Airline employees face extortion
Talking with airline employees in America can be an unsettling experience right now. They are being pushed for salary and work-rule concessions under threat of losing their jobs.
Rural union leader under threat in Colombia
Trade unionists in Colombia continue to face threats to their very lives as they fight an uphill battle to protect the rights of both urban and rural workers. Last week the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF) reported that Guillermo Rivera Zapata, vice president of the Colombian rural workers union SINTRAINAGRO, was suddenly deprived of the security measures, including bodyguards, previously provided by the government.
Report takes aim at sweatships
Two British organizations recently released a report that paints a grim picture of working conditions on cruise ships, tarnishing the fun, romantic image that the cruise ship industry has cultivated.
Bush budget blasted
President Bush’s $2.23 trillion budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 is loaded with more than a trillion dollars in tax breaks for the rich, increased spending for the military-industrial complex and cuts in funding for many social programs. It drew an angry response from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
World labor: Let the inspectors work
The AFL-CIO added its voice to the growing opposition to war with Iraq last week when federation President John Sweeney joined with John Monks, general secretary of the British Trades Union Congress, to urge President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to give UN weapons inspectors in Iraq “adequate time” to complete their work.
