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  • Pesco workers threaten protest

    TIMERGARA, Aug 19: The All Pakistan Hydro Electric Workers’ Union, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chairman Iqbal Khan on Aug 18 said that a protest call would be given if the Pesco authorities failed to meet their seven-point charter of demands.

    Addressing a workers’ gathering at the Fishing Hut Chakdara, he said the hydro union had long been struggling for the rights of workers.

    Iqbal Khan said that over 3,000 posts had been lying vacant in Pesco due to which it was unable to overcome line losses and recover dues. He said the vacant post were to be filled through a quota system to facilitate sons of deceased, retired and in-service employees of the power company.

    Meanwhile, several members of Paigham union, including Ziaul Haq, Shah Hussain, Ali Rahman, Mohammad Aziz, Sanaullah, Amir Nawab and Jehan Gul, quit their organisation and joined the hydro workers’ union.

    Welcoming their entry into the union, Mr Iqbal said the organisation had more than Rs20 million collected from the workers as donation which had been invested in property business to secure their future after retirement.

    Published by Daily Dawn on Aug 19, 2014

  • Ferguson erupts again. Workers, youth, it’s time to fight back

    Ferguson Missouri: Land of the free
    From John Reimann in Ferguson. *
    http://oaklandsocialist.com/

    First I should say this: The most impressive thing about what is happening here is again the huge number of young people who are coming out and really taking the lead. Their leadership is in ways that old timers like me never would have thought of, and the main thing is in revving up and keeping the spirit going. People gather in the lot of the QT that was burned to the ground, but they also line the street. From time to time, a young person will march up and down the street leading chants. “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” is the main one, but “No justice, no peace!” is also changed.

    Then there are the carloads of young people slowly driving up and down the street blowing their horns,, hanging out the doors and windows, hands raised…
    It all really looks like a new movement being born.

    This afternoon there was a huge rally at a church a couple of miles away from the main gathering point for the protest.  The big names spoke there – Al Sharpton, local Democrats, etc. The way it was set up, and given that the cops block off the main street where the protest is, even before it was over it was impossible to drive back to the protest and difficult to drive anywhere near it.
    Could it be that that was the plan – to try to keep people off the street?

    If it was, it didn’t work very well, because by nightfall the crowd was at least twice the size of Saturday night. Up and down the street we marched. Until suddenly the people at the front came running back. The cops had shot off tear gas. As far as I could see, this was totally unprovoked, as the mood was angry, yes, but also festive and there was absolutely no vandalism or anything like that.
    There was massive confusion, but also order in the confusion.

    I would like to write more and also post photos and video, but it’s late here and it’s been a long day. I will have a lot of photos and video up on a day or two, so to all of those I met in Ferguson: Please check back later.

  • Grocery workers fight back

    Thousands of workers at 71 Market Basket stores in New England have been engaged in a job action since July 17, when a hostile takeover within the company’s board ousted the then current CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas. The mostly white super­visory and managerial staff of the grocery chain has been organizing weekly rallies of thousands […]

    This report Grocery workers fight back appeared first on Workers World.

    Also:

    1. Walmart workers jolt NLRB
    2. Postal workers and students picket Staples’ board meeting
    3. Walmart cited for illegal firings as workers ramp up struggle

  • Indian contract workers refuse relocation and wage cuts

    Workers at the Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, are refusing to be transferred to a new facility in Rajastan at a lower wage than they currently receive in the factory outside Delhi. Police broke up a protest by 300 Hero MotorCorp employees. In addition to opposing the relocation, the 300 protesting workers are contract employees who are demanding job security.

  • Uzbekistan’s cotton industry is based on forced labour

    Labour rights activists protested outside Daewoo's headquarters in Seoul, to demand that the company stop purchasing cotton from Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has one of the largest state-enforced systems of forced labour, which requires more than a million children and adults to grow and harvest cotton each year. Daewoo buys 5% of all of Uzbekistan’s cotton.

  • Cambodian garment workers are being worked to death

    Cambodian unions are speaking out against the high incidence of faintings and even deaths in garment factories, due to overwork and lack of concern for workers' health. Workers' poor health is linked to Cambodia's poverty wages, which leave workers malnourished and drive them to work excessive overtime. Despite extreme poverty and government repression of social movements, the Australian government is continuing with its plans to send asylum seekers to Cambodia, see here and here.

  • Irrigation worker electrocuted

    HYDERABAD, Aug 15: An employee of the irrigation department of Phulelli division Hyderabad was electrocuted on Aug 14 at the Left-Bank Barrage Colony Hyderabad.

    Residents of the colony and employees carried the body to the local press club and held a protest demonstration there against the irrigation authorities.

    They said 27-year-old Mohammad Arif, who had been appointed in the the department 12 years ago as watchman, had been forced to work as electrician by the authorities concerned.

    Mr Arif climbed up an electric pole to repair some fault at the colony on Aug 14 morning when he received a power shock. He was taken to the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) Hyderabad where he was pronounced dead.

    Published by Daily Dawn on Aug 15, 2014

  • Argentina: Workers Occupy RR Donnelley Factory After Illegal Closure

    Buenos Aires: Another multinational company from USA has left hundreds of people jobless in Argentina. RR Donnelley, headquartered in Chicago, IL has declared bankruptcy and closed its factory doors leaving over 400 families without work. The closure has been deemed illegal. Workers have set up roadblocks on Panamericana Highway, not far from Lear protests that

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    The post Argentina: Workers Occupy RR Donnelley Factory After Illegal Closure appeared first on revolution-news.com.

  • Aug 12: Protests continue in Missouri; FAA Bans Flights Over

    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/08/12/faa-bans-flights-over-ferguson-tensions-flare-between-police-residents/r8alkgU5A0KRWcTBSyla4O/story.html FAA Bans Flights Over Ferguson as Tensions Flare Between Police, Residents By Roberto Scalese Boston.com Staff August 12, 2014 6:25 PM The Federal Aviation Agency has declared a no-fly zone over Ferguson, Missouri as tensions between police and protesters continued after last weekend’s police shooting of Michael Brown. The FAA issued a temporary flight […]

  • Ausreo workers locked out

    A lockout of 24 workers at Ausreo’s south-western Sydney factory is about to enter its third month. The company supplies concrete reinforcing products to the construction industry in three states. Workers at its Wetherill Park factory are demanding pay parity with their interstate colleagues….