Monthly Archives: May 2015

Earlier this month, over 40 contract workers at the Hedgewar Hospital in Delhi started an indefinite sit in inside the hospital compound. They were all contract workers whose contracts were suddenly terminated. After a week, the workers were successful as the local government was afraid that the actions could spread […]

A fire at a garment factory in the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) of Karachi earlier this month injured at least ten workers. Given that buildings are built very close to each other and that there are few access points, fire personnel had to break through walls to get to […]

This week, the city of Geneva, Switzerland hosted a major international conference that discussed whether to list chrysotile asbestos as a substance to be banned from use. Even though the World Health Organisation estimates that over 100,000 people are killed each year because of exposure to asbestos, powerful economic players […]

After a decade long battle against casualisation and insecure work, the Unite union in New Zealand was able to win an agreement from the global fast food giant McDonalds to stop using ‘zero hours’ contracts. A ‘zero-hour’ contract allows employers to hire staff on a casual basis with no guarantee […]

As reported recently, after a long fight, the group of power loom workers that had led the major strikes in Faisalabad were freed this week. These workers had been given hundreds of years’ jail sentences under the country’s draconian anti-terror legislation. They took their first steps out of jail on […]

As reported previously (see here and here) the fight by the mainly Kurdish population of Rojava, in Northern Syria, has attracted sizeable solidarity from labour organisations around the world. Now that the front lines of the battle have shifted away from the town of Kobane, the issue of rebuilding the […]

Migrant workers all over the world endure some of the worst working conditions of all workers. A recent documentary in Australia exposed the wide ranging abuse of migrant workers in the agricultural sector by unscrupulous bosses via the use of sub-contracting and sham contracts. Unions for many years have been […]

The military coup of almost a year ago has created a climate of fear and repression in Thailand with ongoing arrests. The Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation of Thailand (TWF) issued a call last week for a 40% increase in the minimum wage and an end to military rule. […]

As reported previously (see here and here,) life for workers in the West Bank and Gaza is very difficult because of the political and economic restrictions imposed by Israel and neighbouring countries. May Day is a chance for all workers in Palestine to express solidarity and push for their rights. […]

For the last 20 years, life for workers in Iraq has been very tough, having to contend with economic blockades, wars, foreign invasion, occupation and a series of civil wars and uprisings. This year, workers used the occasion of May Day to rally and demand the right to organise, to […]