By Houda Trabelsi, Magharebia. Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali on Thursday (December 22nd) presented his government to the Constituent Assembly. Tunisia’s first democratic government promises to create tens of thousands of new jobs. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Alison MacGregor, Montreal Gazette. Gildan Activewear Inc., a Montreal-based apparel firm, has ordered its Haitian subcontractor, the Genesis S.A. factory owned by Haiti’s Apaid family, to reinstate four workers illegally fired in September for forming a new union.
Continue reading →By Deena Stryker, Daily Kos. In Iceland the financial crisis resulted in people recovering their sovereign rights through a new approach to direct participatory democracy that led to a new Constitution. (English | French | Portuguese | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Staff, Haiti Grassroots Watch. Part 4 of 7. ”You get some factories and some salaries, and everything else is imported…. People need to know what FTZs are, what has happened in Mexico, or Honduras, so they don’t think these things will ‘save’ us.” – Camille Chalmers, Economist. (English | French)
By Staff, Haiti Grassroots Watch. Part 2 of 7. “It’s a big error to bet on the slave-wage labor, on breaking the backs of workers who are paid nothing while [foreign] companies get rich. It’s not only an error, it’s a crime…. [Assembly factories] work with imported materials, they’re enclaves. They don’t have much effect on the economy.” – Haitian economist Camille Chalmers. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Cam McGrath, IPS. Egypt recently approved its first ever minimum wage for the private sector, bringing it in line with the minimum wage for public sector employees set at 700 Egyptian pounds (US $117) per month. “In Cairo, you’d be lucky to find a small apartment for that price. But then you have to eat, and that’s expensive too.” – A gas meter inspector. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Staff, Haiti Grassroots Watch. Part 1 of 7. In Haiti, the minimum wage went from $3.00 per day in 1982, to 200 gourdes today, which is about $1.61 PER DAY in 1982 dollars. This represents a 46 percent drop in real salary compared to 1982 wages. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Staff, BBC News | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. In China, Beijing offers the best hourly rate of 13 yuan ($2), and Shenzhen guarantees the highest monthly minimum wage of 1,320 yuan ($207). As surplus capacity from the U.S.-Europe recession causes China to turn to its domestic market, the cost of Chinese-made goods will increase abroad.
Continue reading →By Andy Coghlan and Debora MacKenzie, New Scientist. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.
Continue reading →By Staff, Cuba Debate | CCS | Translated to English by Haiti Chery. CELAC is made up of 13 member nations from the Caribbean, 13 from South America, 6 from Central America, and 1 from the southern part of North America, whose leaders have agreed to promote an organization that will form a block in addressing the world’s challenges. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By William Lee Adams, Global Spin. An estimated 1,000 demonstrations by public sector workers are taking place throughout the U.K. Union leaders say the Prime Minister was asking for it.
Continue reading →By Eduardo Soriano-Castillo, Labor Notes | Staff, Southern Poverty Law Center. Young immigrants in Alabama were joined by allies from labor and civil rights groups for a series of actions to announce they are undocumented and unafraid. UPDATE: Federal District Court halts Alabama law’s discriminatory housing practice.
Continue reading →By Morgan Kelly, Seed Daily | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Invasive non-native species, such as rodents who pollinate plants, can become essential to ecosystems, according to a discovery that could change how scientists and governments approach the restoration of natural spaces.
Continue reading →By Staff, MercoPress. The most recent Brazilian census finds that 52.3 percent of the population is non-white; half of the population earns less than the minimum wage and, on average, Brazilians who are white and Asian earn twice as much as those who are black or mixed-race.
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