Sweatshops in Cambodia… Mobbing in Serbia… Guaraní servitude in Bolivia… Asian women bear burden of food crisis… Eastern Europe’s disappearing workers…

Read IPS news about the setbacks and successes of the World at Work: www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/labour/index.asp

CAMBODIA: US Recession May Hit Anti-Sweatshop Campaign
Andrew Nette
PHNOM PENH – Recession in the United States is endangering a unique experiment that has seen Cambodia become a leading player in the campaign to eradicate sweatshops in the textile industry.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42181

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SERBIA: Now May Day Means Mobbing
Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE – From the days of celebrating workers on May Day, the day now brings reminder of a new practice of mobbing among Serbia’s workers. The transition to a market economy has introduced the new practice of mobbing — abuse of workers through creation of a hostile environment, humiliating reshuffles, rumours, and negligence.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42183

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Q&A: Land Reform Agents Try to Free Indians from Servitude in Bolivia
Interview with INRA Secretary General Juan de Dios Fernández
LA PAZ – Alto Parapetí, a rural area in the eastern Bolivian province of Santa Cruz, is caught up in a dispute between large landowners and the government, which is trying to free more than 2,700 Guaraní Indians from a state of servitude.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42120

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ASIA: Food Crisis Adds to Women?s Burden
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK – As if the burdens they shoulder are not enough, Asia?s women are being compelled to bear the additional weight of rising food prices, say women?s rights activists from across the region.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42162

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AFRICA: South Africa Welcomes Cuban Doctors
Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN – For more than a decade, Cuban doctors have filled part of a gap left by South African doctors who in large numbers leave the country looking for better salaries and employment opportunities.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42156

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ARGENTINA: Training Health Agents to Reduce Child Mortality
Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES – An ambitious new programme for training health agents to help reduce infant mortality in small rural communities and indigenous villages, launched by one of Argentina?s best-known human rights groups, drew many more applicants than the organisers had hoped for.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42154

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KUWAIT: New Deal For Sri Lankan Domestic Help
Feizal Samath
KUWAIT – Recruiters for Sri Lankan housemaids in Kuwaiti homes, under fire for a host of problems faced by the domestic workers, have agreed to accept a greater measure of responsibility.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42144

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EASTERN EUROPE: Where Did All the Workers Go?
Claudia Ciobanu
SOFIA – Worried about the possibility of a slow-down in economic growth because of labour shortages, Eastern European countries have started taking measures to bring their workers back home, and attract foreign labour. But such government interventions can only have a marginal effect.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42064

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