In the aftermath of the Rana Plaza factory fire in Bangladesh, the deadliest industrial disaster since the Bhopal explosion in 1984, dozens of multinational clothing companies have signed on to a new Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. This agreement was initiated by a number of unions and other organisations around the world. 

Last week the sixth meeting of the Rotterdam Convention, an international body that regulates hazardous substances, concluded without recommending that chrysotile asbestos be listed as a hazardous substance. This failure has outraged survivors of asbestos disease, community groups and unions around the world as it flies in the face of all scientific evidence. Once again, a handful of countries have allowed the asbestos industry to not only get away with mass murder, but to make millions of dollars in profit as well.

The Australian Government has just passed new legislation excluding asylum seekers, who arrive by boat to Australia, from ever seeking refugee protection on the Australian mainland. This legislation marks a new level of punitive sanctions against people whose only crime is to escape persecution and misery. Many asylum seekers are now languishing in atrocious conditions in Nauru and Papua New Guinea camps. Listen to their voices.

We’ve recently reported on the struggle of workers at Hyundai Motor division for the right of permanent employment and a stop to sub-contracting measures. The same issue has been tragically highlighted in another one of Hyundai’s divisions. In Dangjin, South Chungcheong province, five workers were killed because of oxygen deprivation while cleaning a big furnace at the Hyundai Steel plant. These workers were employed by a sub-contractor and Hyundai management is trying to absolve itself of responsibility for the poor safety conditions at this site. This was not the first fatality at this site.

Last year we reported on the shooting of protesting garment workers at KaoWay in Cambodia, a factory that manufactures shoes for German company Puma.  The District Governor, Chhouk Bandith, shot three workers during a protest for wage increases of 50 cents per day. Despite numerous court appearances and overwhelming evidence, Bandith’s connections to high ranking government officials saw he was never arrested. His final trial is scheduled for 21 May, 2013. For solidarity and endorsement of open letter, click here.

In a case that has highlighted Indonesia’s poor enforcement of labour laws, 34 young workers were recently discovered being forced to work as slaves at a waste-recycling factory in Sepatan Timur in Tangerang, west of Jakarta. The case also highlighted the apparent involvement of police and military personnel in helping the owner of the factory hide his workforce. As a response to Indonesia’s often slow and not transparent judicial process, a demonstration composed of local workers voiced their protests at the factory and at the house of one of the alleged managers. This case also brought up memories of the killing of a worker activist, Marsinah, twenty years ago where the murderers were suspected to have military backing.

For 37 years 3CR Community Radio in Melbourne, Australia has brought you union, worker, indigenous, women’s, ethnic, environmental, music and other community programs that are not heard elsewhere. As a community radio station, 3CR Radio funding comes from its listeners. Every year, a Radiothon is held to raise funds for the radio station. Asia Pacific Currents is AAWL’s weekly radio program on 3CR Community Radio. Support labour struggles, support 3CR Radio.

3CR Radiothon 3rd - 16th June 2013

With the death toll well over 1000 from the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh, words cannot adequately describe the damage and horror that this incident has caused to workers and their families. In another example of the murderous conditions that workers are forced to work in, last week another eight garment workers were killed in a factory fire. While there are calls all around the world for consumer boycotts and codes of conduct for industry, these will not help workers achieve living wages and safe workplaces. Independent and active unions are the best ways for workers to have safe and healthy workplaces for all.

This week hundreds of workers at the Port of Hong Kong agreed to end their 40 day strike after winning a 9.8% wage rise, as well as promises of further negotiations on working conditions and an assurance of no retaliation against striking workers. While successful, the workers did not achieve all of their demands. Workers became worried when they learned that the company was training up a strike-breaking workforce as well as the fact that shipping companies had started to use the nearby port of Shenzhen to undermine the impact of their strike. These issues again point to the importance of workers globalising their struggle and taking co-ordinated international action against companies.