The year 2011 is ending as it began: with images of thousands of Egyptian women and men standing up against a Western-backed military regime — from a 10,000-strong march of women two days ago (Dec 21), to another mass Friday march today (Dec 23). These make it clear that the Egyptian revolution is ongoing, and [...]
Many workers in the service industry suffer from stress and insomnia because of absurd customer demands, with women being the most troublesome. More than two-thirds of 500 respondents surveyed by the Vital Employee Service Consultancy complained of being under constant pressure at work. Women are four times more likely to cause them trouble than men. [...]
Prompted by the image of three soldiers stripping a female protester naked and violently assaulting her, thousands of women marched on Tuesday from Cairo’s Tahrir Square to the nearby Press Syndicate chanting, “Egyptian women are a red line” and “Down with military rule.” Women of all ages and backgrounds converged on the Mogamma administrative complex [...]
Thailand is still grappling with the aftermath of the historic October 2011 floods that swamped 1,500 factories in more than 20 provinces, killed 700, and left hundreds of thousands of workers jobless. Natural disasters are especially hard on migrant workers and may increase their vulnerability to exploitation such as human trafficking. With support from the [...]
The cabinet has struck a blow for the malnourished but another neglected section without which few houses in India can run is seeking the attention of policymakers. Domestic workers, India’s exploited and faceless army largely ignored by organised labour, are at the centre of a campaign being launched in India as part of a global [...]
Azim Mai’s husband allegedly threw acid in her face last year after she refused to sell their two boys to a man in Dubai to use as camel racers. The 35-year-old mother of five can no longer find work as a maid because her deeply scarred face scares potential employers. Acid burnings are among the [...]
This week, the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery held its 1,000th Wednesday Demonstrations in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul’s Jongno district to call for a resolution to the comfort women issue. Twenty years have passed since the former “comfort women”, who had been coerced to serve as sex [...]
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to be held next year in Rio de Janeiro gives the opportunity to create institutions to defend the rights of the future generations, according to representatives of civil society from all over the world who contributted to the Social Watch Report 2012, launched in New York on [...]
unions are gearing up for confrontation with the government over wages, pledging a crippling general strike, roadblocks and demonstrations on Dec. 27 as teachers prepare to strike across the country on Dec. 15. Ghassan Ghosn, head of the General Labour Confederation, announced the strike Monday (Dec 12) after a meeting of the groups’ executive council. [...]
The recent report of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on the trade policies of Thailand to the WTO General Council Review reveals a serious violation of the fundamental rights of workers. The report highlights that there are no provisions in Thai labour or trade policies for the protection of the migrant workers, various ethnic [...]
