Monday, December 15, 2003

Saddam's Labor Laws Live On by David Bacon Most Iraqi workers hoped the fall of Saddam Hussein would liberate them, enabling them to recover their lost rights. Chief among them was the right to an independent union. In 1987, the regime of Saddam Hussein reclassified most Iraqi workers--those who labored in the huge state enterprises that are the heart of the country's economy--as civil servants. As such, they were prohibited from forming unions and bargaining. The occupation, however, didn't lift this decree. It is still in force, as privatization looms like a sword of Damocles over those workers and the factories on which they depend for survival. And while keeping in place the ban on unions, the occupation authorities have kept wages low and unemployment high. For Iraqi workers, the signal could not be clearer: The overthrow of Saddam did not bring liberation. complete article in The Progressive http://www.progressive.org/dec03/bac1203.html 4:33:24 PM    comment []

The 2003 edition of the STATE OF CALIFORNIA LABOR, produced by the Institute for Labor and Employment, is now available from the University of California Press. You can order it on line for $25 at http://www.ucpress.edu/journals/scl or by phone at 510 643-7154. The latest edition of the UC ILE's annual report on work and labor in California includes a portrait of union membership in the state, which analyzes the divergence between California and the nation and explodes the common assumption that the U.S. labor movement is in irreversible decline. There are also reports on recent organizing in California, innovations in state and local labor legislation, UC admissions policy, immigrant employment, living wage laws, and recent developments in California labor relations. 4:23:36 PM    comment []

Public, Private Employees Feeling Pinch of Rising Health-Care Costs Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-health14dec14,1,1054538,print.story By Sue Fox, Times Staff Writer December 14, 2003 The price of health care rocketed so high this year that Patricia Garcia, a single mother with three young children, decided she had no choice but to pull her kids off her insurance plan.... For many government workers throughout California, the surging cost of health care has eclipsed other job worries, such as flat wages. It emerged as the central sticking point in most contract disputes this year, such as the conflict that led to the transit mechanics' strike in Los Angeles County. And as the state's financial troubles squeeze money from county and city budgets, experts say, the labor strife is likely to worsen in the new year.   "We have seen people fighting very hard to hold the line," said KEN JACOBS, A LABOR POLICY SPECIALIST AT THE UC BERKELEY LABOR CENTER. "Health benefits are something that people see as essential to their family security. In general, we have seen a much greater willingness to forgo wage increases in order to maintain health benefits. It's just a bedrock issue for people."... The health-care conundrum is certainly not confined to public agencies. Insurance costs have been rising nationwide, spurred by higher drug prices, expensive new medical technologies and bigger bills from hospitals. In California, a shortage of nurses and the cost of retrofitting hospitals to guard against earthquakes have compounded the problem. Overall, private sector employees pay a greater share of their health insurance than those who work for public agencies, according to a recent UC BERKELEY STUDY....   Source: UC Berkeley in the News 4:10:48 PM    comment []

Copyright 2004 Lincoln Cushing