Mehmet Guzel and Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press, Istanbul | World | Thu, May 02 2013, 7:29 AM
Workers around the world united in anger during May Day
rallies Wednesday — from fury in Europe over austerity measures that
have cut wages, reduced benefits and eliminated many jobs altogether, to
rage in Asia over relentlessly low pay, the rising cost of living and
hideous working conditions that have left hundreds dead in recent
months.
In protests, strikes and other demonstrations held in
cities across the planet, activists lashed out at political and business
leaders they allege have ignored workers' voices or enriched themselves
at the expense of laborers. In some places, the demonstrations turned
violent, with activists clashing with police.
Many nations have
been struggling with economic downturns for several years now, and
workplace disasters in developing countries are nothing new, but the
intensity of some of Wednesday's gatherings suggested workers'
frustrations have grown especially acute, with many demanding immediate
action to address their concerns.
The anger was painfully evident
in Bangladesh, where the collapse last week of an illegally built
eight-story facility housing multiple garment factories killed more than
400 in a Dhaka suburb. The building collapse followed a garment factory
fire in November that killed 112 people in the country, and it has
increased the pressure on the global garment industry to improve working
conditions.
A loud procession of thousands of workers wound
through central Dhaka on Wednesday. Many waved the national flag and
demanded the death penalty for the now-detained owner of the doomed
building. From a loudspeaker on the back of a truck, a participant spoke
for the throngs gathered: "My brother has died. My sister has died.
Their blood will not be valueless."
The Bangladesh tragedy drew a
denunciation from Pope Francis during a private Mass at the Vatican. He
blasted what he called the "slave" wages of those who died, many of whom
were being buried Wednesday as other bodies were still being pulled
from the rubble. Francis criticized the focus on "balance books" and
personal profit that he said are tied to the failure to pay workers fair
wages.
In Greece and Spain, increasing numbers of people are
losing their jobs as governments grappling with a debt crisis have been
cutting spending, raising taxes and pursuing other stinging austerity
measures. Both countries have unemployment rates hovering just above 27
percent.
Unions in Greece held a May Day strike that brought ferry
and train services to a halt, and organized peaceful protest marches
through central Athens. The country, which nearly went bankrupt in 2010,
is now in its sixth year of a deep recession and is dependent on
international bailout loans.
While the austerity drive has
succeeded in reducing high budget deficits, it has been at a huge cost:
under the terms of its latest loan disbursement, Athens has agreed to
sack about 15,000 civil servants through 2014.
"We are here to
send a message to ... those in power in Europe, that we will continue
our struggle against unfair, open-ended policies that are destroying
millions of jobs on a national and European level," said Kostas
Tsikrikas, leader of Greek public sector labor union ADEDY.
More
than 100,000 Spaniards infuriated by austerity measures and economic
recession took to the streets of some 80 cities in trade union-organized
rallies Wednesday, with the largest protests in Madrid, Barcelona and
Bilbao.
Under banners reading "Fight for your rights," union
leaders Ignacio Fernandez Toxo of Workers Commissions and Candido Mendez
of the General Workers Union called on the government to reverse its
austerity drive and urged politicians to agree an all-party economic
plan aimed at creating jobs.
Francisco Moreno, an unemployed
bookkeeper, scoffed at Spanish leaders' calls on the public to be
patient. "You can only be patient if you have savings, money in the
bank," the 47-year-old said. "You can't be patient if you have no income
and kids to feed."
May Day events in Turkey turned violent when
some demonstrators, angered at a government ban on a symbolic rally
point, hurled stones, gasoline bombs and fireworks at riot police.
Security forces used water cannon and tear gas to prevent crowds from
accessing Taksim Square, and Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said
22 police officers and at least three passersby were injured. More than
72 demonstrators were arrested.
The square is the city's main hub
and is undergoing a major facelift. Authorities banned celebrations at
Taksim this year, citing construction safety risks, and partially
suspended public transport services to prevent large gatherings there.
But trade unions had vowed to mark May Day in Taksim, which has symbolic
importance because dozens of protesters were killed there in 1977 when
unidentified gunmen opened fire on May Day celebrators.
"Taksim is our sacred venue. Open it up to the workers!" demanded Kani Beko, leader of a major labor union confederation.
Boos
and whistles from protesters forced Danish Prime Minister
Thorning-Schmidt to halt her May Day speech to thousands at the
gathering in Aarhus, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of
Copenhagen. Some believe that she has been leaning too far to the right
to uphold the goals of her leftist Social Democratic Party. As she was
walking to her car, a man squirted her with a water pistol. Police
spokesman Carsten Dahl said police had detained the 23-year-old man, but
the premier was not injured.
Swedish police said seven people
were arrested and five were injured as counter-demonstrators tried to
interrupt a May Day parade by right-wing extremists in the southern city
of Jonkoping. Police spokesman Goran Gunnarsson said 60 others were
briefly detained as officers tried to keep the two sides apart.
In
Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country, tens of thousands
of workers rallied for higher pay and other demands. Some also carried
banners reading: "Sentence corruptors to death and seize their
properties" to protest a proposal for the government to slash fuel
subsidies that have kept the country's pump prices among the cheapest in
the region.
In the Philippines, an estimated 8,000 workers
marched in Manila to also demand better pay and regular jobs instead of
contractual work. Some rallied outside the U.S. Embassy, torching a
wooden painting stamped with the words "low wages" and "union busting"
that depicted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III as a lackey of
President Barack Obama.
More than 10,000 Taiwanese protested a
government plan to cut pension payouts to solve worsening fiscal
problems, saying it reflects a government policy to bolster economic
growth at the expense of workers' benefits. Analysts say poor income
levels have forced many young Taiwanese to share housing with their
parents and delay marriages.
And in Cambodia, more than 5,000
garment workers marched in Phnom Penh, demanding better working
conditions and a salary increase from $80 to $150 a month. About a half
million people work in the country's $4.6 billion garment industry,
which makes brand name clothes for many U.S. and European retailers.
In
Mexico, public school teachers who have blocked highways and battled
police in recent months marched peacefully Wednesday in Mexico City and
the southern city of Chilpancingo, hoping to block an education reform
law that introduces teacher evaluations and diminishes the power of
unions in hiring decisions.
"Not here, not there, the reform shall not pass anywhere!" the marchers chanted.
In
his May 1 speech, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised new effort to
produce more salaried jobs, noting that two-thirds of Mexicans have no
benefits and low wages.
In Havana, tens of thousands of Cubans
joined the communist nation's traditional May Day march in the Plaza of
the Revolution. This year's edition was dedicated to Cuba's ally, the
late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Cuban President Raul Castro
attended the event, but did not speak.
____
Associated Press
writers Margie Mason and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta, Indonesia; Teresa
Cerojano in Manila, Philippines; Annie Huang in Taipei, Taiwan; Sopheng
Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Heather Tan in Singapore; Kelvin Chan in
Hong Kong; and Chris Blake and Farid Hossain in Savar, Bangladesh,
Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Harold Heckle in
Madrid, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Andrea Rodriguez in Havana and Mark
Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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