Yearly Archives: 2014

As reported last week, while facing continuing repression from companies and the Bangladeshi government, garment workers are continuing to organise. This week a large demonstration was held in Dhaka to demand immediate action from the 29 buyers of 5-RMG factories which where housed at the Rana Plaza, regarding compensation for […]

Amid the ongoing political crisis in Thailand and the inability of the ruling class to overcome its divisions, the repressive Article 112 (the Lese Majeste law) is still being used as a tool to intimidate and stifle democracy. This week the Thai Supreme Court found Bandid Aneeya guilty for his […]

As reported late last year, almost 300 workers at the Ansell factory in the Biyagama free trade zone have been fighting the company's union busting tactics. While the workers are united and strong, the reality is that Ansell is a global company with massive resources. Workers need to take industrial […]

As previously reported, international unions took up the call for a Global Day of Action in support of comrades in Cambodia who were violently repressed by forces of the state during demonstrations in January 2014.  23 comrades were detained since the start of January and there have been calls for […]

Despite the international outcry at the collapse of Rana Plaza in April 2013 that killed more than 1000 workers, and the factory fire at Tazreen garment factory in November 2012 that killed over 100, workers that try to unionise in Bangladesh’s garment industry face serious repression.  We previously reported on […]

Over 20,000 workers are currently striking at Egypt’s largest state-owned textile company in Mahalla. Strikers at the Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla are demanding the payment of promised bonuses from 2013; the implementation of the minimum wage; and the dismissal of Fouad Abdel-Alim, head of the Holding Company which […]

In 2009, workers at the Ssangyong vehicle manufacturing plant in Korea went on a 77 day strike in protest against mass sackings. The strike ended in August 2009 and union leader, Han Sang Kyun was arrested and jailed. More information about the strike can be found here and here and […]

The government of Victoria, a state in Australia, is trying to enact a law that will have the effect of preventing pickets and protests.  The law will: 1. Remove protections for peaceful assembly 2. Allow for up to two years’ imprisonment for persons returning to a banned protest or picket […]

The repercussions of the government’s crackdown on garment workers in early January continue both in Cambodia and around the world. Garment workers have not given up their fight for a living wage, demanding the release of their 23 comrades who are in jail, and justice for those who were murdered. […]

After a bitter strike lasting 59 days, the workers at Autofit factory, Dharuhera, Haryana state have won their fight against union busting. The company has agreed to take back all 17 sacked union activists as well as agreeing to a wage rise. The important character of the strike was the […]