Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/551510
57 SUMMER 2015 / CINEMONTAGE that a provision exempting unions would be included in any local wage ordinance, as it has been in such cities as Oakland, San Francisco and Chicago, adds Medina. A similar provision was also part of the $15.57 minimum wage for workers at large hotels that the city approved in 2014. The Council decided to ask for a report from city officials on exemptions, leaving it out of the ordinance, writes Emily Alpert Reyes in the Los Angeles Times. 'RIGHT TO WORK' HURTS ALL WORKERS "Anti-union state and local policymakers in communities across the country are attacking an already weakened labor movement by enacting so-called "right to work" laws that inhibit workers from bargaining for better wages and benefits," write Karla Walter and Jackie Odum in Newsweek. "'Right to work' laws make it illegal for workers and employers to negotiate a contract that requires everyone who benefits from a union contract to pay his or her fair share of the costs of administering it. "Numerous studies show that 'right to work' laws are harmful to workers and local economies. "Proponents argue that these laws create jobs and grow the economy based on the incorrect assumption that high union density hurts the economy. But research has discredited these arguments and shown that these laws disadvantage all workers, regardless of union status. "American labor law is supposed to ensure that workers can join together in unions, but state and local governments are increasingly enacting policies that function to degrade these rights. "'Right to work' laws reduce wages, undermine unions and weaken bargaining power at a time when wage increases could bolster our middle class and strengthen local economies. "This harms all middle-class Americans and the economy as a whole. If policymakers are serious about raising wages and revitalizing their economies, they need to pursue policies that empower workers and increase unionization rates." MURDER CHARGED IN BANGLADESH TRAGEDY Police in Bangladesh in June filed the first formal murder charges against the owner of a building that collapsed in 2013, killing 1,130 people in the country's worst industrial disaster, according to Reuters. The collapse of Rana Plaza, built outside the capital, Dhaka, ranks amongst the world's worst industrial accidents, and prompted an outcry for greater safety in the world's second- largest exporter of readymade clothing. In all, 42 people were charged as a result of the disaster, a rare step in a country where critics complain that powerful garment industry owners often go unpunished for factory accidents. If convicted, owner Sohel Rana could be sentenced to death. RUSSIAN PRISON LABOR FOR WORLD CUP? Russian authorities want to use prison labor to drive down the costs of holding the 2018 World Cup, according to the Associated Press. The Russian prison service is backing a bid by lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein to allow prisoners to be taken from their camps to work at factories, with a focus on driving down the costs of building World Cup venues. Workers' rights are a delicate issue for World Cup organizer FIFA, which is under pressure over the high rate of deaths among the 600,000 migrant workers in 2022 host nation Qatar. There, many are forced to live in squalor and are paid poverty wages or even "slavery wages" in the richest country in the world, according to Sharan Burrow writing for the AFL- CIO's blog Now. So far, there are no plans to employ Russian prisoners on World Cup stadium construction sites, Khinshtein added. 2016 GOP RACE MAY TAKE ON UNIONS Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has distinguished himself as an outspoken anti-union candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, largely because he took on public employee unions and signed a "right to work" bill into law in what was once a union-friendly state. In Iowa, Walker led in five recent polls, including the respected Des Moines Register poll. LABOR MAT TERS Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center, joins members of the City Council and community leaders as he signs into law an ordinance that will gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu/ Associated Press