British welfare minister resigns over disability cuts plan

Yahoo – AFP, 18 march 2016

Iain Duncan Smith leaves after attending a pre-Budget cabinet meeting at 

Downing Street in London, on March 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

London (AFP) - Britain's welfare minister Iain Duncan Smith resigned on Friday over planned reductions in welfare payments for people with disabilities unveiled by the finance minister this week.

"Changes to benefits to the disabled and the context in which they've been made are a compromise too far," he wrote in a letter following uproar against the plans, including from lawmakers in his own governing Conservative Party.

"While they are defensible in narrow terms, given the continuing deficit, they are not defensible in the way they were placed within a budget that benefits higher-earning taxpayers," said Duncan Smith, a former party leader and one of six senior ministers supporting a vote for Britain to leave the EU.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told parliament on Wednesday the planned changes would cut around £1.3 billion (1.7 billion euros, $1.9 billion) a year off the bill for so-called Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which aim to help people with long-term ill health or disabilities with extra costs.

The main opposition Labour party has criticised the proposals as "appalling" and a government source on Friday said they would be "kicked into the long grass".

"We need to take time and get reforms right and that will mean looking again at these proposals," the sources.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We are going to discuss what we've put forward with the disability charities and others."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn earlier said that 200,000 of the 640,000 people affected by the proposed changes would lose out altogether as a result.

Duncan Smith was one of six cabinet ministers who last month broke ranks with the rest of Cameron's government and said they would support a "Leave" vote in Britain's EU membership referendum on June 23.

He was head of the Conservative Party between 2001 and 2003.

New York plans $15 minimum wage at fast-food chains

Yahoo – AFP, 23 July 2015

Low wage workers, many in the fast-food industry, join with supporters in front 

of a McDonald's to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour, on April 15, 

2015 in New York (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

New York (AFP) - New York state was poised Wednesday to raise the minimum wage to $15 in the fast-food sector, a key victory in a long-running workers campaign for liveable wages.

A three-person panel appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state's current minimum wage of $8.75 an hour should be increased to $15, a raise of more than 71 percent.

Cuomo had indicated he would follow the panel's recommendation.

"What a great, great day!" Cuomo, a Democrat, said at a news conference with the leaders of the $15 campaign.

Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to labor 

leaders, workers and activists at a rally for

 a $15 minimum hourly wage on July 22, 

2015 in New York (AFP Photo/Spencer

Platt)

The wage increase will be phased in, starting with fast-food chain restaurants operating in New York City. They are due to meet the new minimum wage by 2018, while elsewhere in the state fast-food restaurants will have until 2021 to comply.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but states and municipalities can set their own. Some 29 states and Washington, DC, have minimum wages above the federal minimum.

"We're getting $15 before every other state," said Eric Schneiderman, New York attorney general.

"It's a victory you have all built," he said, thanking the labor leaders and Cuomo. "This is a victory for all men and women who work hard."

Activists have been pushing for several years to get the $15 minimum wage in the fast-food sector, notorious for low pay that workers say does not keep them out of poverty.

Under pressure from unions, McDonald's announced in April a pay hike for 90,000 employees in company-owned restaurants, though that does not affect the majority of its restaurants, which are owned by franchisees.

From July 1 the starting wages for full and part-time workers in its own restaurants were raised by one dollar above the local minimum wage.

The move followed similar wage increases announced by Wal-Mart Stores, Gap and others, all under pressure from labor and social groups over low pay.

Cuomo said that New York state's $15 minimum wage decision would "radiate" across the country.

"If it's right in New York, it's right in California," he said.

In May, Los Angeles, the second biggest US city, passed an increase in its minimum wage from $9 to $15 an hour by 2020. That followed a similar move by Seattle one year ago.

Other states and communities have also passed, or are weighing increases to, statutory minimum pay, after years in which inflation eroded the spending power of US workers.

But only a few have moved toward the $15 target that worker groups are calling for.

According to US labor data, workers in the food preparation and serving-related occupations comprise 22 percent of US employees who make at or below the minimum wage. Workers such as waiters can earn less than the minimum wage if they make up the gap in tips.

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Dozens of fast-food protesters arrested while striking against low wages

Protesters in more than 100 US cities conduct sit-ins and marches outside restaurants to call for a $15 minimum wage

Fast-food protests continue across US – live updates

theguardian.com, Dominic Rushe and Lauren Gambino in New York, 4 September 2014

Protesters demanding higher wages and unionization for fast food workers march
on Thursday in New York. Photograph: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Police arrested dozens of people on Thursday during a series of strikes across the US over low wages at fast-food companies including McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC.

Protesters in more than 100 cities including Chicago, New York and Detroit conducted sit-ins and marches outside fast-food restaurants calling for a $15 minimum wage and better benefits for workers. Many fast-food jobs pay just more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

By lunchtime unconfirmed reports said police had arrested 43 people in Detroit, 19 in New York City, 23 in Chicago, 10 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and 10 in Las Vegas. Protests were just starting in California and organisers expected hundreds would be arrested by the end of the day.

Thursday’s strikes were the seventh in a series that began as a local protest in New York two years ago. Each strike has been progressively bigger and organisers credit the movement with focussing the debate on low wage workers and reinvigorating president Barack Obama’s attempts to increase the federal minimum wage.

The latest protests mark a departure from previous efforts with protesters, many of whom were transported to the event by union backers, deliberately getting themselves arrested. So far there have been no reports of injuries.

A worker is detained by police during a protest outside a McDonald’s
restaurant in Philadelphia. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

Despite strong opposition from Republicans and business lobby groups, there have been some significant moves to raise wages. Seattle recently increased its minimum wage to $15 and there are proposals of a rise to $13 in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Jeanina Jenkins, a McDonald’s worker from St Louis, Missouri, told the Guardian that $15 an hour would change her life. Jenkins, 21, lives at home with her mother and earns $7.97 an hour. “If I made $15 an hour I’d go back to university and study nursing,” she said.

The latest strike is being backed by the Service Employees International Union, (SEIU) which represents about 2 million workers across the US, mainly in healthcare, public services and property services including janitors and security officers.

The union has been moving to unionise more fast-food workers, but at the moment the process can only be conducted piecemeal, because workers are technically employed by individual franchise-holders, not the bigger chains.

But SEIU won a major victory last month when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that McDonald’s could be held jointly liable for employment and wage violations by its franchise operators. The move, which is being heavily contested, could force fast food firms to negotiate on wages and allow SEIU to unionise restaurants on a larger scale.

Police arrest demonstrators who were protesting for an increase in wages
in Chicago, Illinois. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Arun Ivatury, campaign strategist for National Employment Law Project, said: “We talk a lot about responsibility in this country but corporations have to take responsibility too. I am confident that we are now at a moment of change.”

The National Restaurant Association, the largest trade body representing the industry, dismissed the strike actions as a PR stunt, saying it was a “multi-million dollar campaign” funded by unions. “The activities have proven to be orchestrated union PR events where the vast majority of participants are activists and paid demonstrators. This is nothing more than labor groups’ self-interested attempts to boost their dwindling membership by targeting restaurant employees,” the NRA said in a statement.

Obama has been pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 but has faced stiff opposition from Republican opponents and business lobby groups who argue a wage hike would kill job creation.

Speaking at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee on Monday, Obama said: “If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union ... I’d want a union looking out for me and if I cared about these things I’d also want more Democrats looking out for me.”

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Protest day for fast-food workers planned for more than 30 countries

• Union representatives gather in New York City

• Protests will call for pay of $15 an hour

theguardian.com, Associated Press in New York, Wednesday 7 May 2014

Protesters in New York call for higher wages for fast-food workers. Photograph:
Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Labour organisers say they are planning another day of fast-food protests next week, with coordinated actions expected in the US and more than 30 countries this time around.

Union representatives from countries including Argentina, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand and Panama gathered in New York this week to share tips and strategise for the demonstrations slated to take place on 15 May. Organisers announced the global actions at a news conference outside a McDonald's in New York on Wednesday afternoon.

The protests, calling for pay of $15 an hour in the US, have gained national media attention since they began in New York in late 2012. The push is getting financial and organisational support from the Service Employees International Union – which has more than 2 million members – and has served as an important backdrop as President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers seek to raise the federal minimum wage in an election year.

Although the effort to raise the federal minimum wage in Congress seems unlikely to succeed, several states and localities have raised their minimum wages recently.

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour was last raised in 2009. That translates to about $15,000 a year, assuming an employee works 40 hours a week.

The protests come at a time when the widening income gap has become a pressing issue. Since 1980, income has grown the most for top earners, while falling for the poorest 20% of families. Advocates for raising the minimum wage say a growing number of people in low-paying jobs are trying to support families.

Fast-food workers have historically been difficult to unionise, because of the high turnover rates in the industry.

Turnouts for the fast-food protests over the past year have varied. In New York, chanting demonstrators led by community leaders and local lawmakers typically flood a fast-food location for about a half hour, temporarily making it impossible for customers to enter the restaurant and place orders. Once the crowd disperses, however, restaurant operations quickly return to normal.

In other cities, demonstrations are often much smaller.

Organisers say many of the protesters are workers who walked off their jobs at places including McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. But such chains typically rely on a large number of part-time workers, in order to avoid paying overtime, meaning they can usually call up other workers to take over. The practice underscores another common grievance in the industry – employees say they never know how many hours of work they'll be given from week to week.

Ron Oswald, general secretary of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations, said at the two-day meeting in New York that the idea of fast-food workers from around the world collaborating would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.

But, he said: "Fast food workers have had enough.”

Organisers say protests are planned in countries including Japan, Pakistan and South Korea. But the scale of the actions will vary.

Louise Marie Rantzau, a 21-year-old McDonald's worker in Denmark, said she and her colleagues planned to take a photo of themselves holding a banner outside a fast-food restaurant, then post the picture on social media. She said a collective agreement with McDonald's prevents workers from protesting.

Her situation also underscores how fast-food employees work under varying conditions around the world. Rantzau said she earns about $21 an hour because of the collective agreement. Still, she noted that her colleagues often aren't aware of their rights, such as shift breaks and extra pay in certain conditions.

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Thousands demonstrate in Bahrain to mark uprising anniversary

Deutsche Welle, 15 February 2014

Thousands of people have marched in Bahrain to mark the third anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising that was put down by authorities. The country remains in the grip of sectarian tensions.

Saturday's rally saw crowds of men, women and children taking to streets in and near the capital, Manama, to call for more democracy. The demonstration was called by the kingdom's main opposition movement, the Shiite al-Wefaq.

It was one of the largest protests staged since 2011, when pro-democracy demonstrations began on February 14, inspired by Arab Spring uprisings elsewhere.

Some media reports say clashes between protesters and police broke out after the demonstrators had marched several kilometers (miles), with police firing tear gas into the crowd.

The protesters called for democracy, political reform and the release of political prisoners.

Sectarian conflict

The protest highlights sectarian tensions that continue to beset the Gulf-island nation since the 2011 uprising, with the country's majority Shiites demanding greater political rights from the Sunni-led monarchy. Activists and police have clashed frequently in recent times, and anti-government factions have increasingly been using small-scale bombs to attack government forces.

The demonstration on Saturday came as the Interior Ministry announced that one of two police officers hurt in a bombing on Friday had died of his injuries. In a statement, it described the explosion in the village of Dair, near the country's main airport, as a "terrorist blast."

Twenty-six people were reportedly arrested in unrest on Friday, the exact anniversary of the start of the 2011 protests.

Uprising put down in 2011

Bahrain put down the uprising in 2011 with the help of neighboring Sunni-ruled gulf countries with smaller Shiite populations, led by Saudi Arabia.

More than 65 people died in the unrest, with rights groups putting the death toll higher.

The ruling family has launched a third round of dialogue with its opponents, but so far talks have failed to produce political agreement.

tj/ipj (Reuters, AP)

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Venezuelan security forces break up student protests in Caracas

Deutsche Welle, 15 February 2014

Security forces in Venezuela have deployed tear gas and water canon to break up a student protest in the capital, Caracas. The clash comes two days after three people died in violence at anti-government rallies.

Some 500 students blocked the main highway in Caracas on Friday, choking off traffic for several hours. Venezuelan security forces deployed tear gas and water cannon to clear the protesters, who responded by throwing rocks and burning trash. So far, no injuries have been reported.

Venezuela's latest unrest began 10 days ago when students in Caracas rallied to protest against the government's handling of public safety and the economy. Venezuela suffers from rampant crime, inflation and shortages of basic goods.

On Wednesday, the demonstrations turned bloody when three people were shot dead during clashes (pictured above) between security forces and protesters in the capital.

Twitter said on Friday that the Venezuelan government had blocked people from sharing videos and images of the unrest on its social media service.

The San Francisco-based company went on to say that protesters could get around the government filter by having their tweets delivered to smartphones via text message.

Some of the protesters have called for President Nicolas Maduro to step down. While some politicians have come out in support of the protestors, opposition leader Henrique Capriles has said that the conditions are not right for Maduro to leave office. Capriles was defeated by Maduro, the successor to the late Hugo Chavez, in last year's presidential election.

President Maduro has accused the protesters of trying to overthrow his government.

slk/crh (AP, AFP)

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