Striking Boeing workers aim to restore old retirement program

By AFP
October 30, 2024

Boeing factory workers remain on strike after rejecting the company's latest contract offer on October 23 - Copyright AFP STR

Elodie MAZEIN

Some 33,000 Boeing workers have been on strike for seven weeks after twice voting down labor contracts, with the latest rejected offer featuring a 35 percent wage hike.

But a sticking point for many workers has been Boeing’s refusal to reestablish a discarded pension plan.

The plan was eliminated after a 2014 contract extension was narrowly approved by the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751.

But Boeing views its refusal to reinstate the pension as a non-negotiable item.

“There is no scenario where the company reactivates a defined-benefit pension for this or any other population,” Boeing said.

“They’re prohibitively expensive and that’s why virtually all private employers have transitioned away from them to defined-contribution plans.”

More than 151 million private sector employees currently have retirement plans, according to the US Department of Labor.

But less than six percent of the 800,000 programs have a defined benefit plan like the old Boeing pension.

In 1975, when the Employee Retirement Income Security Act went into effect, one-third of US retirement plans were defined benefit retirement plans like Boeing’s old pension system.

That share has dropped to about seven percent, with many employers opting for 401K programs that most workers steer into the stock market in the hopes of generating gains for retirement.

Under the pension system, a retired worker will receive the same amount each month for the rest of his life based on a calculation of the employee’s tenure with the company.

Some workers view the pension as more secure because it is not tied to the stock market. But a pension, which does not adjust for inflation, may also be less lucrative than a 401K.



– Guaranteed payment –



Under the 401K plan, which is known as a defined contribution plan, the funds are sourced from a share of the worker’s paycheck along with an employer contribution.

An employer may contribute three percent of the worker’s annual salary under leading retirement systems, according to a report by investment firm Vanguard.

The total possible contribution to the 401K including funds from both employers and employees is capped at $69,000 in 2024, or $76,500 for people older than 50.

Mike Corsetti, a quality inspector in Everett who has worked at Boeing for 13 years, said he voted against the latest contract in part because it didn’t restore the pension.

“A lot of people feel like a guaranteed monthly payment would be great,” said Corsetti, who expressed discomfort with the uncertainty of the stock market.

Corsetti said he was “slightly optimistic” the talks could lead to the pension being restored, but added, “I’m not going to hold my breath.”

Under the current plan, Boeing automatically puts four percent of the employee’s salary into the person’s 401K plan. Boeing will also match a fraction of the payment if the worker also invests funds in the plan.

Under the latest contract offer, which workers rejected on October 23, Boeing included a provision increasing the employer match. The company also agreed to a special one-time contribution of $5,000 to the employee’s 401K.

The rejected contract also raised the monthly payments for more experienced workers who still have a pension covering their tenure prior to the phasing out of the plan in 2016.

The rejected proposal increases the monthly payout for every year of service to $105 from $95.

The IAM has targeted a 40 percent raise as its objective. The union has sought the restoration of the pension, as well as payments from Boeing making up for the period after the program was phased out.

A 40 percent wage hike would lift Boeing’s costs by $1.8 billion through 2028, according to Bank of America.

Reinstating the pension would add some $300 to $400 million in annual costs, plus some $20 billion to make up for lost pension funds since the program was frozen, according to the Bank of America analysis.

ICYMI

4,000-year-old town discovered hidden in Arabian oasis

Pieces of pottery “suggest a relatively egalitarian society”, the study said. 


By AFP
October 30, 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient town hidden underneath the walled oasis of Khaybar in Saudia Arabia - Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Pierre Celerier

The discovery of a 4,000-year-old fortified town hidden in an oasis in modern-day Saudi Arabia reveals how life at the time was slowly changing from a nomadic to an urban existence, archaeologists said on Wednesday.

The remains of the town, dubbed al-Natah, were long concealed by the walled oasis of Khaybar, a green and fertile speck surrounded by desert in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula.

Then an ancient 14.5 kilometre-long wall was discovered at the site, according to research led by French archaeologist Guillaume Charloux published earlier this year.

For a new study published in the journal PLOS One, a French-Saudi team of researchers have provided “proof that these ramparts are organised around a habitat”, Charloux told AFP.

The large town, which was home to up to 500 residents, was built around 2,400 BC during the early Bronze Age, the researchers said.

It was abandoned around a thousand years later. “No one knows why,” Charloux said.

When al-Natah was built, cities were flourishing in the Levant region along the Mediterranean Sea from present-day Syria to Jordan.

Northwest Arabia at the time was thought to have been barren desert, crossed by pastoral nomads and dotted with burial sites.

That was until 15 years ago, when archaeologists discovered ramparts dating back to the Bronze Age in the oasis of Tayma, to Khaybar’s north.

This “first essential discovery” led scientists to look closer at these oases, Charloux said.



– ‘Slow urbanism’ –



Black volcanic rocks called basalt concealed the walls of al-Natah so well that it “protected the site from illegal excavations”, Charloux said.

But observing the site from above revealed potential paths and the foundations of houses, suggesting where the archaeologists needed to dig.

They discovered foundations “strong enough to easily support at least one- or two-storey” homes, Charloux said, emphasising that there was much more work to be done to understand the site.

But their preliminary findings paint a picture of a 2.6-hectare town with around 50 houses perched on a hill, equipped with a wall of its own.

Tombs inside a necropolis there contained metal weapons like axes and daggers as well as stones such as agate, indicating a relatively advanced society for so long ago.

Pieces of pottery “suggest a relatively egalitarian society”, the study said. They are “very pretty but very simple ceramics”, added Charloux.

The size of the ramparts — which could reach around five metres (16 feet) high — suggests that al-Natah was the seat of some kind of powerful local authority.

These discoveries reveal a process of “slow urbanism” during the transition between nomadic and more settled village life, the study said.

For example, fortified oases could have been in contact with each other in an area still largely populated by pastoral nomadic groups. Such exchanges could have even laid the foundations for the “incense route” which saw spices, frankincense and myrrh traded from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.

Al-Natah was still small compared to cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt during the period.

But in these vast expanses of desert, it appears there was “another path towards urbanisation” than such city-states, one “more modest, much slower, and quite specific to the northwest of Arabia”, Charloux said.

Funding hurdle at world’s biggest nature protection summit


By AFP
October 30, 2024

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns that nature loss poses an 'existential loss' to humankinds 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File CHIP SOMODEVILLA

Mariëtte le Roux and Benjamin Legendre

With two just days to go to the closure of UN talks in Colombia on ways to halt and reverse nature loss, delegates were at odds Wednesday on how best to finance the endeavor.

The talks that started in Cali on October 21 are meant to assess, and ramp up, progress on national plans and funding to achieve 23 UN targets agreed in 2022 to stop species destruction.

With some 23,000 registered delegates, the 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the biggest meeting of its kind ever.

It is a followup to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in Canada two years ago, where it was agreed that $200 billion per year be made available for biodiversity by 2030.

This must include $20 billion per year going from rich to poor nations to reach the targets, which include placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, in Cali seeking to add impetus to the talks, reminded delegates Wednesday that humanity has already altered three-quarters of Earth’s land surface, and two-thirds of its waters.

Urging negotiators to “accelerate” progress, he warned: “The clock is ticking. The survival of our planet’s biodiversity -– and our own survival –- are on the line.”

To achieve the framework’s goals, Guterres said, “we need much more” funding from governments and the private sector.

Yet, behind closed doors, negotiations on finance remain stuck.



– ‘Umpteenth new fund’ –



“So far, since COP15, we have not seen a significant increase” in funding, Nigerian Environment Minister Iziaq Kunle Salako said in Cali.

He issued a call on behalf of 20 developing countries for rich nations “to urgently increase their international finance commitments” and ensure “that the $20 billion commitment… is delivered on time.”

By 2022, the level of annual biodiversity funding from rich to poor nations amounted to just over $15 billion, according to the OECD.

Sierra Leone’s Environment Minister Jiwoh Abdulai told AFP developing nations want an entirely new fund, under the umbrella of the UN’s biodiversity convention, in which all parties — rich and poor — would have representation.

Developing countries charge that existing multilateral funds are too bureaucratic and difficult to access.

“Right now, we don’t have a seat at the table. We have people making decisions that affect our lives,” said Abdulai.

On the other side of the divide, EU negotiator Hugo-Maria Schally told AFP rich nations were “on track to meet the donor commitment for 2025.”

“Many countries say we have to create a new fund here, whereas the donor countries all say: ‘well, we are not convinced that a new fund will actually bring new money because public money is scarce, especially in Europe these days’,” he said.

French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told AFP creating an “umpteenth new fund” would not address the basic question, which is “how the least developed countries have access to funds.”

The idea of a new fund is the biggest stick in the mud of the finance talks.

Another point of disagreement is on how best to share the profits of digitally sequenced genetic data taken from animals and plants with the communities they comes from.

Such data is notably used in medicines and cosmetics that make their developers billions.

Negotiators still need to resolve such basic questions as who pays for using such data, how much, into which fund, and to whom the money should go.

Brazil trial begins over murder of iconic activist Franco


By AFP
October 30, 2024

L'élue Marielle Franco pendant une séance du conseil municipal de Rio de Janeiro en février 2017, moins d'un an avant son assassinat - Copyright Rio de Janeiro Municipal Chamber/AFP/File Renan OLAZ

Louis GENOT

Two ex-police officers went on trial in Brazil on Wednesday over the 2018 assassination of charismatic black LGBT activist Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councilor who was gunned down in an attack that shocked the country.

Franco, who grew up in a Rio slum and was an outspoken critic of police brutality and of militia actions in poor neighbourhoods, was 38 at the time of her death.

In posterity she has become an icon of the fight against racism and for the welfare of people living in the country’s gritty favelas.

Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz, both former military police officers, have already admitted to killing her and her driver, Anderson Gomes, in a drive-by shooting in central Rio on March 14, 2018.

The trial is being closely watched for any revelations it may yield over who ordered the hit.

Congressman Chiquinho Brazao and his brother Domingos Brazao, have been charged with masterminding the attack, based on testimony from Lessa, who said they offered him a big reward to kill Franco on behalf of militias.

The pair, who deny the charges, are still under investigation.

“Today is the first step towards justice being served. We must not trivialize the loss of the lives that were taken from us,” her daughter Luyara Santos, 25, told a rally outside the courthouse.

“After all this time I still feel as I did on the day my daughter was taken from me,” Franco’s mother Marinete Silva, told the gathering.

She was joined by her daughter, Marielle’s sister Anielle Franco, who is Brazil’s minister for racial equality.

Lessa has confessed to firing on Franco’s car with a machine gun, while Queiroz has confessed to being the driver during the attack.

The pair appeared in court by video link-up from prison.

Prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentence of 84 years imprisonment for each.

The seven jurors have been sequestered for the duration of the trial to prevent them being exposed to outside influences.

Besides campaigning for the rights of young black Brazilians, women and members of the LGBT community, Franco had frequently denounced the militia squads that sow terror in poor communities, with the complicity of police officers and politicians.

Her former PR manager Fernanda Chaves, who was in the car at the time of the attack, told the court her first thoughts were that they had been caught “in the middle of a shootout between the police and drug dealers”.

When the shooting stopped, she managed to stop the car and get out to call for help, covered in blood and broken glass.


– Seeking answers –


Around 200 people gathered outside the courthouse carrying placards with messages such as “We want justice for Marielle and Anderson.”

“Being here is an act of resistance. As a black woman I must be present to make my voice heard and show important Marielle and Anderson were and still our in our lives,” Geovanna Januario, a 26-year-old geographer told AFP outside the courthouse.

Like many of the demonstrators Januario was holding a sunflower, a flower which Franco had made her personal marker.

“What happened to her was extremely brutal,” Lucas Barbosa, a 27-year-old journalism student said.

“Years have passed without any answers being provided. It is important to get those answers as quickly as possible to put those people in jail,” he said.

Last week, the Brazao brothers were questioned by the Supreme Court, as was former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, who is accused of obstructing the investigation into Franco’s death.

He denies the allegations.

Amnesty International hailed the trial as “an important step” but said “true justice” would only come about when “all those responsible for the crime, including its masterminds” had been held to account.

Majority of Mexican Supreme Court judges resign after judicial reforms


By AFP
October 30, 2024

Opponents of Mexico's judicial reforms hold a giant flag during a protest in Mexico City - Copyright AFP/File Rodrigo OROPEZA

Eight of Mexico’s 11 Supreme Court judges have submitted their resignations following controversial judicial reforms, the top court said Wednesday.

In a move that has sparked diplomatic tensions and opposition street protests, Mexico is set to become the world’s only country to allow voters to choose all judges, at every level, starting next year.

The eight justices — including president Norma Pina — declined to stand for election in June 2025, a statement said, adding that one of the resignations would take effect in November and the rest next August.

The announcement came as the Supreme Court prepares to consider a proposal to invalidate the election of judges and magistrates — a possibility that President Claudia Sheinbaum warned would be unconstitutional.

Former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who enacted the reforms in September before leaving office, argued the changes were needed to clean up a “rotten” judiciary serving the interests of the political and economic elite.

Critics fear that elected judges could be swayed by politics and vulnerable to pressure from powerful drug cartels that regularly use bribery and intimidation to influence officials.

During his six years in office, Lopez Obrador often criticized the Supreme Court, which impeded some of his policies in areas such as energy and security.

Sheinbaum, a close ally of Lopez Obrador who became Mexico’s first woman president on October 1, strongly supported the judicial reforms.

The changes sparked diplomatic friction with key economic partners the United States and Canada, upset financial markets and prompted a series of protests by judicial workers and other opponents.

Smog-beset Pakistan megacity curbs rickshaws, restaurants


By AFP
October 30, 2024

Commuters drive along a road amid heavy smog in Lahore - Copyright AFP JOHN THYS

Pollution puffing rickshaws and barbeque restaurants were banned from operating in parts of Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore on Wednesday, as public health officials battle choking smog.

The eastern megacity near the border with India regularly registers among the world’s most polluted cities, and on Wednesday evening recorded nearly 20 times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Smog is particularly bad in winter when denser cold air traps the emissions from poor-quality fuel used to power vehicles and factories at ground level in the low-lying city of 14 million.

Seasonal crop burn-off by farmers on the outskirts of Lahore also contributes to toxic air the WHO says can cause strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases.

The Environmental Protection Agency of eastern Punjab province published a notification saying new curbs would be introduced in four “air pollution hotspots” identified around the city.

Rickshaws running on more polluting two-stroke engines will be blocked from the zones whilst restaurants barbequing without filters to control smoke are subject to a “complete ban”.

Government and private offices have also been told to have half their staff work from home starting Monday.

“How will the government save me from smog at my house?” asked 52-year-old sales executive Hafiz Saleem. “It’s everywhere, no place is safe. These lockdowns are useless. Much more needs to be done.”

Construction work will be stopped whilst street food vendors, who often cook on open fires, will be forced to shut after 8:00 pm.

“Why should I pay the price for the government’s failure?” asked roadside restauranter Mohammad Rizwan.

Lahore is struggling with the effects of manmade environmental changes — with increasing summer heatwaves scientists attribute to climate change and smog disruption now a regular fixture each winter.

Starting on Monday, classroom hours were clipped in the city and schoolchildren banned from outdoor play in a bid to protect them.

Pollution in excess of levels deemed safe by the WHO shortens the life expectancy of Lahore residents by an average of 7.5 years, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.

Children are particularly vulnerable because they have less developed lungs and breathe more rapidly, taking in more air relative to their size than adults.

According to UNICEF, nearly 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to high levels of air pollution.

Chinese EV giant BYD beats Tesla in quarterly revenue for first time


By  AFP
October 30, 2024

BYD's success has been helped by government subsidies, with Beijing pumping huge amounts of cash into domestic firms as well as research and development 

- Copyright AFP Kazuhiro NOGI

Peter CATTERALL

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD reported surging sales on Wednesday, surpassing global rival Tesla in quarterly revenue for the first time as its push into overseas markets advances.

The EV and battery giant is a leading player in recent efforts by Chinese automotive firms to expand overseas — plans that are increasingly threatened by thorny trade disputes between Beijing and the West.

BYD posted operating revenue of 201.1 billion yuan ($28.2 billion) during the third quarter, a filing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed, up 24 percent from the same period last year.

The Shenzhen-based firm’s quarterly revenue figure for the first time exceeded that of American EV powerhouse Tesla, which last week posted $25.2 billion in third-quarter revenue.

BYD’s net profit during the period came in at 11.6 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), the filing showed, up 11.5 percent from the third quarter last year.

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD reported surging sales on Wednesday, surpassing global rival Tesla in quarterly revenue for the first time – Copyright AFP/File PEDRO PARDO

Tesla’s profitability outlook had come under heightened scrutiny after slashing vehicle prices over the last year or so in response to increased offerings from other companies — including BYD — in the EV industry.

But Elon Musk’s firm reported last week a third-quarter profit of $2.2 billion, up 17 percent from the same period last year.

BYD — which adopts the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — is the most prominent EV manufacturer in China, the world’s largest automotive market.

The initial rapid sales growth of BYD and its industry peers in their home market was facilitated in part by generous subsidies from Beijing.

But the European Union has said that the extensive state support enjoyed by Chinese firms has led to unfair competition, with an investigation by the bloc finding that Beijing’s subsidies were undercutting local competitors.

The EU announced Tuesday that it would levy extra tariffs of up to 35.3 percent on Chinese EVs, a move described by trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis as “standing up for fair market practices and for the European industrial base”.

– Intensifying battle –

Beijing slammed the measures on Wednesday, saying it had lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization and vowing to “take all necessary measures to firmly protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies”.

Earlier this year, the United States and Canada raised customs duties on Chinese EVs to 100 percent.

China is targeting car sales to be mainly made up of electric and hybrid models by 2035.

Hopes of achieving those ambitions were bolstered in July when such vehicles accounted for more than half of all domestic sales for the first time, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Originally specialising in the design and production of batteries, BYD diversified into the automotive industry in 2003.

Its latest quarterly results come as China’s crowded EV sector is locked in a cut-throat price war that is weighing on profitability as smaller firms struggle to remain competitive.

BYD said in an earnings report for the first half of this year that it had “effectively dealt with challenges brought by intensified industrial competition”.

As the fight picks up in its home market, BYD has been ramping up a globalisation push, with plans to open factories in Hungary and Turkey.

Industrial slump leaves Germany on brink of recession

By AFP
October 30, 2024

News that Volkswagen plans to close at least three factories in Germany and slash tens of thousands of jobs has added to the country's economic woes - 

Copyright AFP/File JENS SCHLUETER

Michelle FITZPATRICK

German output likely contracted again in the third quarter as an industrial slump drags on, official data is expected to show Wednesday, tipping Europe’s largest economy into recession.

Federal statistics agency Destatis will unveil its quarterly GDP estimate at 10am (0900 GMT).

The economy ministry has said it expects “a renewed slight decline” after gross domestic product already shrank by 0.1 percent in the second quarter.

A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

“The German economy is unlikely to have emerged from its weak phase in the third quarter,” the ministry said in its autumn forecasts this month.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet were narrowly more upbeat, predicting a quarter-on-quarter stagnation.

Other major European economies were also set to publish third-quarter GDP data Wednesday. The figure for the eurozone as a whole will likely be weighed down by Germany’s performance.

Traditionally a European growth engine, Germany has been hit hard by elevated energy costs in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, sluggish domestic consumption following a period of high inflation and cooling export demand.

The headwinds have taken their toll on the country’s crucial industrial sector, which accounts for around 20 percent of German GDP.

“The manufacturing sector is running out of orders,” the BDI federation of German industries said in its latest report.

The BDI now sees factory output falling by three percent year-on-year in 2024, noting that this would be “the third consecutive drop”.

The downturn has been particularly visible in Germany’s flagship auto sector.

Volkswagen is considering closing at least three German plants and axing tens of thousands of jobs, labour leaders told employees this week, as Europe’s biggest car manufacturer confronts stiff Chinese competition especially in electric vehicles.

Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all lowered their annual outlook in September, citing falling Chinese demand.



– Government under pressure –


Long-standing structural challenges are adding to Germany’s woes, including complex bureaucracy, under-investment in infrastructure, an ageing workforce and a costly green energy transition.

Pressure is mounting on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to take action, but the fragile three-party coalition is at odds over how best to turn the economic tide.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck, from the Greens party, last week proposed a multi-billion-euro investment bonanza to help German business.

But the idea was quickly shot down by hawkish Finance Minister Christian Lindner.

Lindner, from the liberal FDP, is a staunch defender of Germany’s constitutionally enshrined debt limits and has resisted calls from other coalition members to loosen the rules.

The International Monetary Fund has waded in on the debate, with its European head Alfred Kammer on Tuesday saying Germany needed structural reforms as well as public infrastructure investments.

To achieve this, he told the Sueddeutsche newspaper, “the debt brake can be relaxed”.

Germany was the only major advanced economy to shrink in 2023 and the government expects another mild contraction in 2024.

But it sees a recovery starting in 2025, when easing inflation and higher wages are expected to boost consumption.

German inflation slowed to 1.6 percent in September, the lowest level since 2021. October’s inflation figure is due later on Wednesday.

Volkswagen sees ‘painful’ cost cuts ahead as profit plunges

By AFP
October 30, 2024

Volkswagen is planning an unprecedented restructuring that could include thousands of job cuts - Copyright AFP/File PEDRO PARDO
Léa PERNELLE, Michelle FITZPATRICK

Ailing auto giant Volkswagen warned Wednesday that “painful” cost cuts were unavoidable as third-quarter profit plummeted, fuelling tensions with unions which fear mass job losses and factory closures on home turf Germany.

Europe’s biggest carmaker reported net profit of 1.58 billion euros ($1.7 billion) between July and September, down 64-percent from a year earlier.

The German group — whose 10 brands range from its core VW models to Seat, Skoda and Porsche — has been plunged into crisis by high manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles and increased competition in key market China.

“We must intensify our efforts to remain competitive. And we have to act now. Any delay would be irresponsible,” Volkswagen finance chief Arno Antlitz said in a call with reporters.

The company is eyeing an unprecedented cost-savings push to turn the tide and dropped a bombshell in September when it said it was considering closing factories in Germany for the first time.

Worker representatives this week said at least three German VW plants were at risk and tens of thousands of jobs could go at the namesake brand, while remaining employees faced a 10-percent salary cut.

Volkswagen bosses have yet to comment on the details of the savings plan but have described the situation as “serious”.

“We are facing some difficult and painful decisions,” Antlitz said.

The savings proposals are focused on the core VW brand, which reported an operating profit margin of only two percent over the first nine months — far from the 6.5-percent targeted by 2026.

“This highlights the urgent need for significant cost reductions and efficiency gains,” Antlitz said, also citing a “challenging market environment”.

– Industry headwinds –

The group’s global vehicle deliveries fell by seven percent in the third quarter, with an increase in sales in North America failing to offset a 15-percent fall in China.

Deliveries of battery electric models were down 10 percent.

The group said results were also impacted by “higher fixed costs” and restructuring expenses.

Other German carmakers are facing similar headwinds, and Volkswagen in September joined BMW and Mercedes-Benz in cutting its outlook for 2024.

The manufacturers are also nervously watching the European Union’s decision to slap hefty tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, which they fear could trigger a bitter trade war.

Volkswagen began a second round of talks with the powerful IG Metall union Wednesday, expected to shed more light on the savings plan.

Labour leaders have vowed to fight back against any plant closures, and strike action is possible from December when a truce period ends.

The IG Metall union is also seeking a seven-percent pay rise for workers, which bosses have rejected.

‘New wave’ as start-up sweeps up Thai ocean plastic


By AFP
October 29, 2024

A Moken fisherman carries bags of plastic waste to sell to Tide staff members at his fishing village on Thailand's southern island of Koh Chang - Copyright AFP MANAN VATSYAYANA
Sara HUSSEIN

As a long-tail boat arrives at a fishing village on the southern Thai island of Koh Chang, residents gather to sell their wares — not seafood, but plastic.

The villagers, members of the semi-nomadic Moken people, are selling to Tide, a start-up attempting to create new value from old plastic collected from or near the sea.

Recyclers have long scooped up some of the over six million tonnes of plastic that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates enters the ocean each year.

But Tide works directly with everyone in the process, from collectors in remote Thai fishing villages to carpet manufacturers in the Netherlands.

Its plastic is traceable and certified as “ocean-bound” — a process that involves annual audits by an NGO.

It is processed using a method Tide says results in a recycled product of comparable quality to virgin plastic.

“We are convinced there is more than enough plastic in our world and we should take what already exists,” said Marc Krebs, a co-founder of the Swiss company.

On Koh Chang, a 30-minute speedboat ride from the sleepy southern town of Ranong, the Tide boat’s arrival prompts a flurry of activity.

Mimi, 65, has brought out several old rice sacks of bottles that join a growing heap of torn fishing nets, old rope and discarded jerrycans.

“The more I collect, the more arrives. I can’t collect it all,” she told AFP, declining to give a family name.

The villagers live along the beach in ramshackle wooden homes on stilts.

Underneath, the high tide mark is clear — behind it is a carpet of refuse, from polystyrene boxes and flip-flops to take-away cups and crisp packets.

Only a small portion is commercially viable for recycling. Tide buys six categories, including fishing nets and common types of plastic bottles (PET) and cartons (HDPE).

“Each day, we have a lot of products that we can’t sell and can’t recycle, and I’m sure there is much more of it in the ocean,” Tide’s Thailand operations director, Nirattisai Ponputi, told AFP.



– Onerous sorting –



While the market price of recycled plastic fluctuates, Tide pays a set rate on Koh Chang to encourage continued collection.

And they sometimes take items that can’t be recycled because the island has no waste management options, so the alternative is mostly open burning.

Even recyclable items can be challenging.

Bottles with stamped logos must be “hotwashed” before processing, coloured plastic can contaminate recycled material, and most ink-printed labels cannot be recycled.

A PET soft drink bottle might have an HDPE cap and a PVC label, creating an onerous sorting process.

Sometimes it isn’t even clear what plastic has been used, so Tide uses a spectrometer to work out what can be recycled.

“There are no regulations about the plastic that you can put in your product, so it’s left on the shoulders of the collectors to work it out,” said Capucine Paour, Tide’s external project manager.

Plastic collected on Koh Chang and surrounding islands goes to Tide’s Ranong facility, where workers painstakingly sort it again before pressing it into bales.

Founded in 2019, Tide collects around 1,000 tonnes of plastic a year from Thailand and other locations including Mexico.

“It’s still a very small amount” compared to the global scale of the problem, acknowledged Krebs.



– ‘Ban is better!’ –



The collected plastic is processed into pellets before being shipped to customers like Condor Group, one of Europe’s largest carpet manufacturers.

The firm uses recycled material from Tide and elsewhere for around a quarter of its products, including rugs, car mats and artificial grass.

“Tide is really unique,” said Jan Hoekman Jr, one of the company’s directors.

“You can follow the product from collection to the final products, which you see here. That’s all transparent, which is very important if you talk about sustainability.”

Tide says its product is 40 percent more expensive than virgin plastic, but customers like Condor Group are willing to pay a premium.

“We see sustainability not just as a trend, but more as stewardship for future generations,” said Hoekman Jr.

Condor Group’s buzzing production lines feel a million miles from the quiet off-season beaches of Koh Chang, where Wiranuch Scimone, 54, collects plastic for Tide.

In her 20 years on Koh Chang, she has seen the waste washing ashore go from mostly fishing nets to huge amounts of unrecyclable polystyrene foam that locals often end up burning.

The monsoon waves bring in so much trash that she sometimes spends hours on a beach without being able to collect it all.

“It would be best if there were no plastic,” she said, adding in English: “Ban is better!”

Tide, a for-profit company, is still a relatively small operation, but it is expanding, moving into Ghana next.

“You have to start somewhere,” said Krebs.

“We are quite convinced that we are at the beginning of a new wave.”

Year end sees renewed efforts to protect the oceans


By Dr. Tim Sandle
October 29, 2024LDIGITAL JOURNAL

An undated image courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions, shows their Titan submersible launching from a platform - Copyright AFP PIUS UTOMI EKPEI

To create new marine protected areas and to showcase new conservation research three major meetings are taking place as we move towards the end of 2024. These events have been highlighted by National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas campaign.

COP16 (October 21-November 1, 2024)

At COP16 new research was presented. The discussions at the biodiversity summit taking place in Cali, Colombia focused on progress towards achieving the global goal to protect 30 percent of land and sea by the end of 2030.



New forthcoming peer-reviewed research in pre-print reveals that the world needs more than 190,000 new marine protected areas (MPAs) to achieve the 30×30 target for the ocean.

Kevin Chand, Sr. Director, Pacific Ocean Policy, National Geographic Pristine Seas says in a statement provided to Digital Journal: “Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) and governments play an important role in this process. The key to effective conservation is not just protecting any 30%—we need to protect the right areas to achieve the biodiversity, climate and food security benefits of ocean protection.”

Also at the conference, Portugal joined Uruguay and Dominica in establishing the newest marine protected areas. The regional Azores government voted to establish the largest protected area in the North Atlantic.

Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting (CHOGM, October 21-October 26, 2024)

At the close of CHOGM on October 26, Commonwealth countries adopted the historic Apia Commonwealth Declaration for One Resilient Common Future, which calls on member states to protect and restore the ocean across a range of key conservation areas, including protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.

COP29 (November 11-22, 2024)

Set to take place in a landlocked country, Azerbaijan, COP29 is likely to overlook the ocean’s role as the planet’s largest carbon sink–and, increasingly, a carbon source. A study released earlier this year in Marine Policy revealed that a damaging fishing practice, bottom trawling, releases 370 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. It also acidifies the ocean, impearling marine life.

To provide supporting data, the Pristine Seas’ team is in year two of a five-year expedition aboard a specially-outfitted research vessel, the Argo, to support national and local efforts to protect marine areas. Pristine Seas works with Indigenous and local communities, governments, and other partners to help protect vital places in the ocean.