{"id":34918,"date":"2013-05-21T05:58:07","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T04:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/workers-struggles-the-americas-2\/34918\/"},"modified":"2013-05-21T05:58:07","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T04:58:07","slug":"workers-struggles-the-americas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/workers-struggles-the-americas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Workers Struggles: The Americas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

\n 21 May 2013
\n <\/h5>\n
Latin America<\/h6>\n

Brazilian dockworkers strike over privatization legislation<\/h4>\n

Stevedores at the southern Brazilian ports of Santos, Rio de Janeiro and Paranagu\u00c3\u00a1 held a \u201cflash strike\u201d at noon on May 14 to protest grain terminal privatization legislation being debated in the national Senate after passage by the lower house of Congress. The strike took place in the midst of a backlog of soybeans, grain and corn waiting for export, with over 200 vessels awaiting loading. Container traffic, however, was the most affected by the action.<\/p>\n

The proposed legislation had been promoted by the Rousseff administration as a means of modernizing the port, increasing private investment and easing bottlenecks and delays. The bill would also ease regulations for the construction of private terminals, which would mostly take place in the north.<\/p>\n

According to a report in DTN\/Progressive Farmer<\/em>, \u201cPresident Dilma Rousseff optimistically predicted they would trigger a $25 billion spending spree on ports.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stevedores fear that the legislation would affect their job security and labor rights. The main provision opposed by the dockworkers\u2019 union would take the power to pick workers at private terminals out of the unions\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n

Union officials expressed hopes that the strikes would spread to other ports along the northern coast, but they did not. The strikes ended by May 16. On the night of May 17, the Senate approved the bill.<\/p>\n

Mexican credit union workers strike over salary, benefit issues<\/h4>\n

Workers for Mexico\u2019s Caja de Ahorros de Telefonistas de Telmex (Telmex Telephone Operators\u2019 Credit Union) struck on May 16 over lack of progress in salary and benefit talks between the credit union\u2019s administration and union representatives.<\/p>\n

The credit union board offered a \u201clast and definitive\u201d raise of 4.2 percent in salary and 1.5 percent in benefits in addition to a productivity bonus. The union is calling for a 7 percent salary hike and improvements in working conditions and benefits.<\/p>\n

Four-day strike by Mexican hospital workers<\/h4>\n

At least 50 doctors and nurses at the Aurelio Valdeviso civil hospital in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca walked out on May 13. The strike was called over a number of demands submitted to the state government, including the provision of more medications and supplies, infrastructure improvements and better salaries and benefits.<\/p>\n

Nurses, doctors and auxiliary workers bearing banners and handwritten signs demonstrated in front of the hospital, calling on the state governor, Gabino Cu\u00c3\u00a9, to address the problems. As is customary with hospital strikes, emergency and hospitalization services remained in operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt bears pointing out that Hospital Civil employees have shown that many times the equipment is damaged either by the high load of use or the lack of capacity and care for their operation,\u201d reported e-oaxaca.com. Alfonso Echeverr\u00c3\u00ada, head of Subsection 07 of Section 35 of the National Health Secretariat Workers Union (SNTSS), complained to reporters that for over a year the union has been raising with both the federal and state governments issues like overcrowding, lack of critical medications for diabetics and the terminally ill, lack of detergent and torn sheets and towels.<\/p>\n

Hospital director Miguel \u00c3\u0081ngel Colmenares claimed that the situation was not as dire as claimed and that increased funds for the hospital would be in the next state budget. He criticized the workers, claiming they were putting the patients at risk.<\/p>\n

He was joined in his criticisms by National Health Workers Union (SNTE) Section 35 head Jeno\u00c3\u00a9 Ruiz L\u00c3\u00b3pez, who called the strike \u201cunjustified,\u201d and warned about \u201cdark intentions to generate destabilization in the sector, with an eye to the next change in the sectional committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 17, the workers returned to their jobs, after Cu\u00c3\u00a9 agreed to sack Colmenares\u2013the hospital\u2019s third director in as many years\u2013and submit him to an investigation for bad management, and to release a short-term infusion of 200 million pesos (US$16 million) to address the workers\u2019 demands. In addition, he agreed to pay a salary increase to nurses and contract employees and initiate infrastructure improvements.<\/p>\n

Trinidadian construction workers thwarted again by management, union, Labour Ministry<\/h4>\n

On April 28, 350 nonunion contract workers, building an extension of a highway along Trinidad\u2019s western coast for Brazilian construction company Constructora OAS, struck over a raft of complaints including unsafe and unsanitary conditions, low wages, lack of overtime and travel payments, no salary reviews, lack of first aid kits and hiring of nonlocal workers.<\/p>\n

Management\u2019s refusal to address these issues led the workers to call on the Oilfield Workers\u2019 Trade Union (OWTU) for help. Union official Aaron Moyne, after a four-hour meeting with management, persuaded the workers to return to the job, saying that the firm \u201cagreed to revisit\u201d the problems for 13 days.<\/p>\n

Fifteen days later, management brandished a survey report from the Employers\u2019 Consultative Association that, according to a Trinidad Express<\/em> report, \u201cconcluded that the compensation packages being offered the highway workers were consistent with and in some cases, superior to what was being offered in the local construction sector.\u201d Thus, there would be no changes.<\/p>\n

The workers protested this \u201cslap in the face,\u201d but Labour Minister Errol McLeod \u201casked\u201d the workers not to take strike action while he mediated on May 17. Moyne, who admitted that the workers were \u201cdisappointed,\u201d agreed with McLeod\u2019s advice that \u201cworkers return to some state of normalcy \u2026 The final decision is to really show due respect to the process and also to the minister to allow him to do his work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moyne added, \u201cWhile the representatives are advocating on their behalf, the workers have a further concession. They are trying to be reasonable, to give this thing enough time to work,\u201d doubtless at Moyne\u2019s urging, \u201cand see what possible outcome will come out of this,\u201d he said. Moyne said he hoped McLeod would be able to \u201cadvise the company accordingly to let good sense prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n

United States<\/h6>\n

Lockout of Oregon longshore workers at Port of Portland<\/h4>\n

Columbia Grain locked out 75 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) on May 4 at the Port of Portland\u2019s Terminal 5 in Oregon. Bruce Holte, the president of Local 8 who also serves as a commissioner for the Port of Portland, says the current impasse is due to work rules and safety standards.<\/p>\n

The previous agreement between Columbia Grain and ILWU Local 8 expired back on September 29, 2012. Workers voted by 94 percent to reject a new contract and in December the company imposed the agreement.<\/p>\n

Rather than strike, the ILWU has been conducting a slowdown using a work-to-rule tactic. The company responded by using management and temporary replacement workers to operate the terminal. Columbia Grain chose to lock out workers during a relatively slow period. In the fall, grain exports increase dramatically in the Northwest portion of the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n

On February 27, United Grain Corporation locked out ILWU members in Vancouver over an agreement that imposed 12-hour shifts and has contract language that will permit the company to bypass the ILWU in hiring terminal labor. Japan\u2019s Marubeni Corporation owns Columbia Grain.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants concession workers reject contract, authorize strike vote<\/h4>\n

Concessions workers at San Francisco\u2019s AT&T Park voted by a 97 percent margin to strike against a new contract offer that caps medical benefits. Previously, the 750 cashiers, cooks and food sellers at the Giants baseball park had all health care benefits covered by their employer, Centerplate Inc.<\/p>\n

Workers, who have been without a contract for three years and have gone without a wage increase for several years, also rejected a meager 25 cent wage increase in each year for the first two years of the new agreement. The vote by members of UNITE HERE Local 2 was 500 to 16 to strike.<\/p>\n

Canada<\/h6>\n

Alberta Government imposes contract on teachers<\/h4>\n

The Conservative government of Alberta last week introduced legislation imposing a four-year deal on the province\u2019s teachers, after some bargaining units and school boards voted to reject the latest offer.<\/p>\n

The imposed deal would freeze teachers\u2019 pay for three years and cut millions from provincial education funding even as the student population swells. The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) had already agreed to the concession-laden deal governing the province\u2019s 40,000 teachers, but nevertheless expressed dismay at the government move.<\/p>\n

The action follows a similar move in Ontario, effectively stripping teachers of the right to collective bargaining. Alberta teachers had been without a contract since last August.<\/p>\n

Saskatoon library workers get belated contract<\/h4>\n

Library workers in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan finally have a new, albeit expired, contract after working without one for over three years. Ironically, the new contract expired over a month ago and negotiations have not yet begun for the next one.<\/p>\n

The deal brings some increases to the lowest paid employees who currently work for minimum wage. Library workers, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), have become known at Saskatoon city hall meetings in recent weeks for staging what have been termed \u201chushed protests\u201d as they sit in large numbers holding protest signs while silently reading books.<\/p>\n


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This article originally appeared on : World Socialist Web Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 21 May 2013 Latin America Brazilian dockworkers strike over privatization legislation Stevedores at the southern Brazilian ports of Santos, Rio de Janeiro and Paranagu\u00c3\u00a1 held a \u201cflash strike\u201d at noon on May 14 to protest grain terminal privatization legislation being debated in the national Senate after passage by the lower house of Congress. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}