textiles
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in manufacturing, research and development, mining and materials around the world.
Cambodia: Garment worker shot
A 24-year old mother was shot in the back by Cambodian police during a protest at the Bright Sky factory last week.
Workers at the factory were protesting over new short-term work contracts, when management called the police. A large number of police armed with AK47s marched into the crowd, firing shots into the air, shooting a woman in the back as she tried to escape. Around 16 workers, members of the FTUWKC union, have been arrested since the protest.
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Ryder Cup clothing workers to strike
Workers making clothes for the European Ryder Cup golf team, will begin a work-to-rule and overtime ban on Friday.
The action at Mackinnon of Scotland, a subsidiary of Edinburgh Wool Mill, will begin on the same day as the tournament begins, with a series of strikes to follow if the dispute is not resolved.
Workers voted 85% in favour of the action, after Edinburgh Wool Mill refused to make a pay offer, according to the Community trade union.
More clashes in Bangladesh - the issue of energy
Textile workers in Narsingdi, central Bangladesh, yesterday fought police in protests against irregular power supply to their factory workplaces.
They are not paid for time lost to interruptions. Over 1,000 fought with officers as they laid seige to the electicity company offices, setting fire to company vehicles, 2 transformers and a circuit breaker. 50 workers were hurt as cops baton charged, fired rubber bullets and tear gas. 10 cops were also injured by thrown missiles.
Agitation in Bangladeshi jute mill areas continues
After Thursday's clashes, in which revised figures tell of 200 injured and one worker dead, the strike continues and tension remains high in Khulna.
Since Friday, millworkers and other local people have flown black flags from homes and workplaces as a sign of solidarity and mourning for their dead comrade. On Saturday the police withdrew from the area and most shops remained shut. Today, Monday, the strikers intend to march in their thousands from the Kalishpur industrial belt - this was the site of Thursday's clashes.
1990: Bacton Fashions strike
An account of the 1990 strike in East London of mostly immigrant workers, which won several concessions for the workers and prevented the owner starting a new sweatshop elsewhere.
Bacton Fashions in Hackney was a relatively large clothing sweatshop employing up to 90 workers. Most workers were Turkish or Kurdish, had been living in Britain for less than a couple of years and were waiting for a Home Office decision on their rights to remain.
1981: Kortex sweatshop strike
The history of a victorious strike of 300 mostly female immigrant workers in an ultra-exploitative textile sweatshop in Australia.
Sweatshop rebels
How quickly people can change. The December 1981 Kortex strike illustrates how women’s oppression and their exploitation as workers combine and interact. A struggle in the workplace can spill over into the home and family life, with remarkable consequences.
1912: The Lawrence textile strike
A short history of the strike of 20,000 textile workers, mostly women and girls who included native and immigrant workers, which won big concessions over wages, conditions and hours for the entire textile industry
At the turn of the 20th century, Lawrence, Massachusetts was one of the most important textile manufacturing towns in the United States. The mills in the area were principally under the ownership of the American Woollen Company, which employed about 40,000 people. The Company's consolidation of thirty-four factories across New England had a yearly output of about $45,000,000.
1860: The Lynn shoe strike
Howard Zinn's history of the strike of 20,000 US shoe manufacturing workers - men and women - in New England. Lasting several weeks, the strike won wage increases for the poorly-paid workers.
Bangladeshi Government forced to renounce mine project
In the face of mass resistance, Bangladeshi Government forced to renounce mine project. More actions threatened in garment industry.
The Government has announced it will not now allow the opencast mining project in Phulbari to go ahead. The scale of the resistance has clearly shocked the State; the proposed project provoked a seizure of the town by 30,000 protesters for the past 5 days (after troops shot 5 people) and a nationwide general strike on Wednesday.
