes
Influences:
Influenced by the Bolshevik revolution in the USSR, and general strikes in Peru, Chile, and
Argentina. (1)
This campaign influenced the San Francisco General Strike (see U.S. west coast
longshoremen strike for union recognition and San Francisco general strike, 1934), as well as
numerous other strikes across the country. (2)
Notes: Although this case did not achieve its goals, it did mark the beginning of an era of
radical labor conflict that influenced unions across the country.
Sources:
Boswell, Sharon and Lorraine McConaghy. “Strike! Labor Unites for Rights.” 21 March,
1996. The Seattle Times. 14 April 2010.
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/centennial/march/labor.html>.
Johnson, Victoria. How Many Machine Guns Does it Take to Cook One Meal?: The Seattle
and San Francisco General Strikes. University of Washington Press: Seattle, 2008.
“Strike: Seattle General Strike Project.” 1999. Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights
History Project. <http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/>.
Researcher: Hannah Jones, 16/04/2010
_______________________________________________________________________
Publications 2012
Markovitz, Y. (2012) The Committed Workforce: Evidence from the Field, Newcastle Upon
Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-4084-2. 216 pages.
__________________________________________________________________________
Toms, S. (2012) The Impact of the UK Temporary Employment Industry in Assisting
Agency Workers since the Year 2000, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars
Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-3747-7. 300 pages.
30
___________________________________________________________________________
Applebaum, L. D. (2012) ed. Reconnecting to Work: Policies to Mitigate Long-Term
Unemployment and its Consequences, Kalamazoo, Upjohn Institute. ISBN 978-0-88099-
406-4. 177 pages.
___________________________________________________________________________
ILO (2012) EuroZone job crisis: trends and policy responses at
http://www.ilo.org/global/research/publications/WCMS_184965/lang--en/index.htm
The study provides the latest trends on the employment situation in EU countries and
examines the labour market reforms adopted by various governments.
__________________________________________________________________________
Pubblicazioni BolletinoAdapt.it @ http://www.bollettinoadapt.it/acm-on-
line/Home/Pubblicazioni.html
In questa sezione è possibile consultare la lista completa delle linee editoriali promosse da
Adapt e dalla Fondazione Marco Biagi:
- Collana Adapt - Centro Studi Marco Biagi
- Diritto delle Relazioni Industriali
- Dossier Adapt
- Working Paper Adapt
- Altre pubblicazioni
Nella Collana Adapt – Centro Studi Marco Biagi, istituita nel corso del 2003, sono pubblicati
commentari su differenti istituti introdotti o riformati dalla Legge Biagi, nonché diverse
monografie su tematiche specifiche nell’ambito del diritto del lavoro e delle relazioni
industriali.
Diritto delle Relazioni Industriali, rivista trimestrale fondata nel 1991 da Luciano Spagnuolo
Vigorita, già diretta da Marco Biagi, nell’ambito della materia del diritto del lavoro dedica
particolare attenzione alle relazioni industriali, soprattutto nella dimensione comparata e
comunitaria, ed alle esperienze più innovative in una prospettiva interdisciplinare.
Dal 2005 la Rivista è stata arricchita di Osservatori di aggiornamento e monitoraggio attenti
ai profili immediatamente applicativi del diritto del lavoro, relativamente a diverse aree, dalla
31
giurisprudenza italiana, costituzionale, di cassazione e merito, alla giurisprudenza
comunitaria e internazionale; dalla contrattazione collettiva alla legislazione e prassi
amministrativa italiane e straniere, nonché alla materia previdenziale.
Tutte le pubblicazioni sono completate ed integrate da una proiezione informatica, quale
strumento non solo di documentazione ma anche di sviluppo e costante aggiornamento.
Un motore di ricerca e un rinnovato Indice A-Z – che ricalca l’indice analitico delle
Istituzioni di diritto del lavoro di Marco Biagi (edito da Giuffrè) – consentono di reperire i
documenti citati nei testi cartacei.
Tutto il materiale viene inoltre costantemente e tempestivamente aggiornato mediante il
Bollettino Adapt.
___________________________________________________________________________
ADAPT E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies
Volume 1, No. 3-4 October-December 2012
___________________________________________________________________________
Korea: The Korean Labor Review, 45, Winter, visit
http://www.koilaf.org/KFeng/engPublication/bbs.php?code1=3
__________________________________________________________________________
Gardawski, J. and Mrozowicki, A. (2012) Trade Unions In Poland, European Trade Union
Institute . Details at http://www.etui.org/Publications2/Reports/Trade-unions-in-Poland
This report on the trade union landscape in Poland forms part of a wide-ranging project,
initiated and coordinated by the ETUI, which aims to map changes in unionisation and the
varying organisational structures of unions in the ‘new member states’ of the European
Union. The current report on the trade union movement in Poland is a real tour de force,
especially given the vast number of union organisations entailed. The fruit of this tremendous
effort on the part of the country experts is a report that is simultaneously comprehensive and
extremely rich in detail. In mapping the full broad gamut of Polish trade unions, they
compellingly expose how much the trade union movement in this country is handicapped by
its excessively decentralised structures; its chronic fragmentation and rivalry at the company
level and above; and the dramatic decline in membership levels, particularly in absolute
terms.
32
___________________________________________________________________________
ILO (2012) Confronting Finance: Mobilizing the 99% for economic and social progress
(Geneva, June 2012) available at http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-
online/books/WCMS_176189/lang--en/index.htm
___________________________________________________________________________
ILO (2012) Effective Protection for Domestic Workers: A guide to designing labour laws
(Geneva, May 2012) available at http://www.ilo.org/travail/areasofwork/domestic-
workers/WCMS_173365/lang--en/index.htm
___________________________________________________________________________
ILO (2013) World of Work Report 2012 'Better Jobs for a Better Economy'
The new study examines the performance of different countries since the start of the global
crisis through the prism of the quantity and quality of jobs. Available at
http://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/world-of-work/WCMS_179453/lang--
en/index.htm
___________________________________________________________________________
ITUC (2012) Report for the WTO General Council Review of the Trade Policies of the
People’s Republic of China (Geneva, 12 and 14 June, 2012) available at http://www.ituc-
csi.org/report-for-the-wto-general-council,11476.html
_________________________________________________________________________
Employment Trends unit of the ILO Employment Sector (2012) Global Employment Trends,
Download at http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/global-employment-
trends/WCMS_171571/lang--en/index.htm ISBN 978-92-2-124924-5
The annual Global Employment Trends report offers the latest global and regional
information and projections on several indicators of the labour market, including
employment, unemployment, working poverty and vulnerable employment. It also presents a
number of policy considerations in light of the new challenges facing policy makers in the
coming year.
___________________________________________________________________________
Pierluigi Rausei, Michele Tiraboschi Work: a reform in midstream (ADAPT 2012 @
University Press) access at http://www.bollettinoadapt.it/acm-on-line/Home.html
33
________________________________________________________________
26th
AIRAANZ Conference 2012: Re-Organising Work, Association of Industrial Relations
Academics of Australia and New Zealand, published papers, ed. Robin Price, Brisbane,
Queensland University of Technology.
_________________________________________________________________________
Baird, M., Hancock, K. and Isaac, J. eds. (2012) Work and Employment Relations: An Era
of Change, The Federation Press, ISBN: 9781862878501 may be ordered at
www.federation.press.com.au
__________________________________________________________________________
ETUI ‘Social dumping: political catchphrase or threat to labour standards?’ By Magdalena
Bernaciak. Working Paper 2012.06. Access at http://www.etui.org/News/The-complex-reality-
of-social-dumping
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Rogowski, R , Salais, R. and Whiteside, N. (2012) Transforming European Employment
Policy, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, Orders at www.marston.co.uk
___________________________________________________________________________
Unison (2012) The Hidden Workforce: Final Project Report. Download at
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/20611.pdf
___________________________________________________________________________
34
ILO (2012) Working towards sustainable development: Opportunities for decent work and
social inclusion in a green economy. Downloads/orders at
http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_181836/lang--en/index.htm
__________________________________________________________________________
ILO (2012) EuroZone job crisis: trends and policy responses. Download at
http://www.ilo.org/global/research/publications/WCMS_184965/lang--en/index.htm
___________________________________________________________________________
International Labour Review, Vol. 151 (4)
at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/revue/index.htm
Introduction: Crisis, policy responses and widening inequalities in the EU, by J. LESCHKE
and M. JEPSEN
Earnings and income inequality in the EU during the crisis, by P. de BEER
Financing social security in the EU: Business as usual?, by N. WAGNER
The crisis and social policy: The role of collective agreements, by V. GLASSNER, with M.
KEUNE
Tracing the fate of EU “social policy”: Changes in political
___________________________________________________________________________
Japan Labor Review, Vol. 10 (1) Winter 2013
Special Edition: ‘Has the Japanese Employment System Changed?’
Introduction: Has the Japanese Employment System Changed? (34KB), Mitsutoshi Hirano
Articles:
— Corporate Leaders in Japan: Fact and Folklore, Kazuhiro Mishina, Emiko Hino
— Selection and Promotion of Managers in Japanese Companies: Present and
Future Perspectives, Atsushi Yashiro
— How Did Intellectual Skills on the Shop Floor Change in the 2000s? Kuramitsu
Muramatsu
— Japan's New Recruits: Victims of the Japanese-Style Family and
Japanese-Style Employment, Masakazu Yano
— Human Resources Departments of Japanese Corporations: Have their Roles Changed?
Mitsutoshi Hirano
Article Based on Research Report:
The Development of Labor Policy on Women: From the Perspectives of Justice, Effective
Use, and Welfare, Noriko Iki
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JILPT Research Activities
_________________________________________________________________________
Labor Situation in Japan and Its Analysis
This publication is a compilation of write-ups describing individual themes related to the
current status of labor issues in Japan. In principle, it is issued every year alternately as
"General Overview" and "Detailed Exposition" editions. The former is aimed at providing
basic information on the whole picture of labor issues and relevant labor policies in Japan,
while the latter takes up contemporary topics and provides detailed exposition and analyses
of their current trends. Available at: http://www.jil.go.jp/english/lsj.html
___________________________________________________________________________
Korea Labor Review
No. 45 Winter 2012 at
http://www.koilaf.org/KFeng/engPublication/bbs_read_dis.php?board_no=144
Editor’s Column
■ Photo Gallery
■ Specia: Top 10 labor news in 2012
■ People: The 24th FKTU President, Moon Jin-koo
■ Focus: Baby-boomers’ Employment
■ Policy: Basic Direction of the Korean Government’s 2013 Employment Budget
■ Labor law: The directions for Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance coverage
extension for workers in special types of employment
How to expand the coverage of industrial accident compensation insurance for workers of
special-type employment
■ Best Practice: 2012 Best Labor-Management Culture Award
___________________________________________________________________________
Economic & Labour Relations Review (ELRR)
The Economic & Labour Relations Review (ELRR) is a double-blind, refereed journal of
original articles which are concerned with contemporary issues, developments and policy
36
making may be submitted via the ScholarOne™ Manuscripts website for consideration for
publication, provided they have not been published elsewhere, or are under consideration for
publication elsewhere. The journal accepts three types of submission for refereeing: Scholarly
/ research-based Articles (8,000 words max); Review Articles discussing a number of
significant recent publications in context (6,000 words max); Substantial scholarly Replies
(6,000 words max). It also welcomes shorter non-refereed Book Reviews and Comments
(2000-4000 words).
The ELRR is produced jointly by the Centre for Applied Economic Research (CAER) and the
Industrial Relations Research Centre (IRRC) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
four times a year. Current issue: Volume 23 (4), November 2012, is now available at
www.asb.unsw.edu.au/elrr
Articles
The ‘Pre-Invention’ of Precarious Employment: The Changing World of Work in Context
Michael Quinlan
The Break-Up of the Eurozone? Bill Lucarelli
Industry Policy under Economic Liberalism: Policy Development in the Prime Minister’s
Manufacturing Task Force Ian Hampson
Malaysian Firms’ Role in Retaining Engineers Rabeatul Husna Abdull Rahman
The Effects of District-Level Union Status on the Job Satisfaction of Teachers Mark Gius
‘Low-Skilled’ Work in Canada Samir Amine
Refereed Review Article
Marshall, Marshallians and Industry Economics Neil Hart
Current Issues
Her Rights at Work: The Political Persecution of Australia’s First Female Prime Minister
Anne Summers
__________________________________________________________________________
International Labour Review and the ILO: Milestones in a shared history, Special
Supplement
Available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/revue/index.htm
37
As the ILO is approaching its 100th anniversary, so is the International Labour Review. By
way of introduction to this retrospective Special Supplement, which reproduces a number of
articles written for the Review by winners of the Nobel Peace Prize or the Nobel Prize for
economics, the author looks back at the journal’s history, recalling its early days since the
1919 Treaty of Versailles, its subsequent development, broadening international readership
and adaptation to the digital age.
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ILO: EuroZone job crisis: trends and policy responses
The study provides the latest trends on the employment situation in EU countries and
examines the labour market reforms adopted by various governments. Download at
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---
dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_184965.pdf
__________________________________________________________________________
Australia: Labour and Industry 22 (4) August-December 2012 available at
http://www.airaanz.org/index.html
A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work
Labour and Industry offers a multi-disciplinary perspective on all aspects of the social,
organizational and institutional aspects of work and industrial relations. The journal publishes
original, high quality research and policy papers that investigate the implications of changing
work relations for employers, employees, unions, government and other social actors with a
stake in industrial relations. The aims of the journal are to encourage debate and the exchange
of views between researchers, to challenge the conceptual boundaries of work and industrial
relations, and to contribute to the generation of new ideas by drawing on insights from
diverse disciplines. These disciplines include: industrial/employment relations, human
resource management, labour and business history, labour and employment law, management
and organisational studies, political science and public policy, psychology, sociology and
related disciplines.
________________________________________________________________
Calls for Papers, Conferences, Seminars, Symposia, Meetings
International Labour Review
Full details at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/revue/m_scripts/index.htm
38
Unsolicited articles are welcome and are considered on their merits and in the light of the
overall programme of the Review. All manuscripts are subject to scholarly review and, if
accepted, to editorial revision.
Manuscripts may be submitted as email attachments in English, French or Spanish (if
translated from another language the original should also be provided). They should be
between 7 000 and 10 000 words, with a 100-word abstract.
Manuscripts should be addressed to: the Managing Editor, International Labour Review,
International Labour Office, 4, route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Tel.
+41-22 799 79 03; Fax +41-22 799 61 17; Email: [email protected].
__________________________________________________________________________
International: The E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies
The following is a list of indicative, but far from exhaustive, topic areas: - collective and
individual labour issues; - equality and discrimination; - school-to-work transition; -
industrial relations; - vulnerable workers and precarious working; - employment productivity;
- role of skills and human capital in a global context – immigration issues, labour law. Find
the current issue (Vol.1, No. 3-4 October-December 2012) at http://www.adapt.it/currentissue
___________________________________________________________________________
Korea: The Korean Journal of Industrial Relations
The Korean Journal of Industrial Relations (KJIR) is published by the Korean Industrial
Relations Association. There is no due date for the submission. We receive articles around a
year. Web/URL:
http://www.lera.uiuc.edu/news/Calls/2007/Korean%20Journal%20of%20Industrial%20Relati
ons.htm
__________________________________________________________________________
UK: Asia Pacific Business Review Special Issue: Mutual, Co-operative and Employee-
owned Business in the Asia Pacific 1) Abstracts (maximum 500 words to include: title;
aim/rationale; methodology if appropriate; findings; implications for theory and practice,
conclusions) by 1st January 2013. The editors will review the Abstracts and following this,
process invitations to submit full papers will be sent by 1st February 2013. Full papers due by
1st June 2013. Full papers will be double blind refereed. Authors must submit their
39
manuscript as a word file via email attachment to the Guest Editors (contact details below).
Please see the Asia Pacific Business Review website for style requirements:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13602381.asp Editors:
Professor Jonathan Michie, University of Oxford: [email protected]
Professor Chris Rowley, City University: [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Australia: 8th Asian Regional Congress of the International Labour and Employment
Relations Association, 9-12 April 2013, Melbourne, Victoria.
For more details about the program, please click here or go to
http://www.airaanz.org/news.html where you can download a pdf file
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Netherlands: 10th European Conference of the International Labour and
Employment Relations Association, Imagining new employment relations and new
http://www.airaanz.org/uploads/2/1/6/3/2163987/ilera_2013_-
_have_you_submitted_an_abstract.pdfsolidarities. Amsterdam, 20 - 22 June 2013. Details at
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/iira/pdf/10theuro.pdf
___________________________________________________________________________
Australia: Fifth International Community, Work and Family Conference, The fifth
international Community, Work and Family Conference will take place at the University of
Sydney, 15-17 July 2013. Information at www.CWF2013.aifs.gov.au
___________________________________________________________________________
UK: British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA)
Conference 2013 at the University of Strathclyde, 27-29 June 2013. Notification at
http://www.buira.org/Conference/Conference2013/tabid/285/Default.aspx
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia: Fifth International Community, Work and Family Conference, The fifth
international Community, Work and Family Conference will take place at the University of
Sydney, 15-17 July 2013. Information at www.CWF2013.aifs.gov.au
___________________________________________________________________________
40
USA: ILPC Rutgers 2013. The Missing Link – Integrating Labour with Global Value
Chains
Kirsty Newsome and Phil Taylor (University of Strathclyde), Al Rainnie (Curtin University)
and Jennifer Bair (University of Colorado) invite contributions from scholars working in
diverse disciplines and fields of study, including human and economic geography,
development studies, comparative political economy, gender studies, labour market research,
the sociology of work and industrial/ employment relations. Our goal is to encourage a
critical engagement between those who acknowledge the salience of core labour process
theory and others for whom participation at the ILPC may be a new experience. We
anticipate publishing an edited book in the International Labour Process series based on a
selection of papers presented at Rutgers.
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Other Sites
ILO: The International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS) was established by the
International Labour Organization in 1960 as a centre for advanced studies in the social and
labour fields. It produces the annual "World of Work Report". The International Labour
Review, a global multidisciplinary journal of labour and social policies is also published
under the aegis of the IILS.
http://www.ilo.org/
___________________________________________________________________________
ILERA
President: Prof. Evance R. Kalula, Institute of Development and Labour Law, Faculty of
Law, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Prof. Evance Rabban KALULA was born in Zambia in 1952. He has a PhD in Law, from the
University of Warwick, UK. Professor Kalula is Professor of Law (Employment Law and
Social Security), Deputy Dean (Postgraduate Studies) and Director of the Institute of
Development and Labour Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Town. He is
also Chair of the South African Employment Conditions Commission. His academic and
research interests are in international and comparative labour law, social security and
occupational health and safety.
41
Prof. Kalula will be the ILERA President from 2012 to 2015. He will be responsible for the
organization of the 17th ILERA World Congress in 2015.
___________________________________________________________________________
UK: Working Lives Research Institute
Subscribe to the WLRI mailing list for regular news updates, including our regular WLRI
electronic-newsletter, and subscribe to our WLRI press release mailing list
___________________________________________________________________________