Page 129 - Labor
Strike stops flights at Israel's main airport
Flights at Israel's main airport were suspended today as part of a strike against plans by pharmaceutical giant Teva to shed employees, airport sources said. Air traffic at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv came to a halt at 0600 GMT after the Jewish state's powerful Histadrut trade union called for the strike which was set to last for four hours. Many flights set to depart on Sunday morning were rescheduled to leave earlier so only seven flights were cancelled due to the strike, the sources said. Teva will make 1,750 employees redundant in Israel as part of plans to slash 14,000 jobs globally over two years, according to Histadrut head Avi Nissenkorn. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's largest producer of generic drugs, has said its reductions would be across-the-board and in all its locations. The cuts would amount to more than a quarter of the Israeli drugmaker's global workforce of over 55,000, of which fewer than 7,000 work in Israel. The "solidarity" strike ..
No pay for 1 yr: Assam hills council plans VRS for staff
Having failed to pay salary to its nearly 2,300 employees for the last one year, the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council is planning voluntary retirement for around 1,000 staff to "get rid" of them and has sent a Rs 200- crore proposal to the Assam government for approval. The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC), which controls almost all departments in the Dima Hasao district with executive power except general administration, police, treasury, election and judiciary, has not paid any salary to its employees since November 2016. NC Hills Autonomous Council Employees' Union (NCHACEU) and activists have alleged massive corruption and leakage of funds for the situation. The council, however, has blamed huge non-required hiring by earlier governments for the current situation and sent a proposal for a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for its employees to the Assam government for approval. "When the new administration took charge of the council 15 months ago, ...
US may stop spouses of H-1B visa holders from working
The Trump administration is considering revoking an Obama-era rule that extends work authorisation to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, a move that could affect thousands of Indian workers and their families. Since 2015, the spouses of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa holders waiting for green cards have been eligible to work in the US on H-4 dependent visas, under a rule introduced by the previous Obama administration. In 2016, more than 41,000 of H-4 visa holders were issued work authorisation. This year till June more than 36,000 H-4 visa holders were issued work authorisation. The H-1B programme attracts foreign specialised workers to come to the United States for employment, many of them from India and China. "DHS is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation," said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a latest regulation. According to the notice, the changes is ...
Rs 1544 crore social welfare pension sanctioned:Ker minister
The Kerala government has sanctioned Rs 1544 crore for the distribution of various social welfare pension for a three month period, state finance minister T M Thomas Isaac said today. The amount was for the pension for the period from September to November, Isaac said in a statement. A total of 51 lakh people would be benefited by this and it would be distributed from tomorrow. Though financial crunch was a reality, sanctioning funds for welfare pension was part of government policy of not making changes in its priorities, Isaac said. There would not be any restrictions in the treasury for withdrawing the pension amount, he added.
Govt okays Rs 2,600 cr package for leather, footwear industry
The government today approved a Rs 2,600 crore special package for employment generation in the leather and footwear sectors, which has the potential to generate 3.24 lakh new jobs in three years and assist in the formalisation of two lakh jobs. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. The package involves implementation of central scheme 'Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme' with an approved expenditure of Rs 2,600 crore over the three financial years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. "The scheme would lead to development of infrastructure for the leather sector, address environment concerns specific to the leather sector, facilitate additional investments, employment generation and increase in production. "Enhanced Tax incentive would attract large scale investments in the sector and reform in labour law in view of seasonal nature of the sector will support economies of scale," an ...
'Section of AI employees want to be part of airline mgmt'
A section of Air India employees has proposed that their representatives should be made part of the airline's management amid the government moving ahead with the strategic disinvestment of the carrier, a source said. The proposal was made by one of the employees' unions by way of written submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture during a meeting on December 11. Besides, one of the unions has proposed that the government should consider employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at the disinvestment-bound carrier. "The union proposed giving employees the option to run the company by including employee representatives in its management and to consider ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan) as well," the source said. The committee, headed by Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien, had convened the meeting to hear the representatives of Air India employees' unions as well as officials of various Air India subsidiaries on the proposed ...