The Guardian 29 June, 2005
Global briefs
PAKISTAN: Pakistani security forces took over Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd (PTCL) on June 12 and arrested more than 300 workers and union leaders after they called a strike against the company’s privatisation. The government threatened to try strike leaders as "terrorists". The government had earlier postponed privatisation of the country’s largest telecommunications firm to end a 10-day standoff with 55,000 PCTL workers. It then announced that bids would be taken June 18 for a 26 percent share of the national firm. Said union leader Shahid Ayub, "This is a profit-earning organisation. There is no ground for it to be sold." He said thousands of its workers would lose their jobs.
FINLAND: Talks between the Paperworkers’ union and pulp and paper manufacturers to end a strike and lockout in effect since mid-May have broken off with the two sides still far apart, negotiators said. If the dispute is not resolved soon, the Hensingin Sanomat newspaper said, a government working group will take over. The biggest sticking point is the use of outside subcontracted labour. In particular, the union is upholding the job rights of 900 cleaners whom the companies want to replace with contracted workers. Paperworkers’ union chairman Jouko Ahonen dismissed the employers’ claims that the cleaners are causing economic hardship to the industry, pointing out that the pay they earn "corresponds to that of just 18 executives of the pulp and paper industry."
VENEZUELA: A preliminary audit of the first three private firms running fields for Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, shows they owe nearly US$300 million in taxes. Nineteen companies are still to be audited. Venezuela’s Tax Superintendent Jose Vielma said the overall tax bill from the 22 companies "could be higher than US$3 billion". Private oil firms manage 32 of Petroleos de Venezuela’s fields, for a per-barrel fee. Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez had warned on May 25 that private companies, including Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and Conoco Phillips, must put their operations in order if they expect to stay in the country.
ANGOLA: Three years after the end of the country’s 27-year civil war, Angola still has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the world, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative Mario Ferrari said. "The long period of war had the effect of dismantling the social services", Ferrari stated. "The effect is that this country has a child mortality rate of 250 per 1000." Many children are not in primary school and very few go to secondary school, he said, while noting that some progress has been made. Campaigns against polio have continued and there have been no new cases since 2001. An effective anti-measles campaign was waged in 2003 and there have been a number of other health-related measures, especially benefiting children and women. But, he emphasised, aid agencies and the government have "a long road ahead of us" to reduce the child mortality rate.