This article was written 3 years ago by an advocate of Christian unionization in Canada, Ray Pennings who previously worked for the Christian Labour Association of Canada in Ontario.
-- Albert Gedraitis
International Trade Unionism:
WHAT’S IT ALL FOR?
by Ray Pennings
Policy in Public
A Cardus Publication
Spring 2010 (pp 11-17) re-posted Feb11,2k13
Two major problems face any North American conversation about trade unions. First, the very topic of unions is framed in particular ways in the North American mindset and evokes one of three responses. Some have very little time or use for unions, seeing them as limiting the free choice of workers in the marketplace to protect their own turf, protectors of the status quo that smother innovation and pull down productivity. A second subset of the population has quite an opposite perspective: Unions are necessary defenders of workers’ rights and interests in a corporatist marketplace and provide necessary protection and voice for the interests of workers—not only in the workplace, but also in public dialogue and debate. This group believes that unions are essential democratic institutions that deserve protection and promotion. And of course, there is a third perspective somewhere in the middle. Typically, polls about unions indicate that Canadians support the institution of unionism, but not many of its practices. Those in the middle react negatively to critiques of unions, even though they themselves choose not to join one. Unions seem like insurance: a necessary vehicle of protection for workers in unpleasant and difficult situations, but not one that plays a significant a role in their daily life.
Such a threefold categorization does not capture every nuance, but it reflects an important correlation:
the three different political outlooks associated with each view and the very different understanding of the nature of the institution that these [political outlooks] reflect. The first category—that which might be described as “antiunion”—tends to work from libertarian assumptions about the functioning of the marketplace and frames economic participation, whether that be as consumers, entrepreneurs, or workers as primarily an individual activity. The second category—which might be described as “pro-union”—tends to view unions as democratic institutions, operating within a framework of state sanction and protection, with the task of ensuring that “rights” are protected in the course of economic activity. The third group advocates the insurance view, which is largely remedial in character.
My point here is not to mediate the differences between these commonly held perspectives but to point out that none of them understand the place and task of a trade union as an inherently economic institution. I want to suggest that the North American understanding of trade unions, common to both its critics and advocates, falls short because we do not think of this institution as an economic institution whose potential can be realized by aligning itself around economic norms and objectives. Instead, we deal with trade unions, depending on our perspective, as either political organizations concerned with rights protection or social institutions dealing with distributive issues. The second problem that a conversation about trade unions faces is that the North American labour movement is militantly secular in its philosophy and approach. But the history of North American trade unionism is connected to social gospel influences of the early twentieth century. The continued existence of trade unions with an explicitly religious base, such as the more Catholically inspired 300,000 member Centrale des syndicats democratiques (CSD) in Quebec or the Protestant inspired 50,000 member Christian Labour Association of Canada are clearly important factors that deserve consideration. Still, these explicitly religious unions are exceptions rather than the rule in North America. The history of North American unionism is primarily a secular history driven by political ideas and expressed in the currency of power, not morality. Religiously-formed ideals relating to vocation and justice, which were part of the religiously inspired labour movements, have largely dissolved within the North American labour context.
This disappearance occurred quite early in the history of labour unions. The ecumenical social service congress held in Ottawa in 1914, attended by both church and labour leaders, remained primarily a middle-class phenomenon. The radicalism expressed during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 brought to light divisions in both the church and labour movement. Although some churches—most notably the United Church of Canada—continued to work towards ecclesiastical and labour cooperation, the terms of engagement were decidedly political. In a Fellowship for Christian Social Order 1936 publication, Eugene Forsey [a Teamsters Union leader, later apponted to the Senate of Canada for life] argued that until “Christians learn to understand and apply the lessons of Marxism they cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Neither the politics nor
the theology of this movement proved to have broad-based inspirational appeal. And so, the labour movement in Canada morphed into a middle class interest group which became adept at working within scientific management programs to protect workers. This became embedded in public policy, as
virtually every Canadian jurisdiction introduced labour legislation in the forties modeled after the adversarial premises of the American 1935 Wagner Act. Labour law primarily establishes the “rules of engagement” for industrial conflict. However, we can—and ought—to creatively rethink the nature and task of trade unionism in North America and around the globe. Three interventions in this conversation can help in that task.
First, to adequately address questions of globalization and internationalism, we must recover the ability to have public c o n v e r s a t i o n s using moral language and categories. One of the challenges the labour movement has faced because of globalization is a lack of the moral language and categories to engage the discussion. It is relatively easy to throw around high-minded terms like “solidarity,” “social justice,” and “respect and dignity of workers”; however, in order to give those terms concrete substance that can inform action, we must have a common framework for discussion. The immediate challenges in entering this discussion—particularly for labour organizations—are obvious.
How does one reconcile free trade policies that will unarguably improve the living conditions of many in developing countries with the implication: the end of certain well-paying jobs in North America? When we deal with the wide-ranging conditions in various countries—some of which are obviously negatively impacted by decisions made locally—how do we set priorities? Do we consider every circumstance equally, with moral equivalency, regardless of how we have arrived at those circumstances? The North American labour movement is ill equipped to address these questions. Wanting the achievement of certain “moral” ideals in the absence of a moral framework within which to make sense of these ideals and establish priorities amounts to shallow good wishes.
Second, we need a common understanding of unions as economic institutions governed by the norm of stewardship. I already noted how union advocates in North America tend to defend unions in the context of rights. This places them as extensions of the political sphere—which in practice they are, since they primarily rely on the state sanction for their exercise of influence. Those opposed to this argue that unions represent interference in the free markets (essentially the libertarian argument for the limited state). Now lest I be misinterpreted, labour does have an appropriate role to exercise in each of these spheres; however, unions primarily operate in the economic sphere. They ought not be first about rights, redistribution, or social support. They are about stewarding human capital, ensuring that its potential is realized and a fair return on investment is provided. Unions have an opportunity to identify and cultivate the potential of the workforce (individually and collectively), to work with other social players to find the “social place” in which workers can carry out their vocation effectively, and to ensure that workers are fairly treated, receiving just compensation for their contribution and sharing in the rewards of their investment. Our frame of reference is important. If we view unions as economic institutions tasked with the responsibility to cultivate and steward the potential of the workforce, we must deal with workers in the context of their contribution.
The third problem for those in conversation about unions is that in the global economy, the task is global, and the labour movement needs to organize itself in different ways, with a global worldview. North American unions, in particular, rely too heavily on a rights-based approach to labour relations and on the tools of industrial conflict to play the power game. But moral authority is derived from the contribution unions make that goes beyond the enforcement of their rights and the advancement of their self-interest. Moral authority is the kind of basis that fledgling legal regimes need to spark reform, and it is this kind of reform that is critical outside of the North American context. Legalist-minded internationalists might be cynical about weak moralism’s ability to change behaviour, but culture precedes politics, and mass mobilization of what is morally right precedes legal and political reform. Labour unions are endowed, both morally and legally, to draw those connections outside the developed world. International unionism needs new moments of global innovation if it hopes to transcend its narrow interest group-based work in the developed north, and penetrate into the more difficult, morally ambiguous climate of the rest. Three steps may help in this task.
First, international credibility will come from consistent domestic policy. Again, unions are economic
institutions designed to steward the human capital. Developing programs that assist workers in identifying their gifts and creating opportunity for that potential to be productively engaged in the economy—starting at home—is a place to start. Rather than remaining a conservative institution, defending the status quo and resisting change, unions need to become agents of innovation and creators of opportunity. Additionally, when unions deal with workers abroad, they must start from the premise that these are workers who deserve opportunity to utilize their talents, and work to find ways and social
space to build on these talents.
Second, labour unions in North America have developed a business model which has resulted in a primary focus on membership services, delivered through the collective bargaining process. Although unions have dedicated significant sums to organizing campaigns in new sectors and certain other programs of aid, the animating character of North American unionism is the collective bargaining process itself. If unions are going to become significant agents of in a globalized economy, they need to focus beyond their membership.
Finally, moral authority and political credibility for international unionism will come from cultivating and celebrating the value of work. When a worker has a pride in craftsmanship and the satisfaction of being able to do meaningful work and make a real contribution, the power and purpose of
unionism can be leveraged into political and moral mandates. Only after work is given moral currency are we positioned to better ensure it receives appropriate economic rewards.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Stats from the Bureau of Labor Statisics show steady decline of union membership across the USA
The union movement in the USA is in "sharp decline," more so among public employees of the states and cities, than in private corporations such as manufacturing plants, the traditional base of American union membership., As a Christian thinker who regards union organization and membership as a moral bond and ethical duty for all workers in our hi-ly differentiated advanced industrial socioeconomy, I lament what I see in its overall trend. While the existing mainstream unions have for many sullied the very idea of workers unions on the job thru all sorts of ruff practices, bad practices, with union élites some of them earning enormous salaries compared to the rank and file workers who are their members, the rot goes much deeper than that.
When it comes to the presence of Christian unions fully empowered to perform the duties and responsibilities laid upon them by workers who vote for Christian labour representation annually (I woud suggest) and always by secret ballot (to prevent intimidation of workers-voters), it's best to keep well in mind in industrial-relations thawt Christian philosophy's distinction between structure and direction. In principle, all unions exist by order of creation in its differentiation today, to represent workers, develop the work community of all workers (not just their own members), and get along symbiotically with the managers (and thru them with the investors or owners). But given how key ideologies which do not acknowledge the Creator or His messianic provision for the world and the coming of His Kingdom of Shalom, the needed ongoing work toward better structuration of workers representation often goes amiss or is so distorted by ideologies alien to the task that regression is often the rule of the day, not developmental in freedom of association and plurality of unions according to how workers vote to embody their principles.
Christian unions in the workplace are not there in principle to fight a class war. Sometimes employers are so rapped up in their own authority and power that they can't stand Christian democratic unionism, or any other kind. We are there to press our claims for better working conditions, better benefits, greater co-operation across divides among the unions, more professional grievance procedures, management divides from the workers and the guaranteeing of good remuneration, and all else that puts harmonious relations within the workforce to benefit workers, managers, owners/investors, and customers alike.
America needs a fundamental inner reformation of its system of labour representation, and the tiny Christian Labor Association (USA)S — in which persons of all faiths an none are heartily welcomed -- deserves its rightful place among the ensemble of unions and on the annual ballots where workers vote for which union will represent them proportionally in appointments as shop steward, grievance facilitators, and negotiators when it comes time to renew the contract with the company.
— Albert Geraitis
FoxNew.Com (Jan27,2k13)
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/23/unions-suffer-steep-decline-in-membership/?test=latestnews#ixzz2J9Vox8d7
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=2101554994001&w=466&h=263"></script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a></noscript>
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/23/unions-suffer-steep-decline-in-membership/?test=latestnews#ixzz2J9S6zmS1
When it comes to the presence of Christian unions fully empowered to perform the duties and responsibilities laid upon them by workers who vote for Christian labour representation annually (I woud suggest) and always by secret ballot (to prevent intimidation of workers-voters), it's best to keep well in mind in industrial-relations thawt Christian philosophy's distinction between structure and direction. In principle, all unions exist by order of creation in its differentiation today, to represent workers, develop the work community of all workers (not just their own members), and get along symbiotically with the managers (and thru them with the investors or owners). But given how key ideologies which do not acknowledge the Creator or His messianic provision for the world and the coming of His Kingdom of Shalom, the needed ongoing work toward better structuration of workers representation often goes amiss or is so distorted by ideologies alien to the task that regression is often the rule of the day, not developmental in freedom of association and plurality of unions according to how workers vote to embody their principles.
Christian unions in the workplace are not there in principle to fight a class war. Sometimes employers are so rapped up in their own authority and power that they can't stand Christian democratic unionism, or any other kind. We are there to press our claims for better working conditions, better benefits, greater co-operation across divides among the unions, more professional grievance procedures, management divides from the workers and the guaranteeing of good remuneration, and all else that puts harmonious relations within the workforce to benefit workers, managers, owners/investors, and customers alike.
America needs a fundamental inner reformation of its system of labour representation, and the tiny Christian Labor Association (USA)S — in which persons of all faiths an none are heartily welcomed -- deserves its rightful place among the ensemble of unions and on the annual ballots where workers vote for which union will represent them proportionally in appointments as shop steward, grievance facilitators, and negotiators when it comes time to renew the contract with the company.
— Albert Geraitis
FoxNew.Com (Jan27,2k13)
Unions suffer steep decline in membership
Published January 23, 2013
Associated Press
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/23/unions-suffer-steep-decline-in-membership/?test=latestnews#ixzz2J9Vox8d7
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=2101554994001&w=466&h=263"></script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a></noscript>
The nation's labor unions suffered sharp declines in membership last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday, led by losses in the public sector as cash-strapped state and local governments laid off workers and -- in some cases -- limited collective bargaining rights.
The union membership rate fell from 11.8 percent to 11.3 percent of all workers, the lowest level since the 1930s. Total membership fell by about 400,000 workers to 14.4 million. More than half the loss -- about 234,000 -- came from government workers including teachers, firefighters and public administrators.
The losses add another blow to a labor movement already stretched thin by fighting efforts in states like Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan to curb bargaining rights and weaken union clout.
But unions also saw losses in the private sector, even as the economy expanded modestly. That rate of membership fell from 6.9 percent to 6.6 percent, a troubling sign for the future of organized labor, as job growth has generally taken place at nonunion firms.
"To employers, it's going to look like the labor movement is ready for a knockout punch," said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "You can't be a movement and get smaller."
Unions have steadily lost members since their peak in the 1950s, when about one of every three workers was in a union. By 1983, roughly 20 percent of American workers were union members.
Losses in the public sector are hitting unions particularly hard since that has been one of the few areas where membership was growing over the past two decades. About 51 percent of union members work in government, where until recently, there had been little resistance to union organizing.
That began to change when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a law in 2011 eliminating most union rights for government workers. The state lost about 46,000 union members last year, mostly in the public sector.
Union officials blame losses on the lingering effects of the recession, as well as GOP governors and state lawmakers who have sought to weaken union rights.
"Our still-struggling economy, weak laws and political as well as ideological assaults have taken a toll on union membership, and in the process have also imperiled economic security and good, middle class jobs," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
In Indiana, where a new right-to-work law took effect last March, the state lost about 56,000 union members. The law prohibits unions from requiring workers to pay union fees, even if they benefit from a collective bargaining agreement. Michigan lawmakers approved a similar measure in December.
Another problem for unions is an aging membership that is not being replaced by younger members. By age, the union membership rate was highest among workers ages 55 to 64 (14.9 percent) and lowest among those ages 16 to 24 (4.2 percent).
In New York, the state with the highest union density, nearly one-quarter of the workforce belonged to a union. North Carolina had the lowest at 2.9 percent.
Among full-time wage and salary workers, union members in 2012 had median weekly earnings of $943, while those who were not union members earned $742.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/23/unions-suffer-steep-decline-in-membership/?test=latestnews#ixzz2J9S6zmS1
Monday, January 21, 2013
Labour statistics USA: Obama deficit 8 million + 'not in labour force'
President Obama clearly failed to bring the economy to recovery from joblessness to a terrible hi degree.
— EconoMix, refWrite Frontpage economics business labour
newspotter, analyst, columnist
CNSNews.com (Jan21,2k13)
— EconoMix, refWrite Frontpage economics business labour
newspotter, analyst, columnist
First Term: Americans ‘not in labor force’
increased 8,332,000
CNSNews.com (Jan21,2k13)
January 20, 2013
President Barack Obama (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The number of Americans age 16 or older who decided not to work or even to seek a job increased by 8,332,000 to a record 88,839,000 in President Barack Obama’s first term, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the same time, the number of retired workers collecting Social Security increased by only 4,234,480.
The increase in Americans opting out of the labor force during Obama’s first term resulted in a decrease in the labor force participation rate from 65.7 percent in January 2009, the month Obama was first inaugurated, to 63.6 percent in December 2012, the latest month reported. Before Obama took office, the labor force participation rate had not been as low as 63.6 percent since 1981, the year President Ronald Reagan took over from President Jimmy Carter.
To be in the labor force a person must either have a job or actively sought one in the previous four weeks.
When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, there were 80,507,000 American civilians age 16 or older who did not have a job or seek one. In December 2012, there were 88,839,000—thus, the increase of 8,332,000.
Also, in January 2009, there were 32,484,808 retired workers collecting Social Security benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. By December 2012 that had risen to 36,719,288, and increase of 4,234,480.
The increase in the number of Americans not participating in the labor force during Obama’s presidency outstripped the increase in the retired workers collecting Social Security by 4,097,520 persons.
In the comparable period of George W. Bush’s second term, the number of Americans choosing not to participate in the labor force went from 76,808,000 in January 2005 to 80,380,000 in December 2008—an increase of 3,572,000.
At the same time during Bush’s second term, the number of retired workers collecting Social Security rose from 30,086,392 to 32,273,145, and increase of 2,186,753. During this period, the increase in those not participating in the labor force outstripped the increase in retired workers collecting Social Security by only 1,385,247.
The rate of participation in the labor force was the same in January 2005 that it was in December 2008—65.8 percent.
In Bush’s first term, the number of Americans choosing not to participate in the labor force went from 70,088,000 in January 2001 to 76,581,000 in December 2004, an increase of 6,493,000. In January 2001, the labor force participation rate was 67.2 percent. In December 2004, it was 65.9 percent.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been tracking the labor force participation rate since 1948. Since then, the rate peaked at 67.3 percent, a level it maintained for the first four months of 2000.
Before President Obama took office, the labor force participation rate had not been as low as 63.6 percent since 1981, which was the year President Ronald Reagan took over from President Jimmy Carter.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Index for refWrite blogsystem, January 15, 2k13
Index for refWrite blogsystem, Jan15,2k13
rW1
refWrite Frontpage (refWrite-experimental): featuring hot news on politics (Politicarp), economics (EconoMix), juridics (Lawt) -- usually articles selected from the 24/7 cycle, and often responded to, or analyzed in detail, or commented upon, with verve … latest International Arbitration: As part of globalization, international law is being transformed and enriched, but poses new problems for legal scholars and Alinskeets target Wal-Mart and the Bangladesh factory fires to build American union and EnviroChina: Air Pollution astronomical: If you're in Beijing, you're not breathing well, sad to say and Gun control after another massacre: Alan Keyes provides a cautionary analysis
rW2
refWrite page 2 (refWrite...page2 rW2: pisteutics, Christianity/ies, other faiths worldwide, morals, moralities, moral communities, moralviews, mores, ethics (a science and a modal science that pertains to intimate unions, marriage, family, friendship, and even the moral qualifying factor of labour unions), education and formation (including spiritual formation), psychotherapy, science/s including natural sciences (Owlb) latest New council of churches in Egypt to face Islamists and 450th anniversary of Heidelberg Catechism and 'Allah' a good translation in Muslim cultures for 'God'? and Jon Levenson thinks re different Abrahams in Judaism/s, Christianity/ies, and Islam/s and Jewish conversion to Christ: Isaac da Costa
rW3
refWrite page 3 (refWrite...page3) rW3: academics, reformational scholarship, evolution and Intelligent Design (Owlb) latest Sociologist collects basic texts of reformational economist and Christian education for all?, Bangkok, Thailand and Video — Innocents betrayed — populations denied guns, no defense against totalitraian slawter and ID before Darwin — Creation and evolution in James McCosh.
rW4
refWrite Backpage (refWrite backpage) arts, music (Musikos, Country Gal and others), sports (Sportikos), technics (Technowlb) -- includes entertainment, movies (Movie-Man), satire and humour (Saturikos) -- and other newspotters, analysts, and columnists latest Rafael Nadal will try to move past his injuries iin new pursuit of tennis championship and Fabulous solo dance in airport and Bureucracies both commercial and governmental mess up InfoTech and National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs kick off season Jan 20.
rW5
refWrite refBlogger Insert (refWrite refBloggers Insert) anti-censorship by govts, Google, Facebook, Pinterest, and the usual culprits; news and advocacy on behalf of freedom of speech, freedom of news media, freedom of artistic and other expression including the key hub-freedom of religion and inter-religions dialogue (insert this page in your own blog!) latest Readers, bloggers, celebrities defend Chinese newspaper against govt censors and Prof argues for UK's new laws governing newspapers and investigative journos and China fines Apple for re-sale of e-books by Chinese authors and Myanmar/Burma removes censorship (in theory)
rW6
refWrite Calendar (January 2013 anno domini): a series of monthly blog entries, page by page, month by month, choose a month and scrolldown in the month you are interested in, at the moment -- events among reformational community and friends worldwide, also Business & Human Rights events, sports events now and longterm, some entertainment events, some tech events, and lots more ….latest January and February — sports (esp football/soccer], scholarly conferences [Kuyper, Heidelbert, Brit youth, Brazil Christian sport, business & human rights]
rW7
refWrite page 7 Christian Medical Observations and Ruminations latest New ways to measure doctors; good deed (NYC hospitals) and 'Suffer pain a bit' to stoip pharmacy hold-ups and North Korea's died from his 'fit of rage' and Sleep apnea robs you of oxygen to your brain and In vitro fertilization labelled just 'loss' and 'waste'
rW8
refWrite page 8 Christian Labour Advocate : latest South African columnist contributes to background regarding Lonmin labour crisis, where hardrock drillers took up arms against police and were massacred and Forced labour in China's penal camp gets outed by inmate in box of Hallowe'en decoration bawt in Portland, Oregon, USA and Tunisia narrowly averts first general strike by main body of unions which are now at the forefront of critique and opposition to anti-democratic tendencies.
Philippines Northern Samar's provincial govt enacts first local anti-child law replete with funding and South Africa's farmworkers union calls to resume strike after violence and Justice Malala, South African columnist, contributes to background on Lonmin platinum miners strike and massacre and
rW9
refWrite page 9 Books mostly rW9 -- many titles arranged according to blog-entires by topic or news developments. I keep including new blog entries on new topics and book lists proffered from others -- includes some fiction, some poem books, lots of theology, needs more balance. we will add basic titles for Talmud (Neusner), Mishna (Neusner), and Philo of Alexandria aka Philo Judaeus (circa 25 BC- 47 AD), the Jewish philosopher who inter-acted with Hellenistic Greek-based culture, before the time of Jesus and during Jesus' life before the Cruicifixion, Descent, Resurrection, and Ascension (see a virulent anti-Christian try to use Philo against Christians, just as some Christians tried to enlist the Alexandrian in support of our faith in Jesus Christ. Also, a book on the Great Library of Alexandria, and some tie-in titles with Hellenism and its hegemony culturally before the time of Jesus and his Apostle to Hellenists, Saul of Tarsus aka Paul. On Paul, I especially recommend Sylvia Keesmaat's book, Paul and His Story: (Re)Interpreting the Exodus Tradition, but balance Paul's treatment of Abraham (the interpreters make it a key replacement-theology text) with Jon Levenson's 2011 Abraham between Torah and Gospel (new); look also for this guy's critique of Abrahamism in current streams of inter-faith dialogue. Keesmaat's volume is reviewed here (2001) by Brad Eastman who isn't interested in the fact that Paul relies on the Septuagint, not directly on the Hebrew Bible in recalling powerfully the exodus story to his Roman readers (Greek and Latin speaking), Jews and Gentiles in the synogogues in Rome. A new Economics topical page has been (barely) started. And I still want to beef up a Hellenistics page with reference to Toynbe and more deeply Werner Jaeger's Paideia (I've read the entire three volumes, as Prof Evan Runner recommended we do). (8-)
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Friday, January 11, 2013
EconoMixPhilippines: Child labour: Northern Samar's provinicail govt in country to enact a local anti-child law replete with funding
The effort to move away from the use of chld-labour everywhere in the world, is not easily or quickly accomplished. After reading and researching for years the grievous represson of free religious worship in Uzbekistan, I came across in a another source, new to me, of UZbekistan's closing of its schools and forcing children to go into the fields to harvest a huge crop of cotton every year, while it's busy closing down houses of worship that down conform to the govt's project of religious repression — whether Muslim other than the state's brand and regulated version, Protestant Christian (I think the Russian Orthodox have their special religious freedom, or Jehovah's Witnesses who are targets because their young men refuse military service of conscientious grounds. Then, I thawt of a Protestant family which was enduring a raid because of house worship, and also was experiencing their school children being sent into the fields to pick cotton.
We don't find such combos in the Philippines, but that makes me wonder what is to happen to these children who are forbidden to work? Where will they go during the day? Are there schools ready for them? Sufficient teachers skilled in bringing kids with no acculuration to schools and schooling, ready for those who are completely new to this non-family non-job requirement of adaptation? I asked the same questions when FairFood launched a campaign to get the children fired from working in the cocao plantations of Africa (hard, gruelling, exhausting work to be sure), but the pittance they received in wages also contributed to their family income and to the respect they thus earned in the family and village. And when the kids were prevented from working, what more amenable activities did they have? Schools? Trained teachers? Most likely not. Now they were simply economic drains on the family in far too many cases, I woud guess. Did they become freelance garbage-pickers? Did they become petty thieves? Did they go off to become child soldiers? I'm all for eliminating child labour; it's iniguitous. But when eliminated, who's able to supply something positive for their formation and for their self-respect in their culture in this stage of developent?, as school hopefully woud be. FairFood never responded. It's a liberal Western set of priorities and far-fetched ethical choices in far too many cultural socioeconomic conditions. Yet, again, coming back on the vicious circle, where woud the children be 10 years from now with no schooling?
North Samar in the Philippines is not the same as the cocoa plantations of Africa, nor the cotton fields of Uzbekistan (where admirably there are schools). The Philippines provincial governments which outlaw chld labour will soon learn that the cost is hi-er than they calculated, I'm afraid. Because now they must face the need for universal schooling of chldren, and face the need for schooling of choice near to home and church, even in remote places. The challenges of development are stupendous.
— EconoMix, refWrite Frontpage economics business labour newspotter, analyst, columnist
with Lawt, refWrit Frontpage juridics
Inquirer News (Jan11,2k13)
Philippine Daily Inquirer
We don't find such combos in the Philippines, but that makes me wonder what is to happen to these children who are forbidden to work? Where will they go during the day? Are there schools ready for them? Sufficient teachers skilled in bringing kids with no acculuration to schools and schooling, ready for those who are completely new to this non-family non-job requirement of adaptation? I asked the same questions when FairFood launched a campaign to get the children fired from working in the cocao plantations of Africa (hard, gruelling, exhausting work to be sure), but the pittance they received in wages also contributed to their family income and to the respect they thus earned in the family and village. And when the kids were prevented from working, what more amenable activities did they have? Schools? Trained teachers? Most likely not. Now they were simply economic drains on the family in far too many cases, I woud guess. Did they become freelance garbage-pickers? Did they become petty thieves? Did they go off to become child soldiers? I'm all for eliminating child labour; it's iniguitous. But when eliminated, who's able to supply something positive for their formation and for their self-respect in their culture in this stage of developent?, as school hopefully woud be. FairFood never responded. It's a liberal Western set of priorities and far-fetched ethical choices in far too many cultural socioeconomic conditions. Yet, again, coming back on the vicious circle, where woud the children be 10 years from now with no schooling?
North Samar in the Philippines is not the same as the cocoa plantations of Africa, nor the cotton fields of Uzbekistan (where admirably there are schools). The Philippines provincial governments which outlaw chld labour will soon learn that the cost is hi-er than they calculated, I'm afraid. Because now they must face the need for universal schooling of chldren, and face the need for schooling of choice near to home and church, even in remote places. The challenges of development are stupendous.
— EconoMix, refWrite Frontpage economics business labour newspotter, analyst, columnist
with Lawt, refWrit Frontpage juridics
Inquirer News (Jan11,2k13)
Northern Samar enacts ordinance to stop child labor
By Tina G. Santos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The provincial government of Northern Samar has become the first provincial government unit in the country to enact a local anti-child labor ordinance, complete with an initial P1-million funding for its implementation, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (Philippines national/federal department).
“This shows how serious the provincial government officials are in eliminating child labor in their area of responsibility,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, who commended the provincial government officials for the initiative.
She also urged other local government units to emulate the provincial government’s act of support to the campaign to rid our country of the menace of child labor.
Baldoz noted that other provinces, such as Albay and Quezon, had used the ordinance as basis for crafting their own anti-child labor legislative proposals.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan unanimously approved Provincial Ordinance No. 11 Series of 2012, entitled “An Ordinance Defining and Penalizing the Use of Child Labor and Providing for a Program for the Prevention and Progressive Elimination of Child Labor in Northern Samar and for other Purposes.”
The anti-child labor ordinance defines and penalizes the use of child labor and provides for a program on the prevention and elimination of child labor in Northern Samar. To support the program, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved an initial budget of P1 million for its implementation.
The ordinance also mandates the creation of municipal child labor committees and child labor protection desks in all police stations in the province to be manned by police officers who will receive complaints and problems and assist victims of child labor.
DOLE Region 8 Director Exequiel Sarcauga reported that 14 Northern Samar barangays (villages) have already passed barangay ordinances for the prevention and elimination of child labor practices.
Sarcauga explained that the child labor ordinances set the policies and guidelines at the provincial and barangay levels on how to curb child labor in their areas.
“An anti-child labor ordinance is one of the indicators of a barangay’s child-labor-free status under the child labor-free campaign.
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