‘Invisible’ women brick-kiln workers in India demand their rights
Hundreds of women brick-kiln workers from India’s Punjab state have come together to demand equal pay and better accommodation. There are no official figures for the number of people employed to cut, shape and bake clay-fired bricks, but according to the Centre for Science and Environment, at least 10 million people work in these kilns. “The women workers in brick kilns are invisible, they are not recognised as workers, they don’t get paid for their work, and they have no rights or benefits,” said Gangambika Sekhar, an advocate with Volunteers for Social Justice. There are signs that women workers are heeding the call to unionise and fight for their rights. Last week, protests in other states by garment workers, forced the government to scrap a controversial proposal to change the rule on pension withdrawals. “Women workers, from teachers to textile workers and daily-wage workers, are so desperate, they are demanding their rights,” said Manjit Singh, a retired professor of sociology at Panjab University. “They are learning the benefits of a collective voice, and of coming out on the streets and protesting, rather than doing so within the confines of their workplace. We will see more of this,” he said. (Eco-business)
Climate Change
Denmark says Danes are ‘ethically obligated’ to eat less beef
The meat industry contributes more to greenhouse gas emissions than the combined exhaust from every form of transportation on Earth. Beef is the biggest culprit. It requires almost 30 times as much land and 11 times as much water to produce pork or chicken. Due to this, Denmark’s Council of Ethics, said that Danes are ethically obligated to change their eating habits and that a sliding-scale tax should be imposed on foods that are proportional to their “climate impact.” The proposal now goes before lawmakers. Under the plan, a tax would first be imposed on beef and then expanded to all red meat, and possibly further food sources based on the sliding-scale model. Mickey Gjerris, a spokesman for the Council of Ethics, emphasized that the goal of the tax was “An effective response to climate-damaging foods that will also contribute to raising awareness of climate change must be united, which requires that society sends a clear signal through regulation.” (The Washington Post)
Workers face ‘epidemic of heat-related injuries’ due to climate change
Workers in fields and factories face an epidemic of heat-related injuries that will devastate their health. Productivity losses alone could rise above $2tn by 2030, as climate change takes hold, warns a major UNreport jointly produced by the International Labour Organisation, UN Development Programme and the World Health Organisation. More than half of the workforce in many middle- and low-income countries is already exposed to heat hazards, which also affect workers in factories that have inadequate air conditioning and ventilation systems. This is in turn can make normal work impossible.. The paper calls for low-cost measures such as guaranteed access to drinking water in workplaces, frequent rest breaks, management of output targets, and a protection of employee’s incomes and conditions. (BusinessGreen)
Employees
For one group of women, the gender wage gap keeps getting worse
Pay disparities between men and women start earlier in their careers than frequently assumed and have significantly widened for young workers in the past year, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Pay checks for young female college graduates are about 79 percent as large as those of their male peers, the think tank found. A serious drop from 84 percent of last year. Regardless of their education, young women earn less money than young men in the United States. Female high-school graduates, now earn an average of 92 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. Some have argued that the wage gap starts with the women’s choices, when they start a family, for instance. But EPI’s data shows that the gender wage gap starts right after college graduation, well before decisions like maternity leave can affect women’s earnings. Young men with a college degree make an average hourly wage of $20.94 right after graduation, compared with the average hourly wage of $16.58 for women. That’s a $9,000 annual difference. (The Washington Post)
Environment
Great Barrier Reef bleaching made 175 times likelier by human-caused climate change, say scientists
The hot water temperatures that drove the devastating bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef this year was made 175 times more likely by human-caused climate change, and could be normal in 18 years, according to preliminary findings by leading climate and coral reef scientists. They found the record warm temperatures in the Coral Sea were driven by a combination of 1C of warming since 1900 caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and about a 0.5C jump in temperature driven by natural variability. The increase of bleaching events is worrying news, since reefs can only recover as long as they are not being repeatedly affected by bleaching or other harms. Wenju Cai, a world-leading climate scientist at the CSIRO, said “The result is very significant if it turns out to be robust.” “We never thought the Great Barrier Reef is going to die completely by the 2030s. If that’s true it’s a lot faster than we thought” he said. (Guardian)
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