Labor

WASHINGTON (PAI) — “One-fourth to one-third” of all U.S. jobs “are low-wage jobs” whose workers need not just a raise, but a support system to help lift them out of poverty, a top researcher says.

CLEVELAND — More help is now available to union members caught in the mounting home mortgage crisis, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said at a press conference here Oct. 15.

Bulgarian teachers began a nationwide strike late last month, calling for higher wages and increased spending on education.

BERLIN — Among the issues grabbing the headlines in Germany these days are a big train strike and Social Democratic Party infighting over jobless insurance.

Unions and immigrant rights organizations praised a federal judge’s Oct. 10 decision barring the Social Security Administration from using “no-match” letters to force employers to fire workers who cannot quickly clear up discrepancies. At the same time, the groups said, much work lies ahead to achieve fair immigration policies.

As soon as aspects of the proposed contract with General Motors were revealed, activists’ e-mail boxes began to fill up with the opinions of armchair socialists. “Sellout” and “backroom deal” were the usual characterizations. All of them blasted the union; none of them criticized GM. All of them were full of shrieking condemnation; none of them had any positive suggestions as to how we could help.

Fernando Rodriquez, director of Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Colorado, took time out from the Congreso Latino meeting in Los Angeles last week (see story, page 3) to tell the World about immigration raids the government conducted at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in December.

The wages and working conditions of union autoworkers have always set standards for all manufacturing. These in turn have put upward pressure on wages and benefits for all workers. But in today’s political and economic climate, major contract negotiations in the manufacturing sector are hell.

About 43,000 autoworkers streamed out of their workplaces Oct. 10 at Chrysler plants across the nation, launching a second nationwide auto strike within a two-week period, but this one lasting only about four hours.

Unions, led by the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees, and joined by allies ranging from the ACLU to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, won another round Oct. 10 in their battle with the Bush administration over immigration. A federal judge banned Bush from using error-ridden Social Security records to round up and deport workers and prosecute companies.