Korean Workers Defy Police  and Continue  2-Month Sit-in at Auto Plant
Hundreds of discharged workers from South Korea’s Ssangyong Motors have continued to clash with police as they resist efforts to end a two-month siege at the company’s main factory. Up to 600 workers have been occupying the paint shop part of the factory in protest against massive job cuts that are part of a company restructuring plan.

Around 3,000 riot police have been deployed to the factory and on July 22, police helicopters dumped tear gas into the plant in an effort to force the discharged workers to leave. A company spokesman said the protesters are believed to have stocked up on enough food and other necessities to hold out for a considerable time. A police officer said ” We’re fully ready to move in, but haven’t set the timing, because a lot of flammable material, such as paint and thinner, is scattered in the paint shop. For now, it is difficult to move in.”

Lee Chang-kun, a spokesman for the union, said “If police decide to move in, then it would mean they don’t care, even if dozens die.” The protest began on May 21 and has paralyzed production at the plant. Ssangyong's labor union rejected a compromise offer from the management in late June. Since then, there has been no contact between the company and the strikers.

10 Million U.S. Workers to Get a Boost in Their Minimum Wage  Pay
Nearly ten million workers in 31 states are getting a pay raise, starting July 24, when the federal minimum wage increases by 70 cents to $7.25 an hour go into effect. The raise will put an extra $2,000 a year into the paychecks of a full-time minimum wage worker. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI),  that increase will generate $5.5 billion in consumer spending over the next year—providing a boost to the economy without additional government spending.

The pay boost is the last of the three-step minimum wage increase Congress passed in 2007, which was the first increase since 1997. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis  commented.  “I am especially pleased that the change will benefit working women, who make up two-thirds of minimum wage earners.”

Even with the  raise, the purchasing power of the minimum wage remains below its value during the 1960s and 1970s, according to EPI.  After adjusting for inflation, the value of the new minimum wage is 17 percent lower than in the peak value year of 1968. The minimum wage is far less than what it takes for a low-wage family to support itself.

Germany’s Labor  Leaders Raise Rights Abuse Issues with Putin
A German  labor delegation, headed by Berthold Huber, IG Metall president, met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during  a six-day visit to Russia in early July. Huber, who is also president of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, informed Putin about the role that the German trade unions are playing in the current global economic crises.  But he also raised with Putin the growing concern among the IMF and its affiliates about recent  attacks against Russian trade union leaders.  He asked Putin to ensure that the crimes are thoroughly and transparently investigated.

In February, Eugeny Ivanov, leader of the IMF-affiliated Russian Inter-regional Trade Union (ITUA) local union at the General Motors plant near St. Petersburg, was assaulted outside his home, and in June and July 2008, other ITUA leaders were also attacked. To date, no one has been charged with any of these violent crimes.

The delegation paid a visit to the  VW plant in Kaluga, where they met with activists and members of the Automobile and Farm  Machinery Workers’ Union of Russia and exchanged information about Volkswagen  and pledges of cooperation. Unions of the two countries will  soon  be starting separate negotiations with Volkswagen.

Israeli Employers May Be Jailed and Fined for Defaulting on Wages
The Knesset Labor Committee has approved a proposal making a delay of employees’ salaries, a felony, punishable by up to six months in jail and an NIS 35,000 ($10,000 ) fine.

The committee also granted a request by the Histadrut Labor Federation to include local and religious councils in the new regulations, in accordance with an agreement between the labor  federation and several government ministries. Delays in the payment of wages by local and religious councils is unfortunately common.

The bill also states that if an employer is able to prove that the wage delay was caused by reasons beyond his control, the minister would have the option of not pressing the charges. Any criminal procedure taken against an employer will not, however, infringe on an employee’s rights to seek restitution via the Labor Court.

French Workers Lock Up Execs in  a New Eruption of ‘Bossnappings’
French factory workers, angry over layoffs and cost cuts, locked up their bosses at a Michelin tire plant and a U.S.-owned cigarette-paper mill in a new eruption of kidnapping their bosses.  The auto and auto parts industries have been particularly hard hit by cutbacks and a backlash by French workers during the country’s worst recession in decades.

About 50 workers at Michelin’s plant in Montceau-les-Mines locked up four managers, including the director, on July 21. The managers were released early the next day after regional officials offered to mediate. While French officials have denounced such violent worker protests, police are rarely brought in, and the hostage-takings usually end peacefully.

Industry Minister Christian Estrosi,  who met with laid-off workers from an auto parts plant, said that over 200 employees had already accepted a “transition package” by which the state guarantees that workers get 95 percent of their wages for  the next 12 months. The workers at the plant want 30,000 euros ($43,000) each  from Renault SA and PSA Peugeot-Citroen, condemning French automakers for the collapse of their factory.

IFJ Calls for Protection of Journalists in Afghanistan Before Election
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called upon the government of Afghanistan to protect journalists and set “model standards” for democracy if it wants the upcoming elections in the country to be fair. Addressing a national assembly of journalists in Kabul, Aiden White, IFJ’s general secretary, said: that Afghanistan needed to provide more access to information for the media, more guarantees of safety to journalists and more professionalism in the state broadcasting system, which is heavily biased in favor of governing parties.

At a meeting with Afghanistan’s Information Minister, Abdul Kari Khurramk, White called on the government  to show its concern for the dangers facing journalists by issuing reports on the killings of journalists in the country in the past year. The IFJ is also calling on journalists and media themselves to counter low levels of professionalism in many parts of the media. IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 123 counties around the world.