May. 12, 2005 - 20:15 MDT

U.N. ADMITS IT

Way back in todays paper under "World Briefing" is a short article. No byline. In full:

"At least 12.3 million people worldwide work as slaves or in other forms of forced labor, the International Labor Organization, the labor arm of the United Nations, said in a report Wednesday."

"In the first estimates of overall forced labor ever made by an International organization, the report said 2.5 million people were in forced labor as a result of cross-border trafficking, with 1.2 million of them in the sex trade."

"The report, A Global Alliance Against Forced Labor," estimated that profits from trafficked forced labor totaled $32 billion a year, or $13,000 per trafficked worker."

"Profits from forced commercial sexual exploitation totaled $27.8 billion annually or $23,000 per worker."

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A few thoughts and opinions follow.

If we can believe what the article says, then sex work is much more profitable to the employers than pure old peon work. But from what I have read none of those people are paid well and work under threat of force to boot.

Slavery has never disappeared from our world and unfortunately is present in all countries in one form or another. We have in our country the foreign sex workers who are slaves to someone who of course makes sure that it is not known who they are. And kept hidden are the names of the people being paid off to look the other way.

A form of slavery we have here also or at least I think it is tantamount to slavery are the -- what the heck are they called now PC wise ? -- undocumented aliens, who work for a pittance, live under threat of exposure, suffer lousy working conditions and make enough to survive and send a little home to the folks (by doing without themselves).

But I wonder what is going to become of the working folks who are legal in this country ? We have a company, an airline who has in the past forced their employees to sacrifice wages and benefits who is forcing the issue once again and to add to that is dumping their pension obligations to employees onto a quasi-government company. Said pensions will be smaller than guaranteed in the past. Oh yes, fuel is costing more and investments are not bringing in as much - but why weren't they putting aside money for pensions as they promised ?

Maybe it is all for the best ? Get laid off before you are eligible to go on pension ? Then go on unemployment and Medicaid.

This airline is probably the first that will do the dirty to their workers, expected to follow are the eagles on a list still being compiled by the Conjecture Team.

I don't have many more flying years ahead of me and had hoped to travel to Oregon in reasonable equanimity for a few more of them. But, I wonder, how I will deal riding an aircraft whose employers have laid off a bunch of folks, have cut their employees wages, working conditions, benefits and messed up their pension ? Sitting above the earth wondering if the mechanics did the proper maintenance by the book, the baggage handlers stowed things properly, the fueling crew filled the tanks properly, the flight attendants are sanitary in their work and, Oh dear God, the flight crew, pilot and his bunch -- I wonder if the pilot will be trying in his head to figure out what he will have to give up, sell or give away to be able to live on whatever pension the gods of commerce decide to give him.

In so many ways it appears to me that the working person is being pushed into vassalage just like Medieval days and if the overlord will exercise his "droit de signeur" (spelling ?) on the fair maidens as well ?

Our home bred ladies of the night face stiff competition against foreign slave sex workers, and us ordinary slobs having to accept less than minimum wage because we face the competition of the undocumented. Who by the way have been bringing in their families for many years now.

The UN organization finally comes up with some figures, which I doubt reflect actualities. I expect the figures will be low and some countries come out with a clean bill of health. Hell if terrorist countries have members on the security council in the UN, what can we expect. But there is a problem there, even THE U.N. ADMITS IT . . . . . . . . . . . .

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