As reported over the years, the ship breaking industry in South Asia is one of the most dangerous occupations for workers. Not surprisingly, it is also poorly unionised with governments and companies actively repressing attempts by workers to form genuine unions. While there are many international campaigns that highlight these […]
Yearly Archives: 2015
341 posts
As reported previously, for over a decade workers in Iraq have been battling various governments to get better laws in relation to workers’ rights and the right to organise. Finally earlier this month, the Iraqi government passed a new labour law that guarantees workers the right to strike and to […]
As reported last week, Anton Marcus, the General Secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union was in Melbourne, Australia as part of a campaign for union rights for Ansell workers in Sri Lanka. The demonstration outside the headquarters of Ansell Australia was well attended by a […]
The slowing of the world’s economy and falling oil prices are starting to have an effect in oil rich countries in West Asia that host millions of migrant workers. While the brutal conditions that many of these workers have to endure, has been documented previously, the reality is that many […]
Ten days after the massive industrial explosions that killed more than 100 workers, it is becoming clear that this was not an unfortunate accident but the result of criminal negligence. Scores of untrained and casualised firefighters were sent in to deal with the original fires leading to the deaths of […]
Close to a 1,000 workers employed by the Australian company Ansell at the Biyagama Export Processing Zone in Sri Lanka went on strike in October 2013 for the right to form their own union. They are still fighting to establish their own union. Union representatives attempted to come to Melbourne, […]
There has been a concerted effort this year by racist and fascist forces in Australia to grow as a movement using anti-Muslim hysteria as its fuel. Each time these forces have rallied, major counter rallies by groups of anti-fascists have confronted them (see here and here). In the southern state […]
Recently we reported that the Migrant Trade Union (MTU) in South Korea had won legal recognition following a decade of struggle and a Supreme Court decision. This victory was immediately curtailed by the South Korean ministry of Labour which imposed legal hurdles preventing registration of the MTU. Labour activists then […]
As reported last week, a major dispute has developed in Australian ports against the global giant Hutchison. While mediation is ongoing, the workers assemblies set up in solidarity are still in place in Brisbane and Sydney. Solidarity has also been expressed by port workers all around the world, notably be […]
In the last few years, Malaysia has seen unprecedented mass demonstrations against the economic and political corruption of the ruling UMNO coalition governments. Previous rallies, known by the Malay word, Bersih, meaning clean and referring to the campaign for clean and fair elections, have been attacked by security forces with […]