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.

The recent bombing by Israel of some of the Syrian government’s military installations is another sign of the involvement of imperialist and reactionary forces in an attempt to influence the outcome of the struggle in Syria. Such interventions do not help us. Notwithstanding these interventions, the popular uprising needs to continuing against the forces of sectarianism and genocide, as well as the reopening and taking over of the industrial and logistical sectors of the Syrian economy for the benefit of the masses. It is a fight that we can win.

In an incredible feat of endurance, labor activists and irregular workers Cheon Ui-bong and Choe Byeong-seung, have been on an aerial protest atop an electricity pylon for close to seven months. They are protesting against Hyundai Motor Company’s use of contract workers instead of hiring permanent workers. The issue of precarious work is felt by many workers in South Korea, and supporters have regularly staged support rallies by the base of the pylon. The auto industry is another sector where the production process is highly globalised. While efforts such as this aerial protest are heroic, co-ordinated, international industrial action against Hyundai would be much more effective.

In the last two weeks, garment workers in Cambodia have pressed for higher wages. On May Day, thousands of workers protested against the small proposed minimum wage increase of US$80/month instead of the present US$61/month. Workers are demanding that the minimum be increased to a living wage of US$150/month, while there are ongoing strikes in some factories over the continuing problem of unpaid wages. Garment workers are now facing a new threat of increased rents from landlords wanting to exploit the fact that workers have had a small wage increase. 

Over the last few years, the political climate in Burma has seemed to become less repressive with increasing democratic freedoms. However, this change has also unleashed new forces in society. Burma has seen major ethnic cleansing pogroms against Burmese muslims by forces associated with the state.

This new wave of state sponsored repression is a stark warning for workers in Burma as that country prepares itself to become a new global production centre for the garment industry. Freedom of association laws for workers are very weak, wages extremely low and labour conditions often incredibly onerous.

In a series of protests around May Day, approximately 70,000 workers and their supporters demonstrated their opposition to the new Abe led government and its policies which have not helped workers. There were many sectors represented at these rallies but importantly there were noticeable contingents of migrant workers. For video for the rallies, click here and here.

Hong Kong dockworkers have been on strike since March 28. They are on strike over pay and conditions.  Maritime transport and logistics is a global industry dominated by global companies. Working conditions at one port affect workers at other ports, with shipping rates and container turn around times benchmarked internationally.  To win the current Hong Kong dispute we need to target these global companies around the world in coordinated industrial action.  We can take actions against the main Hong Kong Port companies of HIT, Hutchinson and Cosco in the other countries where they operate. We can also take action at other regional ports, like Shenzen, Singapore and Shanghai, where Hong Kong cargo is being redirected.

The 28 of April is when workers and trade unions around the world mark the International Commemoration Day (ICD) for Dead and Injured Workers. The day marks the right of workers to a safe and healthy workplace. Millions of workers either die or get sick every year due to unsafe working conditions.To keep up to date with events around the world, click here. Please send information about planned events to Anabella Rosember at ITUC.