Monthly Archives: October 2016

On October 15, 1970, a steel and concrete slab of the near completed Westgate Bridge in Melbourne, Australia, collapsed – killing 35 workers and injuring many more. This was Australia’s worst industrial disaster and highlighted to workers the fight for health and safety and the need for strong and independent […]

A recent investigative article on the events that led to the fire at the Tampaco Foils factory where at least 34 workers were killed points to systemic problems. While the company was audited for its health and safety compliance a few years earlier, many problems were left unsolved. Even with […]

Late last year, a worker employed by one of Indonesia’s leading fast food chains, Champ Resto, was hit by a family tragedy when his baby died because the hospital refused him essential medical care. The problem had been that the company had not registered its employees in the government health […]

All hands on deck! Workers at Viva oil refinery in Geelong need our help and solidarity! Please come to the main gate on Refinery Rd Corio We need people to hold the line.  Any time you can give will make the difference. Don't let the bosses mess with workers' safety. […]

This week, Thailand’s immigration authorities stopped the entry, and subsequently deported, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong. Joshua had been invited to speak at a forum on anti-repression in Bangkok. News reports confirmed that the decision to deport Joshua was taken by the governments of both countries. Subsequently the […]

The last few weeks of aerial bombardment in the northern city of Aleppo has not only caused mass civilian casualties, but has seen an increasing number of health facilities deliberatively destroyed. These actions by the Syrian government have taken a devastating toll on workers and their families. The recent ceasefires […]

The murderous wave of repression that President Duterte has unleashed in the Philippines is estimated to be killing over 40 people per day. Death squads, whether official or un-official, are acting with total impunity and creating a reign of terror in working class communities throughout the country. Following on from […]

This week, Baek Nam-ki, a South Korean farmer died in hospital from water cannon injuries received during a demonstration in November last year. This action was part of a series of working class mobilisations that have seen many South Korean union leaders jailed. Nevertheless, workers are continuing to organise and […]

Three labour activists in Guangdong Province received suspended jail sentences of up to three years in an outcome that many had predicted but also feared. Zeng Feiyang, Zhu Xiaomei, and Tang Huanxing pleaded guilty to ‘ignoring national laws and organising mass gatherings that disturbed social order’ for organising workers to […]

The Philippines is one of many countries that uses export processing zones to create highly profitable areas for companies to operate in where union organising is suppressed. Currently, there is an ongoing dispute with NT Philippines, a large electronics firm in the Cavite Export Processing Zone that is refusing to […]