Headlines for Tuesday, August 31, 2010

New York first in nation to give domestic workers labor protection
In New York today, the nation's first labor protections for domestic workers were signed into law. FSRN's Renee Feltz was there.

Governor David Paterson signed the Domestic Workers Rights Bill in a crowded Harlem cultural center as hundreds of nannies, housekeepers and elderly caregivers looked on. Domestic worker Deloris Wright addressed the crowd. She was fired from her job as a nanny earlier this year when she refused to work a 60-hour week with no overtime.

"We have a dream. That one day all workers will be valued equally."

More than 270,000 domestic workers in New York will now be guaranteed overtime pay and one day of rest a week. After one year of work, they'll be granted three paid vacation days. The bill also protects domestic workers against sexual harassment.

Elva Ordoñez says she feels good because she's been working to pass this bill for six years. Doñez works as a house cleaner in Long Island, New York.

"Do you think that your job is going to improve now? Si, ... para todos.”

Yes, she says. Everything is going to be different. For everybody. Patterson says the New York Department of Labor will establish regulations for ensuring the new Act is followed. The state will collaborate with domestic workers to distribute the regulations to their employers. A similar domestic worker rights bill is pending in California. Renee Feltz, FSRN, Harlem.

Crews cleaning up Michigan oil spill worked in unsafe and unsanitary conditions
A Texas sub-contracting firm hired to clean up the Enbridge Energy oil spill in Michigan has been fired after the Michigan Messenger reported that laborers - some of whom acknowledge being undocumented - were working in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Clean up crews worked almost 100 hour weeks and ate meals while covered in oil. Workers reported that there were no portable bathrooms at the Kalamazoo River work sites, so they had to use the wooded areas along the shoreline. The contractor, Halmark, bused hundreds of workers to Michigan from Texas. According to the Messenger, some laborers are now stranded in Michigan, and not sure they’ll get paid.

Halmark’s employees boarded buses and left town.

National Guard bolsters Border Patrol; drones take to border skies Wednesday
More than 500 National Guard troops began patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border this week. They are part of Operation Copper Cactus; it began in California earlier this month. The Operation intends to bolster border patrol forces and will eventually cover New Mexico and Texas border areas as well where unpiloted aerial drones will begin patrolling the skies Wednesday. Shannon Young has more.

The introduction of unpiloted surveillance aircraft into South Texas airspace means the multi-million dollar machines will patrol the entire length of the US/Mexico border.

Drones have been in use over some rural sections of the border since 2004, but the Federal Aviation Administration had been cautious to approve their use in the civilian airspace over the urbanized Texas border given their high accident rate in comparison to piloted aircraft. One of the most common technical failures of drones - which are operated remotely from the ground - is a loss of communication between pilot and aircraft. The Congressional Budget Office found the use of drones has "resulted in fewer alien apprehensions per flight hour than the use of manned aircraft." While crashes in remote rural areas are expensive, a major malfunction in an urban area could also potentially cause harm to local residents and property. Each Predator B drone costs 4.5 million dollars. The Customs and Border Protection Inspector General reports the cost of operating a drone is more than double that of a piloted aircraft. Shannon Young, FSRN, Mexico.

Union Carbide execs may be re-charged over Bhopal in Indian courts
India’s Supreme Court reopened the Bhopal gas leak case today.  Jasvinder Singh reports.

The petition was filed by the India’s Central Bureau of Investigation. They sought reconsideration of the 1996 judgment that downgraded charges in the Bhopal disaster case from culpable homicide to negligence.  The charges stemmed from the 1984 Gas leak at the Bhopal Pesticide plant that killed as many as 16,000 people. The case against the former Chairman of Union Carbide and six other company officials was finally decided in June. A local court sentenced them to just two years of jail but they ultimately managed bail. Today’s decision places the more serious homicide charges back in play with the possibility of up to ten years in prison.

Naina, who lost her sight in the tragedy, is extremely happy with the decision.

“I am happy that at least after 26 years, the culprits will now be punished. This will be true homage to those who lost their lives in this worst accident of the industrial history.”

Today's decision comes just one day after the upper house of India’s parliament approved a controversial nuclear liability law which was heavily influenced by the ease with which top executives of Union Carbide escaped their responsibility in the Gas tragedy. Jasvinder Sehgal, FSRN, India.

Kashmir cycle of violence and protest continues – eleven year old boy killed
Another youth is dead in Kashmir after police shot at demonstrators yet again – protests, curfews and a separatist sponsored shutdown continue. Shahnawaz Khan reports.

The eleven year old boy, Irshad Ahmad Parray, was killed late when police fired pellet guns on protestors in Anantnag town in north Kashmir. The boy's death intensified protests and clashes in the area, with mobs attacking at least one police station. Earlier Monday morning, protests broke out in Srinagar after police fired on a group of youth who witnesses said were playing carom in a street. Five youth were injured, one of them critically. Pellet guns were introduced A few weeks ago as a non-lethal weapon to help police control crowds with fewer casualties. But the guns have since killed at least two people. 65 people, mostly youth, have died in police action on protestors in Indian administered Kashmir since June 11. Separatists have reacted with continuous shutdowns under a Quit Kashmir Campaign. Business, offices and schools have been shut for more than two months barring occasional breaks.

Shahnawaz Khan, FSRN, Srinagar.