Yearly Archives: 2016

Australia’s Fairwork Ombudsman and Unions NSW have released major reports that each expose the widespread tactic of making work precarious for workers. Like many other countriesof the world, Australian workers are seeing companies using flexible working arrangements like casualization, sub-contracting, zero hour contracts and short term visas to undermine wages […]

The end of the insurgency of the Tamil Tigers in the northern part of Sri Lanka in 2009 did not bring the peace dividendthat both Tamils and labour activists were hoping for. While the war has finished, large parts of the island are still militarised. This week, two Jaffna university […]

The far right in Australia has grown significantly over the last two yearswith the creation of a number of new groups as well as the election of representatives of the One Nation partyin the Australian Parliament. These far right movements have grown on the back of the ongoing War on […]

One worker was killed and another one injured in a bulldozing accident at the Freeport-McMoRan Inc giant Grasberg open pit copper mine in West Papua. Notwithstanding the huge and prolonged strike that workers carried out in 2011 (see here, here and here) such deaths are not isolated incidents. Last month, […]

The long running dispute of the dismissed Honda workers in Rajasthan, India continues amid strong opposition by the company and local governments. Due to the hospitalisation of some of the initial hunger strikers, new workers have taken their place in continuing the fast. Workers have also renewed their agitation among […]

Faremo International is a garment manufacturer that employs close to 1,000 workers in the Philippines Cavite Export Processing Zone. This week it announced it was going to relocate to Vietnam and Cambodia. In the weeks prior, it had shifted most of its machinery out of the factory and had given […]

With the death of King Bhumibol on 13 October, the military junta has declared a month long period of mourning.  This involves encouraging people to wear black, a ban on most entertainment activities, and no criticism to be tolerated. Far right forces in Thailand are now trying to exploit this […]

This week saw the release of another damning report on the treatment of detained refugees in the concentration camp on Nauru. The Australian Government, as usual, denied all evidence, and promised to continue the harsh approach regardless of the costs to the people themselves. Resistance and opposition to these policies […]

The occupation of Palestine by Israeli forces is so pervasive that acts of violence by military forces against Palestinians are a daily occurrence. This week, two young Palestinians, 15 year old Khaled Bahar Ahmed Bahar and 19 year old Raheeq Yousef, were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. In other […]

A major conference for health and safety representatives, will be held in Melbourne this coming Tuesday, the 25th of October. Workers all over the world share a common demand for safety in the workplace. Millions of workers die, get injured or suffer major illnesses every year due to unsafe workplaces. […]