Asia
Workers' struggles around Asia (October 2009)
A round-up of links to reports about workers' struggles in Cambodia, Korea and Thailand.
I apologise for not being as thorough as usual, but my PC was stolen last month, I was without internet for two weeks, and tomorrow I'm going on holiday. Hopefully I can go back to normal in December, here's what I've found over the last couple of week:s
Interesting article on labour rights NGOs trying to use corporate social responsibility programs.
Workers' struggles around Asia (September 2009)
A round-up of links to reports about workers' struggles around Asia (excluding China). Updated 1/10/2009.
This month where has been news from Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia and far eastern Russia. And now additional news courtesy of Welt in Umwaelzung (listed first).
Indonesia
China pollution protesters storm lead smelter
Hundreds of Shaanxi villagers force their way into factory that poisoned more than 600 children.
Protesters on Monday 17 August broke into a smelting works responsible for poisoning hundreds of children. Trucks were smashed and fences ripped down according to state news agency Xinhua, and around 100 policemen were sent to the scene, along with the mayor of nearby Baoji city who appealed for calm.
Various protests from Cambodia to Malaysia, and Sweden.
Here are some links to articles on various protests that have taken place recently in Cambodia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and a strike by Vietnamese workers in Sweden.
Villagers in Cambodia have sent representatives to the government baring a petition asking for action over land grabs, which are becoming more common. 80% of the population live in rural areas, and there is no safety net, but as over 90% of land has no legal title (mostly destroyed under the Khmer Rouge) it is easy for companies, the rich and powerful etc. to simply take land.
New report on the state of the worker's movement in China
China Labour Bulletin published a report based on a study of 100 different workers' protests, which found that workers there are becoming more effective in organising outside union structures.
Covering two years of struggles, the study found the following trends:
Quote:
* Workers took matters into their own hands. Bypassing the largely ineffectual official trade union, they used public protest as a means of forcing local governments to intercede on their behalf. And, in many cases, workers were successful.
Sources for news on Asia
I'm going to be posting links to news from Asia (mainly China and Taiwan) for me or others to write up later. For reference, here is a list of sources I currently use to find news.
Most are corporate news, many controlled by the Chinese state, though some are independent or connected to NGOs. The list is mostly China centred.
Land seizure in Eastern China leads to clashes
More than 3,000 villagers in Zhejiang province of eastern China blocked a highway and clashed with police as they protested against alleged official corruption in a land compensation deal according to a human rights monitor and a witness.
Ten residents of Shipu town were injured in the clash with more than 300 riot police on the 25th of July, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed statement.
Mongolia: strike at gold mine ends in partial victory
Workers at the Boroo gold mine in Mongolia won enhanced redundancy benefits from their Canadian employer Centerra Gold Inc. on the 16th of June after a three week strike.
The union had been negotiating for months demanding higher wages, better severance pay, and investigation of potential cyanide leakage into the environment. Workers went on strike on the 26th of May when the company suddenly announced that 50 workers were to be terminated.
'End crackdown on labor activists' in Vietnam, says human rights group
The Vietnamese government should immediately free activists who have been unlawfully imprisoned for peacefully campaigning for workers' rights, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
The 32-page report, "Not Yet a Workers' Paradise: Vietnam's Suppression of the Independent Workers' Movement," documents the Vietnamese government's crackdown on independent trade unions and profiles labor rights activists who have been detained, placed under house arrest, or imprisoned by the Vietnamese government in violation of international law.
More job cuts announced, more to come
As the economic recession restates its international nature, further job losses are to be announced in Jamaica and Ireland, while Swedish unemployment rate rises 14% in one month and the International Labour Organisation predicts 7.2 million workers to be made redundant in Asia in 2009.
Cider maker Bulmers is to make 120 people redundant, seven of them in Northern Ireland. The company's plant in County Tipperary will lose 103 posts, while 11 jobs will be cut in Dublin. Aidan Murphy of parent company C&C, said the cuts, made through voluntary redundancies, was needed to "safeguard the viability of the company".
