Workplace Issues Today
Daily News for Friday, May 17, 2013
Selected by the Catherwood Library Reference Staff each Monday through Friday, excluding University holidays, WIT is a free alert service, providing abstracts and links to workplace-related news stories covered in the major media. Subscribe to WIT »
Established in 1999, this service also includes a searchable archive.
New Foxconn report finds some progress
A new audit of Chinese Apple producer Foxconn found that the company has not reduced the average workweek to be within Chinese law. The workweek is supposed to be capped at 49 hours a week but the audit said it was still too high. The report also found that unions at the company are still dominated by management. Foxconn said that they had made progress, and were still looking to do more. Critics say that the group doing the auditing, which was paid for by Apple, is too lenient, and that they are missing problems that have been found by other investigators.
See “Foxconn Audit Finds a Workweek Still Too Long,” by Vindu Goel, The New York Times, May 17 2013 (SD)
South African mining tensions continue
South Africa’s largest platinum miners’ union is demanding a meeting with the President, saying that the government is ignoring violence against workers. The union said that they are prepared to stop mining, a move that would cause problems for the country’s economy. A wave of strikes last year led to similar actions in other industries. Amplats, one of the country’s biggest platinum companies, said that they were laying off 6,000 workers last week, in part because of a loss of profits from the earlier strikes.
See “Mine union threatens to bring South Africa to ‘standstill’,” by Xola Potelwa, Reuters, May 17 2013 (SD)
Filipino workers in Taiwan told to be cautious amid rise in tensions
The Filipino government is advising Filipino workers in Taiwan to stay inside as much as possible after the death of a Taiwanese fisherman off the cost of the Philippines. Taiwan has frozen the hiring of Filipino workers, and said that the apology from the Philippines is not enough. At least one Filipino worker has been attacked. About 87,000 Filipinos work in Taiwan.
See “Philippines fears for workers in Taiwan amid row,” by Hrvoje Hranjski, Business Week, May 17 2013 (SD)