Author: jiselle

As reported last week, the dispute over unpaid wages for workers employed by the Tuba group of companies has entered its second week. Workers are continuing their hunger strike and actions amid continual harassment and repression by police and goons and the arrests of some of the labour organisers involved in the dispute. The workers seem to have won some of their demands over unpaid wages, but many other claims remain not settled. A solidarity rally was held last Friday in Melbourne, Australia.

Around 2,000 workers from the Tuba group of companies began an indefinite strike last week, with a number also starting a mass hunger strike in an occupied factory. The workers are angry that they could not go home during the Eid holiday and for being left without three months' pay and festival bonus. The Tuba group of companies includes the Tazreen owners. Workers are also protesting over the Tazreen lack of compensation and prosecutions, and are calling for the cancellation of bail for Delwar Hossain, Tasreen’s owner. The garment industry in Bangladesh is renowned for its exploitative practices and only independent and active unions will be able to improve workers conditions. Support the solidarity rally in Melbourne. Publicity leaflet here. Read Australian solidarity message here.

Since being awarded the 2022 Football World Cup, the West Asian country of Qatar has been in the spotlight over its treatment of migrant workers. This month, the government of Qatar did not support an international agreement against forced labour, with some other neighbouring countries also voting against the treaty. New reports coming out from Qatar expose the vulnerable living conditions for workers which leave some of them homeless. The issue is that companies are making huge profits via the super exploitation of these migrant workers.

The coal mining industry is one of the most dangerous industries in China for workers, with thousands killed each year. In conjunction with a downturn in the industry, workers in coal mines all around China have started to take more industrial action in support of better conditions and wages. Industrial struggles by Chinese workers have become bigger and more organised recently. A recent incident where Zhou Jianrong, killed herself due to unbearable working conditions, led to a series of protests that highlighted workers willingness to act against weak official union and local government collusion.

In late June, five workers were killed and eight others injured in a gas explosion in the Alang Shipbreaking Yard in India's Gujarat state. All of them were migrant workers. 470 workers were killed at the Alang Shipbreaking Yard from 1983 to 2013, as well as another 15 deaths this year. The union on site called a meeting of safety officials and government officers to discuss how to prevent more deaths in the future. More action is needed to prevent more deaths.

On 22 July a huge crowd of 30,000 construction workers filled Seoul Plaza on a day of national strike by the Korean Federation of Construction Industry Trade Unions (KFCITU) – see here and here. The slogans of the rally were: "With our union, an 8 hour work day is possible! A 5 day work week is possible! Safe Construction Sites are possible! Construction site without pay delay is possible!"  On 22 July Korean health care workers also rallied to protest the Korean government's plans to deregulate and privatise health services.

More than 1,000 construction workers went on strike at a construction site in Sydney after a union delegate was stood down for speaking out on the site's safety. The workers were ordered back to work by the Fair Work Commission, which deemed the action was unlawful, and banned the union (the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) from industrial action on this matter for the next three months. Workers must organise to fight laws that criminalise industrial action.

In the last fortnight, the relentless race for profits has claimed the lives of over 70 Indian workers in the southern town of Chennai. The first tragedy was the collapse of a building under construction which was being built on reclaimed swamp lands. Many of the workers were migrants from adjoining provinces. A week later, a warehouse wall also collapsed on another group of workers, killing eleven. Deaths like these once again shows that for capitalists and governments, profits are more important than our lives. Only through independent unions are we going to create safe working environments.