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Institute
of Industrial Relations Library
Labor and Employment Weblog
University of California, Berkeley |
Updated
5/3/2004; 3:26:46 PM
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Thursday, April 15, 2004 |
Central American and Mexican consulates to aid Calif immigrants. Consuls from Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico say they're uniting forces to improve the quality of life for Hispanic immigrants in California. The consuls announced a plan Wednesday to work with U.S. officials and community groups to provide joint education and legal assistance in areas of health, immigration and labor rights. San Francisco Chronicle Apr 15 2004 7:40AM GMT
4:10:02 PM 
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French Unions Urged to Block Nestle Plans. French unions were today urged to refuse to accept work transferred from a Nestle factory in Britain which is set to close with the loss of over 100 jobs.
The Transport and General Workers Union, which is campaigning to save the plant at Staverton in Wiltshire, said their French counterparts were considering the request. PA News via The Scotsman Online Apr 15 2004 12:45PM GMT
4:08:46 PM
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EEOC sues Apria for discrimination against local worker. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, alleges that Apria violated the Americans with Disabilities Act for firing its quality assurance coordinator with bipolar disorder rather than attempting to work out a reasonable accommodation that would have allowed her to keep working. St Louis Business Journal Apr 14 2004 9:07PM GMT
4:07:40 PM
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Yes, But When Can I Switch Off From Work?. Welcome to the modern "always on, always connected" work world. It's gotten to the point where Microsoft discovered, after handing out smart phones, tablet PCs and broadband connections to employees that they needed to give their employees special instructions on how to turn off work. This isn't a new problem, and it's certainly been discussed before. While some people can handle the work/life balance without a problem - it's not so easy for everyone else. Even for those who can switch off, it's made more difficult by their colleagues who can't - and who contact them at odd hours with work requests. This is going to become a bigger issue for modern companies to deal with. There are, obviously, some advantages, but people need to learn their limits. [Techdirt]
4:06:33 PM
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Hotel workers dispute in Cambodia continues, despite end of strike. Union officials in Cambodia say hundreds of workers at four top hotels have been prevented from returning to duty despite ending a nine-day strike over pay and conditions. The employees' union, the Cambodia Tourism and Service Workers Federation, says the hotels appear to be waiting for the dispute to go to arbitration on April 21.
ABC Online Apr 15 2004 2:30AM GMT
4:01:25 PM
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Early To Bed, Early To Commute. "From 1990 to 2000, the census reported, 18 percent more Marylanders left their homes between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. to go to work...Transportation planners say longer commutes are partly a product of the continued migration from urban centers and nearby suburbs to outlying areas. Those far-flung places rarely have extensive mass transit and often have roads bursting beyond capacity. Jobs often follow people out of big cities, but many new office parks and suburban job centers can be reached only by car." Thu, 15 Apr 2004 01:00:00 PDT [PLANetizen: Front Page]
3:45:06 PM
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From January to February 2004, the average number of jobless Danes fell by 600 cases to 182,0. But the marginal decline wasn't enough to change the overall unemployment rate, which remains stable at 6.5 percent, according to figures released today by Statistics Denmark. The drop in 2500 jobless claims must be considered in light of the fact that 1300 previously registered dole recipients were put on council activation schemes during the period. Copenhagen Post Apr 15 2004 10:49AM GMT
3:27:55 PM
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Dutch Q1 unemployment 6.6 pct vs 5.0 pct yr-earlier (AFX News ). AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Unemployment in the first quarter stood at 6.6 pct, up from 5.0 pct a year earlier, the Central Bureau for Statistics said. After correcting for seasonal effects, the number of jobless stood at 483,000 in the quarter, up from 464,000 in the period Dec-Feb
The number of jobless has been increasing by 14,000 per month on average over the past six months, the CBS said
The number of people with employment of 12 hours or more a week in the quarter fell by 52,000 from a year earlier to 7.036 mln.FXstreet.com Apr 15 2004 8:55AM GMT [Moreover - Benelux news]
3:23:39 PM
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The Changing Face Of Suburbia In South Africa. "Now a teeming suburb of 50,000, Rosettenville is a racial melange. Thousands have moved here from Soweto and other black and mixed-race townships, often buying homes from departing whites... The result is an ethnically diverse community that symbolizes the heralded successes — but also the enormous challenges — facing this country... Whites and blacks live side by side here in equal numbers and relative harmony. But crime has escalated, housing prices have sunk, schools are overcrowded, public transportation has become unreliable and joblessness shadows the streets of modest homes." Thu, 15 Apr 2004 11:00:20 PDT [PLANetizen: Front Page]
3:13:13 PM
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UAW membership at 62-year low. DETROIT, April 15 (UPI) -- Membership in the United Auto Workers union dropped by 14,000 in 2003 to its lowest level since World War II, the Detroit Free Press said. Washington Times Apr 15 2004 5:33PM GMT
3:10:34 PM
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UK border checks set for Belgium. AN agreement extending Britain’s borders to the Eurostar terminal in Brussels was expected to be agreed by Home Secretary David Blunkett today.
Mr Blunkett was due to finalise a deal with Belgian interior minister Patrick Dewael which will grant full powers to UK immigration officers on Belgian soil. Senior officials said it would allow them to "stay ahead of the game" in their campaign to keep illegal immigrants out of the UK. Edinburgh Evening News Apr 15 2004 1:08PM GMT
2:55:34 PM
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Budget woes threaten lifeguard staffing in Santa Cruz. City lifeguards will spend less time in the towers during the peak months, as 10-hour shifts are reduced to roughly eight hours. That means towers on city beaches won't be staffed until midmorning. San Jose Mercury News Apr 15 2004 6:12PM GMT
2:51:53 PM
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Illegal immigrants paying taxes as example of good citizenship. VISTA – The clusters of working families that spilled out from Marisela Ornelas' small office waited as patiently as any American filing income taxes at the last minute. Yet most did not belong to this country.
"They're all illegal," Ornelas said.
Lured by word-of-mouth and by Spanish-language ads in newspapers and on the radio, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants across the nation have walked into tax preparers' offices to report their income.
SignOn San Diego Apr 15 2004 9:39AM GMT
2:36:36 PM
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US budget deficits seen as world economic threat. The IMF released Wednesday a new analysis which predicted that if nothing is done to get control of the soaring US deficits, it would shave global economic output by 4.2 percent by 2020 and reduce Manila Times Apr 15 2004 3:52PM GMT
2:24:56 PM
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BPO gives US more jobs than India. Last year, when executives at Infineon Technologies AG had decided to eliminate 40 high-paying engineering jobs at its San Jose research facility and transfer the work to India, there was chaos. After all, people had lost their jobs. But, interestingly at the same time, the company had hired 150 engineers in the US for different departments. Economictimes Apr 15 2004 5:41PM GMT
2:23:24 PM
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US unemployment Claims Make Big Jump (AP). AP - New claims for unemployment benefits increased last week by 30,000, the biggest jump in 16 months. Still, analysts said Thursday they believe the labor market has turned a corner, pointing the way to a sustainable economic recovery. [Yahoo! News - Business]
2:12:05 PM
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Taylorism Gone Mad Or A Better Work-Life Balance?. It's really no surprise that this is happening, but as technology continues to get better at recording all sorts of things about us, a new discussion is opening up about employers monitoring employees. Even though plenty of studies (for years and years and years) have shown that too much employee monitoring actually harms productivity that won't stop this new generation from trying. What's interesting here is the way it's being spun - not as a direct way of improving productivity (modern Taylorism), but as a better way for employers to help employees improve their work life balance. In other words, the article suggests that employers can monitor employees' cholesterol levels and stress levels and realize when they need a break. They (way too easily) dismiss the idea of privacy by pointing out that privacy doesn't matter any more (uh... says who?). Even worse, no where do they explain why it makes sense for the employer to be doing this kind of monitoring and keeping this kind of data. It seems perfectly reasonable for employees to monitor themselves this way, but it's not clear why an employer should have any need to know this information. [Techdirt]
2:02:30 PM
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Bin Laden Tape Piles Pressure on U.S. Companies (Reuters). Reuters - U.S. corporations may face a growing threat from terror groups after a message purportedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden lambasted the work of foreign firms in Iraq, terrorism experts said on Thursday. Halliburton has lost 30 employees and subcontractors in Iraq. Seven more employees have been missing since last Friday when their convoy was ambushed. [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]
2:01:27 PM
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Boston teachers approve 2-year contract with city. About 650 members of the 7,000-strong union were present at the afternoon meeting, with just one voting no, Stutman said. The deal provides raises of 9 to 10 percent for most teachers from this year until it expires in August 2006. Boston Herald Apr 15 2004 2:46PM GMT
1:23:27 PM
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Wal-Mart class-action labor suit set for Oakland court. The California Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for a trial in one of the largest labor suits pending against Wal-Mart, a statewide claim that managers forced employees to work without rest and meal breaks. Oakland Tribune Apr 15 2004 3:45PM GMT
1:16:49 PM
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Global economy expanding in 2004, UN and partner say The group has produced a report, "Global Economic Outlook 2004," under the auspices of Project LINK, founded by Nobel Laureate Lawrence Klein. LINK, which the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the Project LINK Research Centre at the University of Toronto jointly coordinate, makes global projections out of the econometric models governments have developed for themselves. [UN News Service]
11:11:21 AM
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Copyright
2004
Janice Kimball
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