Baghdad Hotel Employees Strike for Security Pay

Employees at the Al-Rasheed, Baghdad’s biggest hotel and host to politicians, diplomats and businessmen, have gone on strike, demanding a “risk bonus” as compensation for the dangers they face. Some 200 of them, who are employees of the ministry of culture, gathered in front of the hotel on Jan. 27, holding banners that read:  ”Where are our rights?”

“We are asking for a risk bonus because we are frequently targeted by mortars and rocket attacks. The Rasheed hotel is a dangerous place,”  said Rohm Kari, a maintenance worker.  Two hotel employees have been killed  since August, the staff says, one in a bomb attack on the nearby foreign ministry and another when a mortar round struck right in front of the hotel.

The hotel, which employs about 800 people, is located in Baghdad’s  heavily-fortified  Green Zone where Iraq’s parliament and main ministries are located, as well as the British and U.S. embassies. “The prime minister must respond to our demands,” said Mohammad  Abraham,  who works in the accounting department.

Cap Exec Pay at 20 Times Average, Says Global Union Leader

A union leader, representing 20 million workers world-wide, has called for corporate executive salaries to be capped at 20 times the pay of the average worker, as he branded the system for rewarding business leaders “corrupt” and a “racket.”  Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Philip Jennings, general secretary  of the UNI global union, said the pay gap  between those running companies and their workforces has widened  to “unsustainable levels.”

The union leader said that in the 1970s, U.S. chief executives were paid 30 to 40 times the wage of the average worker, but by 2008, they took home 319 times more than  the average American. “The pay of the average worker  has flat-lined,  but the pay of executives has taken off like a rocket,”  Jennings said.

Eurozone Unemployment Rate Hits 10%

Unemployment in the16 countries that use the euro hit 10 percent in December for the first time since the single currency was introduced in 1999.  Some 15.8 million  are now out of work in the Eurozone. Across the 27countries that make up the European Union (EU), there are 23 million people unemployed.

Latvia has the highest jobless rate in the EU, at 22.8 percent. Spain continues to have the highest rate in the Eurozone, rising to  19.5 percent in December, from 19.4 percent in November. The Netherlands has the lowest jobless rate (4 percent), followed by Austria (5.4 percent).

Some 21 percent of the under-25s  were unemployed in December 2009, with  Spain suffering the highest rate of all, at 44.5 percent.   Although the rise in Eurozone unemployment has slowed in recent months, it seems poised to trend higher during much, if not all, of 2010, according to many analysts.

Chinese Workers on Strike for Pay and Safety from Poison

Some 2,000 Chinese workers  engaged in a wildcat strike in Suzhou   at the local  high-tech factory and they have succeeded in shutting down one of the largest producers of mobile phone panels in the world. The factory is owned by Taiwan’s Wintek, which is believed to be a supplier for Apple and other international brands.  

The strike was about money and health. Frustration erupted among the workers, following a rumor that a yearly bonus wouldn’t be paid for the second year. The bonus amounted to $200. But some of the workers say there was a bigger issue for the strike: the poisoning  of-workers.

At least 47 workers were hospitalized last year after exposure to hexane, a toxic chemical Wintek was using to clean mobile phone panels. Today, 36 workers remain in hospitals, six months after the company says it quit using hexane… But the executives denied rumors swirling about the factory floor that some workers died from the exposure to the toxic chemicals.

Turkish Tobacco Workers Get Government to Act on Their Grievances

Militant tobacco workers in Turkey are on the verge of victory over the government after a bitter industrial dispute marked by hunger strikes, violent clashes with riot police and a siege of the governing party’s headquarters. The strike was triggered last month when  the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) announced the closure of 12 factories belonging to Tekel, the former tobacco  and alcohol state monopoly.

The closure plan was drawn up after Tekel was sold to British and American companies in line with the government’s privatization program. Workers reacted with outrage after learning they would be redeployed in temporary public-sector jobs on reduced pay and conditions. They said the changes would reduce their pay by more than five  percent  and leave them without severance pay.

However, at a meeting with union leaders  and Tekel workers’ representatives on Jan. 28,  the prime minister ordered the finance and labor ministers to find a formula to resolve the dispute by Monday. That was enough to persuade Tekel workers to postpone a hunger strike that was to start today.

Global Drug Company to Cut 8,000 Jobs as Profits Soar

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca  plans to slash 8,000 more jobs worldwide by 2014, continuing its efforts to cut costs, despite rising profits. “Today, we have proposed  a further reduction in headcount of 8,000,” a spokeswoman announced. The news came as AstraZenica reported that net profits soared by almost one quarter in 2009.

AstraZenica said it hoped to deliver annual cost savings of $1.9 billion over the next four years in extension of a restructuring program launched in 2007 that has so far cost 12,000 jobs. The latest job cuts will affect the group’s sales and marketing division, as well as its business infrastructure and research and development units.

The company, which has 63,000 employees around the world,  added that “keeping  our employees informed remains our priority, and we will consult fully with them on any proposed changes.”  The firm predicts a tough 2010 because a number of  its key  drugs patents are due to expire.