ICFTU OnLine
182/040998/DD

Brussels, September 4 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): ) The following is a summary of main trade union news for the last month. The numbers at the end of the paragraphs refer to the relevant issue of ICFTU OnLine.

Migrant Workers are Modern Slaves said new ICFTU Report. A report issued by the ICFTU in July said that many of today's migrant workers are forced to work in slave-like conditions. The ICFTU estimates that there are more than 42 million legal migrant workers, who, with their families make up over 100 million legal migrants round the world. It said that the illegal traffic in labour is also expanding, involving more than 6 million people ever year, some of whom pay up to US$25,000 for a passage to the United States. The report also found that the numbers of women migrants are growing. The ICTU is calling for international standards on migrant workers to be respected.

(04.08.98 OnLine 168)

Burmese slave labour - ICFTU calls for the ruling junta to resign. Following the publication of a new ILO report on slave labour in Burma, the ICFTU called for Burma's ruling junta to resign and hand over power to a democratic civilian-led government, and urged foreign companies to stop investing in the country. ICFTU GS Bill Jordan described the use of forced labour as "a crime against humanity", and said that the military leaders should be held individually responsible under international criminal law. The ILO Commission of Inquiry which released the report was established to look into the Burmese government's use of slave labour following a complaint by trade union delegates at the 1996 International Labour Conference.(20.08.98 - OnLine 176)

Massive Sex Industry in South East Asia says ILO report. A report issued by the ILO in August said that prostitution in Southeast Asia had grown so rapidly in recent decades that the sex business had assumed the dimension of a commercial sector, which contributed substantially to employment, and national income in the region. The report estimates that there are between 140,000 to 230,000 prostitutes in Indonesia, up to 142,000 in Malaysia, 600,000 in the Philippines, and 300,000 in Thailand. This means that in some countries up to 1.5% of the female population is engaged in prostitution. The report found that following the recession of the mid-1980s women who lost their jobs in manufacturing and other service sectors were driven to enter the sex sector to support their families.

Peru:ICFTU supports telephone workers' demands. The ICFTU has written to the President of the Peruvian telephone company urging him to open negotiations with Fetratel, the telephone workers' federation. The union has been in dispute with the telephone company which has trying to make redundancies or has offered workers the option of moving to a subsidiary of the company, Telfonica Marketing Directo, where they would be employed under worse conditions, and would loose the right to union representation.

The ICFTU has pointed out to the telephone company that union rights are safeguarded by Peru's Constitution.

Indonesia: Still no trade union freedom. While a special ILO mission went to Jakarta to help the government adapt its labour legislation to international standards in August, the government's attitude to workers' rights remains unchanged. Indonesian security forces attacked 300 textile workers who were marching to the ILO premises in Jakarta to press their demands, with rattan canes; and the authorities are still detaining a large number of political prisoners, including Dita Indah Sari, an independent trade unionist. At the same time the FSPSI, the official trade union, appears to be falling apart as 13 professional federations affiliated to it accused the FSPSI of making mistakes which have caused heavy losses to workers. (29.08.98 - OnLine 177)

Israel: Public Strike paralyses public sector: The strike called by Histradrut, the Israeli trade union centre in the public sector has paralysed the public sector as 300,000 workers stopped work after negotiations broke down with the minister of Finance over the readjustment of salaries and the renewal of collective agreements. The strike has effected Public ministries, electricity companies, water distribution, postal and telecommunications and other government services. Histradrut had asked for an 8% pay increase in the public sector, but the treasury has refused to go above 5%. (03.09.98 OnLine 180)

Korea: ICFTU condemns anti-union repression The ICFTU has sent a protest letter to President Kim Dae Jung condemning the government's "anti-trade union measures reminiscent of a past age" after 1200 police officers, using tear-gas, raided six factories of the Mando Machinery Corps, arresting 100 strikers and violently ending a 17-day sit-in, called by workers after the management announced over 1000 redundancies. (03.08.98 - OnLine 181)

Malawi: Union Conference on Sustainable Development. ICFTU/AFRO/MCTU held a seminar on Popular Participation in Sustainable Development in Malawi. The Conference concluded that one important measure for attaining this was land reform, in particular removing land from the rich landowners and tobacco cultivators and giving it to small farmers. After the Conference, an ICFTU delegation, led by AFRO General Secretary Andrew Kailembo, met the Malawian Vice President Malewezi, where it appealed to the government to cease violations of trade union rights, and put in a strong call for tripartism to solve the country's severe financial crisis (the Malawian currency was devalued by 50% during the Conference).