Vertically integrated textile manufacturing company RSWM has bagged three awards of the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) for logging a remarkable feat in exporting synthetic textiles offshore, the company said in a press release. The SRTEPCis responsible for promotion of export of synthetic textiles from India. RSWM received the bronze trophy for overall export performance for the year 2014 -15 during which it exported synthetic textiles worth Rs. 584 crore. Retaining the grip over excellence in exporting man-made fibre spun yarn, RSWM got the gold trophy for the year under review when the firm exported man-made fibre spun yarn worth Rs. 408 crore. SRTEPC also conferred silver trophy on the firm for 2014 -15 for logging the export of man-made fibre yarn blended with natural fibre worth Rs. 138 crore. Besides exporting synthetic textiles, RSWM also exports cotton yarn and Denim Fabrics and RSWM's total exports during the year 2014-15 were to the extent of Rs. 961 crore. RSWM has built one of the most impressive textile manufacturing infrastructures in the country with 11 state-of-the-art manufacturing plants, 5,35,000 spindles, 176 looms, 1,50,000 MTA yarn capacity, 36 MMA fabric capacity, including denim fabric, the release said.
At a glittering function held in Mumbai recently, Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar, presented awards to M. L. Jhunjhunwala, President, RSWM and P. K. Dhanuka, Senior General Manager, Commercial. “It is a matter of immense pride for RSWM team that the Textiles Ministry, Government of India, has conferred prestigious SRTEPC export awards on us, again year after year, which only reaffirms our commitment to maintain excellence in our pursuits to achieve one after another milestone. This has been possible thanks to the team efforts of RSWM employees,” said Jhunjhunwala, President, RSWM, after receiving the award.
RSWM exports its range of yarn and fabric to over 78 countries worldwide. The company holds the prestigious 'Three Star Trading House' status and has received export awards from SRTEPC consecutively for 20 years. RSWM has also received the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award three times from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for three plants and many more quality certifications. RSWM Limited, the flagship Company of the $1 billion LNJ Bhilwara Group established in 1961, is one of the largest textile manufacturers in the country.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
The indefinite strike by powerloom job working units in Tamil Nadu's Tirupur and Coimbatore districts has finally hit the open end mills (OEMs) which supply yarn to these units. These units stopped production from Monday, seeking an immediate solution to the problem that has been festering for almost two weeks. Around 300 OEMs supply yarn to powerloom units which used to produce about 1.2 crore metres of fabrics collectively in a day before they launched the indefinite strike on January 28. Since these units went on strike, OEMs have found themselves saddled with unlifted stock of yarns worth Rs 100 crore, OEM association sources said. The mills produce 10 lakh kgs of yarn worth Rs 10 crore everyday and the stocks are now piling up in all the units, they said. The production stoppage is estimated to affect nearly two lakh workers in the region. Talks to end the strike in the powerloom job working units have failed so far. The powerloom job working units had gone on indefinite strike alleging that manufacturers have stopped paying them the increased wages of 27 per cent, as agreed in 2014, which had put them to a lot of hardship.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Job working power loom units in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts, which are on strike since January 28, will continue with the strike as there was no progress in the talks held on Tuesday here. Coimbatore District Collector Archana Patnaik and Tirupur District Collector S. Jayandhi held talks with the textile manufacturers and the job working power loom unit owners. Since an agreement was not reached on Tuesday, the next round of talks will be held here on Sunday (February 14).
Agreement
The textile manufacturers and job working power loom units entered into a wage agreement wherein the job working units were to get 27 per cent and 30 per cent higher wages, depending on the variety of fabric produced. However, for the last four months, the textile manufacturers have reduced the wages and are not paying the revised wages that they agreed to in 2014, said P. Kumarasamy, secretary of Coimbatore District Job working Power loom Unit Owners’ Association. Coimbatore and Tirupur districts have nearly two lakh looms and the strike has resulted in loss of production worth Rs. 50 crore a day, he said.
SOURCE: The Hindu
Indian handspun khadi industry will provide employment to approximately five crore people across the country by the year 2022, minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh has said. During a visit to Tripura, the minister visited centres run by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and discussed with KVIC officials and board members the ways to revive handspun khadi so that it could be turned into a zero-carbon footprint green fabric of India. Singh said solar charkhas will make khadi the green organic yarn which does not affect the environment. “We have made a plan to introduce solar run spinning wheels in KVIC so that it can provide employment to five crore people throughout the nation by the year 2022. Prime Minister has also said this in 'Maan Ki Baat'. I have discussed this with the chairman of KVIC and we shall work together so that the locals get employment and shall work on that,” he said. Singh informed that in order to make khadi cost effective, more than 7,000 showrooms of the KVIC are planned to be used for sell points of khadi products. Also, fashion designers are being involved for launching eco and user-friendly, designer, green fabric products, which are to be made available in various showrooms and are also to be sold through e-marketing. The vision of reviving the khadi industry through application of science of green energy to the spinning wheel can create employment in the rural areas bringing in social and economic changes. Recently prime minister Narendra Modi also emphasised on the importance of khadi saying, “Khadi has the power to provide employment to crores of people. It has now become a symbol and a centre of interest of the nation's youth.”
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
The State will host the biggest pavilion among the 17 State pavilions at Mumbai’s Make in India Week with noted Bollywood art director Nitin Desai showcasing the State’s potential as an investment destination over a 10,000 sq ft area. Government officials said the State is likely to sign MoUs worth Rs 4 lakh crore during the marquee event, which starts on February 13. Maharashtra and Mumbai are likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Make in India Week, with the Devendra Fadnavis government going all out to make this a showpiece event, mixing hardcore business dealings with the State’s art, culture, entertainment, and cuisine. Maharashtra will begin its pitch for investment on February 14 with the Maharashtra Textile seminar to attract investment in the 12 textile parks. The State will look to engage investors in creating 10-12 more such parks to exploit the potential of the cotton sector. “Though Maharashtra is one of the largest cotton producing States, only 25 per cent of its own produce gets used here. So in line with ‘from farm to fashion’ call given by the Prime Minister, we intend to scale it up to ensure that all the cotton gets utilised with direct benefit to farmers,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said at a curtain raiser press conference of the event on Monday. Maharashtra will also host an Innovation seminar on the same day to promote startups, followed by a seminar for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Industry stalwarts like Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Trusts, and Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director Reliance Industries, along with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, and Power Minister Piyush Goel will participate in a Maharashtra Investment Seminar to showcase State’s strengths as a preferred investment destination. Representatives of top foreign companies like Mercedes Benz are likely to share their experience on investing in Maharashtra. “The government will announce five key policy initiatives that will attract investment during the seminar,” Fadnavis said. A separate seminar on Make in Mumbai will follow showcasing the city as the future international finance centre. With the Supreme Court giving its clearance for hosting the Maharashtra Night at Girgaum Chowpatty, the Fadnavis government has commissioned art director Nitin Desai to create a 160 ft by 120 ft stage for the cultural extravaganza on the evening of February 14. The public event will showcase Maharashtra’s art and culture through entertainment performances and music.
Among the highlights, actor Amitabh Bachchan will read a specially written poem on Maharashtra with dancers enacting it, and actress-turned BJP MP Hema Malini and her troupe will perform the Ganesh Vandana. The coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji will be recreated followed by fireworks and a laser show. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, actress Madhuri Dixit, and singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan have been roped in to feature in promotional films on ‘Magnetic Maharashtra’. On February 16, the focus will be Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor which passes through eight districts. Chief Secretary Swadhin Kshatriya said the government had already acquired 4,000 hectares of land at Shendra-Bidkin node near Aurangabad and another 1,100 hectares of land at Dighi Port node for industrial investment. “The first DMIC corridor will be the Shendra-Bidkin node. The land has been acquired, the Centre has released funds, and we are creating infrastructure to make them ready for investment,” Fadnavis said. Fadnavis also announced that Maharashtra was now all set for a single window electronic platform that investors and manufacturers could use to secure all the requisite permissions from various government departments. “I am happy to announce that we are ready with a single window electronic platform under Industries department called Maitri which would accept a single form, and would ensure that all departments respond and give all permissions in a stipulated timeframe so that businesses can work here seamlessly,” he said.
SOURCE: The Hindu
Thanking Union Minister Nirmala Seetharaman for swift finalisation of first draft of the Joint Study Group (JSG) report on the feasibility of India-EAEU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) has appealed to her to give top priority to textile sector in the on-going study. In a letter to the Minister, ITF Secretary, Prabhu Dhamodaran said that there were tremendous opportunities awaiting the Indian textile products in this region.
Stating that Indian textile industry needed market diversification to untapped markets to overcome the challenges raised by the Trans Pacific Partnership, he said ITF had already submitted the basic information regarding the scope for export of Indian textile products to Russia, the main country in EAEU. In the financial year 2014, Russia had imported textile and apparel items worth 13.5 billion US Dollars, of which apparel items accounted for USD 7.5 billion USD and India's share was just 248 Million USD of this huge Russian market, he noted. Prabhu said that ITF was willing to submit data and also take active part in this JSG process.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
India has completed most of the consultation related to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) trade facilitation agreement (TFA) and the government expects to ratify it soon, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said on Tuesday. Speaking at an event organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (Ficci), Teaotia said the TFA, concluded by the WTO in Bali in 2013, aims at easing Customs procedures to boost global commerce. “We are fully committed to it. It is a complex exercise and most of the consultation is complete and we believe that we should be able to ratify it at the earliest,” she said. So far, over 55 WTO members have ratified the pact. Teaotia also said WTO members should move forward on liberalising the services sector. "We believe that just as we have a TFA (in goods), there is a need for us to work towards a services facilitation agreement.” the secretary added.
Talking about the stalled Doha Development Agenda (DDA), the secretary said work on it must continue as the decisions taken since 2001 need to be respected and taken forward. She said the legitimate interest of poor farmers and food security of millions of people of developing countries are involved in the process. Developing countries including India wants a clear outcome to the pending Doha Round issues like commitments to cut farm subsidies by the rich nations. Developed nations led by the US and European Union on the other hand, want the WTO to discuss new issues like investments, e-commerce and government procurement.
SOURCE: The Business Standard
Hardening its stand on the services issue, India has decided to inform member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that it is not interested in negotiating any further on goods till there is progress in the area of liberalising movement of professionals. The next round of negotiations on the RCEP, a grouping that comprises 16 countries — the 10-member ASEAN, and India, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand — will take place in Brunei next week. “We want to make our next offers in goods only after there is more progress in services. At Brunei, we will also try to build an alliance of like-minded countries to give weight to our demand. We hope South Korea and Japan and some ASEAN members support us,” a government official told BusinessLine.
New Delhi’s tough stance follows the disappointment with ASEAN, with which it had agreed to a deal in goods before finalising a pact in services. India got a disappointing deal in services as it had lost its bargaining chip. The official said that almost no country has offered anything worthwhile in Mode 4 of services (movement of workers) in the first round of offers exchanged between the members. “On the other hand, most members are aggressive in goods, and intensive discussions on give and take are happening in the area. We have to insist on a balance at Brunei,” he added.
It is imperative for India to ensure that the RCEP negotiations are successful or it will lose preferential access to a number of markets in the region with the US and 11 Pacific Rim countries including Canada, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore finalising the Trans Pacific Partnership pact that could create the world’s largest free trade zone. The RCEP, accounting for 45 per cent of the world population and a GDP of over $21 trillion, can match the TPP in size and scale.
Second paper
New Delhi is working on a second paper on freer movement of contractual services suppliers (CSS) and independent professionals, which it hopes to circulate for discussion in Brunei. “We had circulated our first paper on Mode 4 in October last year, insisting that both goods and services negotiations needed to be concluded simultaneously at the RCEP. But we still find progress only in goods, with services largely ignored,” the official said. On the goods front, some members, including China, South Korea, Japan and some ASEAN countries, have already started submitting requests for further opening of markets to individual members, in response to the first round of offers given by all. For instance, India and China agreed to eliminate tariffs on 42.5 per cent of items traded between them. India proposed the same for Australia and New Zealand, which were ready to reduce tariffs on 62.5 per cent and 80 per cent of items from India, respectively.
SOURCE: The Hindu Business Line
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 31.06 per barrel (bbl) on 09.02.2016.
In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket increased to Rs 2116.83 per bbl on 09.02.2016 as compared to Rs 2106.17 per bbl on 08.02.2016. Rupee closed weaker at Rs 68.16 per US$ on 09.02.2016 as against Rs 67.82 per US$ on 08.02.2016. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on February 09, 2016 (Previous trading day i.e. 08.02.2016) |
Pricing Fortnight for 01.02.2016 (14 Jan to 27 Jan, 2016) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
*31.06 (31.06) |
26.05 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
2116.83 (2106.17) |
1763.06 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
68.16 (67.82) |
67.68 |
SOURCE: PIB
Pakistan's biggest textile and garment machinery trade fair, Textile Asia will be held from March 9, 2016, in Karachi. Shaikh Mohammad Shafiq, chairman of Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) announced the schedule for the 15th Textile Asia fair, which would be organised in collaboration with the Ecommerce Gateway. Shafiq termed the event as the Pakistan's biggest B2B textile, garment, embroidery, digital printing machineries and chemical and allied services fair and added that the event would complement the efforts for high quality, value added products and assist them to further develop their business in the export markets. The three day fair provides an effective platform for joint ventures or collaborations to the textile SMEs, and has its focus on buying and selling potential of textile and garment industry. The fair aims to introduce overseas suppliers of textile and garment materials, accessories and parts and machinery to the textile industry of Pakistan. Major participating countries are Pakistan, China, India, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Turkey, Czech Republic, Sweden, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Belgium and the US. The trade fair will have more than 550 international brands displaying their products in around 700 booths. More than 100,000 corporate visitors from more than 45 participating countries are expected to visit the fair.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
EU ambassador to Pakistan, Jean-François Cautain, has asked the Pakistani business community to explore opportunities in other sectors besides textile and leather to derive maximum advantage of the GSP Plus scheme. Cautain's comments came at a symposium in connection with Pakistan Mega Leather Show 2016 (PMLS) at Lahore. “The leather sector is an important sector in Pakistan, due to the sheer size of its economic footprint, employment, and potential for value creation. Despite being an export earner, the leather sector has a small share in the global trade of value added goods and products. In the wake of the current incentives given by the EU, which includes the GSP Plus status for Pakistan, the value added leather sector needs to seize the opportunity and further develop the sector to become an even greater export earner for Pakistan,” the ambassador later told reporters.
Events such as the Pakistan Mega Leather Show help in improving confidence of international investors in leather sector, Cautain said. The PMLS-2016 provided a unique platform for the Pakistani leather industry, including tanners, footwear manufacturers, leather garments and gloves manufacturers, chemical companies, and other vendors supplying equipment, machinery and components to the leather industry to display their products, and provide a single platform for the Pakistani leather industry.
SOURCE: Fibre2fashion
Outside a clothing factory in Calafat in southern Romanian early one morning, hundreds of workers crowd around makeshift stalls to stock up on snacks and drinks for their shift. The Italian-owned knitwear factory, Maglierie Cristian Impex, is the largest employer in the area and one of the largest clothing factories in Romania, with about 1,000 staff. It has produced clothes since 1997 for big names such as Kenzo, Escada, Marc O'Polo, Faconnable and Inditex, the Spain-based giant whose brands include Zara and Massimo Dutti. But some workers mutter they have not been paid while others say they received wages only once every two or three months last year. "Work, work, work - but no pay," complains one worker, 34-year-old Cristina, who did not want her real name disclosed. Activists have railed against the plight of garment workers in recent years but their focus has often been on Asia. But even inside the European Union - in Romania and Bulgaria particularly - workers can endure poverty-level wages, long hours and arduous conditions to make clothes for major brands.
Campaigners are demanding that clothing brands take full responsibility for their production chains, with decent pay and conditions for all the workers involved. Some 345,000 people work in more than 10,000 factories in the clothing, textile and leather industries in Romania and Bulgaria, according to government statistics. The sector is among the top exporters in both countries. Factory owners say they face intense pressure from brands to keep costs low. Workers, who are overwhelmingly women, are often hired on the legal minimum wage of less than 200 euros ($220) a month net and may earn even less, say workers and campaigners such as the Fair Wear Foundation and Clean Clothes Campaign. From late January to mid-July last year, Cristina says she was paid twice, receiving a total of around 1500 lei (340 euros) from the factory that has received European Union funding to "enhance economical competitiveness". "Women go and start crying in front of the chief, saying 'please give me my money, because I can't feed my children'," says Cristina, the only person in her family with a full-time job.
STRIKING STATEMENT
In April 2014, more than 300 employees at the Maglierie Cristian factory staged a wildcat strike over late wages. Cristi Deseanu, 29, a mechanic at the plant, says people were eventually paid but he and other vocal protesters were fired and he lost his job that paid 250 euros a month. Deseanu provided documents to back up his claim that he was dismissed because he took part in the strike. But, in a telephone conversation, a senior company official said Deseanu quit his job. "My salary there didn't offer me the chance to start a family of my own," said Deseanu. The Calafat factory is majority-owned by Enzo Mantovani, the founder of a luxury cashmere brand, and his sons. The Romanian business posted a turnover of more than 8.3 million euros in 2014, according to the Romanian Ministry of Finance. On its website, it boasts of "a good reputation at home and abroad" and a philosophy of "absolute customer satisfaction".
Despite numerous attempts by phone, email and visiting the factory to obtain comments from the company, including responses to the specific allegations in this story, the firm has offered nothing beyond a few words on Deseanu's departure. Inditex said last September that its social audits had found the plant complied with its Code of Conduct. In January this year, however, Inditex said the factory was now "under a correction plan". It did not specify details of the plan. "In the following weeks, the audit teams will carry out another social audit of this supplier. The supplier will then receive either an authorization to continue supplying Inditex or it will be definitely blocked," the company said in a statement. The other brands mentioned in connection with the factory did not respond to email or telephone requests for comment or did not answer the questions they were asked.
"BREATH OF LIFE"
Catalin Mohora, a local labour inspector, said it can be legal for an employer to pay less than the minimum wage if, for example, demand for its products was low. An employer could cut working hours and decrease pay accordingly. If salaries are late, inspectors first ask the employer to pay up and can only impose fines if the firm does not comply. Mohora says Maglierie Cristian is one of the better local employers. Some companies, he said, try to avoid paying wages and taxes by modifying contracts after they have been signed and get employees to work overtime without extra pay. Calafat's deputy mayor, Dorel Mituletu, said the town of around 17,000 people on the banks of the Danube struggles to attract investors and the Maglierie Cristian factory is its "breath of life". "No one can afford to get on the wrong side of someone who, one way or another, provides jobs to 1,000 people," he said.
LOW PAY AND POOR CONDITIONS "ENDEMIC"
Reports from workers from other factories can be worse. Romania's Labour Inspectorate said inspections between 2013 and 2015 found the Zendoo Style factory in Calarasi, about 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital Bucharest, did not respect the law on salary payments, working hours, overtime and rest time for workers. The company, which employed about 80 people, was fined for failing to rectify these issues, the inspectorate said. Asked via telephone about this, the factory's managing director, Vasilica Sterschi, said she would comment via email on the Labour Inspectorate's statement but has not done so. Zendoo Style was declared bankrupt in September 2015. A report on 10 eastern Europe countries and Turkey in 2014 by the Clean Clothes Campaign, a group that lobbies to improve conditions for workers in the sector, found poverty-level wages, dangerous working conditions and forced overtime were "endemic throughout the garment industry". It noted that the minimum wages in some of the countries it surveyed were lower than in China and Indonesia. "Customers have this preconception - 'Made in Europe, it must be fair'," says Corina Ajder, a researcher for the organisation. "But that's not true."
Factory owners in Romania and Bulgaria say there is little they can do to increase wages under cost pressures from brands. "They just want to put the prices down, down, down and that's it," says Radina Bankova, president of the Bulgarian Association of Apparel and Textile Producers and Exporters. Some employers, however, have managed to give their workers a better deal, in collaboration with fashion brands. In 2007, workers went on strike at the Pirin-Tex factory in Gotse Delchev, the biggest clothing factory in Bulgaria, with more than 2,000 workers that is located near the Greek border. They demanded an extra 100 euros a month in wages. Bertram Rollmann, the factory's German owner, was shocked as he felt he had worked hard to maintain good relations with his workforce since opening the factory in 1993. Wages went up every year and the business has a creche and a training department for staff. When the strike began, Rollmann went to clients and asked for better prices. As a result, he said, he lost his biggest customer who accounted for 25 percent of production. Other brands, however, agreed to pay more. The strike ended after 17 days when Rollmann was able to offer an increase of around 60 euros a month. In 2015, the average salary in his factory was around 415 euros a month, he said - while the minimum salary in the country was around 180 euros. Rollmann believes conditions and wages are slowly improving as brands respond to consumers concerned about ethical issues. "They are reacting now," Rollmann said. "The public mind-set is changing."
SOURCE: The Economic Times
Worker and community organizations in more than 25 U.S. cities held a day of action on Feb. 4 to protest the Trans Pacific Partnership signed by the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. Like the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994, the TPP is expected to increase the profits of big businesses and banks while eliminating workers’ jobs all over the country and the world, driving smaller businesses and small farmers into bankruptcy. Many call the TPP “NAFTA on steroids.” Most of the TPP language is not trade-specific, but it creates a supra-legal structure that allows corporations to sue countries if national laws interfere with corporate profit making. If the TPP becomes law in all 12 countries, there could be a loss of jobs, a drop in workers’ incomes, and threats to laws protecting the rights of labor, the environment, food and drug safety, and other areas. For example, since NAFTA was passed North Carolina has lost more than 138,000 jobs because of “free trade” deals, including many textile and other manufacturing jobs. This new proposed trade deal will result in equal or more job loss. All 12 countries signed the pact in New Zealand on Feb. 3, but it must still be ratified by each country’s legislative or parliamentary bodies. This could take months in the U.S.; opponents of the TPP are trying to build public pressure to “flush the TPP.”
In Durham, N.C., on Feb. 3, a broad coalition of labor unions, environmental and community groups, including Food & Water Watch, the Communication Workers union, North Carolina AFL-CIO, Black Workers for Justice, A. Philip Randolph Institute and United Electrical Local 150, the N.C. Public Service Workers Union, held a press conference outside Rep. G.K. Butterfield’s office opposing the TPP and highlighting how prior trade deals have harmed the people of North Carolina. In 2012, the UE filed a complaint, under NAFTA’s supposed labor protections, about the ban on public sector collective bargaining rights in North Carolina. The National Administrative Office of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation found the public employees’ basic human and labor rights were violated. Yet the state legislature, the Obama administration and the Department of Labor refused to act on these findings. In Detroit, demonstrators from Autoworker Caravan, Moratorium Now! Coalition, Detroit Light Brigade and other groups demonstrated downtown. In Chicago, TPP protesters joined forces with Chicago Teachers Union members gearing up for a strike. In other cities people demonstrated outside congressional representatives’ offices. Besides the protests in the U.S., demonstrations of thousands took place in New Zealand, Peru and Chile.
SOURCE: The Workers
