Amnesty By Any Other Name?

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

WORKERS' RIGHTS BEING DESTROYED--The United States routinely violates workers' right to  form unions and global competition is destroying workers' rights worldwide, according to the annual
survey of trade union rights by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The report finds employers in the United States increasingly hire union-busting consultants to prevent workers from joining unions. In addition, two of every five U.S. public-sector workers are denied basic collective bargaining rights. The survey also revealed that some 129 trade unionists were killed worldwide in 2003, while imprisonment and physical harassment against union members increased. For a copy of the survey, visit http//www.icftu.org/survey .  (From Work in Progress AFL-CIO) 

LAWSUITS MOUNT OVER OVERTIME ABUSE

Major retailers including Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, and Dollar General face a rash of lawsuits for denying workers rightful overtime. Assistant managers filed suit seeking back pay and damages saying they worked up to 75 hours a week doing the same tasks assigned to hourly employees but were denied overtime pay because of their classification as assistant managers.

Although retailers deny any wrongdoing, under current Federal law, if less than 60 percent of an employee’s time is spent supervising or if his or her job does not include decision-making, then overtime pay may be entitled. Assistant managers allege that hourly employees are not allowed overtime and are often sent home before their shifts end to save costs; assistant managers then work extra hours without compensation. This corner-cutting is Wal-Mart’s attempt to hold labor costs to a thin 8 percent of sales, compared with an average of 9 or 10 percent at other large retail stores; Wal-Mart boasted sales of $256 billion and net profit of $9 billion last year.  (From 6/10/04 iMail)

TRADE DEFICIT SOARS AGAIN

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened to a record $48.3 billion in April. The main factors behind the jump are the increasing shift of production overseas and skyrocketing oil prices. In fact, imports came in at a record $142.3 billion, while exports fell off slightly. The threatening trade gap with China also saw an increase in April, jumping 15 percent to $12 billion. It also appears that the overall U.S. trade gap will break last years record $496.5 billion deficit. “It looks like our appetite for imports continues to outweigh our ability to export. At some point, we are expecting that the weaker dollar will help the trade deficit to narrow, but we haven’t seen that yet,” said chief economist at A.G. Edwards and Sons in St. Louis, Gary Thayer, in a Reuters article. “Trade pundits are missing the point. American consumers aren’t demanding imported goods,” said IP Tom Buffenbarger. “Consumers don’t have a choice where the product is made because American corporations are moving production overseas as fast as they can.”  (From 6/15/04 iMail)