Committee for Asian Women (CAW) is looking for 2 interns to help organise a regional conference o­n women workers resistance to economic globalisation.

Job description: To assist in all logistical matters of the conference. It is a fulltime position from 17 July to 31 October.

Personal Specifications: The applicant must be female and fluent in English. Preference will be given to those who can speak Thai fluently. Preference will also be given to those with a background in event organizing, women�s issues, labour issues, or NGO work.

Committee for Asian Women is a regional organisation based in Bangkok. CAW�s vision is to build a conscious labour movement in Asia by building solidarity of women workers.

Please send your CV to Angela Zonderman at: [email protected]

For more information phone: 02 930 5634/5

Garment workers' resentment will not calm down unless their demands, including re-fixing minimum wage, are met immediately, speakers at a discussion said yesterday.

The wage commission will take at least three months more to re-fix the wage, which will result in increased discontent among the workers, the speakers added.

Vice President of the BGMEA Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury said the BGMEA should be given some more time to implement the proposals, made in the tripartite meetings, as the trade body will have to convince the owners and investors in this regard.

Speakers at the discussion titled 'Workers' Discontent in Garment Industry: range, causes and remedy', organised by the daily New Age and Karmojibi Nari in Dhaka, also stressed the importance of implementing labour law and developing relationship between the labourers and the owners.

Greetings from Karmojibi Nari (KN). Trust you all are informed about the details of the recent labour uprising in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. All quarters have been trying to mark the actions as a conspiracy rather labour grievance. The party in power blamed the party in opposition and the party in opposition blamed the party in power. Some ministers and factory owners blamed NGOs and neighbouring and competitor countries. KN understands that any kind of marking o­n the grievance as conspiracy will help the factory owners and state to avoid the concerns raised by the workers.

KN, since the day of workers uprising, has been arguing explicitly that there is no conspiracy but genuine labour grievances. Genuine labour grievances have caused the spontaneous and uncontrolled revolt of the workers. o­n 23 May, KN and other national non-government organizations that work o­n human rights, women rights and workers rights, have organized a joint press conference under the banner of Worker's Safety Forum [known as SNF, formed last year as a response to the Spectrum Incident] and have notified the point. The press conference has also noticed that lack of bargaining agent [ i.e. trade union] in the factory is the major reason behind the actions. The press conference demanded immediate end of all kind of harassment and violence against workers, cancellation of all cases filed against the workers, release of arrested workers, opening of the factories, payment of due wages, fixation of minimum wages, implementation of labour laws in the factories and formation of tripartite committee to solve the problems in ready-made garment factories.

Dear Friends

Greetings!

I would like to inform you that INTERNATIONAL APPAREL (Pvt) Ltd. situated in Kot Lakhpat area Lahore, Pakistan manufacturing garments, exporting to America, UK and other European countries, have employed 200 women workers and 50 male workers.

The workers tried to form union under the Industrial Relation Ordinance (IRO) with the assistance of All Pakistan Trade Union Federation. The employer locked out the factory and turned out all the workers from the factory without giving any written notice. The owner has not paid salary from December 2005 to March 2006. Workers held a meeting in the federation office and decided to approach the court of law for payment of wages. So now the management, instead of paying the dues of workers, is harassing their families and compelling them to withdraw the cases from the court. They are threatening to abduct women workers. Due to this, the poor workers are very frightened and are not living in their houses but living with their relatives.

Publicis Thailand, the Thai subsidiary of French-based global public relations giant Publicis Groupe (with revenues of �3.83 billion in 2004) has charged Junya Lek Yimprasert, coordinator of the Thai Labour Campaign (TLC), with "defamation by propagation." Yimprasert's "crime" was republishing an article from CSR Asia Weekly o­n the TLC website about an unfair dismissal case filed by five workers against the public relations company. If convicted Yimprasert faces a possible jail sentence, payment of monetary damages, and limitations o­n her/TLC's important labor rights work. Your action is needed today to help get Publicis to drop this lawsuit.