21-Jul-12 http://www.phophtaw.org/burmese/index.php/news/local-news/1904-ilo-.html ILO ဦးေဆာင္ၿပီး၊ အလုပ္ရွင္၊ အလုပ္သမားႏွင့္ အစိုးရ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္မ်ား ပါေသာ Freedom of Association in Myanmar အလုပ္ရံု ေဆြးေႏြးပဲြ တခုကို ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕၊ ဒဂုံၿမိဳ႕နယ္၊ ဇီ၀ကလမ္း၌ ရွိသည့္ Summit Parkview ေဟာ္တယ္ Ballroom တြင္ ဇူလိုင္လ ၁၉ ရက္ေန႕ မနက္ ၉ နာရီခြဲမွ ညေန ၄ နာရီ အထိ က်င္းပခဲ့ပါသည္။ ယင္းအလုပ္ရုံ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲသို႔ လူေပါင္း(၂၈၀) ခန္႔ တက္ေရာက္ခဲ့ပါသည္။ (ရန္ကုန္) အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာ အလုပ္သမား ေရးရာ အဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္ စက္မွဳ လက္မွဳ အႀကံေပး အႀကီးအကဲ Ross Wilson အပါ၀င္ အလုပ္ရွင္ ကုိယ္စားလွယ္မ်ား ၊ အလုပ္သမား ကိုယ္စားလွယ္မ်ား၊ အလုပ္သမား ၀န္ႀကီးဌာနမွ အရာရွိမ်ား၊ စက္ရုံပိုင္ရွင္မ်ား၊ ႏိုင္ငံေရး လွဳပ္ရွားသူမ်ား၊ အလုပ္ သမား အဖြဲ႕အစည္းမ်ားမွ အက်ဳိးေဆာင္ ေရွ႕ ေနမ်ား၊ Yangon Crown Organisation၊ ေဆာက္လုပ္ေရးလုပ္သား မ်ား အဖြဲ႕၊ Good Family အထည္ခ်ဳပ္ စက္ရုံ အလုပ္သမားအဖြဲ႔၊ ေတာ္၀င္ျမန္မာ အထည္ခ်ဳပ္ အလုပ္သမား အဖြဲ႔ အျပင္ တျခား အလုပ္သမား အဖြဲ႕အစည္းမ်ားမွ အလုပ္ရုံ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲကို တက္ေရာက္ ခဲ့ၾကပါသည္။ ေဆြးေႏြးပဲြတြင္ (DDG-Ministery of Labour) မွ ဦးသက္ႏိုင္ဦးက အစိုးရမွ ထုတ္ျပန္ထားေသာ အလုပ္သမား အဖြဲ႔အစည္း နည္းဥပေဒအား ရွင္းလင္း ေျပာၾကားၿပီး၊ အလုပ္သမား အဖြဲ႔မ်ားအား တႏိုင္ငံလံုး အတိုင္းအတာျဖင္႔ ၁၁၇ ဖြဲ႔ မွတ္ပံု တင္ရန္ တင္ျပထားေၾကာင္း ေျပာပါသည္။ ဤအလုပ္သမားမ်ား အဖြဲ႔ထဲမွ April 25/26 တြင္ ၁၄ ဖြဲ႔၊ ဇြန္လ 12 တြင္ 15 ဖြဲ႔၊ ဇြန္လ 23 ရက္ေန႔တြင္ ၁၀ ဖြဲ႔ကို မွတ္ပံုတင္မ်ား ထုတ္ေပးခဲ့ျပီးျဖစ္သည္၊ ထို႔အျပင္ ITUC အစည္းအေ၀း ေနာက္ပိုင္းတြင္လည္း အလုပ္သမားအဖြဲ႔ ၅၈ ဖြဲ႔ကိုပါ မွတ္ပံုတင္ ထုတ္ေပးခဲ႔ျပီး အလုပ္ရွင္ အဖြဲ႔ကိုလည္း ဖြဲ႔စည္းခဲ့ျပီးျဖစ္သည္ဟု ဆိုပါ သည္။ အလားတူ (UMFCCI-အလုပ္ရွင္မ်ား ကိုယ္စားလွယ္) ေဒၚခိုင္ခိုင္ႏြယ္သည္လည္း ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအေပၚ ႏိုင္ငံျခားမွ စီးပြား ေရး ပိတ္ဆို႔မႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္၊ လာမည္႔ August လတြင္ အလုပ္သမားမ်ားႏွင္႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုရန္ရွိေၾကာင္း ဆိုပါသည္။ ထို႔အျပင္ ယခုေဆြးေႏြးပဲြမွ ေဆြးေႏြးခ်က္မ်ားကိုလည္း လုပ္ငန္းရွင္မ်ားအား မိမိ ျပန္လည္ တင္ျပေပးမည္ဟု ဆိုပါသည္။ ATK စက္႐ံု အလုပ္သမားအဖြဲ႔မွ အက်ိဳးေဆာင္ေရွ႔ေန ဦးသူရိန္က ခုံသမာဓိအဖြဲ႔သည္ အလုပ္ရွင္ဘက္မွ လႊမ္းမိုးမႈအား ခံေနရျပီး အလုပ္သမားမ်ားမွာမူ အမႈ မရင္ဆိုင္မီကပင္ ႐ံႈးနိမ္႔ေနျပီးျဖစ္ပါသည္။ တတ္ေရာက္ ၾကားနာရမည္႔ ခံုသမာဓိ အဖြဲ႔ဦးေရသည္ ၁၁ ဦး ျဖစ္ေသာ္လည္း အမွန္တကယ္တြင္ ၃ ဦးသာ တတ္ေရာက္ ခဲ႔သျဖင့္ အလုပ္သမားမ်ား ဘက္မွ ထြက္ဆိုခ်က္ မ်ားအား မွတ္တမ္းတင္ျခင္းမရွိခဲ့ဟု ေျပာၾကားပါသည္။ အဆိုပါ ခံုသမာဓိ အဖြဲ႔၀င္မ်ားသည္ ဥပေဒပါ အတိုင္း က်မ္းက်ိန္ျခင္း မရွိသည္ကိုလည္း ေတြ႔ခဲ့ရသည္ဟု ေျပာၾကားသြားခဲ႔ပါသည္။ ထို႔အျပင္ ေတာ္၀င္ျမန္မာ အထည္ခ်ဳပ္ အလုပ္သမားအဖြဲ႔ အမႈေဆာင္က မိမိတို႔အလုပ္သမားမ်ား ညအိပ္ဆႏၵျပမႈျပဳ လုပ္ရာ ၁၀ ရက္သာ ခံမည္ဟု ေ၀ဖန္ခံရျပီး အဖြဲ႔၀င္မ်ား အလုပ္ခ်ိန္အတြင္း စကားေျပာေနသည္ကို ေတြ႔ပါက O.T အျဖဳတ္ခံရေၾကာင္း တင္သြင္းခဲ့ပါသည္။ စာခ်ဳပ္ထဲတြင္ Bonus မျဖတ္ပါဟု ပါရွိပါေသာ္လည္း လက္ေတြ႔တြင္ ညွိႏႈိင္း ေရးအဖြဲ႔အား သြားေရာက္ေျပာဆိုရာ စက္႐ံုသို႔သာ ျပန္လည္ေစလႊတ္ျပီး မည္သည္႔ညွိႏႈိင္းမႈမွ် မျပဳလုပ္ေပးေသးခဲ့ ေၾကာင္း၊ ဤသို႔တင္ျပေသာ အလုပ္သမားကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ၇ ဦးကိုလည္း အလုပ္ရွင္ဘက္မွ ဖိႏွိပ္မႈမ်ားရွိခဲ့ေၾကာင္း အလုပ္ရံုေဆြးေႏြးပဲြတြင္ တင္ျပခဲ့ပါသည္။ အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာ အလုပ္သမား ေရးရာအဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္ စက္မွဳလက္မွဳ အႀကံေပး အဖြဲ႔ အႀကီးအကဲ Mr. Ross Wilson သည္ တတ္ေရာက္လာၾကသည့္ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္မ်ားအား ေက်းဇူးတင္ရွိပါေၾကာင္းႏွင္႔ ေဆြးေႏြးေျပာဆိုမႈမ်ားအား မိမိအေန ျဖင္႔ အလုပ္သမား ၀န္ၾကီးဌာနႏွင္႔ ILO အစည္းအေ၀းတြင္ တင္ျပေပးမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း နိဂုံးခ်ဳပ္ ေျပာဆိုသြားပါသည္။ Freedom of Association in Myanmar အလုပ္ရံု ေဆြးေႏြးပဲြကို ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ အလုပ္သမား သမဂၢမ်ား အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ (FTUB) ကလည္း ေထာက္ခံေၾကာင္း အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမွဴး ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္က ဆိုပါသည္။ “ က်ေနာ္တို႕အေနနဲ႕ ဒီလိုျဖစ္ဖို႕ကို ၁၉၉၂ ခုႏွစ္က ႀကိဳးစားခဲ့တာပါ။ အခုဒီရလဒ္ကေနၿပီးေတာ့ လြတ္လပ္တဲ့အလုပ္ သမားအဖြဲ႕ ဖြဲ႔စည္းေရးကို စနစ္တက် လုပ္သြားဖုိ႕ကိစၥ၊ ျပီးေတာ့ အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာ စံႏွဳန္းစံထားေတြ မီွဖို႕ကိစၥကို ဆက္လုပ္သြားဖို႔ လိုဦးမယ္။ ဒါမွက်ေနာ္တို႕ႏိုင္ငံရဲ့ အခုလို စီးပြားေရး ရင္းႏွီးျမွဳပ္ႏွံမွဳ ေတြ ဖြင့္ထားတဲ့ အခ်ိန္ကာလမွာ အလုပ္သမားေတြရဲ႕ အေျခခံ အခြင့္အေရး လယ္သမားေတြရဲ႕ အေျခခံ အခြင့္အေရး ေနာက္တစ္ခါ ပတ္၀န္းက်င္ ထိမ္းသိန္းေရးဆိုတဲ့ ကိစၥေတြ ေနာက္တာရွည္ခံမယ့္ စီးပြားေရး စနစ္ေတြ ျဖစ္ဖို႕ကို အေျခခံ အလုပ္သမားေတြဖက္က ထိန္း ႏုိင္မယ့္ အေနအထား ျပန္ျဖစ္သြားမယ္လို႕ က်ေနာ္ကေမွ်ာ္လင့္တယ္။ က်ေနာ္တို႕ အားလုံး ၀ိုင္းလုပ္ဖို႕ အမ်ားႀကီးေတာ့ လိုပါေသးတယ္” ဟု ဆိုပါသည္။ FTUB သည္ လြတ္လပ္ေသာ အလုပ္သမား သမဂၢျဖစ္လာေရးႏွင့္ အလုပ္သမား အခြင့္အေရး ရပိုင္ခြင့္မ်ားကို ILO ႏွင့္ အႏွစ္ (၂၀) ေက်ာ္ၾကာ ပူးေပါင္းေဆာင္ရြက္ခဲ့ပါသည္။ ဤကဲ့သို႔ ပူးေပါင္းေဆာင္ရြက္လာရာက ယေန႔ Freedom of Association in Myanmar အလုပ္ရံု ေဆြးေႏြးပဲြ ေပၚေပါက္ လာခဲ့ပါသည္။ ဤေဆြးေႏြးပဲြသည္ အိုင္အယ္လ္အိုႏွင့္ ျမန္မာ အလုပ္သမား အဖြဲ႕အစည္းမ်ား အၾကား ပထမဆုံး အႀကိမ္အႀကိမ္ အလုပ္ရံုေဆြးေႏြးပဲြ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
အလုပ္သမားအခြင့္အေရး
ILO ညီလာခံရဲ့ ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံနဲ့ပတ္သတ္တဲ့ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ကို ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံအလုပ္သမားသမဂၢမ်ားအဖြဲ ့ခ်ဳပ္ အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမွဳးဦးေမာင္ေမာင္နွင့္ RFA ဆက္သြယ္ေမးျမန္းခ်က္
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ (၉၈)ႀကိမ္ေျမာက္ ကမၻာ့အလုပ္သမားအဖြဲ ့ခ်ဳပ္ ILO ညီလာခံကေန ျမန္မာနို္ငံနဲ့ ပတ္သတ္ျပီး အေရးယူေဆာင္ရြက္မဲ့အစီအစဥ္ေတြ ဆံုးျဖတ္လိုက္တယ္လို့ သိရပါတယ္ ဘာေတြမ်ား ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ခ်ခဲ့ပါလဲ
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ကေတာ့ ေတာ္ေတာ္ရွိတယ္ ။အဓိကအခ်က္ကေတာ့ သကရာဇ္ ၂၀၀၀-၂၀၀၆ တုန္းက ခ်မွတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ေတြရွိတယ္။ အဲဒီ့ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ေတြအတိုင္း လိုက္နာမယ္လို့ေျပာျပီး မလိုက္နာလို ေ၇ွ့ဆက္ျပီး ဒါကို ျမန္ျမန္ဆန္ဆန္လုပ္ဖို ့ဆိုတာကို သေဘာထားေပးတယ္။ သေဘာထားေပးတဲ့ ေနရာမွာ ဆက္လက္ျပီးေတာ့ မလုပ္ေဆာင္ နိုင္ရင္ ဘာလုပ္မယ္ဆိုတဲ့ကိစၥေတြ၇ွိတာေပါ့ေနာ္ ။ ဥပမာ ICJ အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာခံုရံုးေပါ့ ။ခံုရံုးကိုသြားျပီး ျမန္မာျပည္က ခ်ိဳးေဖာက္တာေတြကို ဆက္လက္ တင္ျပမယ္ဆိုတဲ့ ကိစၥရွိတယ္။ခ်က္ခ်င္းေဖာ္ေဆာင္ရမဲ့လုပ္ငန္း အားလံုးက လုပ္ဖို ့ဆိုတဲ့ဟာ ကိုတင္ျပသြားတာ ရွိတယ္။
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ခ်က္ခ်င္းလုပ္ေဆာင္ရမဲ့လုပ္ငန္းဆိုတာဘယ္လို လုပ္ငန္းေတြလဲ ခင္ဗ်ား
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ အေရးႀကီးဆံုး တခ်က္ကေတာ့ဘာလဲဆိုေတာ့ န အ ဖ ရဲ့ ၂၀၁၀ အတြက္ ျပင္ဆင္ေနတဲ့ အေျခခံဥပေဒ ထဲမွာ ပုဒ္မ ၃၅၉ အပိုဒ္ ၁၅ အခန္းခြဲ ၈ မွာပါတဲ့ ေျပာဆိုခ်က္ေတြဟာ အဓမၼလုပ္အားေပးမွဳကို အားေပးရာေရာက္တဲ့အတြက္ေႀကာင့္ ဒါကို ျပင္ဆင္ေပးပါဆိုတာကို ILO က ေတာင္းဆိုလိုက္တယ္ (ဒီနွစ္ထဲမွာ)
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္။ ။ ဒါဟာ ၂၀၀၈ ဖြဲ ့စည္းပံုအေျခခံဥပေဒကို ျပင္ဆင္ခိုင္းတာေပါ့ေလ အကယ္၍ မျပင္ဘူးဆိုရင္ သူတို ့ဘာ လုပ္မယ္ဆိုတာပါေသးလားခင္ဗ်ား။
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ မျပင္ခဲ့ရင္ ဘာလုပ္မယ္ဆိုတာမပါဘူး ဒါေပမဲ့ခုနကကြ်န္ေနာ္တင္ ျပခဲ့သလို သကၠရာဇ္ ၂၀၀၀-၂၀၀၆မွာ ခ်ခဲ့တဲ့ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္မွာရွိထားျပီးသားဟာ ဘာလဲဆိုရင္ လိုက္နာမွဳ မရွိခဲ့ဘူးဆိုရင္ အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာခံုရံုးကိုသြားျပီး ခံုရံုးက တဆင့္ ဆက္လက္ျပီးေတာ့ ေရွ့သြားမဲ့လုပ္ငန္းေတြကိုသူတို့ ေျပာဆိုထားတယ္။ အဲဒီ့ေျပာဆိုထားတဲ့လုပ္ငန္းေတြဟာ ဘာလဲဆိုရင္ စီးပြြါးေရးပိတ္စို့မွဳတို ့ရင္းနွီးျမဳတ္နွံမွဳေတြ ရပ္ဆိုင္မွဳအားလံုးကို အဲဒီ့ကတည္းက ေဆြးေႏြးထားျပီးသား ျဖစ္တဲ့ အတြက္ေႀကာင့္ အခုလိုျပင္ဆင္မွဳမရွိဘူးဆိုရင္ မႀကာခင္မွာပဲ နို၀င္ဘာလ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးေကာ္မတီ အစည္းအေ၀းမွာ တစ္ခါျပန္ျပီး သံုးသပ္တဲ့အခါအေျဖက္ုက်ေနာ္တို ့ေတြ ့ရပါလိမ္ ့မယ္။
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ ေနာက္တစ္ခုက အခုအစည္းအေ၀းမွာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုႀကည္ရဲ့အမွဳကိစၥနဲ့ ပတ္သတ္ျပီးေတာ့ ေတာ္ေတာ္ေလးေျပာဆိုႀကတယ္လို ့ႀကားရပါတယ္ခင္ဗ်ား။ အဲဒီ့ကိစၥနဲ့ပတ္သတ္ျပီးေတာ့ ဘာမ်ား ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ ခ်ပါသလဲ ခင္ဗ်ား
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္မွာေတာ့ အေျခခံလူ ့အခြင့္အေရးခ်ိဳးေဖာက္မွဳျဖစ္တဲ့ နို္င္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသားေတြကို ဖမ္းဆီးထားတဲ့ကိစၥ အလုပ္သမားအခြင့္အေရးကို လုပ္ေဆာင္တဲ့သူေတြကို ဖမ္းဆီးထားတဲ့ကိစၥ အထူးသျဖင့္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္း စုႀကည္ဟာ က်ေနာ္တို ့ဗမာျပည္ ျပည္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရးမွာ ျပန္လည္ဖြြ့ံျဖိဳးေရးမွာ မပါမျဖစ္တဲ့ ပုဂိုလ္တစ္ဦးျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ ေႀကာင့္အဲဒီ့ ပုဂိုလ္ဟာလြတ္ဖို ့လိုတယ္ဆိုတဲ့အေနအထားမ်ိဳးကို ကမၻာ့အလုပ္သမားေရးရာအဖြဲ ့ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီးက ေတာင္းဆို ထားတာဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ထဲမွာပါ ပါတယ္ခင္ဗ်ား
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္။ ။ ဒီေတာင္းဆိုခ်က္ေတြနဲ့ပတ္သတ္ျပီးေတာ့ စစ္အစိုးရဖက္ကေနျပီး ဘယ္လိုမ်ား တုန္ ့ျပန္ခ်က္ေတြမ်ား လုပ္ပါသလဲ
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ ခါတိုင္းနွစ္ေတြက ျပန္ျပီးေတာ့ျငင္းဆိုတာတို ့ေဆြးေႏြးတာတို ့ရွိတယ္။ ဒီနွစ္ေတာ့ ဘာမွေျပာမသြားဘူး ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္က်တဲ့အခ်ိန္မွာလည္း ဒီလိုပဲအားလံုးသေဘာတူတယ္ျငိမ္ျပီးျပန္သြားတာပဲခင္ဗ်
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္က အစည္းအေ၀း သဘာပတိကေႀကညာလိုက္တာလားခင္ဗ်
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ ဟုတ္ပါတယ္ခင္ဗ်ာ က်ေနာ္တို ့အစည္းအေ၀းစဖြင့္တယ္ က်ေနာ္တင္ျပႀကတယ္ နအဖ ကတင္ျပတယ္ အလုပ္သမားကိုယ္စားလွယ္တင္ျပတယ္ အလုပ္ရွင္ကိုယ္စားလွယ္တင္ျပတယ္ ျပီးေတာ့တခါ ျပန္ျပီးသံုးသပ္တယ္ ျပီးတဲ့ ေနာက္မွာ ညီလာခံ ဥကၠဌကေနျပီးေတာ့ သူတို ့အဖြဲ ့ငယ္ေလးတစ္ခု နဲ့ေဆြးေႏြးျပီးေတာ့ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ခ်တယ္။ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္ ခ်တဲ့အေႀကာင္းကိုလည္း ေႀကညာတာက ဥကၠဌက ပဲေႀကညာသြားတာပါ။
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ ဒီေႀကညာခ်က္ေတြဟာ စာနဲ့ေပ နဲ့ထြက္လာပါဦးမလားခင္ဗ်ာ
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ က်ေနာ္တို ့အဂၤ ါေန ့ေလာက္ဆိုထြက္ပါျပီ
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ ဟုတ္ကဲ့ ဒီအစည္းအေ၀းေပၚကရလဒ္ေပၚမွာ ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္အေနနဲ ့ဘာမ်ားသံုးသပ္ခ်င္ပါသလဲခင္ဗ်ာ
ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ ။ ။ က်ေနာ္ကေတာ့ေႀကနပ္အားရပါတယ္ က်ေနာ္တို ့ ၁၉၉၂ေလာက္ကတည္းက ေတာက္ေလ်ာက္ လုပ္လာ ခဲ့တဲ့ကိစၥေတြမွာ အစဥ္တစိုက္ ဖိအားေပးခဲ့ျပီးေတာ့ ေျပာင္းလဲမွုအတြက္ ။ အေျခခံအလုပ္သမားအခြင့္အေရးကို ခ်ိဳးေဖာက္မွဳ အတြက္ ႀကိဳးစာေနတာကို က်ေနာ္တို ့ေတြ ့ရတယ္ ခုထက္ထိလည္း အားမေလ်ာ့သြားတဲ့အျပင္ အခုလိုလာမဲ့ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲနဲ ့ပတ္သတ္တဲ့ အေျခခံဥပေဒကိုျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲဖို ့အတြက္စတင္ျပီးေတာ့ အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာအဖြဲ ့အစည္း တခုကေန တိတိက်က်ေထာက္ျပျပီးေတာ့ ေျပာတဲ့ကိစၥ ကအင္မတန္ အားရွိတယ္ ဒါကိုလည္းအျခားအျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာအဖြဲ ့အစည္းေတြမွာ ျဖစ္ေအာင္ဆက္လက္ျပီး ႀကိဳးစားသြားမယ္လို ့ က်ေနာ္ကေျပာခ်င္ပါတယ္ ။
ဦးတင္ေအာင္ခိုင္ ။ ။ ေက်းဇူးတင္ပါတယ္ ဦးေမာင္ေမာင္ခင္ဗ်ား
Posted by Ko Aung 0 comments
Labels: သတင္း
http://www.lovelamp88.co.cc/
Workers Around the World Back Employee Free Choice
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/05/08/workers-around-the-world-back-employee-free-choice/
by James Parks, May 8, 2009
Workers around the world understand the freedom to freely join a union is a human right and one of the key marks of a free society. That’s why the global union movement is solidly behind the Employee Free Choice Act.
The most recent examples of that strong support come from Thailand and Indonesia. In a letter to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, Saman Pronprachathum, general secretary of the Petroleum & Chemical Worker’s Federation of Thailand, says “a strong economy depends on workers [being] given the opportunity to join a trade union and to bargain collectively so that fair wages and social benefits are lifted for all in a society.”
In a separate letter to Gerard, Irzan Zulpakar and Etin Rodiana, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Indonesian paper workers union, say:
Our trade union stands firmly behind the American trade unions in your efforts to get the United States Congress to pass this legislation into law, with the support of President Barack Obama….[W]e consider it an essential element in a free society that workers be allowed to join a trade union in an unobstructed way.
The outcome of the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act will have an impact beyond our borders. In December 2007, participants in the historic global summit on organizing told members of Congress the anti-worker atmosphere created in the United States by unscrupulous employers and advanced by the Bush administration systematically denies workers their rights, especially the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.
A report released at the summit showed the United States has the lowest rate of union membership among developed nations and that anti-union tactics are being exported to other countries.
This export of anti-worker sentiment by U.S. employers has spurred the global union movement to support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. On the Global Unions website, Anita Normark, general secretary of the Geneva-based Building and Woodworkers International, says:
We know from experience that, without explicit provisions, the dominant American anti-union corporate culture will prevail. It is the job of governments to protect human rights. And, the United States government is not doing its job.
beacon of hope for seafarers
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=A+beacon+of+hope+for+seafarers&artid=535dTHLy5ok=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=National+Maritime+Day.&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=
G Saravanan
First Published :
29 Mar 2009 03:24:00 AM
ISTLast Updated : 29 Mar 2009 09:15:49 AM ISTCHENNAI: The Maritime Labour Convention-2006, which has been designed to become a global legal instrument once it comes into force by 2011, will be the ‘Fourth Pillar’ of the international regulatory regime for quality shipping, Partha Basu, a maritime expert has said.
He was addressing the members of the marine fraternity during a seminar organised in connection with the National Maritime Day.
By consolidating the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, (SOLAS), the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping, 1978, (STCW) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 73/78 (MARPOL), the proposed MLC-2006 is expected to become a comprehensive set of global standards based on the already existing 68 maritime labour instruments (Conventions and Recommendations), adopted by the ILO since 1920.
According to Basu, the Convention aims to achieve worldwide protection for all seafarers. It is estimated that there are over 1.2 million people working in this sector across the world. Until now, it was clear that these people, particularly those who worked on board ships (but are not directly involved in navigating or operating the ship such as many personnel that work on passenger ships) would be considered seafarers. The new Convention clearly defines a seafarer as any person who is employed or engaged or works in any capacity on board a ship that is covered by the Convention.
The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, aims to establish a continuous ‘compliance awareness’ at every stage, from the national systems of protection up to the international system.
It covers the minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship, conditions of employment, hours of work and rest, wages, leave, repatriation, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, occupational safety and health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection.
Though there are several such conventions that are available for seafarers, but most of them are either outdated or very difficult to implement. In such circumstances, seafarers across the globe feel that the new MLC-2006 would be a ‘one stop shop’ for the demands in the maritime industry.
The Convention also establishes a strong compliance and enforcement mechanism based on flag State inspection and certification of seafarers’ working and living conditions.
To become a law acceptable to all countries, the MLC-2006, requires ratification by at least 30 ILO member states with a total share in the world gross tonnage of ships of at least 33 per cent. To date, the Convention has been ratified by Liberia, the Republic of Marshall Islands and The Bahamas, and by Panama and Norway. European Union countries are in the process to ratify the convention by 2010.
feedback@epmltd.com
High court says JNR was unfair to anti-privatization union members
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3145466
TOKYO, Mar. 25, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- The Tokyo High Court acknowledged Wednesday that the now-defunct Japanese National Railways discriminated against employees belonging to a labor union that had opposed JNR's privatization in recruitment for privatized Japan Railway companies, a similar ruling to that given by a lower court.
Presiding Judge Toshifumi Minami ordered the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, which has taken over parts of JNR's operations, to pay a total of 1.5 billion yen in damages for the majority of some 300 plaintiffs, who are members of the National Railway Workers Union (Kokuro) or their relatives.
But the court rejected the plaintiffs' request to confirm that they are employed by the agency, saying the plaintiffs ''would not necessarily have been recruited by JR, even if there had been no unfair labor practices (by JNR).''
It is the first time that a high court in Japan has given a ruling in such a lawsuit. Both the plaintiffs and the agency plan to appeal the ruling.
On the unfair labor practices, Minami said that ''whether to leave Kokuro or not served as a crucial factor'' in recruitment and that JNR ''detested Kokuro and had the intention of weakening'' the organization.
The Tokyo District Court ruling in 2005 also recognized the discrimination against the union and ordered a total of 1.41 billion yen in damages, while saying that ''there were reasonable causes for dismissal.''
The plaintiffs were among 1,047 people who were working at JNR, but were not recruited when the company was privatized in 1987.
JNR Settlement Corp. temporarily took them on and gave them three years to look for alternative jobs, but terminated their employment after the transition period expired.
The settlement corporation was dissolved in 1998 and parts of its work were inherited by the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, which was established in 2003.
(Source: iStockAnalyst )
A prominent labor rights activist, Su Su Nway, 37, is in poor health
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/a-prominent-labor-rights-activist-su-su-nway-37-is-in-poor-health-and-has-received-medical-treatment-at-kalay-general-hospital-outside-kalay-prison-in-sagaing-division/
A prominent labor rights activist, Su Su Nway, 37, is in poor health and has received medical treatment at Kalay General Hospital outside Kalay Prison in Sagaing Division.
2009 March 20
tags: Human Rights, world focus on Burma, Junta, Burma, 88 students, prisoner, NLDby peacerunningSu Su Nway in Kalay Hospital
A prominent labor rights activist, Su Su Nway, 37, is in poor health and has received medical treatment at Kalay General Hospital outside Kalay Prison in Sagaing Division.
“Her health condition was getting worse and worse in Kalay Prison,” said a local resident close to Kalay Prison. “She is suffering from heart
disease because of her long-term imprisonment.” No details were available about her condition.
According to her sister, Htay Htay Kyi, Su Su Nway has hypertension and heart disease.
Su Su Nway, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy, was sentenced to 12 ½ years in prison for participating in the 2007 democracy uprising. She was transferred from Insein Prison to Kalay Prison in November 2008.
In 2006, Su Su Nway won the John Humphrey Freedom Award for promoting human rights.
Su Su Nway is among more than 2,200 political prisoners in Burma.
For Japanese Workers, Good Times Seem Over
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/19/japan-labor-sony-markets-equity-wages.html
Chana R. Schoenberger, 03.19.09, 02:54 AM EDT
Downturn is degrading pay, perks of seniority.
BATS Real-Time Market Data by XigniteTOKYO -- The Japanese worker was once king. In his name, companies kept open unprofitable divisions, fought takeovers and paid out generous pensions. But the economic downturn sweeping the world may spell the end of the good times for salaried and hourly employees here.
Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) announced Thursday that it won't be giving its workers raises this year as it struggles to return to profitability after a projected $2.9 billion loss for the fiscal year that ends March 31. The consumer-electronics giant will give bonuses of four months' wages instead of the traditional six months. And those employees are the lucky ones: In December, Sony unveiled plans to shutter factories and cut 16,000 jobs worldwide. (See "Stringer Tries To Turn Sony's Distress To Advantage")
Yahoo! BuzzJapan is being hit by waves of layoffs, and unemployment is on the upswing as demand falls worldwide for its cars and electronics. (See "Labor Casualties Dim Land Of Rising Sun") A strong yen, which was trading below 96 to the dollar Thursday, hasn't helped matters, making Japanese goods more expensive overseas. Japanese manufacturers are the least optimistic they've ever been about the country's economy, according to a Reuters survey of industrial sentiment for March. And the trade deficit is widening. (See "For Japan, Once Unthinkable Becomes Routine")
This week, floundering tech behemoths Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF.PK - news - people ), NEC (nasdaq: NIPNY - news - people ) and Hitachi (nyse: HIT - news - people ) (See "Hitachi Injects Old Blood") said they might have to take more drastic measures with their own workforces.
For the first time in four years, Japan's major automakers and electronics companies offered no base wage increases to their labor unions during their annual spring negotiations. Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ), Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) and Nissan (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) said Wednesday they would continue to make automatic pay hikes based on seniority, one of the standard features of Japanese corporate life that has helped to keep workers loyal and tied to their employer for life. However, a number of major electronics makers, including Toshiba, Sharp and NEC, are reportedly planning to break with the practice and freeze automatic seniority raises.
Work-sharing programs and reduced pay could be in the offing to prevent layoffs, according to press reports on emergency measures under negotiation between the government and industry that were broadly confirmed Thursday afternoon by Labor Minister Yoichi Masuzoe. Masuzoe said the government is planning 1.5 trillion yen ($15.6 billion) in spending to help the unemployed and preserve jobs.
Mitsubishi Motors (other-otc: MMTOF.PK - news - people ) illustrates the gloomy employment trends as the auto market worldwide shrinks. The company cut some 250 workers in its Illinois plant last year and declined to renew the contracts of 1,100 Thai workers in January. By the end of the fiscal year, which finishes in March, the company will have also let go nearly all the 3,300 contract workers in its Japanese factories by failing to re-sign them. "We have to adjust our production volume with the demand, and we have to decrease the number of inventories," a company spokesman said.
Global Labor’s Forgotten Plan to Fight the Great Depression
http://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/
In the early 1930s, as global unemployment tripled in two years and the world plunged into the Great Depression, the world’s labor movements developed a program for fighting the global crisis through international public works. It’s a little-known historical might-have-been that could have helped halt the Great Depression, the rise of Adolph Hitler, and the Second World War. And, as the efforts of world leaders to address today’s “Great Recession” threaten to break down in nationalist rivalry and petty political bickering, it bears lessons – and perhaps an alternative vision – for today.
Workers and organized labor have historically advocated government public works as a solution to unemployment. Not only would they provide jobs and income for those directly employed, but they would raise overall purchasing power, thereby creating demand for the products of other workers and creating a virtuous circle of economic growth. In the context of swelling unemployment in the early Depression, discussion of national public works programs developed in many countries.
The proposal for international public works originated with General German Trade Union Alliance (ADGB), which included most of Germany’s trade unions and represented the great majority of its workers. The plan won the support first of the German union alliance, then of unions around the world, and finally of the League of Nations’ International Labor Organization.
The plan was worked out by the head of the Alliance’s statistical department, W.S. Woytinsky. Woytinsky was a Russian émigré who had been president of the St. Petersburg Council of the Unemployed during the 1905 revolution and had organized mass action to force the city to provide public works employment. Observing Germany’s combination of spiraling deflation and spiraling unemployment in the early 1930s, he came up with the idea of using credit expansion to finance massive public works.
Taking a cue from recent League of Nations policy proposals, Woytinsky proposed an international agreement that would allow the lowering the gold reserve requirements for national currencies. That would let central banks create new money that could finance international public works and thereby create the purchasing power needed to reflate the economy.
In a June, 1931, article, Woytinsky proposed an “Action Program for Reviving the Economy.” It called for the labor movement to “assume the role of conveyor of the idea of an activist world economic policy.” It was up to the labor movement to “force the state and all public institutions to implement measures to revive the economy.”
Labor’s policy “must be a global economic policy. All nations are suffering because the world economy is sick, and therefore they must all concentrate their forces upon joint action to overcome the worldwide crisis.” The international agreement would provide an alternative to the rise of economic nationalism, supporting “tariff reductions and European economic unification” as well as “internationalization of wage policy and social policy.” The program would also support workers’ fight for higher wages, shorter hours, social rights, and regulation of business.
The funds freed up by international money-creation policies would be applied to job creation through “public works on a grand scale” for a “grand plan for European reconstruction” with “the employment of one million unemployed.” The creation of jobs would “spark a revival of the consumer goods industry, thereby sucking a further, considerable number of unemployed back into employment."
A primary objection to such a plan was that it would lead to runaway inflation like that which had been so devastating to Germany in 1922-23. But Woytinsky argued that the conditions were entirely different. “We have a huge amount of unutilized capacity in our productive apparatus. Consequently, increases in production can, without difficulty, follow along in the wake of planned increases in purchasing power.”
Why international public works?
As the International Labour Organization’s International Labor Review explained in its introduction to Woytinsky’s January, 1932 article “International Measures to Create Employment: A Remedy for the Depression,” there were two problems with big public works programs to fight unemployment. First, it was hard to find enough money. Second, “in a worldwide depression like the present one, if one country goes very much ahead of other countries in its public works program” there is “danger of price inflation.” Both, the Review noted, “can be overcome by international cooperation.”
Woytinsky elaborated the danger. The creation of credit on a large scale “represents a daring experiment for any one country, and failure would shake and weaken the economic system of the country, and more especially its finances.” An international agreement is “the only method of avoiding this danger and clearing the way for individual countries to undertake schemes of this kind.”
How would such a plan work in practice? An international office would “collect the newly-created capital from every country” to create a fund for creating new purchasing power and new employment on an internationally agreed plan. “From the fund thus constituted, different countries would be granted loans in proportion to their needs for the creation of employment.” Two or two-and-a-half billion dollars would employ four to five million workers and provide the economic stimulus the world required.
Such programs should be selected for their social usefulness, not to their profitability for one or another company. Such works “must produce something of lasting value, but they do not need to be productive in the sense in which private enterprise employs the term and show a direct profit to meet the interest and redemption charges on the capital employed.” Each part doesn’t need to show a profit on capital. What is necessary is that “the plan as a whole” will reduce the resources wasted by the Depression and “improve the conditions of life throughout the world.”
In Europe, the funds would be used for “the construction of an international network of motor roads, of canals to link up the most important waterways of the Continent, and the international supply of electric power.” In individual countries they would be used for such purposes as land improvement, roads, and housing.
In 1933, sixty nations sent high-level representatives to the London Monetary and Economic Conference to forge a solution to the Great Depression. The ILO had voted to present its plan “to set on foot immediately large-scale public works” and “to coordinate these measures on an international basis” there. But instead of developing an international strategy to solve the Depression, the Conference broke down in nationalist bickering. The worldwide spread of mass unemployment, Hitler’s rise to power, and World War II followed apace.
Lessons for today’s “Great Recession”?
After the meeting of finance ministers from the world’s major economic powers in mid-March, 2009 the participants issued a statement saying, “We have taken decisive coordinated and comprehensive action to boost demand and jobs” and “we are prepared to take whatever action is necessary until growth is restored.” It sounds as though the lessons of the Great Depression have been learned and a plan like that advocated by the unions in the early 1930s for job creation and economic stimulus has been adopted. But, as one news account put it, the ministers “stopped short of announcing any details.” In fact, world leaders are facing the same paralysis in the face of the “Great Recession” that they did in the face of the Great Depression eighty years ago.
What would it mean for the world’s labor movement, and the broader community of allies often known as the “Global Justice Movement,” to develop an “activist world economic policy” to confront today’s “Great Recession”? Conditions are of course different, but in many ways the core of such a program can be the same.
That core can be public works to create jobs to meet public needs. In today’s world, threatened as it is by global warming, the number one public need is to rebuild the world’s economy in a way that protects the Earth’s climate. So a global jobs program today means primarily a program for global green jobs.
Such a program needs to be global for the same reasons that it did in the 1930s. First, the problems are global, and therefore require a global solution. Second, if any country expands credit too much by itself, it is likely to face rebound effects from the international economy. (Think about the way the Chinese, who hold much of the U.S. debt, recently forced Barack Obama to give assurances that the U.S. would not inflate its currency.) Such measures by one country alone also lead to loss of trade.
There are ways to provide international credit expansion today that didn’t exist in the 1930s. The primary one is a kind of international money, known as “Special Drawing Rights” (SDRs) or “paper gold” that allows countries to create new currency reserves through the International Monetary Fund. Countries can hold SDRs in their treasuries and release other currencies they are holding there – creating new money in very much the same way as Woytinsky’s proposals for lowering gold reserve requirements.
The U.S, Britain, and many other countries are currently calling for an expansion of SDRs to help poorer countries get through the current economic crisis. George Soros has called for the issuing of trillions of dollars of SDRs to counteract the downturn. And Joseph Stiglitz has proposed that SDRs be used to create an international fund for supporting projects for “public purposes” in poorer countries. Expansion of SDRs, or some other form of internationally agreed global credit expansion, can be the basis for a new era of global green public works, what has recently been dubbed a Global Green New Deal.
World leaders didn’t face up to their responsibility for countering the Great Depression, and it looks like the same is true of today’s leaders in the face of the Great Recession. The idea of international public works financed through global agreement to credit expansion could provide a global program around which labor and popular organizations around the world could unify to “force the state and all public institutions to implement measures to revive the economy.”
Burma Allows Labor Rights Group To Station Officer in Rangoon
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2002-03/a-2002-03-20-13-Burma.cfm
Washington
20 March 2002
Robinson report - Download 332K
Listen to Robinson report
Burma's military government has agreed to allow an official of the International Labor Organization, or ILO, to be stationed in Rangoon to oversee efforts to eliminate forced labor in the country. The agreement between Burma and the ILO was reached after months of negotiations.
The memorandum of understanding was signed after several days of talks ending this past Tuesday between a Burmese delegation and the ILO in Geneva. It comes about one month after a high-level ILO delegation visited Rangoon and held intensive negotiations on the wording of the agreement.
Burma has been under pressure from the ILO, which represents the international community in promoting labor rights, to put an end to the practice of forced labor. Human rights groups say the use of forced labor in Burma is still pervasive.
Two years ago, the organization agreed to impose unprecedented sanctions on Rangoon and called on its member organizations and U.N. agencies to review all relations with Burma's government to make sure they were not supporting forced labor.
The ILO has been pressing for establishment of a permanent office in Burma to help fulfill its mandate. However, Burma's military had resisted.
The memorandum of understanding does not authorize the setting up of a full ILO office in Rangoon. But it is significant because this is the first time Burma has agreed to an in-country ILO representation, and it also opens the way for a future expanded ILO presence.
David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, says details remain to be worked out.
"The questions really are, what will happen in the future?," he said. "What kind of freedom will this liaison officer have? What kind of support staff will he or she have? Will he be able to travel without announcement, to various places in the country. All of these questions have yet to be answered."
Bo Hla Tint is spokesman in Washington for Burma's exile National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma. He also says the test of the ILO/Burma agreement will be how much flexibility the new liaison representative will have.
"We welcome their gesture, the first sign of a more cooperative manner of the SPDC to work with the ILO and the international community," he said. "But at the same time we are very much concerned about how much working space the ILO can get in Burma, and in the field.
The memorandum of understanding makes clear that the new liaison official in Burma will pursue what the agreement calls "prompt and effective elimination of forced labor in Burma."
The agreement with the ILO also means Burma will face a bit less criticism at the International Labor Conference which takes place in Geneva in June.
E-mail This Article
Print Version
Top Story
Obama Calls for 'New Beginning' in Message to Iran
More Stories
Iran Welcomes Obama Overture
Afghan, US Troops Kill 33 Militants in Helmand Province
Netanyahu Gets More Time to Form Israeli Government
Obama Meets with Schwarzenegger, Others on Stimulus Bill
North Korea to Reconnect Military Phone Line With South
US Rejects Mugabe Calls to End Zimbabwe Sanctions
Citizens in Madagascar React to New Government
India's Mobile Phone Market Grows Rapidly Despite Economic Slowdown
US Preparing Possible 'Surge' in Afghanistan
Astronauts on Spacewalk to Install Space Station Solar Wings
FAQs | Terms of Use & Privacy Notice | Broadcasting Board of Governors | Site Map | Link to Us
| Contact Us
Myanmar: Treatment of Burmese Seafarers
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49b92b32a.html
Title Myanmar: Treatment of Burmese Seafarers who have returned to Myanmar (Burma) after having jumped ship and contacted the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) to complain about working conditions while outside of Myanmar
Publisher Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Country Myanmar
Publication Date 6 August 2008
Citation / Document Symbol MMR102913.E
Cite as Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Myanmar: Treatment of Burmese Seafarers who have returned to Myanmar (Burma) after having jumped ship and contacted the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) to complain about working conditions while outside of Myanmar, 6 August 2008. MMR102913.E. Online. UNHCR Refworld, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49b92b32a.html [accessed 19 March 2009]
Myanmar: Treatment of Burmese Seafarers who have returned to Myanmar (Burma) after having jumped ship and contacted the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) to complain about working conditions while outside of Myanmar
An article in an International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) online publication called ITF Seafarers states that "[s]eafarers are among the most exploited and abused groups of workers in the world" and may find themselves in a complex legal situation when confronted by abuse, insufficient food or accommodation or unpaid wages, especially while under the employment of foreign flag ships (flags of convenience) (ITF 2007).
The Seafarers' Union of Burma (SUB), an organization that seeks protection for and offers assistance to Burmese seafarers employed by foreign ships, is considered illegal by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military regime of Myanmar (Burma) (ITUC 2007). The SUB is affiliated with the ITF and the Federation of Trade Unions – Burma (FTUB), a Burmese labour organization that has operated underground since 1991 and is classified as an "unlawful association" under the Unlawful Associations Act (ibid.; see also US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 6). Notification No. 3/2005, issued by the SPDC Ministry of Home Affairs on 28 August 2005 declares that the "'FTUB, its members, and other related groups and individuals'" are a threat to the country (ITUC 2007). The SPDC regime considers the FTUB to be a "terrorist organization" (ibid.; US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 6).
As a condition of employment, seafarers must join the Myanmar Overseas Seafarers' Association (MOSA), a state-linked seafarer's organization launched in 2002 (ITUC 2007; Irrawaddy Jan. 2003), which is not affiliated with the ITF (ibid.) despite claims to the contrary by Myanmar's military regime (ITUC 2007; ILO Mar. 2006, Sec. 1097). The 340th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that membership in MOSA "explicitly limits seafarers' right to establish and join associations of their own choosing" (ILO Mar. 2006, Sec. 1099). The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), an international organization that encourages global cooperation among trade unions to promote the rights of workers around the world (ITUC n.d.), states that when MOSA was launched, then Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt urged seafarers to "'refrain by their words and actions from harming the State'" (ITUC 2007).
Another state-controlled organization, the Seaman's Employment Control Division (SECD), charges a fee for issuing the documents required for employment as a seafarer (ibid.; Irrawaddy Jan. 2003) and gives mandatory lectures in which prospective seafarers are warned not to complain about working conditions aboard ship and to stay away from the SUB and the ITF (ITUC 2007).
Although sources indicate that the SPDC has abolished a requirement for seafarers to sign an affidavit prohibiting contact with the ITF (ILO Mar. 2006, Sec. 1099; Irrawaddy Jan. 2003), the United States (US) Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 maintains that seafarers are forbidden contact with the organization (US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 6). A 2008 document published by the ILO states that Burmese seafarers are denied the right to be represented by the SUB (ILO June 2008).
The ITUC's 2007 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights reports that recruitment agents for seafarers may insert restrictions into contracts prohibiting contact with the SUB, ITF or any ITF-affiliated unions (ITUC 2007). Corroborating information was received by the Research Directorate from the Manager of the International Seafarers Assistance Network (ISAN), a registered charity based in the United Kingdom (UK) that provides free assistance to seafarers (ISAN n.d.), who stated that ISAN has come across employment contracts stipulating that seafarers are forbidden to contact outside agencies for assistance, including the ITF and other unions (ISAN 30 July 2008). The Manager added that if found in breach of contract, the seafarer could be forced to pay for their repatriation expenses in addition to those incurred for any replacement hired (ibid.). A "cash penalty" could also be administered (ibid.).
The ITUC maintains that state authorities have reportedly retaliated against seafarers who have contacted the SUB or the ITF for assistance, imposing a range of penalties including seizure of wages and imprisonment (ITUC 2007). In 2005, the ITF reported that a SUB activist was arrested, tortured and killed by the armed forces for his role in organizing fishermen and migrant workers (ITF Oct.-Dec. 2005, 20; ibid. 24 May 2005).
The ILO's 340th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association lists complaints against the Government of Myanmar presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), a confederation of 241 organizations from 156 countries that addressed labour issues (ICFTU n.d.), including the "murder, detention and torture of trade unionists" and the "continuing repression of seafarers for the exercise of their trade union rights" (ILO Mar. 2006, Case No. 2268). The ITUC and the ILO provide details on several cases of arrest, imprisonment and torture for trade union activities, including that of eight family members of an FTUB activist in August 2006 (ITUC 2007; ILO June 2008). The ILO notes that punishment may be administered for the "mere sending of information to the FTUB" (ibid.).
In March 2008, an aritcle by Mizzima News, a news organization established in 1998 by Burmese journalists in exile (Mizzima 23 Jan. 2008), reported that six human rights and trade rights activists associated with the FTUB had been charged with "membership in a terrorist organization" and given sentences of over 20 years (Mizzima 20 Mar. 2008).
The ITUC indicates that there are no legally registered workers' organizations in Myanmar (ITUC 2007). Country Reports 2007 corroborates this information stating that there are "no free trade unions" in Myanmar (US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 6).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). N.d. "ICFTU: What it is, What it Does ... "
International Labour Organization (ILO). June 2008. Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR). "CEACR: Individual Observation Concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) Myanmar."
_____. March 2006. Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA). 340th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association.
International Seafarers' Assistance Network (ISAN). 30 July 2008. Correspondence received from a manager.
_____. N.d. "About Seafarerhelp."
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 2007. "Burma." 2007 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights.
_____. N.d. "ITUC – CSI – IGB / International Trade Union Confederation."
International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). 2007. Martin Whitfield. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind."
_____. 24 May 2005. "Annex 1 & 2: Murder of Seafarers' Trade Union Organiser."
_____. October – December 2005. Issue 21. "Union and Human Rights Abuses: Atrocity in Burma." Transport International.
The Irrawaddy [Chiang Mai, Thailand]. January 2003. Ko Thet. "Shoring up Burma's Seamen."
Mizzima. 20 March 2008. "Burma Urged to Legalize Exiled Trade Union."
_____. 23 January 2008. "About Mizzima."
United States (US). 11 March 2008. Department of State. "Burma."Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007.
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions – Burma (FTUB), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and Seafarers International Union of Canada did not respond within the time constraints of this Response.
Internet sources, including: Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Solidarity, Human Rights Watch (HRW), International Center for Labor Solidarity (ICLS), International Christian Maritime Association, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), International Sailors Society, Online Burma/Myanmar Library, Pattaya Daily News, Seafarers International Research Centre, Shipwrecked Mariners Society, United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Copyright notice: This document is published with the permission of the copyright holder and producer Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The original version of this document may be found on the offical website of the IRB at http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/. Documents earlier than 2003 may be found only on Refworld.
Japanese workers demand pay rise amid recession
TOKYO (AFP) — Thousands of workers rallied at a Tokyo park on Saturday, demanding companies keep jobs and increase salaries to stimulate recovery from a deepening recession.
"Secure regular pay rises! Have serious talks with management about rises in consumer prices," Tsuyoshi Takagi, president of the Japan Trade Union Confederation, said in an address to kick-start the rally.
"If we accept their argument that there are no rises in prices, our work conditions will face big trouble ahead," he said.
Labour unions have argued salaries should be increased in accordance with price rises, on top of seniority-based annual pay rises.
Takagi said it was "nothing but outrageous" that some big companies were now considering skipping annual pay rises based on the length of service.
The confederation, better known as Rengo, is an umbrella organisation grouping trade unions across the nation with a membership of more than six million.
The workers who got together at the park in central Tokyo then marched in the capital with banners reading "Pay rise is the strongest economic stimulus" and "Never let workers get fired!".
Labour unions are in the middle of negotiations with management over salary scales for the fiscal year starting on April 1.
Japanese companies are struggling amid the worst recession in more than three decades and there is little hope that Rengo's demands will be met.
Firms have announced massive job cuts, shattering Japan's job-for-life myth.
Charter of rights of working women
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/14760/
AFL-CIO Executive Council statement
Women work every day. No matter where they live, their economic activity is vital to the economy and society at large, their communities, their families and their personal autonomy and growth as human beings.
Around the world, women plant and harvest crops, build roads, manufacture goods, carry water and run the office. They care for the young, the sick and the elderly, often without due recognition of their work. They make up more than 40 percent of the global labor force. Whether they are teachers, sales clerks, pilots or plumbers, women fill many professions and perform many jobs. Although they speak different languages, they share the vision of a world founded on respect, peace, equality and solidarity, and without violence, harassment and discrimination.
For all women, especially for the millions who work in insecure, temporary, unsafe, underpaid and unpaid jobs, this vision lies far beyond the truth of their daily lives. To meet their needs and those of their families, women increasingly are moving around on their own initiative as economic migrants, rather than as dependents of male migrants, and are subjected to exploitation by unscrupulous employment agencies and employers. In both developing and industrialized countries, women’s jobs are often part-time, low-wage, temporary, insecure, unregulated and unprotected. Women appear in disproportionate numbers among the world’s poor and suffer the worst effects of unregulated trade and corporate-driven globalization. The privatization of public services has a disproportionate impact on women, both as workers and as consumers of services.
As social inequality rises across and within countries, so does the need to redress these wrongs. To that end, changes must be made to ensure that the system of world trade promotes gender equality, eradication of poverty, respect for human rights and environmental protection and sustainability. Women and men alike are entitled to decent work, which is a vital precondition for having a decent life. Women and men alike are entitled to basic human rights in the workplace.
To this end, the AFL-CIO will do all in its power to secure for women the rights set down in this Charter.
* The freedom to organize and bargain collectively.
o Particular attention should be paid to organizing young women, immigrant workers and women in the informal economy, and to ensuring their full participation in trade union activities and responsibilities.
* Access to employment and promotion.
o Equal pay for work of equal value should include any additional reimbursements with all social rights and benefits linked to the employment relationship.
o Discrimination against women in social security schemes must be abolished, particularly provisions in pensions that penalize career breaks for maternity reasons or to provide care to dependent persons.
o Employers must be held responsible for ensuring that women have a safe workplace free of all forms of violence and sexual harassment.
o Governments should take effective measures to prevent and combat human trafficking by devoting particular attention to protecting women and children and by prosecuting the traffickers.
o Women and girls should have equal access to vocational guidance and training including on-the-job training in technical skills.
o Positive action programs and gender mainstreaming programs for women and men should be put into operation with a view to changing stereotyped attitudes and addressing the effects of discrimination.
* Maternity protection.
o Maternity protection is a duty of society. Women must have the right and the opportunity to plan their families and to choose motherhood freely. These protective measures should not negatively affect women's promotion at work or their pension and retirement rights.
o Women on maternity leave should be provided with cash benefits at a level allowing them to meet their own and their children's needs and to retain good health.
* Family Responsibilities.
o Family responsibilities should be shared between women and men on equal terms. Reductions in and flexible working hours are needed to help parents combine working and family life.
o The mother and father should have the right, before or after the maternity leave of the working woman or the leave for adoption of a child, to take parental leave without forfeiting any employment and related rights.
* Education and training.
o Inequalities in access to education and training and programs must be eliminated, as should curriculum content that helps perpetuate the concept of a division of labor between women and men and thereby discriminates against women.
o Access to free, good-quality public education is a prerequisite for the eradication of child labor. Parents need access to decent jobs and a living minimum wage.
* Integration of women in trade unions.
o Actively promoting the goal of women’s integration in union organizations and gender parity in trade union activities and decision-making bodies at all levels, appropriate constructs should be set up to analyze the problems facing women workers, propose solutions, eliminate discrimination and encourage participation.
o A gender perspective should be incorporated in trade union work, including family-sensitive scheduling of union activities and child care at union meetings and events.
o Training programs for women should be organized within unions with the goal of training women to take up positions at all levels.
o Training on equal opportunities for men and women should be included in the training provided to activists.
* Solidarity among diversity.
o As a driving force for promoting solidarity among women and between women and men, unions should initiate activities designed to remove the barriers that women face owing to factors such as civil conflict and occupation, race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or socioeconomic class, or because they are indigenous peoples, immigrants, displaced women or refugees.
The AFL-CIO calls on its affiliated organizations and other progressive forces to commit themselves to the promotion and implementation of the principles set out in this Charter.
Further, we urge the U.S. government to ratify and actively implement all current ILO Conventions, including but not limited to those with specific application to women.
These should include ILO Conventions 87, 98, 100, 105, 111, 138, 156, 175, 177 and 183, covering freedom of association; the right to organize and bargain collectively; equal remuneration; abolition of forced labor; prohibition on discrimination with respect to employment and occupation; minimum age for employment of children; protection of workers with family responsibilities; part-time work; home work; and maternity protection.
Colombian Workers’ Rights Activist Nominated for Meany-Kirkland Award
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/03/05/colombian-workers-rights-activist-nominated-for-meany-kirkland-award/
by James Parks, Mar 5, 2009
Colombian workers’ rights activist Yessika Hoyos will receive the 2008 Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award.
Seven years ago, Colombian union leader Jorge Dario Hoyos was assassinated. But his death did not silence his family’s search for justice. Today, his daughter, Yessika, is following in her father’s steps, risking her life in pursuit of workers’ rights and challenging the power of corporations and a government that does little to protect the rights and lives of workers.
Today, the AFL-CIO Executive Council, meeting in Miami, nominated Yessika Hoyos for the 2008 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. Click here to read the resolution.
Hoyos, a lawyer, has been fighting tirelessly to bring her father’s killers to justice and to end the cycle of violence in her native land. Even though the low-level trigger men responsible for her father’s death have been prosecuted, the masterminds who ordered Dario Hoyos’ death have not been found—an all-too-common scenario in the deadliest country in the world for union members.
The Colombian government has not vigorously investigated or prosecuted the killing of trade union members. At the current pace of investigations and trials, it would take 37 years to prosecute the backlog of cases. And the caseload is growing—the rate of killings, which had fallen for a few years, jumped sharply last year by 25 percent, says José Luciano Sanin, director of Escuela Nacional Sindical (National Union School), a leading Colombian think tank.
The AFL-CIO and a broad coalition of groups have opposed passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until workers can fully exercise international core labor rights without fear, the country makes deep and sustained progress on ending impunity, and the agreement is amended to address persistent criticisms of the trade model.
Yessika Hoyos’ passion and determination for justice come naturally, says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, a good friend and supporter of her father. Trumka was president of the Mine Workers (UMWA) when he first met Dario, who was leading an energy workers union in Colombia. Hoyos came to the United States to learn how to organize and better represent workers, Trumka says. The two men became good friends.
After Dario was killed, Trumka said, the Colombian government did virtually nothing to find and prosecute his killers. At the same time, no one would help Yessika and her mother except the union movement.
They kept getting threats. We [UMWA] moved them five times. People were afraid that if they helped, the assassins would come for them, too.
Testifying before the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee last month, Hoyos recalled those days of living in fear:
The very day of the funeral, the tragedy took another turn. Threats, harassment, persecution started against us, so that we wouldn’t make any denouncements or claims. And because of that we had to leave our home and hide out in Bogotá, where we were found anyway, to the extent that we had to move five times in a single year.
Hoyos shows the same courage her father had, Trumka says.
You can see the sense of outrage. She refused to let the government stonewall on her father’s case.
The Bush administration refused to force the Colombian government to aggressively prosecute those who killed trade unionists, Trumka says, but heroes like Dario “will never be forgotten and we honor them more when we go get their killers,” he adds.
If anyone deserves the Meany-Kirkland Award, Trumka says, it’s Yessika Hoyos.
Her dad was an incredible man. He had an insatiable thirst for worker justice. He was really making a difference and getting things done. He was a genuinely good man. His memory deserves much more than the Colombian government is trying to give him.
Despite the abysmal record in her native country, Hoyos says she still has hope. At a recent AFL-CIO forum, she said she keeps working to educate people because
so many tolerate violence in our society. I keep doing it because I believe we can build the kind of Colombia where children don’t have to grow up without parents.
She told the House Education and Labor Committee last month that she and other surviving families of assassinated trade unionists are striving to fulfill their loved ones’ dream:
We are not alone. We are brothers and sisters united by hope, by dreams of justice, truth and freedom. With the good fortune of love and solidarity, we have found many older brothers and sisters around the world who keep us going on the path of hope with their encouragement and faith. We know that we are the children of the dreams of justice and equality of our parents, and it is for that very reason that we are ethically and morally obligated to build a great country, where there is respect for life, where there is the right to think, to dissent and to dream.
The annual Meany-Kirkland award, created in 1980 and named for the first two presidents of the AFL-CIO, recognizes outstanding examples of the international struggle for human rights through trade unions. Previous winners have included U Maung Maung of Burma, Nancy Riche of Canada, Wellington Chibebe of Zimbabwe, Ela Bhatt, the founder of India’s Self Employed Women’s Association, and the Liberian rubber workers.
Women Gain by Joining Unions
http://www.4ibew.com/2009/03/08/women-gain-by-joining-unions/
March 8th, 2009 Goto comments Leave a comment
Today is International Women’s Day and a new report points out that while all workers gain through union membership, women gain a lot more. A new report released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) shows the global pay gap is 22 percent, but women who belong to unions earn more than nonunion women and receive better pay relative to their male co-workers. Click here to read the entire report.
Teresa Griffin, a member of UAW Local 1247 in Hagerstown, Md., has lived the union difference. As a single mother supporting two children, she was making $9 an hour in 1993 working for a small pension plan administration firm. A year later, she was laid off, and took a job with her former firm’s biggest client making $7 an hour. It took her five years to get a $1 an hour raise. When her supervisor asked the company to give her a 25-cents increase, management refused.
A week later, Griffin was hired by Mack Trucks Inc. and became a union member for the first time. Her starting salary was $12 an hour, 50 percent more than her last job. Griffin says:
When I gave my resignation, I was called into the office and asked what it would take to keep me because they didn’t want to lose me. My reply was straight to the point: “Last week I wasn’t worth a quarter and now I’m worth an additional $4. It took me five years to earn [a] $1 [increase], so how long will I have to work to earn another increase?”
Or take Carla Buschjost, who for 10 years was barely able to make ends meet working for a nonunion plumbing company. But when she moved to a union mechanical shop and became a member of the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA), her life changed.
She was so passionate about the union that she became a SMWIA organizer for three years. Last month she was named as director of labor standards for the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Buschjost will oversee the division’s worker safety sections as well as the state’s child labor and prevailing wage laws.
Says Buschjost:
Wow! What belonging to a union can do.
The outlook for U.S. working women to close the pay gap got much better in January when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that strengthens women’s right to gain equal pay for equal work.
That’s good news to Vera Newton. In her first job with a retailer, she trained new workers only to find out that the men she trained earned more than she did. After taking a new job at a local bank, the Louisville, Ky., resident had to fight to get a decent salary. Even though she had a management title of assistant cashier, her pay was only $18,000 a year after five years on the job. She says:
I am grateful of the learning experience I obtained in banking, but I could not pay my rent with a just a title. I could not eat with just a title nor could I afford to pay for my son’s college tuition with just a title.
In 1989, she took a job at the Ford Motor Co. assembly plant in Louisville and her salary tripled. Her quality of life changed immediately, says Newton, a member of UAW Local 862.
Griffin agrees that unions can make a big difference in the quality of life.
Union membership has made it possible for me to buy a home in a good neighborhood with a good school and environment, have better health insurance, and provide a better life for my children.
Not only does joining a union mean better pay and benefits, all three women say it has opened up new opportunities to grow. Newton and Griffin are members of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), an AFL-CIO constituency group and have become active in their unions and community. Griffin recently became the first woman elected as president of the Central Maryland Labor Council.
Eileen Muller, president of AFSCME Local 1482/Brooklyn Library Guild, says being a union member has meant the opportunity for her to go to college and become a librarian. After she left her job as a bagel maker at a family friend’s bakery, she went back to school through a partnership between AFSCME District Council 37 and a local college. Taking classes for a reduced rate, she earned her degree. She says:
The union has afforded me wonderful opportunities to really develop as a person. I never was much of a public speaker, but yesterday I stood up and spoke to a rally of thousands of people protesting cuts in the city budge. I never thought I would have the ability to do that before I joined the union.
Newton says joining a union “opened up a new world.”
I was able to travel, meet new people and express my opinions. In my old job, if you spoke your mind, you were fired.
These women are making the union message a part of their family traditions as well. Newton’s son is now a member of the Electrical Workers and Griffin’s 16-year-old daughter goes with her to central labor council meetings every month.
As Griffin says:
For me, being a union member is something you work at. It’s about “we” not “me.” Union activism has become my passion and I thank God every day that I was given this opportunity.
Women Worldwide Are Paid Even Less Than We Thought
http://www.4ibew.com/2009/03/05/women-worldwide-are-paid-even-less-than-we-thought/
March 5th, 2009 Goto comments Leave a comment
In the current global economic crisis when jobs and living standards for millions of workers are threatened, a new report reveals the pay gap between men and women worldwide may be much higher than previously believed. The report, Gender (in)Equality in the Labor Market, puts the global pay gap at up to 22 percent, rather than the official government figure of 16.5 percent reported last year.
The report, released today by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in advance of International Women’s Day, March 8, reaffirms what union members already know: Women who belong to unions earn more than nonunion women and receive better pay relative to their male co-workers. Click here to read the entire report.
Says ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder:
This report clearly confirms the advantage which men and women workers gain from union membership, which is all the more important in the current global economic crisis when jobs and living standards for millions of workers are under severe threat.
The report also confirms that women workers who have higher education still receive less pay in nearly every profession than their male counterparts. In the United States, the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE) found recently that even though women workers are better educated than men, they earn less. In 2005, full-time women workers in the United States who graduated from high school earned 34 percent less than men with similar degrees. Women with bachelor’s degrees earned 31 percent less. Those with master’s degrees were paid 32 percent less and those with doctorates received about 30 percent less. Click here to read the entire fact sheet, “Salaried and Professional Women: Relevant Statistics.”
U.S. working women took a big step toward pay equity in January when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that strengthens womens’ right to gain equal pay for equal work.
Says ITUC President Sharan Burrow:
There are a number of reasons why women still earn so much less than men, including overt as well as subtle discrimination against women in the labor market and in the workplace, the way that employers, especially in the private sector, handle promotions to better-paid jobs, and lack of maternity protection for women and parenting leave that both men and women can access.
One way women are discriminated against is by the refusal of many employers to provide paid maternity leave (see video). In a study of 19 countries with comparable per capita income, the Economic Policy Institute found the United States provides the fewest maternity leave benefits in both length of leave and paid time off. That doesn’t include any disability insurance for which mom may qualify.
The U.S. federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which has been the law for 15 years, gives eligible parents 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a new child. Aside from being unpaid, the leave is limited to workplaces of more than 50 employees, which excludes about 48 million workers.
The ITUC report also points out the appalling human and economic cost of violence against women, taking a close look at the impact of violence against women at home, in society and at work. The report cites Worlds Health Organization figures, which show that in some countries, a majority of women experience physical assault and psychological intimidation. Globally, an average of some one-third of women suffer from violence at some stage in their lives.
Along with the lasting physical and mental damage caused by violence against women, the report clearly demonstrates how it affects on women’s employment and economic situation. The report gives examples of the total economic cost of violence against women in several countries indicating that the total global cost is likely to be in the tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars.
Adds Burrow:
Unions around the world are working to stop violence against women, through government action, raising awareness and also action in workplaces. We are calling on governments to work together to build a complete picture of the causes and effects, including analysis of the huge economic costs which add to the impacts on women themselves and on society.
General Information on Labor Rights Abuses in Burma
http://olympicflame.org/faq/828
01 January 2001
General Information on Labor Rights Abuses in Burma Burma (Myanmar) is arguably one of the most oppressive and egregious abuses of labor rights in the late 20th century. Despite the fact that it has ratified ILO Convention 87 (Freedom of Association) and ILO Convention 29 (Forced Labor), it systematically violates these conventions on a daily basis. In 1989, the U.S. Government suspended Burma from eligibility for trade concessions under the Generalized System of Preferences Program (GSP) because of its violation of labor rights.
The U.S. State Department annual human rights report for 1998 found that freedom of association was severely limited. It noted that:
"The Government restricts freedom of association. Aside from officially sanctioned organizations like the USDA, the right of association existed only for organizations, including trade associations and professional bodies, permitted by law and duly registered with the Government, such as the Myanmar Women's Entrepreneur Association….Free trade unions do not exist, and even former government-controlled ones were dormant. Because of its longstanding violation of ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association, Burma was cited for continued failure to implement the convention by the June 1998 ILO Conference. The Conference criticized the lack of progress and the absence of cooperation on the part of the Government."
SLORC Order 2/88, issued in 1988 and still in effect, states clearly that:
"(b) Gathering, walking, marching in processions, chanting slogans, delivering speeches, agitating, and creating disturbances on the streets by a group of five or more people is banned regardless of whether the act is with the intention of creating disturbances or of committing a crime or not."
Order 2/88 is often supplemented by use of the Unlawful Associations Act which provides for detention up to three years for any person who is found to be a member of an unlawful organization. (1)Among the ways an organization can be found to be unlawful is if it is one which "has been declared to be unlawful by the President or the Union under the powers hereby conferred", giving the SPDC the widest possible latitude to declare unlawful any organization it finds to be inconvenient. The natural result, as the US State Department found in its report, is
" Workers do not have the right to organize and bargain collectively to set wages and benefits ."
The SLORC/SPDC's horrendous record on forced labor is well known to many labor activists around the world. The SPDC military junta is, quite simply, worst abuser of forced labor on the planet at this time, and the ILO has taken clear cognizance of that fact. In March 1997, the European Union suspended Burma indefinitely from its GSP program because of its continued and systematic use of forced labor in virtually all aspects of the economy.
The US State Department human rights report found that:
"Forced or compulsory labor remains a serious problem. At widespread locations throughout the country, international observers have confirmed that the Government routinely coerces forced labor by citizens for local projects...From 1992 to 1996, the Government supplemented declining gross investment with a significant increase in uncompensated citizen "contributions," chiefly of forced labor, to build or maintain irrigation, transportation, and tourism infrastructure projects…the use of forced labor remains widespread."
After years of condemnation of Burma's forced labor record, the ILO finally agreed in July 1997 to set up an official ILO Commission of Inquiry under article 26 of the ILO Constitution. After months of intensive study, fact finding and interviews, the ILO Commission of Inquiry made a strong set of conclusions which stated:
"There is abundant evidence before the Commission showing the pervasive use of forced labor imposed on the civilian population throughout Myanmar by the authorities…In actual practice, the manifold exactions of forced labor often give rise to the extortion of money in exchange for temporary alleviation of the burden, but also to threats to the life and security and extrajudicial punishment of those unwilling, slow or unable to comply with a demand for forced labor; such punishment or reprisals range from the money demands to physical abuse, beatings, torture, rape, and murder…Forced labor is widely performed by women, children, and elderly persons as well as persons otherwise unfit for work…All the information and evidence before the Commission shows utter disregard by the authorities for the safety and health as well as the basic needs of the people performing forced or compulsory labor…Porters, including women, are often sent ahead in particularly dangerous situations as in suspected minefields, and many are killed or injured in this way…Forced laborers, including those sick and injured, are frequently beaten or otherwise physically abused by soldiers, resulting in serious injuries; some are killed; and women performing compulsory labor are raped or otherwise sexually abuses by soldiers." (2)
The Commission made a number of recommendations for the SPDC to bring their laws and practice into compliance with ILO Convention no. 29. Unfortunately, the SPDC failed to implement those recommendations. As a result, during its annual conference in June 1999, the ILO passed a resolution that found the attitude and behavior of the government of Burma (Myanmar) "are grossly incompatible with the conditions and principles governing membership in the organization." The resolution continued that "the Government of Myanmar (Burma) should henceforth cease to benefit from any technical cooperation or assistance from the ILO" and "should henceforth not receive any invitation to attend meetings, symposia, and seminars organized by the ILO, until such time as it has implemented the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry."
source: AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, Thailand, January 2001
Notes
(1) Article 17.1 of the Unlawful Associations Act states "Whoever is a member of an unlawful association or takes part in meetings or any such association or contributes or receives or solicits contributions for any such association, or in any way assists the operations of any such association, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than two years or more than three years."
(2) In the U.S., where apparel imports from Burma have risen by 272% since 1995, the Free Burma Coalition and other national groups have launched a legislative and grassroots campaign to ban apparel imports from Burma. For more information see www.freeburmacoalition.org
Posts
