High unemployment, especially for graduates: What’s driving protests against quota in Bangladesh

Many have died in the violence after university students and job aspirants protested a reservation system for government jobs.

Md Tahmid Zami, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Students protest against quotas in government jobs at Dhaka University on July 17. | AFP



Campus protests across Bangladesh against public-sector hiring quotas turned deadly this week, illustrating the severity of a jobs crisis in the world’s seventh-most populous nation.

Protesters are calling for reform of a quota system that reserves more than half of highly sought-after government jobs for certain groups, including women, the disabled and the descendants of veterans of the 1971 War of Independence.

The country’s High Court last month reinstated the quotas, which the government had abolished in 2018.

The intensity of the student backlash, which has left at least 12 people dead in clashes between protesters and government supporters, lies in part in a faltering economy that has failed to create enough jobs for young people who make up more than a quarter of the population.

“The context of the quota reform movement is about precarity, or persistent insecurity about employment and income, faced by the young people,” said Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, a professor of development studies at the University of Dhaka and chairman of the economic research think tank Unnayan Onneshan.

Nearly one in five Bangladeshis between the ages of 15 and 24 are not in a job nor a classroom, according to official statistics from 2023.

University graduates face higher rates of unemployment than their less-educated peers, and about 650,000 graduates are among the more than 2 million young people entering the job market each year.

University libraries are filled with young graduates cramming for the civil-service exam, vying for scarce government jobs that promise job security, good income and prestige.

In last year’s recruitment test, some 346,000 candidates competed for just 3,300 jobs, according to local media.

Blue-collar jobs are now also harder to come by, even as the textile and garment sector, Bangladesh's biggest employer, sees stellar growth.

Exports have jumped fourfold to $40 billion since 2008, according to data from industry group BGMEA, but employment across private sector jobs has stagnated.

“For a country that seeks to ride a demographic dividend – that is, the economic benefit of having a large, economically active youth [population] – the job crisis faced by youth is a deadweight loss," said Titumir.

Women in protests

Large numbers of women have joined the campus demonstrations, and scores of female students were hurt when the protests turned violent this week.

Young women are in an especially precarious position when it comes to access to education and work, with government surveys showing 27% of women and girls aged 15 to 24 lack work or an education, compared with 10% of young men. Titumir said this leaves them more susceptible to domestic abuse and poverty.

A key point of contention is over the 30% of civil service jobs reserved for the children and grandchildren of “freedom fighters” who fought in Bangladesh's liberation war against Pakistan. Protesters argue that far fewer jobs should be earmarked for grandchildren of fighters.

Farhana Manik Muna, a protest organiser in the city of Narayanganj, said activists want the government to form a commission to propose reforms to the quota system.

“We are not calling for a wholesale cancellation of all quota reservations. Rather, we want a reasonable approach towards helping disadvantaged groups,” she said, including members of Bangladesh’s small Indigenous communities and people with disabilities.

Protesters are demanding that more people are recruited based on merit.
Training mismatch for jobs

Other activists said Bangladesh needs a far more comprehensive strategy to improve the employment market.

“We want reform in the recruitment for government jobs, but also a programme for creating employment throughout the economy,'“ Nahid Islam, the coordinator of the quota reform movement, told Context.

Titumir described a “large mismatch” between what universities are teaching and the skillsets required for work that is in high demand, such as masons and electricians.

The lack of work has forced millions of low- and unskilled workers to find jobs overseas in order to send home small remittances, while Bangladesh faces a “brain drain” at the same time as qualified graduates settle in higher-income countries.

Meanwhile, companies and development organisations often recruit professionals from other countries for managerial and skilled technical jobs.

The government approved more than 16,000 foreign work permits last year, according to news reports citing the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority. It was not immediately clear how many of those permits were for skilled professions.

“We need to ask what skills would a Bangladeshi young professional need to climb to those managerial jobs,” said Taiabur Rahman, a professor at Dhaka University.

For activists like Islam, solving the jobs riddle is their best shot at a decent future for themselves and their families.

“Ultimately, what we need is fair opportunities and better skills for young people in the country,” he said.

This article first appeared on Context, powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Why climate change litigation will remain a business threat - Michael Fenn

By Michael Fenn
Published 19th Jul 2024

Companies ​in multiple sectors need to be aware of their potential heightened exposure to such claims, writes Michael Fenn

A recent report by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment has underscored climate-related claims as a key risk for UK businesses across a wide range of industries.

According to its latest annual report, Global trends in climate change litigation, climate-related litigation remains a significant risk for organisations, with as many as 230 new climate-related cases filed globally in 2023

With the UK second only to the US in the report’s list of jurisdictions with the highest number of new climate-related claims filed last year, businesses need to be aware of their potential heightened exposure to these claims

The data in the report underscores that climate-related litigation is not going anywhere – this remains and will remain a key risk for businesses to manage. It is a risk that has the attention of many different stakeholders, from customers to insurers and prudential regulators.

Climate litigation is a phenomenon that is global, with 55 countries now recorded as having seen cases in this space. Outside of the US, the jurisdictions with the highest number of recorded cases to date are the UK, with 139 cases, and Australia, with 132 cases. Brazil recorded ten new cases and Germany seven new cases and these countries also have high aggregate numbers of recorded cases – Brazil with 82 cases and Germany with 60 cases.

The report also revealed that businesses from a wide range of sectors beyond the fossil fuel industry, which is traditionally seen as having higher exposure to climate-related claims, can be exposed to climate-related litigation, with other at-risk sectors including aviation, the food and beverage industry, e-commerce and financial services.

According to the report, the rate of growth in the number of climate cases has slowed somewhat in the last couple of years, with fewer new cases being filed in 2023 compared to 2022 and 2021.

​

The fossil fuel industry is not the only sector exposed to climate-related litigation (Picture: stock.adobe.com)

Some recent court decisions that have gone against climate activists could have a dampening effect on new claims. In the UK, the failure of the derivative claims for breach of directors’ duties which have been attempted in recent cases, may well have caused claimant groups to take stock of the viability of such claims as a means of strategic litigation.

The report also highlights the global rise in greenwashing or “climate washing” litigation. Describing this as “one of the most rapidly expanding areas of climate litigation”, the report notes that over 140 greenwashing cases have been brought globally, of which 47 were filed in 2023 alone.

Businesses should take note of the report’s particularly striking finding that a high proportion (more than70 per cent) of greenwashing claims are successful. This emphasises yet again the importance of businesses reviewing their policies and processes to ensure that any climate or other ESG-related claims are made in appropriate terms and supported by robust evidence.

The complexity and rapidly developing nature of the current and future landscape in the climate litigation space makes it ever more essential that organisations obtain the right advice about the development and practical implementation of their ESG strategies.

Michael Fenn, Partner and litigation expert at Pinsent Masons

Solstices brought Mayan communities together, using monuments shaped by science and religion

Structures aligned with solar events served various purposes: science, farming, religion and even politics.

An “E-Group” construction at the ancient Maya site of Caracol, in present-day Belize. Gerardo Aldana

June 25, 2024
By Gerardo Aldana

(The Conversation) — K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil knew his history.

For 11 generations, the Mayan ruler’s dynasty had ruled Copan, a city-state near today’s border between Honduras and Guatemala. From the fifth century C.E. into the seventh century, scribes painted his ancestors’ genealogies into manuscripts and carved them in stone monuments throughout the city.

Around 650, one particular piece of architectural history appears to have caught his eye.

Centuries before, village masons built special structures for public ceremonies to view the Sun – ceremonies that were temporally anchored to the solstices, like the one that will occur June 20, 2024. Building these types of architectural complexes, which archaeologists call “E-Groups,” had largely fallen out of fashion by K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil’s time.

But aiming to realize his ambitious plans for his city, he seems to have found inspiration in these astronomical public spaces, as I’ve written about in my research on ancient Mayan hieroglyphically recorded astronomy.

A section of the ancient Maya ‘Madrid Codex,’ including information on astronomy.
Andrew Dalby/Wikimedia Commons

K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil’s innovations are a reminder that science changes through discovery or invention – but also occasionally for personal or political purposes, particularly in the ancient world.
Viewing the horizon

E-Groups were first constructed in the Mayan region as early as 1000 B.C.E. The site of Ceibal, on the banks of the Pasión River in central Guatemala, is one such example. There, residents built a long, plastered platform bordering the eastern edge of a large plaza. Three structures were arranged along a north-south axis atop this platform, with roofs tall enough to rise above the rainforest floral canopy.

Within the center of the plaza, to the west of the platform, they built a radially symmetric pyramid. From there, observers could follow sunrise behind and between the structures on the platform over the course of the year.

At one level, the earliest E-Group complexes served very practical purposes. In Preclassic villages where these complexes have been found, like Ceibal, populations of several hundred to a few thousand lived on “milpa” or “slash-and-burn” farming techniques practices still maintained in pueblos throughout Mesoamerica today. Farmers chop down brush vegetation, then burn it to fertilize the soil. This requires careful attention to the rainy season, which was tracked in ancient times by following the position of the rising Sun at the horizon.

Most of the sites in the Classic Mayan heartland, however, are located in flat, forested landscapes with few notable features along the horizon. Only a green sea of the floral canopy meets the eye of an observer standing on a tall pyramid.



A small pyramid in the ancient Mayan city of Copan.
Wirestock/iStock via Getty Images Plus

By punctuating the horizon, the eastern structures of E-Group complexes could be used to mark the solar extremes. Sunrise behind the northernmost structure of the eastern platform would be observed on the summer solstice. Sunrise behind the southernmost structure marked the winter solstice. The equinoxes could be marked halfway between, when the Sun rose due east.

Scholars are still debating key factors of these complexes, but their religious significance is well attested. Caches of finely worked jade and ritual pottery reflect a cosmology oriented around the four cardinal directions, which may have coordinated with the E-Group’s division of the year.
Fading knowledge

K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil’s citizenry, however, would have been less attuned to direct celestial observations than their ancestors.

By the seventh century, Mayan political organization had changed significantly. Copan had grown to as many as 25,000 residents, and agricultural technologies also changed to keep up. Cities of the Classic period practiced multiple forms of intensive agriculture that relied on sophisticated water management strategies, buffering the need to meticulously follow the horizon movement of the Sun.

E-Group complexes continued to be built into the Classic period, but they were no longer oriented to sunrise, and they served political or stylistic purposes rather than celestial views.

Such a development, I think, resonates today. People pay attention to the changing of the seasons, and they know when the summer solstice occurs thanks to a calendar app on their phones. But they probably don’t remember the science: how the tilt of the Earth and its path around the Sun make it appear as though the Sun itself travels north or south along the eastern horizon.
United through ritual

During the mid-seventh century, K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil had developed ambitious plans for his city – and astronomy provided one opportunity to help achieve them.

He is known today for his extravagant burial chamber, exemplifying the success he eventually achieved. This tomb is located in the heart of a magnificent structure, fronted by the “Hieroglyphic Stairway”: a record of his dynasty’s history that is one of the largest single inscriptions in ancient history.


Stela M and the Hieroglyphic Stairway at the archeological site of Copan.
Peter Andersen/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Eying opportunities to transform Copan into a regional power, K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil looked for alliances beyond his local nobility, and he reached out to nearby villages.

Over the past century, several scholars, including me, have investigated the astronomical component to his plan. It appears that K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil commissioned a set of stone monuments or “stelae,” positioned within the city and in the foothills of the Copan Valley, which tracked the Sun along the horizon.

Like E-Group complexes, these monuments engaged the public in solar observations. Taken together, the stelae created a countdown to an important calendric event, orchestrated by the Sun.

Back in the 1920s, archaeologist Sylvanus Morley noted that from Stela 12, to the east of the city, one could witness the Sun set behind Stela 10, on a foothill to the west, twice each year. Half a century later, archaeoastronomer Anthony Aveni recognized that these two sunsets defined 20-day intervals relative to the equinoxes and the zenith passage of the Sun, when shadows of vertical objects disappear. Twenty days is an important interval in the Mayan calendar and corresponds to the length of a “month” in the solar year.

My own research showed that the dates on several stelae also commemorate some of these 20-day interval events. In addition, they all lead up to a once-every-20-year event called a “katun end.”


The altar from Quirigua, displayed in the San Diego Museum of Man.
Daderot/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil celebrated this katun end, setting his plans for regional hegemony in motion at Quirigua, a growing, influential city some 30 miles away. A round altar there carries an image of him, commemorating his arrival. The hieroglyphic text tells us that K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil “danced” at Quirigua, cementing an alliance between the two cities.

In other words, K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil’s “solar stelae” did more than track the Sun. The monuments brought communities together to witness astronomical events for shared cultural and religious experiences, reaching across generations.

Coming together to appreciate the natural cycles that make life on Earth possible is something that – I hope – will never fade with fashion.

(Gerardo Aldana, Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Killer Heat’s Shadow: India’s Labourers on the Frontlines, Face Boiling Temperatures


Country:
INDIA

Authors:
Shagun Kapil
GRANTEE

Joel Michael
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Project
No Escape From Heat for India’s Vulnerable Workers

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT


From L-R, Construction worker Rohit Kumar Paswan, boiler plant worker Bhim Singh 

and tailor Kajalben all face extreme, intense heat at work.

 Images by Joel Michael/CSE. India, 2024.

In part one of this series, DTE investigates how the new normal of extreme heat is impacting informal workers and workplaces lacking climate control mechanisms

Rohit Kumar Paswan’s daily job involves securing himself to a harness and ascending scaffolding on the 10th floor of a building under construction, with the mercury soaring to around 47 degrees Celsius.

Bhim Singh works inside a boiler plant that operates a textile unit.

Kajalben spends a significant portion of her day within her cramped house, operating a sewing machine to stitch clothes for her customers.

All three work in different occupations, in distinct workspaces — the first is directly exposed to the sun during his working hours, the second works within a factory and the third from the comfort of her own home. However, a common factor binds them in their workplaces: Extreme, intense heat is unavoidable for all three.

Video courtesy of Down To Earth. India, 2024.

Down To Earth’s (DTE) Shagun and Joel Michael travelled to brick kilns, construction sites, factories, small-scale units and homes serving as workplaces for thousands of informal workers in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Gujarat to understand how a rapidly warming planet has made work extremely challenging, testing people’s tolerance limits.

Around 82 per cent of India’s workforce is engaged in the informal sector and nearly 90 per cent is informally employed.

This new series by DTE will report on how heat is affecting labourers and workplaces that lack climate control mechanisms like cooling or air conditioning, or where these systems cannot be implemented due to the nature of the work. The reports will also examine the health impacts heat has on the most vulnerable populations, along with possible prevention measures that industries can explore.

In the first part of the series, DTE reports on outdoor workers who build our cities but are directly exposed to the scorching heat.

“MY BODY FEELS like it is trapped in a heat island, soaked in sweat. I would choose any other job over this if given the choice,” 34-year-old Biresh Kumar described his daily job, which entails working directly under the sun’s rays for four hours (from 8 am to 1 pm) and then for another two hours after a break (1-3 pm).

Kumar works at a brick kiln in Bhopani village in the Faridabad district in Haryana, part of the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). He prepares clay from soil and crafts raw bricks in the open, under the sun. These bricks must be sundried before firing in the kiln.

Brick kiln worker Biresh Kumar. Image by Joel Michael/CSE. India, 2024.

DTE first met him in mid-April and recorded the area’s surface temperature using a ‘particle counter’ instrument, which measures air temperature, relative humidity and wet bulb (WB) temperature, among other factors. The temperature reading of the area where he works was 38.4°C.

WB is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by evaporating water at a constant pressure.

Workers in brick kilns are subjected to both extreme ambient temperatures and intense radiant heat from the kilns where the bricks are fired. “A person cannot walk for more than an hour in the sun and here our work entails continuously working under it. My job requires me to squat for most hours while making the bricks, which leads to knee pain and reduced blood circulation to the lower limbs,” he said.

This is Kumar’s first year working at a brick kiln. A native of Hathras district in the neighbouring UP, he owned a juice shop in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar town until 2020, when he had to close it down during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

The shop was rented. As Kumar was unable to afford the monthly rent in the pandemic, he and his family of five (wife and three children) had to relocate to their hometown in UP, with no savings and no source of income.

There, he encountered the contractor of the brick kiln, who offered him a non-institutional loan in exchange for his labour. The family accepted the advance and arrived in Faridabad in February 2024 to commence work at the kiln.

Sitting on a cot at some distance is Kumar’s co-worker, Somveer (he only provided his first name). For two days, Somveer was experiencing body aches, weakness and fever, forcing him to miss work and consequently forfeit his wage. He was unsure of the exact cause of his condition but suggested it could be due to heat exhaustion.

Neeraj Kaushik, the medical officer in charge of the Government Hospital (Community Health Centre) in Faridabad's Kheri Kalan, which is accessible to Somveer and Kumar, said he noticed an increase in the number of brick kiln workers presenting to the hospital with complaints of dehydration and fainting episodes.

“We see more such patients in the months of May and June. Sometimes they are severely dehydrated, have dry lips and are extremely weak, so we have to instantly administer rehydration fluids. For those with co-morbid conditions like diabetes, it becomes an emergency situation when their vitals are disoriented and then it takes a lot of time to revive them,” he said, pointing out that the patients were mostly people working in brick kilns, construction sites and agricultural farms.
India in grip of heatwave


On May 24, when DTE revisited two brick kilns (including the one where Kumar and Somveer work), the device recorded a temperature of 43°C at the site, with a relative humidity of 38.5 per cent and a WB temperature, which indicates both temperature and humidity, of 30°C.

India’s northern, northwestern and central regions are in the grip of a relentless heatwave, with temperatures even surpassing 50°C in some areas of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi on May 28. India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines a heatwave threshold as when the maximum temperature reaches 40°C in the plains, 30°C in hilly areas and 37°C in coastal areas, with a departure from the normal maximum temperature of at least 4.5°C.

The IMD, in its forecast, stated that there is a “very high likelihood of developing heat illness and heatstroke in all age groups.” According to media reports, there have been 11 deaths due to suspected heatstroke in the state of Rajasthan and two in Gujarat.
How hot is too hot to work?


The recommendations by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States permit continuous work at heavy intensities in hot environments up to 34°C and 30 per cent relative humidity.

The year 2024 has witnessed every month breaking global heat records since the pre-industrial era. It commenced with Earth experiencing its warmest January since records began in 1850, followed by the hottest March and now May 2024 is poised to become the 12th month to continue the streak of record-breaking temperatures.

Climate change and the El Nino phenomenon have significantly contributed to this record-shattering heat surge across Asia, including India, as analysed by an international team of 13 leading climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group in a global study on May 15, 2024.

While intense heat driven by climate change remains relentless worldwide, individuals engaged in heavy physical labour are particularly at risk as their work exposes them to greater heat stress.

In addition to brick kiln workers, outdoor labourers also include agricultural workers performing heavy physical labour in heat, construction workers, gig workers, autorickshaw drivers, street vendors, among others, who are more exposed due to the nature of their work and challenging economic conditions.

“My first visit to a brick kiln was as a child, 20 years ago, with my father (who worked at one of them). I used to play around then. Even then, work lasted from morning to evening, but there was less heat. There is a big difference between then and now,” said Kumar.

Similarly, Somveer has been working in various brick kilns for six years, but in the last two to three years, he claimed, the heat has tested his body’s tolerance level. “This work used to feel normal just two years ago,” he said.

Both make around 2,500 bricks a day on average and receive Rs 520 ($6.26) per 1,000 bricks. However, the number of bricks they produce decreases as temperatures peak.

India is projected to lose 5.8 per cent of working hours in 2030, a productivity loss equivalent to 34 million full-time jobs, due to global warming, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated in its 2019 report. As a result, this will lead to a loss of income and livelihood for informal workers, who are most vulnerable to extreme and intense heat.

A brick kiln in Bhopani village, Haryana. Image by Joel Michael. India, 2024.

According to World Bank estimates, nearly 75 per cent of India’s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labour.

A study conducted in brick kilns in Chennai in 2013 and 2014, published in 2019, found that occupational heat exposure in the kilns during the summer months sometimes exceeded international standard limits for safe work.

Kumar and Somveer are just two of the nearly 440 million people employed in India’s unorganised sector, as per the Economic Survey 2021-22. But they both exemplify how work has not only been disrupted by excessive heat but now feels almost like an intolerable punishment.

Brick manufacturing is a highly labour-intensive industry. Large numbers of workers are employed at each stage, including moulding bricks, transporting sundried and baked bricks to the kiln, adding fuel to the kiln and removing bricks once they have cooled to transport them further.

In May, the work of moulding and transporting bricks at the brick kiln sites was moved to night-time. However, night-time temperatures have also increased substantially, along with humidity. Additionally, mosquito bites increase at night. The IMD, in its May 24, 2024 forecast, cautioned that warm night conditions could also intensify in different parts of northern India.

The workers in charge of firing the kiln and ensuring that the bricks are adequately burned, on the other hand, are not permitted to change their schedules because this is a 24-hour job. Kilns in Delhi-NCR start up on March 1 and only shut down when the monsoon arrives in mid-June.

Those working in the third stage (fuelling the kilns) are constantly exposed to sunlight and additional heat from the furnaces inside the kiln. The chambers that feed the fuel (husk in this case) and burn the bricks at temperatures ranging from 1,100°C to 1,200°C produce scorching heat. Temperatures in the area where bricks are baked rise significantly when compared to other areas on the site.

Video courtesy of Down To Earth. India, 2024.

At one of the two kilns visited by DTE on May 24, a group of seven dedicated ‘firemen’ continuously fed fuel into each chamber. DTE recorded a temperature of 48°C and a WB temperature of 30.3°C at 3.30 pm. There was a temperature difference of 2°C just 200 metres away, where it was around 46°C.

How hot does it feel to the workers? “Crossing 50°C,” said Rajendra Kumar, who works with six others in two shifts from 1 pm-7 pm and 1 am-7 am, for Rs 600 ($7.22) per day. Out of these 12 hours, a total of six hours are spent near the chamber. Of these six hours, three are during the daytime. This means that for at least three hours of their day shift, the group is exposed to extreme temperatures continuously.

Most men stay away from their families. “Yahan aayenge gharwale? Marna hai kya? (Why will they come here? Do they want to die?),” said Rajendra rhetorically.

India is the second-largest brick producer in the world, with the sector producing 233 billion bricks each year and employing about 23 million people, who are at risk of extreme heat exposure. The brick industry is growing, with the demand for bricks increasing due to rapid urbanisation and the growing number of construction projects in the country.
Infrastructure boom and heat conundrum


Madhu Mandal wonders if he will ever find a workplace where he can escape the heat. It is around 1 pm on a blazing hot day in the national capital, Delhi. Mandal and his wife work as masons at a construction site along one of the stretches of the Dwarka Expressway.

Construction work is progressing rapidly on the eight-lane expressway, which is being developed as a residential and commercial hub and has seen a massive transformation over the last 10 years, with high-rises, gated communities and retail hubs dotting the 29-kilometre highway. The Mandals, natives of Katihar district in Bihar, are working on one such high-rise.

The brick kiln sector supports the rapidly expanding construction industry, which is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of six per cent from 2024 to 2033, fuelled by the government’s infrastructure push and rapid urbanisation.

Construction workers like Mandal are the backbone of this economic activity in India. The sector is the second largest employer in India, next only to agriculture, employing nearly 74 million workers, according to the National Sample Survey Office 2016-17.

Construction work in Ahmedabad. Image by Joel Michael/CSE. India, 2024.

Scientists have said that heatwaves are not only here to stay but will intensify in the coming years. In a country where approximately 50 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP is contributed by workers who work in heat-exposed conditions, are there enough safety measures?

Mostly, no. For example, Paswan, a construction worker in Ahmedabad city in the state of Gujarat, has been requesting his manager to install a green net on the top floor of an under-construction shopping mall where he works, but to no avail.

He has to work in a scaffolding operation, which involves standing for long hours at a height. When he takes a break, he looks for a place with some shade. “But for that, we have to go downstairs, which is a challenge. We have been telling the managers to arrange for a green net somewhere on the top floor where we work,” he said.

Temperature readings at different sites at an outdoor workplace showed that in a shaded area, the temperature gets reduced by a good 3-4°C, compared to the open area. Thus a simple solution like putting up a green net, making a shaded area that will block direct sunlight, or having more green spaces just near where the workers spend their time working, will allow them to cool down their bodies and have a proper rest during their breaks.
Illustration by Yogendra Anand. Interactive design by Ritika Bohra.


A recent study by the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that enhancing green spaces can cool down temperatures by as much as 5°C and up to a distance of more than 250 metres. When DTEmet Paswan in mid-May, the temperature was 46.7°C, with a WB temperature of 31.2°C.

“I start work at 8 am and just after 10 am, I start feeling the heat. After 10 am, I feel like taking a break every 20-30 minutes,” said 22-year-old Paswan.

However, his job involves clipping himself to a harness and treading the scaffold, so he cannot take breaks often. “There are moments in the day when the body just wants to stop and rest,” he said.

According to a study by National Institute of Occupational Health-Indian Council of Medical Research in Ahmedabad with 29 young male construction workers, heat exposure at the construction workplace during the summer months was very high, with WB globe temperatures reaching 33°C. This exceeds the international standard limit values for moderate level work activities in a hot environment, which are set at 30°C.

Among all the hazards exacerbated by climate change, heat is undoubtedly a major disaster that will become more intense. Disaster risk must be considered during a country’s development, said Abhiyant Tiwari, lead, health and climate resilience at Natural Resources Defense Council India.

“At the rate we are urbanising, almost 70 per cent of infrastructure is yet to be built for the future and it has to factor in the rate of warming we are facing across the world, particularly in the Global South. If we do not consider that, we will fail drastically,” said Tiwari, who was part of the development and implementation of the first heat action plan of South Asia in 2013.

This calls for India to seriously include the ‘heat factor’ in its work policies. Are the workers that build and run our cities at the centre of climate change? Are governments, companies and civil society considering heat in their workplaces and seeking real-life adaptation solutions? The second part of the series will explore these questions.

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Haitian Community Defenders Fight US-Armed Death Squads and Puppet Governments

By Danny Shaw

April 2, 2024

Source: Truthout


Image by Movement of Equality and Liberation for All Haitians

As the stars illuminate the dark alleyways of Solino, Ezayi’s heavy beige Timberlands stomp across the cracked concrete. He is on a mission. The night lookouts who stand guard at the western barricades against the marauding paramilitary gangs of the mass murderer Kempès Sanon do not have money to eat. When the night watchmen don’t eat during their shift, they get weak, drink kleren (moonshine) to trick their hunger and have a higher tendency to shirk their duties, or worse still, fall asleep. The enemy armed with modern weapons by the U.S. lurks around the corner. Washington bullets lull children, parents and grandparents to sleep under whatever furniture will protect them. Family members in the diaspora from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, to Little Haiti, Miami, call at all hours of the night, just hoping to hear a familiar voice.

The Haitian Bald Headed Party (PHTK) has tyrannically ruled Haiti since 2011. Now, as the guards sleep, warlord, escaped convict and mercenary Sanon prepares his next invasion of Solino, the second-biggest neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, after Cité Soley.

Ezayi, one of the coordinators of the Brigad Vijilans (self-defense brigades), makes the rounds to amass the 1,000 gouds ($7.63) needed for the dinner for eight of the people’s soldiers. A family two kilometers away deep in the Ri Ti Cheri area of the community responds that they can give 500 gouds. He calls Marius, a comrade who moonlights as a motorcycle taxi driver, and they complete the task. Ezayi is a leader of the Movement of Equality and Liberation for All Haitians (MOLEGHAF) who some call the Black Panthers of Haiti.

Solino’s son is always focused. Someone jokes about how his girlfriend has been looking for him for the past week. He does not bat an eyelash. The old crew teases Ezayi, calling him by his nickname, “Zizi, you haven’t seen a barber in a few years.” Another longtime friend chimes in: “Don’t bother him. He has no time to smile.” Ezayi has a singular focus: the defense of his first and only love, Solino.

The situation in Haiti is dynamic and popular leadership of organizations like MOLEGHAF, Fanmi Lavalas and Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan are spinning on a dime in order to respond.
The Fourth Pending U.S.-led Invasion of Haiti in 100 Years

The U.S. State Department, who unilaterally picked Ariel Henry to be Haiti’s prime minister in July of 2021, has now decided Henry no longer fits their interests and has forced him to step down. The Miami Herald reported that the Biden administration contacted Henry midflight urging him to form a transitional government. Henry was prevented from returning to Haiti on March 5 by paramilitary gangs who attempted to take the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, opening fire and hitting a plane bound for Cuba. Just as easily as the U.S. installed Henry against the people’s will, the FBI may have detained him in Puerto Rico. Perhaps the foreign policy establishment thinks that by sacking Henry and framing him as the fall guy they can convince an angry, hungry populace that this somehow represents change.

The imperial forces responsible for over half a million illegal U.S. guns in Haiti that fuel this unparalleled violence are now preparing their next move to keep Haiti subdued. For the past 18 months, the Biden administration has sought to facilitate what will be the fourth U.S.-led foreign invasion and occupation of Haiti in the last 100 years by deputizing Kenya, Benin, the Bahamas, and other western neocolonies to carry out the occupation. The U.S. will supply the money and weapons; the African and Caribbean colonial cannon fodder will provide the bodies. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has led a meeting of the CARICOM nations, a proxy force for U.S. power in the Caribbean, to appoint a transitional government and carry out the foreign invasion. The only Haitian representatives that can be considered for the U.S.-led transitional government have to agree to the occupation. The CIA remains active as well seeking a neocolony the U.S. can deputize to carry out this invasion.

Ezayi and his community see colonialism as Haiti’s number one enemy. In a February public statement analyzing the current political situation they wrote:


The American imperialists and their allies weakened all political strategies available to the oppressed.… Then they denigrated all symbols of sovereignty, undermining all means for national life. This is one reason why, until today, there is no political party capable of challenging Ariel Henry at the head of the country. It is a form of totalitarian power, where the poor masses are subjugated under the grip of the PHTK. Even democratic words have lost their value.

On March 2, paramilitary forces stormed the Haitian National Penitentiary and another prison helping over 4,000 prisoners escape. Among the escapees, there were prisoners accused of petty crimes years ago who had never seen a judge, and there were others convicted of violent and sexual crimes. A group of Colombian mercenaries imprisoned for their involvement with U.S. intelligence and the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse begged for their lives. Footage emerged of thousands of the escapees gathered in Vilaj de Dye, the seaside slum where the notorious PHTK-affiliated Izo is in charge. As a massive crowd chanted “Ariel: Izo has gotten rid of you,” analysts were left to wonder if this power move by the paramilitary forces was meant to buttress their ranks with more shock troops with an immanent U.S.-sponsored military invasion just weeks away.
Bwa Kale Is Personal

Bwa Kale was the impromptu name given to the organic self-defense movement that sprang up in Port-au-Prince on April 24, 2023. Gang boss Ti Makak’s Laboule death squad was moving in on Kanapé Vè, a stable, better-off-than-most neighborhood in Port-au-Prince.

The police intercepted the kidnappers and assassins and arrested them. A local crowd realized the intentions of Ti Makak’s homicidal crew, who were high on kleren, and dragged them out of the police truck, stoning and burning them. The citizen’s self-defense movement known as Bwa Kale had officially begun.

Exasperated by mercenaries raping, looting and massacring their communities, neighborhoods set to kicking the sanguinary criminals out. The decentralized movement exploded, inspiring neighborhoods across the sprawling city to take every measure to defend themselves from government-linked death squads.

Bwa Kale’s momentum was transformative for Solino. Located on the border of the Kempès and PHTK-dominated Belè, Ezayi’s neighborhood has been the number one target of the PHTK as it sought to expand west across Port-au-Prince. The families of Solino, like the Republican families of the Spanish Civil War and the Red Army families during the Nazi onslaught of the Soviet Union, have but one slogan: “No pasarán!” (They shall not pass!)

During Kempès death drive in the summer of 2023, Ezayi’s father sought to escape with his life. Like many residents swarmed by U.S. bullets and the stampede of fleeing community members, his father was murdered. It is this loss and love that contextualizes Ezayi’s superhuman, hyper focus on his singular mission — to save Solino.
A Nation Full of Leaders

Haiti’s enemies censor the very memory of ancestral resistance.

One of the many subtle racist tropes against Haiti seeks to deceive us into thinking “there is no leadership” or “all leaders are corrupt,” as the cliches go. The more accurate framing is that all United States and PHTK-sponsored leaders are bought off and manipulated. As investigative journalist Jake Johnston’s recently released book Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism and the Battle to Control Haiti shows, U.S. policy empowers and works with corrupt political leadership in Haiti because they can be relied upon to do the U.S.’s bidding. The U.S. has economic, diplomatic, military and political interests in Haiti. (Paul Farmer wrote The Uses of Haiti to address this very question.) Economists inform us, for example, that Haiti has the second-largest deposits of the rare mineral iridium in the Southeast Department. Bill and Hillary Clinton and their foundation have been two foreign personifications of foreign meddling in Haiti under the guise of humanitarian aid. It was Hillary Clinton who flew into Port-au-Prince in 2010 to offer the U.S.’s full endorsement of neo-Duvalierest Michel Martelly as president even though he had no popular support. The Haitian people teach us that in the paramilitary continuum that has led to the quagmire of today, Washington has supported three iterations of the paramilitary state, first under Martelly, then Moïse, and up until March 11, Ariel Henry. The U.S. will oversee the next handpicked successor. The media fury around U.S.-trained 2004 coup leader, Guy Philippe, indicates that Washington may work through him.

Meanwhile, those leaders who refuse to sell out to imperial interests are repressed and murdered. Peter Hallward’s Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment documents the U.S.-engineered coup and 2004 military invasion that saw the democratically elected president kidnapped and 7,500 elected officials booted from office. Haiti produces leaders like it produces mangos, coconuts and children’s smiles. But like Ezayi, these anonymous global heroes are under the gun. This researcher asked every witness and family member available who pulled the trigger on March 21, 2023? Was it G-9, G-Pèp or the police? Every answer contradicted the last.

There are dozens of engineers, doctors, mothers, organic intellectuals, teachers, youth cultural workers, masons, feminists, students and cultural workers across different neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince who lead their communities every day. Haiti does not suffer from a lack of talent; it suffers from the active repression of its talent and potential. The millions of sitwayen angage (engaged citizens) were architects of the February 7, 2021, national uprising that sought to remove the Haitian PHTK’s second dictator, Jovenel Moïse, from power. There are too many organic leaders to count.

How much easier is it to subscribe to racist tropes that every politician is corrupt in Haiti than to stand with the nameless, faceless, internet-less, electricity-less, social media-less leadership that resists every day?

In one interview with a foreign reporter, Ezayi explained that the modern-day “gang phenomenon” started with Washington’s imposition of dictator Michel Martelly in 2011. The ruling PHTK bragged about being “legal bandits” above the law and employing murderous gangs to do their enforcement because unlike the military or police, they could not be held accountable. The armed bands transformed almost overnight into government death squads armed with hundreds of thousands of U.S. weapons. Veteran Haitian community organizer and educator Jafrik Ayiti has pointed out some of the smoking guns linking the gangsters in flip flops down below in the oppressed communities and the Haitian state and business interests hidden away in the pristine hills of Petyonvil perched atop the city.

It is the incorruptible leadership of regular Haitians that the imperial U.S. government and its underlings most fear — and consequently target for liquidation.

At a meeting off Avenue John Brown in downtown Port-au-Prince, Naydi, Ezayi’s right-hand man, a MOLEGHAF leader and an agronomist, laid to waste the old paternalistic colonial myth. “Look at us. How many leaders are gathered right here? We have educators, doctors, lawyers, journalists. Men anpil chay pa lou (With many hands, the burden is lighter). Pipi gaye pa fè kim. (Dispersed pee-pee does not make foam),” he told attendees. “We are all leaders or we are all dead. We don’t have the luxury of quarreling with one another about who is a leader and who is not. We are all leaders.”

While Haiti’s exploiters and enemies repress and bury such examples of popular sovereignty, the internationalist movement needs to elevate their voices and examples to build global solidarity with the nation of 12 million people.
Baz La (The Base)

Any comrades who have to do an errand outside of the 27 neighborhoods of Solino are expected to check in every hour. If Ezayi has not heard from one of his trusted lieutenants, he gets nervous and starts calling them frantically. Tèt fwèt lè bagay cho (Keep a cool head when things heat up) is one of his guiding slogans.

In Fò Nasyonal last month, he spoke at a semi-clandestine meeting one neighborhood away. “We don’t need Kenya to invade us. We don’t need Taiwan to invade us. We don’t need a fourth U.S. occupation. If these foreign powers really wanted to help us, why don’t they support us so we can defend ourselves?”

“The paramilitaries have all the high-powered U.S. weapons while we defend ourselves with machetes, bottles, Molotov cocktails and handguns, if we can get ahold of them,” Ezayi said. “They want to disempower us, yet again. They make it look like we cannot help ourselves. If the U.S. would just get out of our way — for once!”

Two men appear on a motorcycle outside the meeting. Unknown to the young comrades serving as lookouts, they ask for Ezayi and another leader. The second line of defense perceives something is wrong. Microseconds and centimeters save lives in 2024 Port-au-Prince. The MOLEGHAF security signals the security detail inside the locked doors. The unknown assailants draw guns and bogart their way into the meeting. Ezayi is long gone, scaling a wall in the back where the formatè yo (trainers of cadre) painted a Che Guevara and Jan Jak Desalin mural.

Later on, back at the base, passing a small cup of bwa kochon (pig wood) moonshine around, Ezayi explains that, “If you don’t have a plan B and C in this city, you won’t last long. Port-au-Prince is Sniper City.” Afraid of death, he chuckles with the zetwal, as he mentally outlines the 20-some-odd tasks that await before night falls.
The Stars

Ezayi knows how to deal with foreign reporters. He knows they have mastered the art of getting the scoop they want by throwing some dirty dollars around and ignoring any inconvenient details. On this day, he was not in the mood for any shenanigans. A Haitian fixer, Wachlèt, had brought two reporters from France 24 to Solino. The foreign network had paid him handsomely. More than one Haitian journalist has been murdered trying to get a hot take for foreign networks. With the goud at 131 for one U.S. dollar and skyrocketing inflation, hunger leaves the Haitian employee no choice. The fixer knew the agreement. He could make his living, but he had to invest some of the money he received from foreigners, or he would be forced out.

Ezayi had a bad feeling about these reporters. He used Wachlèt to translate. He asked them what they knew about Haiti. He quizzed them on their thoughts on France and European nations’ support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The reporters failed the test. Ezayi asked for the money, gave Wachlèt his cut, took the rest and threw it in their chests. He told them they had five minutes to exit Solino.

Ezayi stays put behind the barricades, responding to interview requests if his cell phone signal cooperates. On Radio Ibo, one of the biggest radio stations in a country where electricity is rare, took to the airwaves to ask a question of the PHTK government: “Where is the Petro Caribbean money that you stole from us? Do you know how they answer us? With massacres. Kidnappings. Rape. Human rights violations. They make us refugees in our own city. They assassinate us. This is the government we are dealing with. That is the function of these paramilitary gangs. To take power away from us. To depopulate our poto mitan, the neighborhoods that have long been the backbone of resistance.”

Later in the evening, neighbors, local kids and comrades in arms yell to him “Anfom Zizi? (What’s good?)” when he passes by. They aspire to one day fill his Timberland boots. He jumps into the next interview confident the ancestors will hear the people’s prayers.

One night, he sees two neighborhood kids begging for some loose change. He calls their attention. “Evans and Emmanuel: Get over here!” he demands. “What did I tell you about begging, you rascals? Come on, let’s go!” He put his arm on each of their shoulders and walked them to the sausage cart. “When you’re hungry, come talk to your uncles. We Haitians have never begged, and never will.”

He tells them to look up at the stars with him, dropping ancestral, love-life lessons on the 10-year-old orphans of the paramilitary war: “You see those stars up there? You see how clearly they illuminate the sky for us? The blan [the imperialists/white man] and aloufa [oligarchs] cannot see those zetwal [stars]. With all of their Hollywood, Times Square and lights, they are too full of themselves to care about the peace of others and appreciate God’s beauty.”

A Message for Haiti’s “Barbecue” Cherizier: Be Like Malcolm

Haiti on Fire, Part II
By Ron Daniels

March 31, 2024

Source: Vantage Point Vignettes


Haiti is on fire now in large part because of the terrorism being inflicted on the First Black Republic by a notorious gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, who goes by the name “Barbecue.” For months a heavily armed coalition of gangs called the G-9 Alliance under his command has controlled the majority of the Capital of Port Au Prince. But it is the most recent brazen attacks on police stations, government offices, the airport, the seaport, hospitals, pharmacies, schools and prisons where thousands of inmates were released that has catapulted Barbecue into the international news. The world is now his stage as he boldly strides around giving interviews to the BBC, CNN, MSNBC and journalists from news outlets everywhere.

Barbecue claims to be interested in rescuing the nation from a parasitical elite and corrupt politicians. He recently threatened “civil war” if the current illegitimate Prime Minister Ariel Henry does not resign. Henry is presently stuck in Puerto Rico and unable to return to the country. Under pressure, he has agreed to resign once a Presidential Counsel is formed to select an Interim Government. This development has not deterred Barbecue’s militia from “barbecuing” hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the Capital region, wreaking deadly havoc on women, children and the elderly, causing what the U.N. is declaring a humanitarian disaster.

Barbecue is a bad man, a death dealing bandit who must be neutralized, deterred, or persuaded to discontinue his horrific behavior. Is there any hope for redemption, reformation, transformation of Barbecue? He’s a former officer in the Haitian National Police, who was fired for police misconduct and brutality. He has also been accused of participating in several massacres. Barbecue has expressed his admiration for the ruthless dictator, Jean Claude “Popa Doc” Duvalier, who ruled Haiti with a bloody iron fist from 1957 – 1971. But, when I first read about the mysterious Barbecue, he was quoting Malcolm X. Apparently, he also fancies himself a modern-day Black Robin Hood, attacking the elite in defense of Haiti’s impoverished masses. This Jekyll and Hyde political persona doesn’t add up?

Haiti is on fire and Barbecue’s G-9 militia constitutes an existential threat to the current plan and process by the Montana Accord Movement and its allies (which I support) to create a path towards a genuine, Haitian conceived democracy. In a recent article in Reuters, University of Virginia Haiti politics expert Robert Fatton said even if there is a different kind of government, “the reality is that you need to talk to the gangs.” Professor Fatton concluded: “If they have that supremacy, and there is no countervailing force, it’s no longer a question if you want them at the table,” he said. “They may just take the table.” That’s not good. There must be a way out of this dilemma.

Perhaps, there is hope in the Malcolm X side of Barbecue’s persona. Malcolm never committed the kind of atrocities that Barbecue is accused of committing. But, as Alex Haley notes in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “He rose from a hoodlum, thief, dope peddler, pimp… to become the most dynamic leader of the Black Revolution.” I confess that this may be naïve on my part, but perhaps Barbecue can be induced, incentivized to dramatically and productively change his behavior. Perhaps, he is not beyond redemption. Not that he will hear it, but in my summary remarks at a recent Forum/Rally on Resolving the Crisis in Haiti at the historic Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC, I challenged Barbecue to “stop quoting Malcolm and start acting like Malcolm.”

My message to Barbecue is, in the spirit of Malcolm X, stop terrorizing the people and start defending the people; stop destroying neighborhoods and communities and start building and preserving them; become a true liberator by directing your militia to feed, cloth, educate and provide healthcare for the people like the Black Panther Party did in the era of the 60’s in the U.S. They were inspired by Malcolm.

There are likely institutions and leaders in Haiti, beginning with the faith community, that are willing to extend a hand to encourage you and your allies to engage in a process of truth and reconciliation to heal the wounds of the first Black Republic inflicted by your forces. The ultimate outcome could be an exchange of guns for jobs and social economic benefits which your transformed organization could dispense. It’s that “swords into ploughshares” thing.

Come to the Table Barbecue and use your ingenuity and leadership skills to develop social and economic programs to enhance the education, skills and opportunities of the people as part of a process of building the new Haiti. The choice is yours. Be like Malcolm and become an agent for liberation and development or become a pariah, a social outcast whose legacy will be death and destruction heaped on your own people. The choice is yours!

Resolving the Crisis in Haiti: Dr. Ron Daniels delivers summary remarks at Rally/Forum

March 21, 2024, Washington, DC — Dr. Ron Daniels delivers closing remarks at Forum/Rally “Resolving the Critical Crisis in Haiti – The Role of the Montana Accord Movement”.

Haiti on Fire, Part I: The Montana Accord Movement to the Rescue

By Dr. Ron Daniels

March 4, 2024
Vantage Point Vignettes
Comments and Commentary by Dr. Ron Daniels

Haiti, our first Black Republic, is a virtual failed state where vicious gangs tied to the parasitical elite, and gangs with their own wannabe leaders or criminal kingpins control most of the Capital of Port Au Prince and much of the country. Ariel Henry, an unelected, illegitimate, and inept “Prime Minister” has a tenuous hold over what passes for a “government.”

The well-armed rampaging gangs are terrorizing the country utilizing kidnapping for ransom, extortion, trafficking in drugs and assaulting and raping women unchecked. They are attacking police stations and killing members of the National Police, attacking prisons, and releasing prisoners and attacking and killing each other over turf. They are also in deadly competition with each other to take over the government or at least emerge as the dominant force that will be the de facto government.

Haiti is on fire and as the people suffer and demand the resignation of an illegitimate Prime Minister, what is the posture of the U.S. government and the Core Group of nations and multilateral bodies? Unfortunately, tragically the U.S. is propping up a recalcitrant, illegitimate, shaky Henry regime despite massive opposition from the people. Rather than insisting that Henry relinquish the reins of power, the U.S. and its allies are negotiating with him and preparing to finance a Kenyan-led military force to “restore order.” The U.S. and its allies are arrogantly and blatantly ignoring rather than respecting and supporting the wishes of the Haitian people. We’ve seen this movie before. Unfortunately, even heads of state in the Caribbean, who should be good-faith facilitators, have recently acquiesced to negotiating with Henry rather than demanding his immediate departure from office.

Haiti is on fire. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that there is a remarkable, broad-based civil society movement involving hundreds of organizations and leaders from across the political spectrum who have boldly and courageously come forward to devise a plan, process and strategy to put out the fire, to extinguish the raging conflagration; firefighting freedom fighters committed to advancing a “Haitian Solution” to rescue the first Black Republic from what one leader has termed the “criminal enterprise” which is spreading death and destruction across the land. This powerful, people-based effort is called the Montana Accord Movement (MAM). These courageous leaders are determined to raise Haiti from the ashes to create a sustainable, people-based democracy.

The challenge is, our challenge as allies and friends of the First Black Republic is to persuade, demand, compel the U.S. government, the Core Group and our sisters and brothers from CARICOM to insist that Henry relinquish power immediately. Equally important, the U.S. and all external international players should immediately acknowledge and support the Montana Accord Movement plan, process and strategy as the way forward toward sustainable democracy and development in Haiti. To achieve this righteous outcome, we the people must rise-up to support the Montana Accord Movement to save Haiti. Let’s do it. #SaveHaiti, SupportMAM

Review the Montana Accord Plan Here — https://akomontana.ht/en/agreeement/

 

Ron Daniels
Dr. Daniels is the founder and president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, a progressive, African-centered, action-oriented resource center dedicated to empowering people of African descent and marginalized communities. A veteran social and political activist, Dr. Ron Daniels was an independent candidate for president of the United States in 1992. He served as the executive director of the National Rainbow Coalition in 1987 and the southern regional coordinator and deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign in 1988. He holds a B.A. in History from Youngstown State University, an M.A. in Political Science from the Rockefeller School of Public Affairs in Albany, New York and a Doctor of Philosophy in Africana Studies from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. Dr. Daniels is a Distinguished Lecturer Emeritus at York College, City University of New York.

Hollywood Unions Are Back at the Bargaining Table

Two major strikes by Hollywood writers and actors dominated headlines last year. Only months after the strikes’ end, contract negotiations are now underway for the entertainment industry’s crew members — and the possibility of a strike is not off the table.

IATSE joins SAG-AFTRA and WGA members on strike on September 14, 2023 in New York City. (John Nacion / Getty Images)

BY ALEX N. PRESS

Alex N. Press is a staff writer at Jacobin who covers labor organizing.
03.15.2024

Just three months after members of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) ratified their national contract in December 2023 following a hard-fought 116-day strike, Hollywood’s workers are again at the negotiating table with the Association of Motion Picture Producers (AMPTP). The double strike by the entertainment industry’s actors and writers — the latter ratified their own contract in October after a 148-day work stoppage — may have just wrapped up, but the contracts for the industry’s below-the-line workers, those who work off-camera, are nearing expiration. Before the industry can even catch its breath after last year’s strikes, Hollywood is once again facing an uncertain future.


Negotiations began on March 4 and encompass a host of unionized workers whose contracts expire on July 31. The thirteen West Coast Studio Locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) — which include workers ranging from camera operators to makeup artists and costumers — need agreements, as does IATSE Local 52, IATSE Local 161, and the Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839). Then there are the Hollywood Basic Crafts, which represents laborers like drivers, electrical workers, cement masons, and plumbers employed on film and television sets and includes the 6,500-member Teamsters Local 399 as well as International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 40, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA!) Local 724, United Association Plumbers (UA) Local 78, and Operating Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association (OPCMIA) Local 755. They, too, need contracts.

For the first time since 1988, IATSE and the Basic Crafts are jointly negotiating their shared Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans, which serve some seventy-five thousand current and retired workers. The coordination follows the shared experience of last year’s strike, in which below-the-line workers stood with actors and performers, declining to cross their picket lines and thus shutting down the industry. In January, IATSE vice president Michelle Miller said joint negotiations on the shared plans are important “not only because sustainable benefits is a shared priority of our memberships, but also because recent hardships have brought behind-the-scenes crews together in historic fashion.”

Following the joint benefit negotiations, the Basic Crafts will step aside as IATSE negotiates its Basic Agreement (covering West Coast locals) and its Area Standards Agreement, which applies to locals outside New York and Los Angeles. Teamsters Local 399 expects to begin its own talks with the AMPTP on craft-specific concerns in June.

At a joint rally in Encino’s Woodley Park on March 3, thousands of crew members and their supporters gathered in a show of unity to mark the start of negotiations. Under the banner of “Many Crafts, One Fight,” an array of labor leaders addressed the crowd, who held signs adorned with slogans like “Fighting for living wages,” and “Nothing moves without the crew.”

“Every union in the entertainment industry is standing here together, and that has never happened before,” said IATSE international president Matthew Loeb. Said Teamsters Local 399 president Lindsey Dougherty, “What’s different about going into our negotiations is that we’ve already established these relationships in a much more impactful and meaningful way in terms of labor solidarity.”

Teamsters international president Sean O’Brien referred to the studios as a “white-collar crime syndicate” (a favorite phrase of his), adding that “it’s time to make them aware that if they thought they had a fight last summer, they can’t even predict what they have now.” “We are desperate,” he said, “and being desperate is great. It means we don’t care about the consequences of our actions.”

From the microphone, California Labor Federation executive secretary-treasurer Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher led a call-and-response of “Fuck around and find out.” (A speech by Directors Guild of America president Russell Hollander drew the most lukewarm response from the crowd, the union having quickly caved during last year’s negotiations, provoking criticism and resentment across the industry’s labor movement.)

Solidarity with the striking actors and writers was a wise stance by the below-the-line workers, as the performers and writers were fighting to wrest control from executives and reign in threats to industry labor, from artificial intelligence (AI) to stagnant wages to the dwindling residuals of the streaming-platform era. The wins secured last year set a precedent for this year’s negotiations, offering a model for protections and improvements sought by IATSE and the Basic Crafts.

But the solidarity also came at a cost: the unions’ health and pension funds took a major hit from the work stoppage, a problem they now must address at the bargaining table. Members were out of work for months, and as the strike dragged on, crew members struggled to afford basic necessities; whatever savings they may have had are now significantly depleted. That helps the studios, which have demonstrated their willingness to play hardball even if it drives their workforce into destitution.

But all of that doesn’t necessarily mean the unions now at the table won’t strike if they feel they must in order to make their work sustainable going forward. Workers are against the ropes, and that’s a clarifying position in which to be.

“We will strike if we have to,” said Dougherty at the Woodley Park rally. In January, IATSE president Loeb noted, “Nothing is off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they [studios] think they sapped us and everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months.”

Plus, the studios are hurting too, and it’s unclear how they would weather another strike. A contraction of the entertainment industry was long in the making, and the disruption of last year’s strike has been followed by mass layoffs at Amazon MGM Studios, Paramount, Pixar, Prime Video, and, among other studios.

“As we enter negotiations, the AMPTP is committed to engaging in an open and productive two-way dialogue with our union partners that focuses on keeping crew members on the job without interruption, recognizes the contributions they make to motion pictures and television, and reinforces a lasting collaboration that ensures the industry and those who work in it thrive for years to come,” a spokesperson for the AMPTP told the Los Angeles Times.

IATSE members came nail-bitingly close to striking in 2021, the last time these contracts were negotiated. The strike-averse union, which has never engaged in a nationwide work stoppage, faced a groundswell of rank-and-file outcry at the time as concerns around grueling schedules and long workdays led to a determination among members to win improvements at the bargaining table. As I detailed extensively at the time, the twelve- and fourteen-hour days were a safety concern, with cases of crew members getting into car accidents after a long day foremost in workers’ minds as they pushed the negotiating committee to win longer turnaround times and higher penalties for making crew work through meal breaks.

Updated overtime provisions and rest periods remain an issue, and last year, members launched a reform caucus in hopes of democratizing the union. The union has made it clear that it will not extend the contract this time around, meaning that if a tentative agreement is not reached in July, workers will be on strike.

AI protections are also a priority for the union members. The threat AI poses to actors, who can be replaced by scanned likenesses of themselves, also applies to many below-the-line workers. Fewer performers on set means fewer hair stylists and costumers are needed too, for example, and a host of other IATSE members face similar threats to their livelihood from new technology. The Teamsters’ motion-picture division is likewise seeking guardrails on technology: computer-generated imagery can replace the need for real-life animal trainers, and autonomous vehicles are a concern for many drivers. The unions have not yet held strike-authorization votes, though IATSE president Loeb has said “it’s always possible.”

The guilds are also expected to push for a streaming residual, similar to those won by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA. Below-the-line workers do not individually receive residuals, but employers pay the equivalent of a residual into the unions’ benefit plans, an important source of funding for plans that are under more strain than ever.

Wages are also an issue, with members needing a major bump to keep up with inflation. WGA and SAG-AFTRA members received initial pay bumps of 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively — background actors got a separate 11 percent raise — and the below-the-line unions are expected to seek comparable pay increases. (IATSE’s current contracts mandate 3 percent annual raises.) Health and safety, too, are particular concerns for IATSE members, with Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in 2021 infuriating long-frustrated crew.

It’s a lot to address, by workers who do an enormous range of labor. These workers will be looking to their above-the-line counterparts for solidarity this time around, returning the favor paid last year (a standing ovation for these manual laborers and their unions at this year’s Oscars suggests they may receive it). But if last year showed anything, it’s that Hollywood runs on union labor, and these days, union members are less afraid than ever of putting up a fight

Skilled Worker Shortage Stalls U.S. Construction Boom in 2024

By Metal Miner - Feb 08, 2024

• The U.S. construction industry is grappling with a critical shortage of skilled workers, affecting project costs and completion times.
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• The industry's labor deficit is exacerbated by the Great Resignation, a diminishing pool of young workers, and unfavorable working conditions.
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• China's property sector problems could have significant implications for the U.S. construction market, influencing global metal demand and prices
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The Construction MMI (Monthly Metals Index) moved in a relatively sideways trend. Steel prices continuing to flatten out, along with bar fuel surcharges dipping in price, kept the index from breaking out of the sideways movement we’ve witnessed since December. As the index enters 2024, U.S. construction news continues to focus on high interest rates and when the hawkish Fed might consider dropping them. Along with this, the U.S. construction market still faces labor shortages, particularly for specialized skills. While predictions indicate that U.S. construction projects will continue to increase in the future, these current trends remain extremely taxing for the sector.

Construction News Indicates Lack of Skilled Workers Problematic

According to construction news sources, the construction industry in the United States continues to face a severe shortage of skilled workers, making it difficult for the sector to satisfy the growing demand for building projects. According to the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the business needs over half a million people. Meanwhile, construction news outlets report that contractors continue to see significant demand from an increasing number of mega-projects, sustainable energy facilities, and infrastructure.

Among the numerous crafting positions that need filling are positions for heavy equipment operators, carpenters, masons, electricians, and plumbers. Most industry players anticipate that there will be a continued high demand for these positions, requiring between 300,000 and 546,000 additional hires per year on top of regular employment figures. In particular, the sector continues to struggle to find younger people to fill these roles. The Great Resignation, a declining pool of potential new hires, and unfavorable working conditions are just some of the reasons for these difficulties.

Ramifications

Of course, this lack of skilled construction workers affects the industry in a number of ways. For instance, projects may cost more to complete and take longer to finish. There could also be problems with productivity and quality control, raising questions about the general caliber of building projects. Construction companies are already investigating several strategies to alleviate this problem, including putting training and apprenticeship programs in place, collaborating with hiring agencies, and using technology and automation to lessen the impact of worker scarcity on project costs and construction deadlines.

China’s Property Sector More Closely Tied to U.S. Construction Than Assumed

China’s robust demand for imports at the start of 2024 left many questioning (and concerned) if the news signaled a thriving Chinese economy or the opposite. However, even if China’s economy or property sector isn’t performing at its peak, this doesn’t impact U.S. construction, right? Think again.

China remains one of the top global consumers of metals. This means that where China goes, global metal demand goes as well. If China’s metal demand proves lackluster in the immediate future, it will snowball into other global construction sectors. Moreover, with an estimated 20 million unbuilt and delayed pre-sold homes, China has a huge backlog of unfinished real estate endeavors that will cost significant amounts of money to finish. Developers continue to experience financial difficulties as a result of this fact. Now it seems that these difficulties may spread to the global construction market, including the U.S.

There are several ways in which China’s property sector difficulties might affect American building projects, according to construction news sources. For instance, if Chinese developers continue to encounter finishing projects, it could result in a decline in the market for building supplies and machinery. This, in turn, could impact American manufacturers and suppliers. In addition, if Chinese metal demand drops significantly due to domestic property construction issues, global demand for several major metals, particularly steel and aluminum, could drop. This would result in higher prices for the U.S. and any other country sourcing these metals from China.

These facts continue to ensure that any construction news out of China should get top priority.

By Jennifer Kary