Monthly Archives: June 2016

Last week, a huge explosion rocked the western suburbs of Tehran, the capital city of Iran, when underground subway workers hit a gas pipeline. The explosion left a crater up to 50 metres deep. Two workers died as a result, but had the explosion occurred in a more populated area, there […]

Friday 24 June 2016 marked 100 days since 41-year-old Han Kwang-ho, committed suicide. Han was a union organiser at YooSung Entreprise, a Hyundai auto part supplier in South Korea. Han had endured five years of intimidation, repression and attacks by the company in retaliation for his trade union activities. On Friday, labour activists commemorated […]

In mid-June, 50 workers employed by Carlton United Brewery, part of the SABMiller group, the second largest brewer in the world, were fired. They were then told that they could reapply for their jobs with another company that would then sub-contract to CUB. Their new positions would be on individual […]

The Australian labour movement lost another stalwart feminist unionist this month, with the passing of comrade Lynn Beaton.  Lynn is best known to her political activists in Melbourne Australia, and is fondly remembered as a political activist, author, community academic and trade union warrior.  Vale Lynn Beaton.

Earlier this month, the arrest and detention of Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, highlighted the continuing level of repression that exists in the country. Since the government moved against the popular uprising in early 2011, working class people and organisations have borne the brunt of […]

Last week, another massive demonstration was held in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa against the presence of USA military bases. While the catalyst for this latest protest was the rape and killing of a local woman by a US servicemen, there are deeper issues. Many Okinawans feel that the […]

Earlier this month, the Turkish police detained Arzu Cerkezoglu, general secretary of the national trade union centre DISK, on charges of 'insulting the President’. This law of ‘insult’ was only introduced in 2014, but already around 1,850 people have been charged under this Act. It carries a jail term of […]

Last week, an estimated 6,000 labour and human rights activists marched in the streets of Hong Kong in support of Lam wing-kee. Lam was one of the five workers that were employed in bookshops and printers and mysteriously disappeared for months. They later reappeared in mainland China. Lam said that […]

In a stark reminder of the offensive that South Korean workers are facing, a state prosecutor has asked for an 8 year prison sentence to be given to Han Sang-gyun, the president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Sang-gyun was involved in a number of large demonstrations last […]

This week, Baba Jan and 11 of his fellow activist were sentenced to 40 years jail by the regional Gilgit Baltistan Supreme Court. They were tried under Pakistan’s draconian anti terrorism laws. Their ‘crime’ was to organise working class people against exploitation and corruption. Baba Jan and his comrades were […]