Yearly Archives: 2016

While the recent Federal election in Australia was narrowly won by the current conservative government, the results also saw the election of far right candidates. The One Nation party, led by Pauline Hanson, made a triumphant return to Parliament with a number of Senators being elected. One Nation is based […]

This week, compensation payments to the victims of the fire at the Tazreen Fashion garment factory were finally completed. It has been almost three years since the devastating fire at the Tazreen garment factory claimed the lives of 112 workers. The injured and surviving workers, the relatives of the dead […]

On the last day of June, Jafar Azimzadeh, the Chair of the Free Union of Workers of Iran, ended his two month hunger strike when Iranian authorities granted him special leave. Jafar had been taken to hospital due to his deteriorating health and there were fears that he would be […]

In a world first, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, a monument is going to be unveiled in Honour of All the Victims of Genocide and Atrocity Crimes. The overwhelming victims of genocides and mass atrocities have always been workers, their families and communities. Such crimes are a weapon of […]

Late last month, the Indian government announced a financial assistance package to the garment and textile industry of around US $900 Million. This package is intended to create 10 million new jobs over the next three years. This package also outlines changes to the labour laws which will facilitate the […]

The last few weeks have been murderous for workers employed at the shipbreaking yards in the region of Chittagong, Bangladesh. According to reports, in a series of incidents, five workers were killed while five others were seriously injured. What these latest tragedies show is that safe workplaces remain a distant […]

In the last week of June, three women unionists, as well as a number of other activists, were arrested for anti-government activities. The Textile Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation of Thailand has called for all the charges to be dropped. Under Thai’s military dictatorship, people arrested under the various ‘Law […]

Han Sang gun, the president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has received worldwide support for defending workers’ rights in South Korea. The South Korean government is trying to crush the workers’ movement by jailing Han, and a number of other labour activists, for many years. This is […]

This coming week, the sacked workers at the Carlton & United Brewery (CUB) in Melbourne, are stepping up their fight against out-sourcing. They have been on a community protest since the company tried to restructure their jobs from permanent to temporary, with a massive pay cut. This coming Monday 4 […]

Another indiscriminate bombing in Istanbul has claimed many lives, this time at Ataturk airport. On 28 June, 41 people were killed and over 200 injured. Many of these were workers at the airport. Over the last 12 months, almost 300 people have been killed in bomb attacks in Turkey. Unions […]