Monthly Archives: April 2017

Labour's lazy ill-thought out policies will only promise to cast more on the dole and tank the economy completely

WE never thought Ed Milibands sums added up. At least hed done some.

Jeremy Corbyn and his Marxist mob arent even bothering with the maths as they churn out ever more outlandish promises in a panic at voters abandoning their sinking ship.

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So now its bumper pay rises, more national holidays and all our problems magically solved.

Twelve pledges and just one means of funding them all: a massive hike in corporation tax.

Like all old Trots, Corbyn considers private firms predatory profiteers keeping staff in wage slavery.

EPA

But low corporation tax creates investment.

It means jobs for ordinary people, mortgages paid, families fed.

It is part of the Tories incredible success in slashing unemployment and getting record numbers into work.

A dramatic increase would cast huge numbers on the dole, shrink the tax base, tank the economy and wreck services.

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Corbyn has no grasp of this. But then as recently as 2013 he was hailing the triumph of socialism in oil-rich Venezuela.

Now its people are starving to death.

We doubt Labour will talk up Venezuela now. But who knows? Their idiocy is without limit.

THERE must be an amnesty for soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

The Defence Select Committee has called for it and we couldnt agree more.

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It is appalling that veterans are at risk of long jail terms for alleged crimes while keeping the peace decades ago while terrorist murderers get off scot-free or face trifling sentences.

One, IRA Hyde Park massacre suspect John Downey, dodged justice after a blunder by the last Labour Government and we are proud to back the campaign to prosecute him.

The Government must know from the disastrous IHAT Iraq inquiry what a can of worms a police witch-hunt into veterans of the Troubles will become.

It will heap misery on ageing servicemen who deserve to be remembered for their bravery in hellish circumstances.

Theresa May must put a stop to it.

THE Tories would be mad even to consider sidelining Boris Johnson during the election campaign.

OK, hes not flavour of the month with diehard Remainers still unable to process their shock defeat last June.

PA:Press Association

So what? Hes still the second most popular politician in Britain after Theresa May much more so than those colleagues apparently briefing against him.

Boriss charm and oratory helped secure Brexit. Alongside the PM he is one of the chief attractions for millions now considering voting Tory for the first time.

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Jeremy Corbyn and his Marxist lot have set about making firms the enemy in their outlandish election promises - The Sun

Dhaka Tribune

Can you see the cracks? Dhaka Tribune But while large corporations such as these have created many alliances and accords and pledged to weed out wage slavery from their factories and sweatshops, they continue to bypass accountability and shift responsibility to the factory owners they ... and more »

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Can you see the cracks? - Dhaka Tribune

19 Apr 2017, 1:30 p.m.

Four years after the Rana Plaza disaster, nine brands refuse to say a word about what they're doing.

Well-known Australian fashion companies are keeping their overseas supply chains cloaked in secrecy, with the likes of Wish, Oxford and Roger David refusing to detail their efforts to stamp out exploitation and sweatshop conditions.

Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed more than 1120 Bangladeshi garment workers, Baptist World Aid (BWA) has graded 106 companies A to F based on how transparent they are about their supply chains.

Topping the list are Australian Fairtrade-certified companies Etiko, Mighty Good Undies and RREPP. They are closely followed by global names such as Patagonia, Inditex (Zara), and Reebok.

Overall, half of those surveyed were able to boost their grade, with adventure brand Macpac, luxury label Oroton, and fast fashion chain Cotton On making the biggest jumps.

But nine companies refused to answer questions and were accordingly slapped with an F, including fashion brands Oxford, Wish, Decjuba, Roger David and Betts.

"If they don't share this information, there's no way that consumers can know they're doing enough to ensure that workers aren't being exploited," said BWA's advocacy manager Gershon Nimbalker.

"We sent emails, wrote letters to the company, CEO and chair of the board, made follow up phone calls multiple times and gave them long lead times of three to six months."

Oxford, Wish, Decjuba, Roger David and Betts did not respond to Fairfax Media's request for comment.

The "Ethical Fashion Report" shows that in the past year the proportion of companies publishing their final stage suppliers' business names and addresses has grown from 16 per cent to 26 per cent.

The report shows that more companies are diving deeper into their supply chains to identify who farms the raw material and spins the fibres but only 7 per cent know where all of their cotton is coming from.

Some of the world's biggest cotton producers, including India and Uzbekistan, continue to be plagued by slavery and child labour issues.

It also shows the proportion of companies that could demonstrate improved wages for workers has grown from 11 per cent in 2013 to 42 per cent this year.

"Paying workers a living wage is achievable even for high volume, low cost operators, and it could transform the lives of millions while driving economic growth in their communities," Mr Nimbalker said.

Low wages continue to be one of the fashion industry's biggest problems, with companies flocking to countries such as Bangladesh to take advantage of cheap labour.

Salaheya Khatun, 25, is one of Bangladesh's 5 million garment workers. She sews T-shirts all day at a factory in the heart of the country's capital, Dhaka.

She is only paid $113 a month, which is slightly higher than the minimum wage but far below the living wage which would cover her basic needs. She sends nearly half to her parents who are raising her daughter.

"I am in debt by around 1000 Taka [$16] every month because I need to pay for groceries and supplies on credit," she said. "I just want to be able to support my family."

Carolyn Katto from Stop the Traffik, a coalition of 30 groups fighting to end human trafficking, said while the report showed big progress at the cut-make-trim stage of production, there was still "huge abuse" further down the supply chain.

She said in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which produces most of the world's cotton knit fabrics, more than 300,000 young women were trapped in the Sumangali labour scheme.

"I met one woman who said to me, 'I am just like a machine trying to survive amongst machines'," Ms Katto said. "She regularly worked double shifts but didn't get paid for it. They would lock the doors."

She said one mill owner told her that demand for quicker turnaround times and cheaper prices meant they couldn't pay their workers properly.

"There are children in Uzbekistan and widows in India that are part of this supply chain, and we're on the other end, so what we choose to do will determine the living conditions for these people," she said.

Mr Nimbalker said he hoped the federal government would adopt the UK's Modern Slavery Act, which requires businesses to take decisive steps to eradicate slave labour.

"What we want to see is a robust piece of legislation that has the right mandatory disclosures and penalties to make it meaningful to address the problems of slavery," he said.

"We want consumers to vote with their wallets and call on companies to lift their game."

The 2017 Ethical Fashion Report can be seen here.

The story The Australian fashion brands that are silent on sweatshops first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

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The Australian fashion brands that are silent on sweatshops - Newcastle Herald

Six days before the commemoration of the 2017 Workers Day, the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) threatened to mobilize Nigerians against State Governors and members of the National Assembly behind the bill which seeks to remove the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to Concurrent Legislative List.

The proponent of the bill, Ayeola Abayomi Abdulkadir (APC-Lagos) seeks to alter the Second Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by deleting item 34 from the exclusive legislative list and renumbering the existing item 35 as item 34 and subsequent items accordingly:

(b) Part 11 by inserting a new item HH Labour immediately after the existing item H and renumbering the existing paragraph 21 as paragraph 23 and subsequent paragraphs accordingly: HH Labour:

21. The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the Federation or any part thereof for the regulation of labour, including trade unions, industrial relations, safety and welfare of labour, industrial disputes; prescribing a national minimum wage at the federal level and industrial arbitration;

22. Nothing in paragraph 21 shall preclude a House of Assembly of a State from making laws with respect to the regulation of labour and Industrial relations including the prescription of minimum wage for the State, the bill read in part.

While reacting, Ayuba Wabba, NLC President who issued the threat notice while reacting to BusinessDay inquiry over the bill obtained by our Legislative Correspondent, accused some members of the Nigeria Governors Forum of sponsoring such anti-workers legislation.

The bill which scaled through first reading before the House exbarked on Easter recess, has been gazetted for second reading on the floor of the House where members will debate on it.

Wabba who kicked against fresh moves by some cabals to strangulate Nigerian workers who are currently undergoing frustrations due to the lingering socio-economic hardship, assured that the labour movement will explore every legitimate legal means that the law provides, we are going deplore it. Every legitimate means as we have done in the past, we are going to deplore it.

He noted that the Congress will mobilise all its affiliates to campaign against all the current political office holders linked with anti-workers legislations and policies ahead of the 2018 and 2019 general elections.

The NLC helmsman who noted that all the labour centres are unified in the previous struggle that led to the extinction of such bill, condemned the intendment of the bill in its entirety

All over the world, minimum wage is on the exclusive list, we are talking about protecting the most vulnerable group that is the principle and philosophy. It is an ILO core issue under decent work agenda. It is a core ILO issue and all countries of the world are conformed to.

So, first is that it is the level of ignorance because he thinks that it is only for the state. No. It is for the self employed for those that are from the private sector to protect the most vulnerable people from being exploited from false labour and slavery, that is why minimum wage law is there. It is a core ILO convention and in many countries of the world including capitalist economy. As capitalist as US is, they have a minimum wage law.

So, he must first understand the concept, it is not state government, it is all employers of labour generally both private and public. So, for public sector who fixes their own? That is why it is a tripartite issue. So, I think that there is a level of ignorance he has demonstrated in this without even knowing what minimum wage law is all about.

First, we condemned it in entirety, we are going to respond immediately and effectively. Two, let him also go back to the archives. This issue was introduced even by some cabals within the governors forum at the last Constitutional amendment and it was defeated. It went to referendum and it was defeated flat. So, we should start from where we stopped and not to take us back to areas we have actually advanced on.

Is he against the workers? Is the wages of politicians not fixed centrally across the country? All the governors in Nigeria, their wages are fixed centrally both states that are viable and states that are not viable. All National Assembly members, all Councillors their salaries are fixed centrally by Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Presently in Nigeria, workers are not paid the same salary, but the mi imam wage law protects every worker that that is the minimum. Below which more employers of labour in Nigeria should actually fix wages. So, this is the philosophy and the concepts and therefore, I think he has demonstrated not understanding the real issue and therefore it is condemnable and we are also going to mobilise workers from his constituency immediately. We are going to dispatch our members from his constituency to also engage him seriously because he doesnt understand the issue.

He ought have consulted even workers from his constituency, whose interest is he protecting? Is he protecting his own interest, why cant he say his salary should be deregulated even when there are bad times, how many days a week do they sit, are they not paid as full time workers? So, these are the issues.

So I am sure that this issue will not see the light of the day but it is highly condemnable because one, he has demonstrated lack of understanding and ignorance on what minimum wage stands for. It is a core convention of ILO globally. Every country has this position in its law to protect the most vulnerable group from exploitation. So, our position is that we condemn it from totality and we want to educate him to know what is the concept of minimum wage, the NLC President said.

He noted that millions of Nigerians who are self employed and those working in the private sector will be subjected to undue exploitation if the national minimum wage is removed from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List.

Who will regulate the case of the self employed. For instance now, you are self employed, you are not working under either state or federal government that you will even negotiate. So the implication is that once you remove that from the exclusive list, workers will be exploited. We are not even talking of the maximum, we are talking about the minimum.

Assuming the alteration bill sells through in the National Assembly, what will the organised labour, especially the leadership of the NLC do? It will not sell through because we will stop it at all cost because Nigerian workers will not accept this, Wabba vowed.

Read more here:

2017 Workers Day: NLC threatens to mobilise Nigerians against State Governors, NASS - BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog)