5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Allianz set to fire 106 unionists (K. Herald, 3.28)
A foreign life insurance company(*) here is set to layoff up to 40 percent of its branch heads, or 106 unionized workers, who have been on strike for over two months in protest of a new wage system.
Allianz Life Insurance Korea, the second-largest foreign life insurer in assets, said it will dismiss all 106 out of 267 branch chiefs involved in the "illegal strike," if the unionized workers fail to return to work by Monday. However, the strikers were requested to report of their possible return to the company by yesterday.
A management committee meeting will be held on Tuesday to finalize the decision on the dismissal, company officials said.
The company's labor union said it is bracing to take legal actions against the management if the company proceeds with the firings. The branch chiefs have been on a strike since Jan. 23.
In Korea, it is unprecedented for a company in the financial sector to go forward with such a massive layoff.
The unionized workers are against the company's unilateral decision to introduce a new performance-based wage system, which values one's performance over seniority.
"The reason for this walkout lies in the fact that the management did not inform or negotiate with its workers and labor union on the new salary system in advance," the company's labor union said.
"For the branch chiefs, taking part in the strike is more like self-defense, something similar to emergency evacuation."
So far, two committee meetings have been launched to determine the level of disciplinary punishment on the unionized employees and 52 are already on the layoff list, according to Allianz officials.
"Currently, all of them are taking collective action, heading to Jeju Island by boat, and it seems difficult to expect their return on time," a company official said.
On March 21, Allianz President Cheong Mun-kuk issued a stern warning that the company would punish the striking workers if they fail to return to work by 9 a.m., March 24.
Cheong again released a statement on March 24, saying the company will grant leniency to those who came back to work by yesterday. Only 53 workers have returned as of 3 p.m. Friday, still short of 106 branch heads.
Under a company rule, the company is allowed to dismiss a non-unionized worker who has been absent from work for 15 days or more.
Although the labor union claims the strike is legal, its management said it will not hold any negotiations with the union until they come back to work.
Related stuff:
☞ 알리안츠생명보험 노동조합 파업 (3.28, video docu)
☞ Allianz Korea Union on strike.. (uni global union, 1.25)
☞ Allianz refuses dialogue with its striking workers (uni g.u., 3.24)
* For more informations about..
☞ Allianz (Wikipedia)
Lidl is a German discount supermarket chain that operates 7,000 stores in at least 17 European countries. Since many years Lidl is "well known" - famous-notorious - for the massive exploitation of its employees in general and the excessive oppression of any trade union activities in its stores.
But yesterday the German bourgeois magazine Der Spiegel published following almost incredible (..not really, if you know the capitalist reality!!) article, based on a story by the magazine Stern (3.26):
Discount Chain Accused of Spying on Workers
It's not the first time that the discount supermarket chain Lidl has been accused of maltreating its employees. But observing them on the toilet? Listening in on their private phone calls? An explosive report published this week by a German newsmagazine has triggered an investigation into the retailer.
The European discount supermarket chain Lidl sells itself with the slogan "Where quality is cheaper." And when it comes to its employee practices, it certainly appears to be cheap, if new allegations turn out to be true.
According to a report by the German weekly magazine Stern, Lidl has been spying for months on employees in several of its outlets. The company has allegedly been hiring detectives to investigate workers, both on the job, on cigarette and coffee breaks -- and even on the toilet.
The explosive report triggered a government probe into the allegations on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg described the claims as "unparalleled," telling SPIEGEL ONLINE: "The supervisory authority has launched an investigation into possible violations of privacy protection rules." The ministry has jurisdiction because Lidl's corporate headquarters are located in the city of Neckarsulm in that state. The spokesperson said investigations could take several weeks and wanted to make no predictions about their possible outcome or consequences.
The bulk of the reports cited by Stern come from Lidl outlets in the state of Lower Saxony, plus individual ones from the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein. The observation practices were routine, the report alleges: A detective would install between five and 10 miniature cameras in the store, telling the manager it was an anti-theft measure, and then use the technology to observe employees' behavior.
Stern claims to have obtained hundreds of pages of transcripts that document the movements and conversations of employees, for example: "Wednesday, 4:45 p.m.: Although Ms. N. has not accomplished much in the food and reduced wares department, she takes her break right on time. She sits together with Ms. L.; they talk about their wages, bonuses and paid overtime. Ms. N. hopes that her pay has been transferred already because she desperately needs money for this evening (reason = ?)".
The transcripts also get into employees' private lives ("Her circle of friends consists mainly of junkies") and appearances ("Ms. M. has tattoos on both lower arms"). In their tone and detail, the observation logs invite comparison to those of the Stasi, the East German secret police.
Particularly controversial is a report from the Czech Republic where, according to Stern, female employees were allegedly prohibited from going to the bathroom during work hours -- unless they had their period, which they were to indicate outwardly by wearing a headband. While Lidl denies the report, it has yet to issue an injunction on a citizen's group or a newspaper that are publicizing the case widely.
Although Lidl has not denied the existence of the transcripts, Lidl spokesperson Petra Trabert told Stern they were not intended as "employee observation but rather to detect possible misconduct."
"..and bacause you are a so cherished costumer, Mr Schaeuble (*),
here, for you we have a small gratitude: the collected phone call
and e-mail data" (Berliner Zeitung, 3.27)
Achim Neumann, retail expert at the service employees union Ver.di, told SPIEGEL ONLINE the dimensions of the allegations were "completely new to me." He said his union would provide support to any Lidl employees who sought to take legal action against the retailer and called Lidl's alleged behavior "a mess beyond compare."
According to Ver.di, the observation logs respresent a violation of both data protection laws and human dignity, as it is defined and protected by the constitution.
In 2004, Verdi published "Das Schwarz-Buch Lidl Europa" ("The Black Book on Lidl in Europe"), documenting what it claimed to be the chain's systematic abuse of its employees' rights. An updated version appeared in an English translation in 2006. It contains allegations of breaches of working-time directives, withheld salary payments and threats against union members, as well as spying and eavesdropping on workers.
With 7,000 stores in Germany, Lidl rivals competitor Aldi as Germany's leading discount supermarket. It operates in over 17 countries across Europe and has an annual sales volume of over €43 billion ($68 billion).
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,543485,00.html
Related:
☞ Lidl accused of snooping on staff (Guardian/UK, 3.27)
☞ EXTRA: Der Lidl-Skandal (Stern, 3.27, collection of articles, videos..)
* Schaeuble is the notoriuosly Minister of the Interior in the current German gov't
Today actually I wanted to write something about the role of the bourgeois (but not only: just "enjoy" the S.Korean "socialist" magazine Counterfire..) media in supporting the "Tibetan liberation/independence movement".. But Asia Times' (a bourgeois-liberal!!! magazine, based in HK) newest edition published a - in my opinion - significant article about the involvement of the US Imperialism (*):
Tibet, the 'great game' and the CIA
Given the historical context of the unrest in Tibet, there is reason to believe Beijing was caught on the hop with the recent demonstrations for the simple reason that their planning took place outside of Tibet and that the direction of the protesters is similarly in the hands of anti-Chinese organizers safely out of reach in Nepal and northern India.
Similarly, the funding and overall control of the unrest has also been linked to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and by inference to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) because of his close cooperation with US intelligence for over 50 years.
Indeed, with the CIA's deep involvement with the Free Tibet Movement and its funding of the suspiciously well-informed Radio Free Asia, it would seem somewhat unlikely that any revolt could have been planned or occurred without the prior knowledge, and even perhaps the agreement, of the National Clandestine Service (formerly known as the Directorate of Operations) at CIA headquarters in Langley.
Respected columnist and former senior Indian Intelligence officer, B Raman, commented on March 21 that "on the basis of available evidence, it was possible to assess with a reasonable measure of conviction" that the initial uprising in Lhasa on March 14 "had been pre-planned and well orchestrated".
Could there be a factual basis to the suggestion that the main beneficiaries to the death and destruction sweeping Tibet are in Washington? History would suggest that this is a distinct possibility.
The CIA conducted a large scale covert action campaign against the communist Chinese in Tibet starting in 1956. This led to a disastrous bloody uprising in 1959, leaving tens of thousands of Tibetans dead, while the Dalai Lama and about 100,000 followers were forced to flee across the treacherous Himalayan passes to India and Nepal.
The CIA established a secret military training camp for the Dalai Lama's resistance fighters at Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado, in the US. The Tibetan guerrillas were trained and equipped by the CIA for guerrilla warfare and sabotage operations against the communist Chinese.
The US-trained guerrillas regularly carried out raids into Tibet, on occasions led by CIA-contract mercenaries and supported by CIA planes. The initial training program ended in December 1961, though the camp in Colorado appears to have remained open until at least 1966.
The CIA Tibetan Task Force created by Roger E McCarthy, alongside the Tibetan guerrilla army, continued the operation codenamed "St Circus" to harass the Chinese occupation forces for another 15 years until 1974, when officially sanctioned involvement ceased.
McCarthy, who also served as head of the Tibet Task Force at the height of its activities from 1959 until 1961, later went on to run similar operations in Vietnam and Laos.
By the mid-1960s, the CIA had switched its strategy from parachuting guerrilla fighters and intelligence agents into Tibet to establishing the Chusi Gangdruk, a guerrilla army of some 2,000 ethnic Khamba fighters at bases such as Mustang in Nepal.
This base was only closed down in 1974 by the Nepalese government after being put under tremendous pressure by Beijing.
After the Indo-China War of 1962, the CIA developed a close relationship with the Indian intelligence services in both training and supplying agents in Tibet.
Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison in their book The CIA's Secret War in Tibet disclose that the CIA and the Indian intelligence services cooperated in the training and equipping of Tibetan agents and special forces troops and in forming joint aerial and intelligence units such as the Aviation Research Center and Special Center.
This collaboration continued well into the 1970s and some of the programs that it sponsored, especially the special forces unit of Tibetan refugees which would become an important part of the Indian Special Frontier Force, continue into the present.
Only the deterioration in relations with India which coincided with improvements in those with Beijing brought most of the joint CIA-Indian operations to an end.
Though Washington had been scaling back support for the Tibetan guerrillas since 1968, it is thought that the end of official US backing for the resistance only came during meetings between president Richard Nixon and the Chinese communist leadership in Beijing in February 1972.
Victor Marchetti, a former CIA officer has described the outrage many field agents felt when Washington finally pulled the plug, adding that a number even "[turned] for solace to the Tibetan prayers which they had learned during their years with the Dalai Lama".
The former CIA Tibetan Task Force chief from 1958 to 1965, John Kenneth Knaus, has been quoted as saying, "This was not some CIA black-bag operation." He added, "The initiative was coming from ... the entire US government."
In his book Orphans of the Cold War, Knaus writes of the obligation Americans feel toward the cause of Tibetan independence from China. Significantly, he adds that its realization "would validate the more worthy motives of we who tried to help them achieve this goal over 40 years ago. It would also alleviate the guilt some of us feel over our participation in these efforts, which cost others their lives, but which were the prime adventure of our own."
Despite the lack of official support it is still widely rumored that the CIA were involved, if only by proxy, in another failed revolt in October 1987, the unrest that followed and the consequent Chinese repression continuing till May 1993.
The timing for another serious attempt to destabilize Chinese rule in Tibet would appear to be right for the CIA and Langley will undoubtedly keep all its options open.
China is faced with significant problems, with the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province; the activities of the Falun Gong among many other dissident groups and of course growing concern over the security of the Summer Olympic Games in August.
China is viewed by Washington as a major threat, both economic and military, not just in Asia, but in Africa and Latin America as well.
The CIA also views China as being "unhelpful" in the "war on terror", with little or no cooperation being offered and nothing positive being done to stop the flow of arms and men from Muslim areas of western China to support Islamic extremist movements in Afghanistan and Central Asian states.
To many in Washington, this may seem the ideal opportunity to knock the Beijing government off balance as Tibet is still seen as China's potential weak spot.
The CIA will undoubtedly ensure that its fingerprints are not discovered all over this growing revolt. Cut-outs and proxies will be used among the Tibetan exiles in Nepal and India's northern border areas.
Indeed, the CIA can expect a significant level of support from a number of security organizations in both India and Nepal and will have no trouble in providing the resistance movement with advice, money and above all, publicity.
However, not until the unrest shows any genuine signs of becoming an open revolt by the great mass of ethnic Tibetans against the Han Chinese and Hui Muslims will any weapons be allowed to appear.
Large quantities of former Eastern bloc small arms and explosives have been reportedly smuggled into Tibet over the past 30 years, but these are likely to remain safely hidden until the right opportunity presents itself.
The weapons have been acquired on the world markets or from stocks captured by US or Israeli forces. They have been sanitized and are deniable, untraceable back to the CIA.
Weapons of this nature also have the advantage of being interchangeable with those used by the Chinese armed forces and of course use the same ammunition, easing the problem of resupply during any future conflict.
Though official support for the Tibetan resistance ended 30 years ago, the CIA has kept open its lines of communications and still funds much of the Tibetan Freedom movement.
So is the CIA once again playing the "great game" in Tibet?
It certainly has the capability, with a significant intelligence and paramilitary presence in the region. Major bases exist in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and several Central Asian states.
It cannot be doubted that it has an interest in undermining China, as well as the more obvious target of Iran.
So the probable answer is yes, and indeed it would be rather surprising if the CIA was not taking more than just a passing interest in Tibet. That is after all what it is paid to do.
Since September 11, 2001, there has been a sea-change in US Intelligence attitudes, requirements and capabilities. Old operational plans have been dusted off and updated. Previous assets re-activated. Tibet and the perceived weakness of China's position there will probably have been fully reassessed.
For Washington and the CIA, this may seem a heaven-sent opportunity to create a significant lever against Beijing, with little risk to American interests; simply a win-win situation.
The Chinese government would be on the receiving end of worldwide condemnation for its continuing repression and violation of human rights and it will be young Tibetans dying on the streets of Lhasa rather than yet more uniformed American kids.
The consequences of any open revolt against Beijing, however, are that once again the fear of arrest, torture and even execution will pervade every corner of both Tibet and those neighboring provinces where large Tibetan populations exist, such as Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan.
And the Tibetan Freedom movement still has little likelihood of achieving any significant improvement in central Chinese policy in the long run and no chance whatever of removing its control of Lhasa and their homeland.
Once again it would appear that the Tibetan people will find themselves trapped between an oppressive Beijing and a manipulative Washington.
Beijing sends in the heavies
The fear that the United States, Britain and other Western states may try to portray Tibet as another Kosovo may be part of the reason why the Chinese authorities reacted as if faced with a genuine mass revolt rather than their official portrayal of a short-lived outbreak of unrest by malcontents supporting the Dalai Lama.
Indeed, so seriously did Beijing view the situation that a special security coordination unit, the 110 Command Center, has been established in Lhasa with the primary objective of suppressing the disturbances and restoring full central government control.
The center appears to be under the direct control of Zhang Qingli, first secretary of the Tibet Party and a President Hu Jintao loyalist. Zhang is also the former Xinjiang deputy party secretary with considerable experience in counter-terrorism operations in that region.
Others holding important positions in Lhasa are Zhang Xinfeng, vice minister of the Central Public Security Ministry and Zhen Yi, deputy commander of the People's Armed Police Headquarters in Beijing.
The seriousness with which Beijing is treating the present unrest is further illustrated by the deployment of a large number of important army units from the Chengdu Military Region, including brigades from the 149th Mechanized Infantry Division, which acts as the region's rapid reaction force.
According to a United Press International report, elite ground force units of the People's Liberation Army were involved in Lhasa, and the new T-90 armored personnel carrier and T-92 wheeled armored vehicles were deployed. According to the report, China has denied the participation of the army in the crackdown, saying it was carried out by units of the armed police. "Such equipment as mentioned above has never been deployed by China's armed police, however."
Air support is provided by the 2nd Army Aviation Regiment, based at Fenghuangshan, Chengdu, in Sichuan province. It operates a mix of helicopters and STOL transports from a frontline base near Lhasa. Combat air support could be quickly made available from fighter ground attack squadrons based within the Chengdu region.
The Xizang Military District forms the Tibet garrison, which has two mountain infantry units; the 52nd Brigade based at Linzhi and the 53rd Brigade at Yaoxian Shannxi. These are supported by the 8th Motorized Infantry Division and an artillery brigade at Shawan, Xinjiang.
Tibet is also no longer quite as remote or difficult to resupply for the Chinese army. The construction of the first railway between 2001 and 2007 has significantly eased the problems of the movement of large numbers of troops and equipment from Qinghai onto the rugged Tibetan plateau.
Other precautions against a resumption of the long-term Tibetan revolts of previous years has led to a considerable degree of self-sufficiency in logistics and vehicle repair by the Tibetan garrison and an increasing number of small airfields have been built to allow rapid-reaction units to gain access to even the most remote areas.
The Chinese Security Ministry and intelligence services had been thought to have a suffocating presence in the province and indeed the ability to detect any serious protest movement and suppress resistance.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JC26Ad02.html
* But not only the US Imperialism! Germany, for example, is still in the frontline of supporting the "Tibetan liberation/independence movement". Politicians from the "liberal left" to extreme conservatives are, since many years, supporting especially the cause of the Dalai Lama to "liberate his homeland"...
Well, according to the int'l media (incl. the Chinese state media, but also CNN, BBC etc.), possibly the "first stage" of the "Tibet Uprising", i.e. the ethnic motivated, racial riots/pogroms is over. Despite the massive worldwide propaganda war - by the "united front" of the int'l bourgeois press, fascist/racist organizations, so-called "NGO's", alternative "left"-liberal and "human right" groups, "socialist" organizations like the SWP in the UK or "All Together" in S. Korea etc. - to support the "Tibetan Freedom Fighters"!
But even the "first stage" of the "Uprising" was a complete "success" - for the first time since twenty years the int'l "public opinion" was forced to listen to the "Tibetan Voice", to its demand for "Freedom and Indepence" - it wasn't "successful" enough. Because the "Tibetan Independence Movement" is - untill now - isn't orgainzed enough.
But, and this leads us to the "second stage" of the "uprising", there are several interested groups (Tibetan nationalist organizations but also "global players"), who would like to see a radicalization movement.
Already last January (2008.01.04) - with the explicit approval of the "God-King", a.k.a. "His Holiness" the Dalai Lama - so-called Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement (TPUM) was founded. The TPUM's major aim: "Direct action to end the Chinese occupation of Tibet"! According to some contributions in the Internet it includes "sabotage, terror attacks and assassinations against Chinese targets". Well, it sounds complete strange, just like Chinese state propaganda..
But today's German (famous-notoriously) bourgeois newspaper Die Welt headlined "The (Tibetan) Youth Wants Weapons". "..the Tibetan youth - in China and the exile - already now is ready for everything. 'We would like to have weapons', Tashi, activist in the Tibetan Youth Congress, is calling. 'We are Tibetans. With T like Tiger, with T like Terrorism.'", he continued." And a few lines later in the article the same "activist" said: " 'We Tibetans were always good fighters. After the Chinese invasion 25,000 Tibetans were trained as guerilla fighters..' " And the writer of the article completed the sentence: "by the CIA". (*)
Well, that's enough for today about the "subject", but - as soon as possible - it'll continued...
* Related analysis and articles:
☞ Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth (by M. Parenti)
☞ CIA's Secret War in Tibet (TheHistoryNet)
☞ CIA ran Tibet contras since 1959 (Workers World/WW, 1997)
☞ Tibet and the 3.10 commemoration of the CIA's 1959 'uprising' (WW, 3.19)
Despite the warning of the Dalai Lama to resign as "political leader" (BTW, who elected him as a "political leader"???) the Tibetan ethnic motivated/racist riots, better said attempted pogroms (aka "protests for peace and independence", according to "activists" in S. Korea), are continuing and spreading now to (other) Chinese provinces/towns. For example in Gansu: Here hundreds of horsemen stormed a un-named town (please check out: Protesters storm Chinese town, CNN) - it was looking like bad copy of the Mongolian invasion in the 13th century - and tried to attack schools, police stations and other gov't buildings. The cops used teargas to chase away the rioters, according to the Canadian TV (CTV).
And untill today the int'l media has no (documented) evidence of "brutal violence" used by the Chinese "security" forces. Just check out the stuff of CNN, for example (and they are not using Chinese state propaganda!!). Today's German (bourgeois) daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung wrote on its 2nd page that there is complete no evidence what would "support the thesis of massive and brutal violence used by the Chinese police and military". But, the article continued, "there are several evidences by independent eye-witnesses that the Tibetan so-called uprising last week turned into ethnic motivated/racist riots".
Oops.. but only two pages later the same newspaper published following cartoon (likely as a proof of its "independent journalism"^^):
Documented evidences (but not by the Chinese state media!!):
☞ Tourist films Tibet riots (CNN video, 3. 19/14)
☞ [3.18] The Tibet Rally (pics) (다함께)
☞ [3.18] The Tibet Rally (video) (MWTV)
Today's latest news: "UK: 'China ready to talk to Dalai Lama'" (CNN) But - possibly - it makes no sense anymore, because the "protestors" - likely - don't listen to him (the Dalai Lama) anymore..
☞ Dalai Lama 'powerless' to stop protests (CNN)
It's really "impressive"(??) to learn how "objective" the int'l media is reporting about and commenting the latest developments in Tibet and in Kosovo/Kosova.
Especially before y'day in almost all leading newspapers (for example here in Germany), on the font pages we had to read in huge letters about the "Chinese state terror against peaceful Tibetan protestors", "Massacre in Lhasa!", "Genocide against the Tibetans!" and more strange stuff like that.
As far as I know.. this is the only picture of "Chinese State Terror" against last
weekend's "protests" in Lhasa..
Almost at the same time it was reported that "Serbian nationalist gangs in Mitrovica attacked with extreme criminal violence indepence of Kosovo", "UN police was forced to withdraw, NATO tanks took over the power".
But what was/is the difference? First of all: the Tibetan "protesters" are fighting against the Chinese gov't - in fact since several years THE rival power for the West.
The Serbian "protestors" are fighting against "our own"(the western) power - the NATO (for the Serbs in Kosovo the NATO military and the UN police are occupation forces).
But in fact both - the Tibetans (of course not all!! likely only a minority..) and the Serbs in Kosovo - want the same: National Liberated Zones, without any "aliens"!
"A witness said Chinese drivers were carried from vehicles with bloodied faces after being beaten by angry youths.
Reports claimed that several people, possibly including a Chinese teenage girl, had been killed and dozens seriously wounded in the clashes. Protesters were also said to have burned down a mosque and the Tromzikhang market, smashed up a government telecommunications office, attacked hotels and looted Chinese shops." (Guardian/UK, 3.15)
"A western tourist reported to BBC that Tibetans directed their attacks directly against "Chinese" (especially Han Chinese but also Hui, a muslim minority) shops, hotels and restaurants and killed the owners. The city center is almost burned down", according to today's German daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung. The same newspaper reported today that in Lhasa at least 300 houses were burned down, schools and even hospitals were attacked by the "protestors".
But, finally, really stunning is the almost complete unified "public opinion" in connection with the developments in Tibet: From the far right - German neo-Nazis(fascists) - to the "left", for example S. Korean "socialists" (All Together/다함께): They all supporting a "Free Tibet" (Imagine a "free Tibet" without the "Chinese" security forces! Let's say, tomorrow China would give up its sovereignity over Tibet.. After the experiences of the last days it would - very likely - lead to a great massacre of all non-Tibetans!) - a new "National Liberated Zone". (*)
Latest news:
"The Dalai Lama will step down as leader of Tibet's government-in-exile if violence by protesters in the region continues, the exiled spiritual leader said Tuesday." (CNN, 3.18)
* Since the end of the GDR/the fall of the Wall German fascists are struggling to create "National Liberated Zones", under the motto Germany (only!!) for the Germans. THE main slogan for the Tibetan "freedom activists": "Tibet for the Tibetans!" (surprise, surprise!!)
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