STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.
NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:
THIS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Bay Area United Against War Presents
a film screening of:
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"
Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector."
Danny will be available for a question and answer period
right after the movie.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the
media's coverage of the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny
Schechter shows us how the TV networks now prefer the
role of cheerleader, to that of objective journalist," says
Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol
Morris and a Dashiell Hammet detective, following close
on the tail of big media reporters as they in turn track
the march toward war, embed themselves in the military
industrial complex and then get out when the fighting
gets tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, "
writes Shandon Fowler of film's Hamptons International
Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.com
www.bauaw.org
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:
www.bringourtroopshomenow.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Health Care Given A 'New Look'
By Dahr Jamail
December 07, 2004
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **
2) US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq (Story from August 2003)
by Andrew Buncombe , The Independent
December 6th, 2004
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8160
3) 1,000th U.S. Soldier Killed in Action in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 11:17 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7018348
4) U.S. Forces Seize 18 Suspects in Raids Near Tikrit
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 01:19 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7011476&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
5) Report: CIA Paints Pessimistic Iraq Picture
NEW YORK (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 07:35 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7015703&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
6) Productivity Growth Slows; Store Sales Dip
By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 09:15 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7017049&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
7) ***EMERGENCY APPEAL FROM NAOMI KLEIN TO SUPPORT THE ZANON
WORKERS IN PATAGONIA***
In a message dated 12/7/04 4:43:21 AM,
grok@SPRINT.CA writes:
8) Colgate Plans to Cut Work Force and Close Plants
By NEW YORK (Reuters)
Filed at 10:20 a.m. ET
December 7, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-manufacturing-colgate.html
9) 3 Chains Agree in Suit Over Janitors' Wages and Hours
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
December 7, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/national/07janitor.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Health Care Given A 'New Look'
By Dahr Jamail
December 07, 2004
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **
BAGHDAD, Dec 7 (IPS) - The Baghdad Medical City has begun to look nice
in its new coat of paint.
It does not look that nice to Dr Hammad Hussein, ophthalmology resident
at the centre. "I have not seen anything which indicates any rebuilding
aside from our new pink and blue colours here where our building and the
escape ladders were painted," he told IPS.
What this largest medical complex in Iraq lacks is medicines, he said.
"I'll prescribe medication and the pharmacy simply does not have it to
give to the patient."
The hospital is short of wheelchairs, half the lifts are broken, and the
family members of patients are being forced to work as nurses because of
shortage of medical personnel, he said.
The Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad has been given new desks and chairs. The
new desk delivered to Dr Aisha Abdulla sits in the corridor outside her
office.
"They should build a lift so patients who can't walk can be taken to
surgery, and instead we have these new desks," she said. "How can I take
a new desk when there are patients dying because we don't have medicine
for them?"
The U.S.-based Bechtel Corporation was hired to deliver an assessment of
all damage following the invasion last year and to identify priority
reconstruction projects. Bechtel carried out repair work in about 50
primary healthcare centres before handing the rest over to USAID, the
official aid agency of the U.S. government.
In his book 'Iraq Inc.' Pratap Chatterjee says USAID spent nearly a year
selecting contractors to rebuild healthcare centres and hospitals before
awarding one of the largest contracts to ABT Associates Incorporated, a
large government and business consultancy firm based in Massachusetts in
the United States.
The ABT contract is worth more than 22 million dollars, according to the
USAID website.
The contract was to support the Iraqi health ministry with medical
equipment and supplies, distribute grants to health organisations for
critical supplies, and determine specific needs, particularly those of
vulnerable groups like women and children.
USAID says it has provided considerable assistance to the ministry of
health in providing healthcare for pregnant women and children,
supporting immunisation programmes, and refurbishing local health
clinics. More than 100 such facilities have been improved, says USAID
spokesman in Baghdad David DeVoss.
The health ministry has provided high-protein biscuits with USAID help
to more than 450,000 children and 200,000 pregnant and nursing mothers
facing malnutrition, DeVoss said.
But this may not be enough.. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
says the number of children suffering from malnutrition has doubled
since the March 2003 invasion. About 8 percent of Iraqi children below
five suffer from chronic diarrhoea and protein deficiency, it says.
UNICEF says that diarrhoea caused mainly by unsafe water is responsible
for 70 percent of child deaths in Iraq.
Interim health minister Ala-al-Din al-Awan accuses UNICEF of basing its
findings on questionable methodology.
The Arab news channel Al-Jazeera reports that 40 percent of the water
system has been damaged, with supply lines broken or contaminated. A
large section of sewage lines also fail to function as a result of power
failures, poor maintenance and damage caused by the invasion.
USAID says that more than 1,700 breaks in water pipes have been repaired
over the past year, but admits that more needs to be done.
If the situation is bad in Baghdad, it is much worse in Fallujah. Relief
efforts within Fallujah are not getting the assistance they need from
the ministry of health, local aid workers say. The Iraqi Red Crescent
(IRC) estimates that up to 10,000 people remain trapped inside the city,
many in severe need of medical care.
The IRC was able to deliver some supplies to Fallujah in recent days,
but the U.S. military ordered the IRC out of Fallujah Monday because of
ongoing military operations.
USAID spokesperson in the United States Susan Pittman told IPS there
were no civilians in the city. "I don't believe that there is anyone in
there yet," she said. Rebuilding "assessments" would be carried out once
military operations were completed, she said.
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches
because you requested a subscription at some point.
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe
or unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
subject
or the body of the email.
(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link
to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images and text
including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website,
copying and printing requires the permission of Dahr Jamail.
Of course, feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq (Story from August 2003)
by Andrew Buncombe , The Independent
December 6th, 2004
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=8160
(From The Independent, August 10, 2003) American pilots dropped
the controversial incendiary agent napalm on Iraqi troops during the
advance on Baghdad. The attacks caused massive fireballs that
obliterated several Iraqi positions.
The Pentagon denied using napalm at the time, but Marine pilots
and their commanders have confirmed that they used an upgraded
version of the weapon against dug-in positions. They said napalm,
which has a distinctive smell, was used because of its psychological
effect on an enemy.
A 1980 UN convention banned the use against civilian targets of
napalm, a terrifying mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks
to skin as it burns. The US, which did not sign the treaty, is one of
the few countries that makes use of the weapon. It was employed
notoriously against both civilian and military targets in the Vietnam
war.
The upgraded weapon, which uses kerosene rather than petrol,
was used in March and April, when dozens of napalm bombs were
dropped near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris river,
south of Baghdad.
"We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches," said Colonel James
Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. "Unfortunately there were
people there ... you could see them in the [cockpit] video. They were
Iraqi soldiers. It's no great way to die. The generals love napalm.
It has a big psychological effect."
A reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald who witnessed another
napalm attack on 21 March on an Iraqi observation post at Safwan Hill,
close to the Kuwaiti border, wrote the following day: "Safwan Hill
went up in a huge fireball and the observation post was obliterated.
'I pity anyone who is in there,' a Marine sergeant said. 'We told them
to surrender.'"
At the time, the Pentagon insisted the report was untrue. "We
completed destruction of our last batch of napalm on 4 April,
2001," it said.
The revelation that napalm was used in the war against Iraq,
while the Pentagon denied it, has outraged opponents of the war.
"Most of the world understands that napalm and incendiaries are
a horrible, horrible weapon," said Robert Musil, director of the
organisation Physicians for Social Responsibility. "It takes up an
awful lot of medical resources. It creates horrible wounds."
Mr Musil said denial of its use "fits a pattern of deception [by
the US administration]".
The Pentagon said it had not tried to deceive. It drew a distinction
between traditional napalm, first invented in 1942, and the
weapons dropped in Iraq, which it calls Mark 77 firebombs.
They weigh 510lbs, and consist of 44lbs of polystyrene-like
gel and 63 gallons of jet fuel.
Officials said that if journalists had asked about the firebombs
their use would have been confirmed. A spokesman admitted
they were "remarkably similar" to napalm but said they caused
less environmental damage.
But John Pike, director of the military studies group
GlobalSecurity.Org, said: "You can call it something other
than napalm but it is still napalm. It has been reformulated
in the sense that they now use a different petroleum distillate,
but that is it. The US is the only country that has used napalm
for a long time. I am not aware of any other country that uses it."
Marines returning from Iraq chose to call the firebombs "napalm".
Mr Musil said the Pentagon's effort to draw a distinction between
the weapons was outrageous. He said: "It's Orwellian. They do not
want the public to know. It's a lie."
In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Marine Corps
Maj-Gen Jim Amos confirmed that napalm was used on several
occasions in the war.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) 1,000th U.S. Soldier Killed in Action in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 11:17 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7018348
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The number of U.S. troops killed in
action in Iraq hit 1,000 Tuesday when the military said a
soldier had been shot dead on patrol in Baghdad.
"One Task Force Baghdad soldier died of wounds received at
about 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 7. The soldier was on patrol when the
unit came under small arms fire," the military in Iraq said in
a typically brief routine statement.
"The name of the soldier killed is being withheld pending
notification of next of kin."
Earlier in the day, the Pentagon had issued a revised
combat casualty toll of 999, a figure which had risen sharply
last month during the U.S. assault on Sunni Muslim insurgents
in the city of Falluja. At least 71 Americans were killed there.
In all, 1,275 U.S. service personnel have died during the
Iraq operation, launched with the invasion on March 20 last
year. This figure includes accidents, suicides and other deaths
not classed as being killed in action.
A total of 9,765 U.S. troops have been wounded.
No official figures are available for the numbers of Iraqi
dead. Estimates have ranged from some 14,000 to tens of
thousands of civilians and around 5,000 troops in the war.
A U.S. soldier was killed in Baghdad Tuesday when his
patrol came under fire, the U.S. military said in statement.
The death of the unnamed soldier took the U.S. combat death
toll since the invasion of Iraq on March 20 last year to 1,000.
The latest Pentagon casualty figures, published earlier on
Tuesday, put the number of Americans killed in action at 999.
(c) Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) U.S. Forces Seize 18 Suspects in Raids Near Tikrit
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 01:19 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7011476&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces detained 18 suspected
insurgents in raids around the town of Tikrit in central Iraq
overnight, the military said in statements Tuesday.
In one operation, seven people were taken into custody
after three roadside bombs were discovered in their house, said
the 1st Infantry Division, responsible for the area around Tikrit.
In a second raid nearby early Tuesday, four people were
arrested on suspicion of being members of an insurgent cell in
the village of Quiya, near Tikrit, which was Saddam Hussein's
hometown and a focal point of resistance.
U.S. troops said they also confiscated an AK-47 assault
rifle, a shot gun, ammunition and about $6,000 in Iraqi dinars
from a house in another village.
A third operation saw seven people detained near the town
of Baiji, an oil-refining center north of Baghdad that has seen
a surge of unrest in recent weeks. Those seized were suspected
of membership in a group that assembled car bombs.
All those detained were taken to a military facility for
questioning.
The army said the raids were designed to "capture or kill"
guerrillas. It did not say if anyone had been killed as well as
captured during the operations. There were no U.S. casualties,
it said.
U.S. forces frequently conduct raids on suspected insurgent
hideouts throughout the country, although they have in the past
been accused of targeting the wrong house and snatching
innocent people.
The area around Tikrit, 110 miles north of Baghdad, has
seen a resurgence in violence over the past couple of months.
Saddam was captured nearly a year ago while hiding out in a
hole in the ground near the town. At the time it was believed
his capture would sap the insurgency of strength.
(c) Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Report: CIA Paints Pessimistic Iraq Picture
NEW YORK (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 07:35 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7015703&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The situation in Iraq is unlikely to
improve anytime soon, according to a classified cable and
briefings from the CIA, The New York Times reported on
Tuesday.
The assessments are more pessimistic than the Bush
administration's portrayal of the situation to the public,
government officials told the newspaper.
The classified cable -- sent last month by the CIA's
station chief in Baghdad after the completion of a one-year
tour of duty there -- painted a bleak picture of Iraq's
politics, economics and security and reiterated briefings by
Michael Kostiw, a senior CIA official, according to the Times.
The station chief cannot be identified because he is still
working undercover, the Times added.
The cable, described as "unusually candid," cautioned that
security in the country is likely to deteriorate unless the
Iraqi government makes significant progress in asserting its
authority and building up the economy, the paper said.
Spokesmen for the White House and the CIA told the Times
that they could not discuss intelligence matters and classified
documents.
(c) Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Productivity Growth Slows; Store Sales Dip
By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Tue Dec 7, 2004 09:15 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7017049&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. business productivity grew more
slowly in the third quarter than first thought, a government
report showed on Tuesday, while chain store sales fell in the
crucial shopping week after Thanksgiving.
The Labor Department said nonfarm business productivity, or
worker output per hour, grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate in
the July-to-September period -- the slowest clip since the
fourth quarter of 2002. It also nudged up growth in unit labor
costs to a 1.8 percent pace.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury bond dipped a bare 1/32
in price, lifting its yield to 4.23 percent while the dollar
hovered against the euro (EUR=: Quote ,Profile ,Research )
at $1.3463.
Wall Street had expected an upward revision to productivity
growth to a 2.0 percent clip from 3.9 percent in the second
quarter as worker efficiency moderated and U.S. firms boosted
hiring to maintain output.
"The data tells us that companies have pushed exhibiting
workers as far as they can and that is why they are increasing
employment. But this is also adding to their labor costs," said
Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons.
A preliminary report released last month had shown 1.9
percent productivity growth in the third quarter and a 1.6
percent rise in unit labor costs.
Higher unit labor costs also back views that the Federal
Reserve will stick with a measured pace of rate increases and
lift its benchmark funds rate a quarter percentage point to
2.25 percent at its next meeting on Dec. 14.
"The Fed is watching productivity growth very closely and
assumes that it is higher (on a trend-basis) than the current
pace. If it stays this low it could change the Fed's view of
inflation. But not at this stage," Thayer said.
Hours worked grew at a rate of 2.4 percent in the third
quarter, the fastest pace since third quarter of 1999 as
companies ran operations for longer to maintain output. This
had been initially reported as a 2.1 percent growth rate.
Productivity growth was also substantially lower compared
with a year ago when it rose by 9.0 percent. But this is not
necessarily bad news since it also reflects cyclical changes in
company hiring and a welcome boost to job creation.
Officials had predicted productivity would moderate as
companies exhaust ways of boosting output by making existing
workers more efficient and instead lifted hiring. During the
third quarter over 400,000 new U.S. jobs were created.
In other data, U.S. retailers continued to report
disappointing sales in the key week after the Thanksgiving Day
holiday, which kicks off the Christmas shopping season.
A report by Redbook Research, an independent company,
showed sales in December to-date were down 0.8 percent compared
with November.
A separate report, from the International Council of
Shopping Centers and UBS, found sales fell 1.7 percent in the
week ended Dec. 4, compared with a 1.5 percent decline in the
previous week.
"This disproportionate sales pattern has intensified in
recent years as customers have learned to shop either at the
last minute before the holiday or in the week after Christmas
to exploit merchant markdowns," Redbook said.
(Additional reporting by Meredith Davis in New York)
(c) Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) ***EMERGENCY APPEAL FROM NAOMI KLEIN TO SUPPORT THE ZANON
WORKERS IN PATAGONIA***
In a message dated 12/7/04 4:43:21 AM,
grok@SPRINT.CA writes:
Dear Friends,
We're writing to ask your help in defending an
inspiring and courageous workers' struggle in
Argentina.
The Zanon ceramic tile factory, a democratic,
worker-run factory in Patagonia, is facing a serious
threat of eviction, and the workers have asked us to
gather international support for their struggle.
To sign the petition, please click here:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/zanon/petition.html
And for more information, read on...
For those of you who have seen our documentary, The
Take, the Zanon factory, and Argentina's wider
movement of worker-run companies will be very
familiar.
For those of you who haven't, this new movement of
some 15,000 workers in almost 200 democratic
workplaces is building hope and a concrete economic
alternative in the rubble of Argentina's disastrous
experiment with orthodox neoliberalism in the 1990s.
Recovered companies are run by assembly: one worker,
one vote. In most of them, workers have decided that
everyone should receive the same salary. They are
proving the viability of an economy run on an entirely
different value system, and they are growing.
In the past year, Zanon has increased its workforce
from 300 to 450: a
50% increase. What multinational corporation or
national government could boast of such a dramatic
rise in decent-paying employment in the middle of an
economic crisis?
And Zanon has cultivated a deep and mutual
relationship with the surrounding community. For 20
years, the poor neighbourhood of Nueva Espa?a, across
the highway from the factory, has been asking the
provincial government for a health clinic. Zanon
workers took a vote earlier this year, and in 3 months
built and opened a brand new community health
facility.
But now the provincial government is threatening to
send in the Gendarmeria to remove Zanon's precious
machines. This is an illegal order, since this force
is Federal, intended to police Argentina's borders. On
a second front, the Federal judge presiding over the
bankruptcy of the former owner is refusing to
recognize the Zanon workers' co-operative
(called FaSinPat _ short for 'Fabricas Sin Patrones',
Factories Without Bosses.)
The former owner received millions in public
subsidies, and still amassed a huge debt and
bankruptcy: he has since been removed from his own
board of directors for "accounting irregularities".
The workers' co-operative, on the other hand, is a
major success: it is now producing 380,000 square
meters of ceramic tiles a month _ a level of
production higher than when the former owner closed
the factory - and the workers do it without the huge
public subsidies (300,000 pesos per month) that he
used to receive.
The Zanon workers have told us that a massive
international petition in support of their struggle
could make a key difference with the various levels of
courts and governments.
Zanon's highly successful combination of direct action
and direct democracy is a precious example of that
other world that is possible, that is growing before
our very eyes.
We urge you to sign the petition
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/zanon/petition.html and
do everything you can to encourage others to do the
same.
Thank you for your time and support!
Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Colgate Plans to Cut Work Force and Close Plants
By NEW YORK (Reuters)
Filed at 10:20 a.m. ET
December 7, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-manufacturing-colgate.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL.N) will cut about
4,400 jobs, or 12 percent of its work force, and close nearly a third
of its factories under a restructuring, the consumer products
company said on Tuesday.
Colgate, which employs about 37,000 people and operates 78 plants,
said it expects after-tax restructuring charges of $550 million to
$650 million over the four-year program.
The news comes as rising raw material, gas, oil and packaging
costs have put enormous pressure on the consumer products sector.
Colgate, whose brands include Colgate tooth-care products and
Palmolive cleansers, issued its first earnings warning in nearly
a decade in September, due in part to higher costs.
The restructuring plan includes initiatives such as moving
some business support functions to shared-service centers
and globally managing all purchasing, including media.
Colgate will also increase its investment in research and
development, mainly in oral care and its Hill's pet business.
Other steps include a focus on marketing and new products.
Colgate wants to improve sales and marketing groups, especially
in markets where it sees high potential, such as Eastern Europe,
Russia, China and parts of Latin America and Asia.
``We had expected this announcement and view it as a step
in the right direction,'' said SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
analyst William Chappell, who has a ``buy'' rating on
Colgate shares.
Investors cheered the plan, sending shares of Colgate up
4.5 percent to $48.38 in early trading on the New York Stock
Exchange.
Colgate Chairman and Chief Executive Reuben Mark said in
October that the company was working on cutting costs but
that a ``worldwide cataclysmic reorganization'' should not
be expected.
In November, Colgate shares fell 4 percent after Banc of America
Securities analyst William Steele said he expected the company
to soon announce a restructuring charge that could be near half
a billion dollars.
New York-based Colgate's last big restructuring charge came in
1995. At that time, it took a charge of $369.2 million when it
announced plans to slash 3,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its work
force, and close 24 of its 112 factories.
Colgate said it agreed with analysts' earnings expectations for
the 2004 fourth quarter and the full-year 2005, excluding
restructuring and related charges. It said restructuring charges
should be about $45 million in the fourth quarter and
$200 million in 2005.
Analysts expect Colgate to earn 57 cents to 59 cents per share
in the fourth quarter, with an average estimate of 58 cents,
according to Reuters Estimates. For 2005, analysts expect
a profit of $2.51 to $2.76 per share, with a mean estimate of $2.61.
The company, which previously forecast earnings per share
growth of 6 percent to 10 percent in 2005, said it expects the
restructuring to help earnings per share, excluding restructuring
charges, to grow at low-double-digit rates in 2006 and beyond.
It said it plans to raise its goal for annual gross margin
improvement to a range of 0.75 to 1.25 percentage point,
from its long-time previous range of 0.5 to 1 percentage point.
The new goal will go into effect once the restructuring initiatives
are fully under way toward the end of 2005, Mark said in
a statement.
Colgate, whose other brands include Ajax and Softsoap, expects
after-tax savings from the restructuring of about $45 million in
2005. By the plan's fourth year, it expects annual after-tax
savings of $250 million to $300 million.
Colgate's news comes in a week in which the company's rivals
are also discussing their prospects.
On Monday, Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB.N), the maker of
Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers, outlined its plans for
the next three years at a meeting with analysts and investors.
Beauty company Avon Products Inc. (AVP.N) will unveil its plans
on Wednesday, and consumer goods powerhouse Procter &
Gamble Co. (PG.N) is expected to discuss its progress at an
investment meeting in Boston on Thursday.
Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) 3 Chains Agree in Suit Over Janitors' Wages and Hours
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
December 7, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/national/07janitor.html
Three of the largest supermarket chains in California have reached
a tentative $22.4 million settlement in a class-action suit by
immigrant janitors who said they often earned $3.50 an hour
and were never paid overtime, the two sides said yesterday.
The chains - Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons - tentatively settled
the suit by 2,100 janitors, mostly from Mexico. Many said they
worked 70 or more hours a week, often seven nights a week
from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.
The companies had originally said they should face no liability,
pointing out that their cleaning contractors, and not the stores,
employed the janitors. The companies tentatively agreed to the
accord after a federal judge rejected their motion to dismiss the
suit. They had said they were not joint employers along with the
cleaning contractor.
Representatives of the janitors said Judge Percy Anderson of
Federal District Court in Los Angeles had been expected to
approve the settlement yesterday. But in a hearing, Judge
Anderson said he was postponing approval, perhaps until
Jan. 24, because Albertsons had not posted notices about
the proposed settlement in its California stores to inform the
cleaners.
When the suit began in 2000 on behalf of 600 janitors, Albertsons;
Ralphs, part of Kroger; and Vons, part of Safeway, said they had
little to do with the janitors, saying the workers were the
responsibility of the contractor. The janitors also sued Encompass
Services, the principal contractor, which has gone bankrupt.
Company officials declined to comment yesterday, saying they
did not want to talk until a final settlement had been reached.
The janitors' advocates said the suit was important to help check
a trend in which thousands of employers relied on contractors
who often broke the law, while the major companies insisted that
they knew nothing of the violations.
"Many companies use contractors as a way of avoiding liability,"
the director of the U.C.L.A. Labor Center, Kent Wong, said.
"It avoids paying comparable wages, paying health benefits and
making long-term commitments to these employees."
Jesus Lopez, who worked for five years cleaning a Vons in the
San Fernando Valley, said he earned $250 a week even though
he typically worked 70 hours, working out to $3.57 an hour, far
less than the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage. Mr. Lopez
said he was never paid time and a half when he worked more
than 40 hours a week.
"I had only three days off in my whole five years there, and that
was because I was very sick," Mr. Lopez, 29, an immigrant from
Mexico, said. "I really couldn't do anything, because if I told my
boss he was paying me too little, he would just fire me. It's hard
to find another job, and I have to support my mother and younger
brothers."
Like other janitors, Mr. Lopez said he was paid in cash, never had
taxes withheld and was not given health insurance or vacation
days. He said the contractor gave him orders about washing and
waxing the floors, but Vons managers often ordered him to
clean storage areas and remove empty cartons.
"I felt very bad about how little they paid me," he said. "One
comes to this country with dreams, and when you see the reality
of things, you see it's very different from what you expected."
The suit was originally brought by class-action lawyers along
with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
and the Service Employees International Union.
"When work gets contracted out and then subcontracted out again,
standards for workers plummet, and that's when we see the illegal
activity that led to this lawsuit," said Mike Garcia, president of the
largest S.E.I.U. janitors' local in California.
Under the accord, the janitors will receive $10,000 each on average.
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, faces a similar suit in which
hundreds of janitors who worked seven nights a week accuse it and
its cleaning contractors of violating overtime laws. The janitors say
Wal-Mart should be considered a joint employer. The company says
it did not employ the cleaners.
"This lawsuit in California should strengthen the janitors' case against
Wal-Mart, because it is clarifying the laws on who a joint employer
is," Lilia Garcia, executive director of the Maintenance Cooperation
Trust Fund, a monitoring group, said. "What happens is the
supermarkets and the cleaners don't change from year to year.
Only the contractors change. So it's clear who the real employer is."
Wal-Mart was embarrassed last year when federal agents raided
60 stores in 21 states and arrested 250 janitors, accusing them
of being illegal immigrants.
Unlike the California suit, the Wal-Mart suit involves janitors from
countries other than Mexico, including Brazil, the Czech Republic,
Mongolia and Poland. The Mexican and Czech governments have
filed briefs on behalf of the janitors.
In August, the federal Labor Department and the State of California
reached a $1.9 million settlement with a contractor for Target after
finding that the contractor had not paid overtime to hundreds of
immigrant janitors who worked seven nights a week cleaning
Target stores.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
No comments:
Post a Comment