Feed items
Source: Labor's edge blog
Maersk Container Industry, which is part of the AP Moller-Maersk (APM) group, has called for tougher enforcement of European environmental legislation designed to force potentially harmful reefer containers out of the region.
“We urge the European Commission to ensure enforcement of existing EU legislation regarding insulation foam in reefer containers,” said Peter K Nymand, CEO for Maersk Container Industry. “This would benefit the environment, and it would help European innovation and environmental investments pay off,” he said in a statement.
Current EU legislation bans the “import” or “placing on the market” of reefer containers with significant potential to damage the climate and ozone layer. However, thousands of such containers circulate in Europe’s internal market on virtually the same market conditions as more environmentally friendly reefers.
More at Safety at Sea
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to provide US$50 million in development assistance for Peru this year.
Deborah Kennedy, USAID’s Acting Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, that Peru has eradicated 14,000 hectares of illegal coca crops last year and said that the Peruvian government is now more committed in the fight against drug trafficking.
More at Andina
[NOTE: Marubeni is the owner of Columbia Grain in Portland and a member of the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association.]
Marubeni Corp. bought a 49 percent stake from Williams Partners LP in an oil and gas platform project in the Gulf of Mexico that will cost $1 billion as it seeks to participate in North America’s expanding energy output.
Japan’s biggest grain-trading company is investing in a processing platform with a unit of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Partners, it said in a statement. The facility will start operating in the first quarter of
Energy contributed almost 20 percent of Marubeni’s 47.1 billion yen ($502 million) profit in the three months ending Dec. 31.
More at Bloomberg
Chokri Belaid, Tunisian human rights activist and attorney, was assassinated Feb. 6, 2013, on his way to work.
The ITF is backing pro-democracy strikers in Tunisia today, including its three affiliates, Fédération Nationale des Chemins de Fer Tunisien – UGTT, Federation Generale des Ports et Dockers – UGTT, and Fédération Nationale des Transports – UGTT, who are taking action following the assassination of opposition politician Chokri Belaid on Wednesday.
Mr Belaid, who is due to be buried today, was a respected human rights lawyer and a left-wing opponent of the government which took power after the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. He was shot dead at close range on his way to work.
“The ITF fully supports Tunisian unions in the UGTT, who have an honourable record of fighting for democracy. Their trade union sisters and brothers worldwide salute their courage and constancy,” said ITF acting general secretary Stephen Cotton.
* * *
8 فبراير/شباط 2013
الـITF يشيد بإضراب النقابات التونسية من أجل الديمقراطية
يدعم الاتحاد الدولي لعمال النقل (ITF) الإضربات المؤيدة للديمقراطية في تونس اليوم، بما في ذلك...
From the Journal of Commerce:
Three of the more than a dozen bargaining units representing office clerical workers in Los Angeles-Long Beach sent employers and union leaders scrambling Thursday by rejecting a tentative contract agreement that was reached in December.
The Office Clerical Unit of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 and waterfront employers were meeting Thursday to develop a response to the surprising vote that took place late Wednesday.
Union and management representatives on Thursday were attempting to determine what the next move should be. One school of thought believes that all units must approve the agreement or there is no contract. Another view is that the contract is valid at those units that approved the agreement, and negotiations should resume with the three that rejected it.
Read the rest at the JOC
From Ahram Online:
1,200 workers say that Dubai-based DP World had promised permanent employment and has failed to deliver. ‘DP World’s management of the port is a failure,’ said union leader Mostafa Ali. ‘They are failing in all of the seaports under their management – in the Port of Aden in Yemen and Sydney in Australia.’The labour dispute at Egypt’s Ain Sokhna seaport remains unresolved, with almost 1200 workers of Platinum Maritime Services – a subcontractor at the seaport – demanding employment contracts with Dubai-based DP World, which manages the port.
According to workers, port operations have ground to a halt due to the ongoing strike.
“Work at the seaport has been completely disrupted for almost three days now,” Hamada Kamel, head of the port’s independent workers’ syndicate, said.
Workers holding temporary contracts have staged several strikes since October to demand employment contracts with DP World. The dispute escalated when DP World management decided at the end of last year to end its service contract with Platinum Maritime Services, thus ending its temporary contracts with the subcontractor’s employees.
Egypt’s Red Sea Port...
Source: The Detroit News
Source: eNews Park Forest
Source: MSNBC
Please log in to view content
To view the content on this page, please log in to your account.
