Global briefs
SOUTH KOREA: The Korean Government Employees' Union (KGEU) launched a general strike this month despite government efforts to squelch its demand for full labour rights, including the right to strike. Last week the government forcibly disrupted a strike vote by the unrecognised union of 140,000 members. It also issued arrest warrants for 33 KGEU leaders, including Chairman Kim Young-gil. The existing Civil Service Law bars most government workers from joining a union or participating in collective actions. The government said it would severely punish or dismiss strikers.* * * PERU: Over 200 Peruvian children have sent messages of solidarity and encouragement to Ivette Gonzalez, daughter of Reni Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five. "The world is with you", the children told young Ivette. "We want to greet you and wish you the best", wrote the children from the working-class district of San Juan de Miraflores in Lima. "We are sure you will soon see your father and will be happy." Prensa Latina said the names, signatures and identity cards of 205 children were presented at a ceremony at the National Telephone Union headquarters. The event was part of a coordinated series of solidarity activities with the Five put on by Peruvian-Cuban Friendship Houses, trade unions and political organisations.* * * BURMA: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has released new details of forced labour across the country. For the fourth time since June 2004, the ICFTU has provided specific examples of forced labour of various types, including road construction, building and maintenance of military camps, carrying of army supplies and ammunition, and agricultural work. The ICFTU's examples are based on data collected by the Federation of Trade Unions — Burma (FTUB), an underground workers' organisation active inside Burma and maintaining offices and training facilities in neighbouring countries. Three FTUB leaders were sentenced to death last year after the Burmese dictatorship found they were giving the International Labour Organisation information about forced labour. Though their sentences have since been reduced to prison terms, they remain in detention, and their cases are to be featured in discussions on the situation in Burma by the ILO's governing body this week.* * * SOUTH AFRICA: TSW mag-wheels (Tigers wheels) manufacturing company in South Pretoria has announced it will rationalise its workforce and sack 700 workers. COSATU strongly condemned the company, which said it would retrench 200 members of the National Union Of Metalworkers Of South Africa (NUMSA) this month and a further 500 workers before 2007. "The whole process of retrenchments is substantively unfair and unjustifiable because the union has provided concrete alternatives to the retrenchment process", the trade union body said. "Retrenchment can be seen as death penalty because it has a deleterious impact on the life of workers and their families. It also impacts heavily on the economy by increasing the levels of unemployment and poverty. It further undermines the Growth and Development Summit agreement to create sustainable jobs", COSATU said in a media statement. A Labour Research Services study exposed that while workers' wages increased by 0.008% between 1997 and 2002, the increase for executive directors for the same years was 85% and for non- executive directors was 164%.