Euro aid for globalisation victims
Remember those poor souls who lost their jobs after BenQ pulled out of Europe last year? Well, the EU is riding to the rescue with something I'd certainly never heard of before: the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF - what happened to the A?).
About €13m will be winging its way to the 3,300 workers who were made redundant after the Taiwanese handset manufacturer cut and ran. €2m will also go to the 1,000 survivors of the defunct Finnish phone accessory maker Perlos.
According to the employment, social affairs and equal opportunities commissioner Vladimír Špidla: "I am happy to put these applications forward because they will help over 4,000 redundant workers back into employment. The EGF is being used as it was designed to - to respond to the impact of structural change on dynamic global markets."
Very admirable. Now, what about those workers hired and fired at dizzying speed when European companies go a-speculatin' in the developing world?