Workers' struggles in East Asia (November 2012)

This month there has been news from Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, North Korea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Among the significant events is Singapore's first strike in 25 years, carried out by Chinese bus drivers - it's probably too early to suggest this is a sign of China exporting workers militancy, but it's nice to be hopeful now and then!

Once again I haven't had time o check the JTTP.cn or Jasmine Revolution website this month, but they're worth a browse for the photos even if you can't read Chinese or be bothered to use Google Translate. Reports I've come across for countries outside of the region can be found here, which is also where you'll find any reports I come across for the East Asia region for the next 2 months as I'm going on holiday and won't have time to categorize them all as usual.

The most important stories:

Burma/Myanmar 13: Strike over working conditions and contracts at Taw Win wood factory in Yangon (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)
Burma/Myanmar 20: Strikes over wages and conditions at Golden Day garment factory and Hlapa Thaw wood factory in Dagon Seikkan (link 1)
Cambodia 27: Strike over wages at Global Footwear factory in Kandal province (link 1) (link 2)
China 29: Strike over factory relocation and assault by manager at Yazaki Corporation parts plant in Shantou, Guangdong Province (link 1) (link 2)
Indonesia 2: Strike against outsourcing at PT. Ceres Meiji Indotama Karawang (Indonesia) (link 1)
Indonesia 22: Protest for high minimum wage and against paying for social security in Jakarta (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6) (link 7) (link 8) (link 9) (link 10) (link 11) (link 12) (link 13)
Philippines 17: Strike over wages at Freshmax Trading Company banana plant in Davao City (link 1) (link 2)
Philippines 18: Strike over wages and and benefits at Lapanday Fruits Corporation in Davao City (link 1) (link 2)
Singapore 26: Strike by bus drivers over working conditions (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6) (link 7) (link 8) (link 9) (link 10) (link 11) (link 12) (link 13) (link 14) (link 15) (link 16) (link 17) (link 18) (link 19) (link 20) (link 21) (link 22) (link 23) (link 24) (link 25) (link 26) (link 27) (link 28) (link 29) (link 30) (link 31) (link 32) (link 33) (link 34)

All reports ordered by country and date:

Burma/Myanmar

2: Protest against land seizure in Chaung Tha Village, Irrawaddy Division (link 1)
13: Strike over working conditions and contracts at Taw Win wood factory in Yangon (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)
18: Protest by miners over compensation in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw (link 1) (link 2)
20: Protest against Latpadaung copper mine (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6) (link 7) (link 8) (link 9) (link 10) (link 11) (link 12) (link 13) (link 14) (link 15) (link 16) (link 17) (link 18) (link 19) (link 20) (link 21) (link 22) (link 23) (link 24) (link 25) (link 26) (link 27) (link 28) (link 29) (link 30) (link 31) (link 32) (link 33) (link 34) (link 35) (link 36) (link 37) (link 38) (link 39) (link 40)
20: Strikes over wages and conditions at Golden Day garment factory and Hlapa Thaw wood factory in Dagon Seikkan (link 1)

Cambodia

18: Protests against forced evictions and repression in Phnom Penh (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6) (link 7) (link 8) (link 9) (link 10) (link 11) (link 12) (link 13)
27: Strike over wages at Global Footwear factory in Kandal province (link 1) (link 2)

China

6: Sharp increase in wage arrears leads to spike in worker protests in October (link 1)
8: When workers� actions speak louder than words (link 1)
16: Protest over village chiefs and land seizures in Liantang, Shantou, Guangdong Province (link 1) (link 2)
18: Protest against police in Fuan, Fijian Province (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5)
21: Protest against power station in Wenzhou, Guangdong Province (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4)
28: Protest against land seizure in Liantang, Shantou, Guangdong Province (link 1)
29: Protest against gynaecology checks for civil service jobs in Wuhan, Hubei Province (link 1)
29: Strike over factory relocation and assault by manager at Yazaki Corporation parts plant in Shantou, Guangdong Province (link 1) (link 2)

Indonesia

2: Strike against outsourcing at PT. Ceres Meiji Indotama Karawang (Indonesia) (link 1)
13: Protest for minimum wage in Medan, Sumatra (link 1) (link 2)
22: Protest for high minimum wage and against paying for social security in Jakarta (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6) (link 7) (link 8) (link 9) (link 10) (link 11) (link 12) (link 13)

Japan

5: Protest against presence of US aircraft in Tokyo (link 1)

Malaysia

22: Protest over lay-offs by workers at Sanmina-SCI Corporation (Malaysia) in Kuching, Sarawak (link 1)
25: Protest against rare earth plant (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)

North Korea

27: Kim Jong-un warns against unrest in North Korea (link 1) (link 2)

Philippines

5: Protest for minimum wage in Quezon City (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)
7: Protest against members of inquiry into human rights violations in Davao City (link 1)
9: Strike over right to organise at Bacolod Columbia Marketing Inc in Bacolod (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)
9: Protest by bus workers over non-implementation of legal ruling in Quezon City, Manila (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)
11: Strike over wages by dock workers at Prudential Customs Brockerage Services in Surigao City, North Mindanao (link 1)
12: Protest against Social Service System overcharging in Quezon City (link 1)
15: Protest against new alcohol and cigarette tax in Manila (link 1)
17: Protest by students over education policy in Davao (link 1)
17: Strike over wages at Freshmax Trading Company banana plant in Davao City (link 1) (link 2)
18: Strike over wages and and benefits at Lapanday Fruits Corporation in Davao City (link 1) (link 2)
19: Protest by prisoners over restrictions on visitors at prison in Marikina (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)
19: Protest against mining in Baguio City, Luzon (link 1)
24: Protest against high power rates in Manila (link 1) (link 2)
27: Protest against hospital privatization in Quezon City (link 1) (link 2)
30: Protest against labour policy in Manila (link 1) (link 2) (link 3)

Singapore

26: Strike by bus drivers over working conditions (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6) (link 7) (link 8) (link 9) (link 10) (link 11) (link 12) (link 13) (link 14) (link 15) (link 16) (link 17) (link 18) (link 19) (link 20) (link 21) (link 22) (link 23) (link 24) (link 25) (link 26) (link 27) (link 28) (link 29) (link 30) (link 31) (link 32) (link 33) (link 34)

South Korea

15: Protest against nuclear power plant near Busan (link 1)
16: Protest over wages by Korean workers on US military bases (link 1)
25: Protests by workers (link 1)

Taiwan

7: Protest by students against proposal to hike tuition fees in Taipei (link 1) (link 2)
14: Protest over loan repayment in Taipei (link 1)
17: Protest by workers and activists against takeover of Next Media Group in Taipei (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4)
25: Protest over labour rights in Taipei (link 1) (link 2) (link 3) (link 4) (link 5) (link 6)

Thailand

2: Workers triumph after setting up cooperative (link 1)
15: Protest against attempted land grab near Phuket (link 1)
18: Protest against trade agreement in Bangkok (link 1)

Vietnam

8: Strike over quality of meals in canteen Free Well Ltd in Binh Phuoc Province (link 1)
11: Strike over working conditions at Flexcom garment factory in Dinh Ke commune, Bac Giang Province (link 1)