Workers continue to be killed at work

Tuesday 21 May 2013Date: 19 May 2013 Type: News Article Source: Australia Asia Worker Links (AAWL) Keyword/s: workers, workers’ rights Events of the last week have shown that while the catastrophic collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh gained the world’s headlines, workers are routinely killed at their workplaces due to neglect, cost cutting and sub standard regulations. These are not isolated events but part of an economic system that places profits above lives. In the province of Kampong Speu, (...) Read more >>

Northeast India IP orgs urged China, India to stop Mega dams

Tuesday 21 May 2013Date: 18 May 2013 Type: Statement Keyword/s: indigenous community organizations, free, prior and informed consent, self-determination, right to water Dear Friends, Please find a letter from several indigenous community organizations of India’s North East region to the Prime Minister of China, Mr. Li Kequiang, visiting India on 19 May 2013 and also to the Prime Ministers of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Bangladesh, Ms. Sheikh Hasina to respect indigenous peoples rights over all water (...) Read more >>

Taiwan and Philippine governments should resolve crisis now

Tuesday 21 May 2013Date: 16 May 2013 Source: International Migrants’ Alliance (APMM) Type: Statement Keyword/s: Filipino migrants, racist discrimination Filipino migrants are innocent. They should be protected. This is the call of the International Migrants’ Alliance as it urgently demands both the Philippine and Taiwanese governments to immediately resolve the conflict that rose from the May 9 shooting of a 65-year old Taiwanese fisherman. As we speak, as the conflict drags on remaining unresolved, the (...) Read more >>

Embassy officials in KSA are blocking humanitarian aid to stranded OFWs

Tuesday 21 May 2013Date: 17 May 2013 Type: Statement Source: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) Keyword/s: grassroots migrant organizations, overseas Filipino workers The International Migrant Alliance (IMA), a global coalition of mainly grassroots migrant organizations, is alarmed at the Philippine government’s treatment of stranded overseas Filipino workers in Riyadh. Priorly, it has already failed to provide them with adequate food, water and sanitation and now they have the gall to reject the (...) Read more >>

Statement on the freezing of the bank accounts of India Social Action forum (INSAF) during the ADB Meeting

Tuesday 21 May 2013Date: 14 May 2013 Type: Statement Source: INSAF Keyword/s: democratic protests, human rights violations, state violence We the undersigned are shocked and dismayed at the Government of India’s action against INSAF, a national coalition of 700 people’s movements, social action groups and progressive intellectuals with an active presence in 15 States of India. According to a communication from the Home Ministry dated 30th April 2013, the INSAF bank account has been frozen because its (...) Read more >>

A win in Hong Kong and lessons from the dockworkers’ strike

Tuesday 14 May 2013Date: 12 May 2013 Type: News Article Source: Australia Asia Worker Links Keyword/s: Hong Kong dock workers, wage increase, labor conditions This week hundreds of workers at the Port of Hong Kong agreed to end their 40 day strike after winning a 9.8% wage rise, as well as promises of further negotiations on working conditions and an assurance of no retaliation against striking workers. While successful, the workers did not achieve all of their demands. Workers became worried when they (...) Read more >>

Burma’s ethnic cleansing a bad sign for workers

Tuesday 14 May 2013Date: 12 May 2013 Type: News Article Source: Australia Asia Worker Links (AAWL) Keyword/s: democratic freedom, Burmese Muslims, repression of workers Over the last few years, the political climate in Burma has seemed to become less repressive with increasing democratic freedoms. However, this change has also unleashed new forces in society. Burma has seen major ethnic cleansing pogroms against Burmese muslims by forces associated with the state. This new wave of state sponsored (...) Read more >>

Cambodian garment workers fight for higher wages

Tuesday 14 May 2013Date: 12 May 2013 Type: News Article Source: Australia Asia Worker Links (AAWL) Keyword/s: labor conditions, decent wages, garment workers In the last two weeks, garment workers in Cambodia have pressed for higher wages. On May Day,thousands of workers protested against the small proposed minimum wage increase of US$80/month instead of the present US$61/month. Workers are demanding that the minimum be increased to a living wage of US$150/month, while there are ongoing strikes in some (...) Read more >>

Guatemala and India block listing of toxic paraquat formulation in the Rotterdam Convention

Friday 10 May 2013Type: Press Release Date: 10 May 2013 Industry representative deceives delegates by speaking on behalf of Guatemalan government Failure to list will deprive countries of their right to know and to take informed decisions about import Geneva, Switzerland (10 May 2013) - More than 120 government parties to the Rotterdam Convention support the listing of paraquat (20%) as a severely hazardous pesticide formulation in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention. However, at the 6th Conference of (...) Read more >>

Bangladesh building collapse toll tops 1,000

Friday 10 May 2013Official says 1,006 people confirmed dead as rescuers pull more bodies of garment factory workers out of rubble. Date: 10 May 2013 Type: News Article Source: Al Jazeera Keyword/s: garment factory workers The death toll in Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster has soared past 1,000 after more bodies were found in the rubble of a collapsed building outside the capital, Dhaka. The "death toll now stands at 1,006" as the recovery operation entered its 17th day since the building caved in (...) Read more >>