In The News

Employers Take United Stand in Insisting on Labor Concessions

Steven Greenhouse July 11, 2003
The situation of American workers in several large corporations is a striking illustration of the negative effects of globalization and a more integrated world economy. In large part because of low-cost foreign labor, American corporations are gaining the upper hand in negotiations with worker unions. Even in industries that are thriving, management claims that the pressure to compete requires...

Wave of Immigrants Breaks Against Italian Island's Shore

Frank Bruni July 11, 2003
Many African immigrants are willing to risk their lives for opportunities in Europe. They come in rickety boats across dangerous waters to the small Italian island of Lampedusa, the gateway through which thousands of immigrants pass en route to the European job market every year. The immigrants arrive on the island's coast in numbers that surpass its population, overwhelming local and...

Germany Topples EU Immigration Policy

Carola Schlagheck July 11, 2003
Refugees and migrants seeking work in Europe will be welcomed by some countries and rejected by others. In a last minute effort before the completion of the draft EU constitution, Germany successfully prevented the European Union from pursuing the harmonization of immigration policy throughout Europe. Instead, individual national governments will decide whether to allow non-EU nationals to...

Controlling the Flow

Gamal Nkrumah June 27, 2003
In the same week that European Union (EU) leaders met in Thessaloniki, Greece to discuss migration issues, a vessel carrying African migrants trying to enter Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia, killing some 70 people. This was one of the many vessels operated by illegal immigrant-trafficking gangs in Northern Africa who carry Africans to Mediterranean coastlines. Ironically, top on the agenda...

Nike Versus Sweatshop Critic: Back to California

S.L. Bachman June 27, 2003
Nike, the world's largest shoe manufacturer, could become the world's leader in improving labor standards across the globe. If US courts decide that it must, that is. The US Supreme court decided on June 26 to allow a California state court to proceed with a trial in which US-based Nike is charged with lying to the public about labor conditions in its factories overseas. A California...

Making Trinkets in China, and a Deadly Dust

Joseph Kahn June 18, 2003
The negative effects that unbridled capitalism can have on workers in developing countries raises the hackles of many anti-globalization activists. This New York Times article describes the severe diseases that Chinese workers have developed in the dreadful working environment of a jewelry company that exports its products to the US and other Western countries. To the author, these scenes...

Easterners Fight for Shorter Working Hours, but 35-Hour Workweek is a Myth

Heidi Sylvester June 13, 2003
The already tight labor market in Germany receives yet another squeeze – but this time it's from within. East German steelworkers will enjoy western Germany's regular 35-hour workweek by 2009, but this concession has encouraged workers in other East German industry sectors. Metalworkers and electrical engineers seeking the same treatment have now resorted to strikes. This labor unrest...