Another kind of global warming

ILO Report says the social climate is heating up

A new report published by International Labor Organisation (ILO) confirms the rising frustration of people over governments’ responses to the global economic crisis and documents the stirrings of protests across the globe.

The “World of Work Report 2010: From one crisis to the next?” analyzes the results of a global survey of social perceptions about the crisis covering 150 countries. According to the report, social indicators all point towards a picture of heightened socio-economic insecurity around the world and suggest that people expect the fallout from the crisis to continue well into the future – in stark contrast to claims of recovery of repeated in corporate media.

For example, in 2009 only 32 per cent of respondents in advanced econ­omies said that their standard of living was getting better, down from 48 per cent in 2006. Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia saw the biggest decline in people’s perceived standard of living. Among Western European countries, Italy and Spain have seen the sharpest declines in people’s satisfaction with their lives. Among other developed economies, Japan has seen the most severe decline in life satisfaction. Countries in Latin America have also seen sharp declines in people’s satisfaction with their lives, especially in Argentina and Mexico.

The report also measures confidence in government as an indicator of people’s frustration towards the status quo. Among advanced countries, confidence in gov­ernment declined from 52 per cent in 2006 to 41 per cent in 2009. Among countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, con­fidence in government was down to 38 per cent in 2009 from 43 per cent in 2006.

People’s perception of fairness has also suffered in the last two years. Among advanced economies, this stems largely from a general opposition to government bailouts of banks and financial institutions.

Source: ILO World of Work Report 2010, p. 38

The report cites cases of “unrest” related to the current financial and economic crisis in 25 countries. These cases have taken the form of protests against governments’ crisis responses and austerity measures aimed at repairing government balance sheets, protests against employers, and violent clashes between government and protesters. The report concludes that the main source of this unrest is the massive loss in employment, workers’ dissatisfaction with pay cuts, benefit reductions and fiscal austerity measures of governments.

Not surprisingly, the recent bouts of social and political unrest have been concentrated in places where these measures have been particularly severe.

Indeed, over the last months, workers and labour unions in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and France have taken to the streets in massive numbers to protest against the austerity measures, spending cuts and/or increases in the retirement age.

In other EU countries, there have been protests against governments’ perceived failure to respond to the crisis. For example, in France, unions have joined forces to protest against the stimulus measures implemented by the Government. The unions claim that the measures are inadequate to address the labour market and social problems facing the country. Similarly, Italy has seen public protests against the Government’s response to the crisis.

The report notes that Eastern Europe has been especially reactive, as many of these economies, which grew rapidly during the earlier part of the decade, have been particularly hard hit by the crisis. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all seen major protests critical of their governments’ handling of the economy. In Latvia, for instance, where total employment declined by almost 16 per cent between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009, protests were larger than any since the country became independent from the Soviet Union. As austerity measures were announced in these countries, more protests followed. In Romania, union members protested as the Government announced 25 per cent cuts in wages for state sector employees and 15 per cent cuts in unemployment benefits and pensions to meet requirements for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) “rescue package.”

In the US, the so-called Tea Party movement has staged several demonstrations in US cities to protest against “expensive measures taken by the Bush and Obama Administrations aimed at restoring the US economy.” Even in China, where there are indicators of strong economic activity, there have been recent incidents of protests as former workers have staged demonstrations in response to plant closures as the country reacts to slowing export demand.

Not surprisingly, recent data from the ILO indicates that the total number of strikes and lockouts rose in 2009. This increase is particularly acute in emerging economies in Latin America, such as, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. Other countries, notably, Australia, China and Rep. of Korea have also reported increase in number of strikes and lockouts. Meanwhile, the number of work days lost because of protest has increased among advanced economies in Europe, along with a general increase in the total number of strikes and lockouts.”

The Report warns that the situation could intensify in the coming months. According to a recent poll, 95 per cent of French and 90 per cent of Spanish citizens believed that an increase in the number of strikes and demonstrations were highly probable. Likewise, more than 80 per cent of British, German and Italian believed strikes and demonstrations highly probable.

In 13 out of the 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where the World Gallup Poll conducted surveys in 2008 and 2009, more than 30 per cent of respondents agreed that their country was headed towards unrest. In Brazil, for example, 34 per cent of respondents believed that the country was headed towards unrest in 2009, up from 28 per cent in 2008. In Honduras, the increase was most dramatic: 50 per cent of the respondents believed that their country was headed towards unrest, up from 37 per cent in 2008.

The Report’s authors conclude that “If there is one lesson that can be drawn from history, it is that the current environment of social malaise should be a wake-up call to policy- makers to put in place the right set of policies to address people’s needs while paving the way for a sustainable recovery.”

FRONTLINES

2.5 MILLION FRENCH WORKERS MOB THE STREETS TO PROTEST AGAINST PENSION REFORMS

More than 2.5 million French joined the protest staged last October 16 as part of a wave of strikes against the President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reforms. This mobilisation, a follow-up of an earlier protest on September 7, was well-attended by broad union alliances, left-wing parties and students. The government, despite the series of protests, has been resilient on pursuing its pension reform ‘to save the money-draining pension system’ by increasing the minimum age of retirement from 60 to 62, the full pension entitlement from 65 to 67 and the period of contribution from 40.5 to 41.5 years. According to reports, the reforms ‘remain likely to pass the Senate’, but the protests are guaranteed to pose the biggest challenge to the unpopular presidency of Sarkozy. Alongside the importance of labour unions and the extent of their political influence, the youth has been regarded as a key factor in ensuring the success of the campaign. Youth leaders, among 150 150 young people detained, argue that delaying retirement ‘will increase the already high unemployment amongst the youth’.

GREEK UNION-LED PROTEST RESIST AUSTERITY PROGRAM

Thousands of Greeks took to the streets Saturday September 11 in union-led protests against the debt-plagued country's harsh austerity program, before a keynote speech on the economy by Prime Minister George Papandreou. Some 11,000 people joined in three separate marches in Thessaloniki, while about 4,500 police were on duty. Around 600 truck owners marched on Saturday morning to protest the planned deregulation of their profession. Papandreou promised to open up restricted professions including truck drivers, notaries public, taxi drivers and pharmacists. In his speech, he promised to deregulate the energy market, settle on privatization targets and simplify business licensing procedures by the end of 2010. Unions are protesting against this year's deep spending cuts and consumer tax hikes, and fear new cutbacks. Heralding a new round of unrest, railway workers are planning strikes against payroll cuts, and some unionists have threatened to burn privately operated trains. Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May, when European countries and the IMF granted Athens emergency loans worth €110 billion through 2012, on condition of deep cutbacks. The government announced plans to overhaul the state-run rail company — with debts of €10.7 billion ($13.62 billion) by cutting payrolls and rail services. About 40% of its 6,300 workers will leave and be offered other public sector jobs, while the company faces private competition. The country is due to receive €9 billion over the next few days in the second instalment of the loans from the EU and IMF. The employment crisis has hit parts of northern Greece the hardest, including the town of Naoussa, where the jobless rate hit 50%, worsened by the relocation of factories to nearby Bulgaria.

MIGRANT WORKERS IN MALAYSIA WIN BATTLE FROM MISTREATMENT AND EXPLOITATION

The 3-day protest of more than 5,000 migrant workers ended in a victory against the management of JYC Co. Ltd., an electronics factory at the Tebrau Industrial area of Johor Baru, Malaysia. The migrant workers from Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India had united to register their strong protest over the death of their two fellow Nepalese workers who died in separate incidents of high fever while at work but the employer did not allow them to be taken to hospital in time. The workers protested mistreatment by management, including low wages and no provision of healthcare facilities in the factory that employs around 8,000 workers. About 200 Police and Federal Reserve Unit personnel were called by management to control the enraged workers. The determined workers put forward a four-point program of demands, including a salary hike, in order to pressurise management into negotiating, as well as demanding that the Nepalese embassy intervene. At the last day of the protest, management agreed to pay compensation of 10,000 Ringgit to the dead worker's family; increase the minimum monthly salary from 428 to 546 Ringgit; provide an ambulance service for emergency cases and on time treatment at a clinic on the factory premises. Recently, more and more migrant workers in Malaysia have bravely entered into struggle to fight for their rights.

PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS HELD A MASSIVE STRIKE IN SOUTH AFRICA DEMANDS A WAGE INCREASE AND HOUSING ALLOWANCE

20,000 workers marched in Tshwane and 15,000 in Cape Town on August 10, as 1.3 million public sector workers organized in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the smaller Independent Labour Caucus (ILC) and Federation Unions of SA (Fedusa), shut down public services like schools and hospitals almost completely. In other towns pickets were held. The unions' main demands are for an 8.6% salary increase and a R1000 housing allowance. This is already a major drop from the original demands of 15% and R2500 respectively.

September 29 Europe-Wide Day of Action against austerity and for jobs and real economic growth

Responding to the call of the European Trade Union Confederation, tens of thousands of trade unionists from Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France assembled at Gare du Midi, the south railway station of Brussels and marched to the Parc du Cinquantenaire to hold a rally. The Day of Action was spearheaded by trade unions and is at the same time actively supported by left political parties, community organizations, church groups, students and other forces. In specific countries of Europe, strikes and mass protests are expected to be held in conjunction with the focal mass action in Brussels. A general strike was held in Spain, following the previous examples in Greece and France. This Europe-wide day of action was a mass mobilization aimed at protesting the rising rate of unemployment, the lowering of wage levels, the attack on pensions and the cutting back of social services as a result of austerity measures being imposed by the European governments.

INCREASE IN FOOD AND COMMODITY PRICES SPARKS PROTESTS AND RIOTS IN MOZAMBIQUE

A food riot in Maputo, Mozambique's capital sparks after the government announced that bread prices would climb by 30%, along with electricity and water rates. Mozambicans began demonstrating in Maputo on September 1 after several days of rumors of impending protests. Thousands of people lined the streets of Bagamoyo. Police declared the action illegal on the grounds that no groups had applied for a permit and attempted to break up the protest. The primarily youthful crowd responded by burning tires, barricading streets and throwing stones at police. Shops, gas stations and buses were also damaged. Several wagonloads of corn near a railway station were seized by protesters. The major highway connecting South Africa to the port of Maputo was reportedly blocked in several places, by tree trunks, utility poles, rocks, tires and other debris. The police acted with brutality, ope fire on the crowds that killed at least 10 people including a 6-year old girl and 12-year old boy and more than 400 wounded. Hundreds of people have been arrested. Protests have also occurred in the cities of Matola, Beira and Chimoi. Mozambicans have called on President Armando Guebuza, of the ruling Frelimo party, to resign. Frelimo, which has ruled Mozambique since independence from Portugal in 1975, is a corrupt, bourgeois outfit, which especially since the mid-1980s has opened the country up to foreign investors and extract oil and gas reserves, and titanium mining which are the growing source of the country's revenue.

HONDURANS HELD A NATIONWIDE CIVIC STRIKE AGAINST NEOLIBERAL OFFENSIVES OF THE LOBO REGIME

Thousands of people mobilized across Honduras on September 7 as part of the “civic strike” called by the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) to “demand that the neoliberal offensive against the poor be halted”. Rallies were held in the capital, Tegucigalpa and 10 other cities and towns. Their demands were to increase the minimum wage; raise public workers’ pay; reject laws to bring in temporary and hourly work; eliminate the private-public investment law; support for the struggle of the workers at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH); defend peasants’ rights that are under attack; and reject the privatization of natural resources. The nationwide strike was in response to the Tegucigalpa crackdown last August 26 and 27 when Honduran military and police attacks against members of the teacher's union, COPEMH (Colegio de Profesores de Educacion Media de Honduras or Association of Secondary Teachers of Honduras), and their supporters that took place at the National Pedagogical University Francisco Morazan. The union has been on strike since May opposing the regime of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo. Over 100 people were captured and guarded by state forces against a fence outside the University. Many teachers and students were trapped in classrooms suffering from teargas exposure and those who tried to escape were brutally beaten by the police including pregnant women and children and journalists. Seven or more others were injured. Also, the same group of protesters was assaulted near the Presidential Palace. The Tegucigala crackdowns followed weeks of public school teacher demands for the return of $200 million taken from the National Institute of IMPREMA, an institution managing their pension funds. The students opposed Lobo's plan to privatize education and demanding the reinstatement of 180 laid-off workers. Throughout the month of August the level of conflict and the human rights crisis in Honduras has deepened. Non-violent protesters in Choloma were beaten, and three members of peasant organizations in Aguan were killed. Another journalist, critical of the regime, was murdered bringing to ten the total of journalists murdered since Lobo took over in January.

Landless and Fisher Folks Protested in Bangladesh

Last October 20, Bangladesh Krishkok Federation (BKF) and Bangladesh Kishani Sabha (BKS) 
organised a big demonstration in Kurigram, submitting an eight-point memorandum to the 
authorities. The protesters, mostly women from the peasant sector, participated in the said 
action. The demands include the distribution of land and water bodies to the genuine local 
landless and fisher flock; recovery of these bodies from illegal occupants; immediate 
implementation of a rationing system with a nominal price; rehabilitation of families who 
were victims of river erosion; assurance of employment or unemployment allowance for the 
peasants; price reduction of daily essentials such as rice, edible oil and fuel; exemption of 
agricultural loans and NGO micro-credit; and preservation of Sonarhat Bridge, an historical site. 
The Deputy Commissioner, through the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), committed
 in front of the people that these demands will be addressed as soon as possible.

Italians demand more rights for workers and unemployment

Last October 16, thousands of Italians gathered in Rome ‘to protest the bleak outlook for jobs
 and demand more rights for workers’. According to Eugenio Borrello of a metalworkers union,
the workers and the pensioners are the only ones ‘paying for the crisis’. In the past few months,
 many Italians have been mobilizing in the streets to to air out their concerns on increasing 
unemployment and massive cuts on basic social services such as education.

 Download  Resist Newsletter October 2010

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