Belgium paralyzed as massive strike cancels all flights, halts public transport & blocks roads

All flights in and out of Belgium are canceled due to a general strike on February 13, 2019.

Ageneral strike over pay and working conditions has brought Belgium to a halt, leading to total chaos in airports, on the roads and in the skies.

Though Brussels Airlines provided advance warning of the general strike last week, thousands of travelers unable to change their plans have been stranded at airports across the nation that hosts the EU capital. Some 60,000 people’s travel plans have been affected, with only emergency and military flights allowed to depart or arrive nation-wide.

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Anti-war labor group opposes Trump attacks on Venezuela

by U.S. LABOR AGAINST THE WAR

Peoples’ World | February 12, 2019

Elliot Abrams and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a press briefing at the State Department. Pompeo is making absurd charges about Hezbollah operating out of Venezuela in ordet to whip us support for intervention. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The U.S. has no legitimate claim to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, to take sides in internal political disputes, or to undermine governments elected by the people. We have seen the disastrous consequences of recent U.S. interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and, through its alliance with Saudi Arabia, in Yemen. U.S. intervention in Venezuela can only bring further hardship and suffering, as followed U.S. support for the 2009 coup in Honduras that overthrew the elected government there and contributed to the stream of asylum-seekers now on our southern border seeking relief from that disaster.

Hungarian car workers’ strike wins 18% pay rise

Morning Star | February 01, 2019

HUNGARIAN communists have said the strike victory by car manufacturing workers this week was “a good example” of how industrial action can challenge the country’s dire labour laws.

The strike shut down Audi’s engine manufacturing plant at Gyor, which employs 13,000 workers and is the biggest engine producing plant in Europe.

ILO to ruling class in Davos: Meet the needs of workers

by Mark Gruenberg

People’s World | January 25, 2019

The ILO report does not set specific standards for specific countries, leaving it to movements like Fight for $15 (right) in the U.S. to battle for higher wages and allowing horrific conditions to persist in Bangladesh (left) where workers are fighting a government that, at the behest of multi-national corporations, is repressing workers and unions. | Mamunur Rashid (left) and Haley Nelson (right) / AP

GENEVA (PAI)—The International Labour Organization (ILO) is demanding the world’s governments enact and commit to new worker protections to meet the changing nature and demands of modern workplaces.

U.S: Union influence grew despite slight drop in membership in 2018

by Mark Gruenberg

Peoples World | January 22, 2019

The teachers’ strike currently underway in LA is cited as just one example of the growing militancy and influence of the labor movement. | Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP

WASHINGTON—Union membership declined slightly from 2017 to 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Using calculations from the Current Population Survey – a scientifically selected rolling sample of 60,000 households – BLS calculated there were 14.744 million union members last year, down 73,000 from the year before. Union density in 2018 was 10.5 percent

Life of Labour: Farm Crisis, Death on the Job and Precarious Livelihoods

by Venkat T., Srividya Tadepalli & Thomas Manuel

The Wire | January 16, 2019

Representative image. Credit: PTI

Agricultural crisis

Income support and interest free loans on the cards?

Working at a feverish pitch since the electoral debacle in three major states, the NDA government has proposed further schemes for the welfare of the agricultural sector. The agriculture ministry, along with the NITI Aayog, is working on a proposal that will provide income support as well as further interest subsidy to address the growing crisis in the agricultural sector.

India: To Put an End to Manual Scavenging, We Need to Change Public Discourse Around It

by Pranil Yodha

The Wire | November 19, 2018

A manual scavenger in Chennai. Credit: Flickr/Sharda Prasad CS

Rajesh and Tilak Raj were young boys in their early 20s, hailing from Below Poverty Line families. They must have had dreams, like any other young men of their age. They must have had some aspirations. But the poor and the oppressed cannot even afford to dream for long. Like always, reality got in the way.