Zimbabwe’s union movement remains strong, despite the government’s reign of terror and oppression, Wellington Chibebe, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), told a crowd of about 100 last evening in a forum at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“We are relatively strong, given the current situation both economically and politically. We are in the trenches and going strong,” Chibebe said.
Zimbabwe is “a nation in crisis,” says AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy, who chairs the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s international affairs committee. Lucy, who introduced Chibebe at the open forum, says the crisis in Zimbabwe:
affects every aspect of life, and it is all caused by the incredible desire of a government to hang on to power no matter what.
Faced with a “perfect storm” of economic troubles, more working families than ever are sacrificing needed health care, a report by the nonprofit research group the Commonwealth Fund reveals.
The report, which draws on four years of survey data, also says it has “never been more urgent” to fix the nation’s broken health care system.
The report, Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance is Burdening Working Families, finds that two-thirds of the working-age population went without health insurance in 2007, were underinsured, had trouble paying their medical bills or went without needed care because of the costs.
Economic Report:
A new government report says the number of workers suffering fatal work injuries in 2007 was a historic low. There were 5,488 fatal work injuries according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s the lowest number since 1992. For every 100,000 workers 3.7 had a fatal work injury. That is a six percent drop since 2006. However, there were some increases, including a jump of 13 percent for workplace homicides.
Economic Report:
A new government report says the number of workers suffering fatal work injuries in 2007 was a historic low. There were 5,488 fatal work injuries according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest number since 1992. For every 100,000 workers 3.7 had a fatal work injury. That is a six percent drop since 2006. However, there were some increases, including a jump of 13 percent for workplace homicides.
Efforts by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to cut the pay of state workers to the federal minimum over a budget dispute with the state legislator isn’t going quite as planned. After State Comptroller John Chiang refused to comply with the governor’s orders to cut pay, Schwarzenegger filed a lawsuit against Chiang. That case is now tied up in court and will not be heard until September 12. The governor said the cut is necessary to avert a “cash crisis” that could result in the state borrowing money until the long overdue budget is passed. Chiang says the pay cut can not be enacted in a timely manner because the state payroll system is run on an outdated computer programming language.
Efforts by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to cut the pay of state workers to the federal minimum over a budget dispute with the state legislator isn’t going quite as planned. After State Comptroller John Chiang refused to comply with the governor’s orders to cut pay, Schwarzenegger filed a lawsuit against Chiang. That case is now tied up in court and will not be heard until September 12. The governor said the cut is necessary to avert a “cash crisis” that could result in the state borrowing money until the long overdue budget is passed. Chiang says the pay cut can not be enacted in a timely manner because the state payroll system is run on an outdated computer programming language.
The most recent bad news in the newspaper industry comes from Gannett. The publisher of USA Today plans to lay off three percent of its workforce as it struggles with declining revenue. One thousand jobs will be cut with 600 of those positions being eliminated through layoffs. None of the job cuts will be made at USA Today. Gannett also owns 23 television stations, 900 non-daily newspapers, and 85 daily papers throughout the U.S. and Great Britain. Gannett made the announcement last week on the heels of McClatchy announcing it planned to freeze wages for one year at all of its 30 newspapers.
The most recent bad news in the newspaper industry comes from Gannett. The publisher of USA Today plans to lay off three percent of its workforce as it struggles with declining revenue. One thousand jobs will be cut with 600 of those positions being eliminated through layoffs. None of the job cuts will be made at USA Today. Gannett also owns 23 television stations, 900 non-daily newspapers, and 85 daily papers throughout the U.S. and Great Britain. Gannett made the announcement last week on the heels of McClatchy announcing it planned to freeze wages for one0year at all of its 30 newspapers.
Anheuser-Busch workers in St. Louis don’t have to worry about not having support. This past weekend hundreds of friends and family members of the workers at the St. Louis plant turned out to show support for the workers now that the company has new owners. The message they were trying to drive home for InBev, was to “keep a promise made to not close U.S. plants and keep jobs in St. Louis. Anheuser Busch has 12 breweries across the United States and the company’s North American headquarters is located in St. Louis. The workers are represented by the Teamsters and during upcoming contract negotiations the union plans to press InBev to put that promise in the contract.
Recent Comments