U.S. CHILD LABOR ENFORCEMENT FAILING

The U.S. government has become increasingly indifferent to protecting working children, says the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) in a report to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Data acquired from the U.S. Labor Department under the Freedom of Information Act show a decade of decline in child labor enforcement and penalties.

The CLC has forwarded its report to the Geneva-based ILO, questioning whether the United States is in compliance with ILO Convention 182, which calls for immediate action to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese serves as co-chair of the CLC.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE NEWS AROUND THE GLOBE

Public Services International (PSI), a global federation for some 650 affiliated public sector trade unions, including AFT Public Employees, recently reported that in November:

n Portuguese public employees staged a two-day strike to protest the government’s plan to cut 75,000 jobs.

n Lithuanian trade unions protested against working conditions, including the government’s plan to expand the work week from 48 hours to 60 hours.

n PSI supported an international day of action to protest political killings in the Philippines. Of the 700-plus killings since President Arroyo came to power in 2001, more than 64 have been trade union organizers.

For more news about international public employee unions, visit www.world-psi.org.

U.S. WORKERS' RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK

The U.S. government violated international labor law standards by expanding the definition of “supervisor,” according to the AFL-CIO, which filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization’s Committee on Freedom of Association.

The AFL-CIO asked the committee, which is composed of 19 labor law specialists from around the world, to add its “authoritative voice and moral weight in the international community” to a movement for legislation to restore the traditional, more balanced test for supervisory status, limiting it to genuine supervisors and managers.

The complaint stems from the Sept. 29 National Labor Relations Board Kentucky River decisions, which the AFL-CIO says transformed workers with sporadic oversight over co-workers into supervisors, even when such oversight is far short of genuine managerial or supervisory authority.