The Guardian 1 February, 2006
Global briefs
CHINA: A web site to safeguard workers’ interests was launched last week in Beijing. The site is specifically geared to help rural migrant workers who work in major urban areas across the country. Operated by the Beijing Workstation of Legal Aid for Rural Migrant Workers, the web site publishes laws and regulations as well as information on the more common lawsuits against offenders of migrant workers’ rights. It also lists lawyers who handle migrant worker cases and has a hotline for immediate help. There are about 140 million rural migrant workers working in cities in China. Although they play a significant role in urban construction and development, they have a low social status and relatively little political influence. Many, frustrated at their inability to protect their rights, have turned to violence. The web site, http://www.zgnmg.org, began receiving hits on the first morning it opened.
SOUTH AFRICA: Mozambicans who suffered illness as a result of working in South Africa’s asbestos mines are scheduled to receive compensation from the Asbestos Relief Trust this year. The fund was formed in an out-of-court settlement in 2003 between companies and workers, following the successful suit of 7,000 asbestos workers against the British multinational Cape Pic. The Cape Pic victory set a precedent where the company was forced to pay compensation to asbestos victims and relatives of those who had died from asbestos-related diseases. The trust is about R460 million (about $US76 million) and will benefit about 1,500 workers. There are more former miners with asbestos-related health problems, some of whom have worked as long as 30 years in the mines, who are not due to receive compensation because of complications with paperwork and medical records.
EUROPEAN UNION: Ports across Europe were at a standstill last week as 40,000 dockworkers throughout the region protested a European Union directive to "liberalise" cargo handling at European ports. The EU Bill would allow independent contractors to hire untrained poorly paid workers to load and unload cargo. The work is dangerous for the skilled union labour who currently do the job. Union representatives say if the Bill is passed about half the 150,000 workers would lose their jobs. About 10,000 dockworkers converged on Strasbourg in eastern France where the Bill was debated. Short strikes were scheduled at Rotterdam and Antwerp in the Netherlands, and at ports in Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Greece, Spain, Germany and France. The European Transport Workers Federation said more than 40,000 workers from 12 countries participated in the protests.
USA: After receiving pressure from Major League Baseball, the players’ association and the baseball commissioner’s office, the US Treasury Department said on January 20 it would grant a licence to the Cuban national baseball team, allowing its participation in the World Baseball Classic games set for March 3-20. The decision came after Cuba said it would donate any profits it received from the tournament to victims of Hurricane Katrina.