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American labour movement splits down the middle
New York: The American labour movement was heading for a split down the middle as union officials argued bitterly about ways to tackle the dwindling membership and waning power of unions in the United States.

Two of the biggest unions in the US, the Teamsters, which represents transport workers, and the Service Employees International Union said they were quitting the AFL-CIO, the main labour federation.

Together, the pair represents 3.2 million workers. The announcement was staged to overshadow a convention in Chicago that was supposed to celebrate the AFL-CIO's 50th anniversary.

Another two unions are also considering leaving the federation: the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Unite Here, representing textile and hotel workers.

The dissident unions complain that the AFL-CIO has not done enough to arrest the decades long decline in membership. Around a third of American workers were organised when the AFL-CIO formed in 1955; today the figure is around one in eight.

Until yesterday's face off, the AFL-CIO had 13 million members.

"We must have more union members in order to change the political climate that is undermining workers' rights in this country," said Teamsters president James Hoffa. "The AFL-CIO has chosen the opposite approach.

"We've lost the ability to organise," he added. "We believe we have the energy to go out and organise. There are unions in the AFL-CIO that are basically bound to the past, they're living off the past."

The dissident unions have formed a breakaway group called the Change to Win Coalition.

Other labour leaders have warned that the rift could weaken the movement at a dangerous time, as they deal with increasingly powerful multinationals.

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney hit out at the rebels. "At a time when our corporate and conservative adversaries have created the most powerful anti-worker machine in the history of our country, a divided movement hurts the hopes of working families for a better life," he said.
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Intel to build $4-billion factory in Israel
Jerusalem: Computer chip manufacturing giant Intel Corp has decided to build its new $4-billion "Fab 28" factory in Kiryat Gat, prime minister Ariel Sharon told a cabinet meeting Sunday.

"I spoke last night (Saturday night) with Intel chairman of the Board Craig R Barrett, who informed me that his company has decided to establish another plant in Kiryat Gat at an investment of approximately $4 billion," Sharon said. "I see this decision as a declaration of complete confidence in the stability and strength of the Israeli economy."

The new plant is expected to absorb approximately 2,000 workers directly and another 2,000 indirectly.

Sharon added that the decision follows intensive contacts between the company and a team headed by industry, trade and labor minister Ehud Olmert, which included representatives from his ministry, the prime minister's office and the finance ministry.

The ministry of industry, trade and labor said in a statement that the government had agreed to provide Intel with a grant of $525 million, or "15 percent for the first $3.5 billion the company spends," to build the plant.

The ministry said that Intel will request the grant by the end of the month and that the government would work to approve the funding by the end of the year. Once approved, Intel will have to build the Fab within five years.

Intel Israel declined to comment on the government announcement.

The project will be Intel's third plant in Israel and will be built adjacent to its established Kiryat Gat factory, which the company opened in 1999, and for which it is currently carrying out a $666mn upgrade. The company also has a plant in Jerusalem and R&D centers in Yakum, Jerusalem and Petah Tikva, employing 5,400 people in Israel out of a total of 85,000 worldwide.
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