This week, two separate cases has highlighted the level of repression that now exists in Thailand. Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned Buddhist and academic, is facing possible Lese Majeste charges for a comment over an elephant duel that is alleged to have happened in 1593. In the industrial belt of the […]
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In late 2013, just six months after the horrific disaster at Rana Plaza, a fire engulfed the Aswad Composite Mills textile mill in Gazipur, Bangladesh. At least seven workers were killed and over 50 injured. It is now over four years since this horrific industrial incident and families and survivors […]
This documentary by Australian film maker, Jennifer Peedom, explores some of the politics and conflict between the mountain climbers and the Sherpas who are trying to improve their livelihood. During the making of the documentary, an avalanche killed many Sherpas including the union’s vice president. Monday October 16 at 6pm […]
Around 150 workers in the Australian city of Sydney have been in a brutal struggle from last August against their employer, Streets Ice Cream, a subsidiary of the global giant Unilever, over a new enterprise agreement. The company wants to reduce workers’ wages by over 40%, as well as cuts […]
This week, Yi Hye-jeong, a 41-year-old former Samsung employee, died from the effects of systemic sclerosis, an auto immune disorder that damages the body’s organs. Yi worked in the chip making department and over the years she was exposed to a variety of chemicals including nitrous oxide, arsenic, phosphine, oxypoclimin, […]
Last month around 5,000 workers from Orissa’s power distribution companies protested in the state’s capital of Bhubaneswar. They were demanding that their monthly wages be increased from the current 4,000 rupees (US$61) to 18,000 rupees (US$275), as well as permanent jobs for outsourced workers. Workers have had long standing grievances […]
The aviation industry is one of the most globalised industries in the world. Aviation companies continue to enforce a Global Race to the Bottom in their search to cut costs and increase profits. Casualisation, contracting out and temporary employment of their workforce are some of the main tactics the companies […]
The brutality of Australia’s anti refugee policies continue to kill people with two more refugees dying this week. Santhiya died due to inadequate medical care in an Indonesian refugee camp as she was unable to proceed further and reach Australia. She suffered kidney failure. Rajeev Rajendran was another Tamil refugee […]
This week fourteen migrant workers in Thailand pleaded not guilty to charges of defamation brought by the Thammakaset chicken farm where they had been working. The ‘crime’ of these Burmese workers was to have complained to the National Human Rights Commission over their terrible conditions that they were employed under. […]
On Friday 29 September, opposition politician and long-time human rights activist Tian Chua, withdrew his appeal before the Court of Appeal and was given a jail sentence of 30 days. Tian was arrested in 2012 for ‘entering a restricted area’ after the Bersih 3.0 demonstrations. Tian’s decision not to proceed […]