Media statement from 76 groups 28 October 2011 Malaysia Must Protect Worker and Union Rights, and withdraw proposed unjust amendments to Employment Act – Labour Suppliers Should Not Be Employers – We, the undersigned 76 organizations, groups and networks are disturbed that the Malaysian government has proceeded to table, and get it passed speedily on [...]

Myanmar will allow unions to be formed and workers to strike when a new law kicks in this month, according to UPI News online. Deputy Labour Minister Myint Thein told the Democratic Voice of Burma, which operates out of Norway, that President Thein Sein signed the bill into law last week. The labour organisation bill [...]

The formation of trade unions will be permitted in Burma for the first time in almost 50 years, following the signing of a new law by the country’s president. Under the new legislation, trade unions with a minimum of 30 members will be allowed to be formed and industrial action will be permitted to take [...]

Several hundred garment workers conducted a hunger strike in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on 29 September, demanding payment of outstanding wages and allowances of workers at five garment factories. Protestors also sought legal compensation for dismissed workers from four garment factories. The pressure exerted achieved payment of the moneys owed by [...]

The proposed changes to labour laws, which trade unions say would promote outsourcing, are “illegal” as middlemen who subcontract work cannot be considered employers, Klang MP Charles Santiago has said. He said that an employer must be, by definition, the owner and operator of a factory and that an employment contract is only valid if [...]

Jeans with a distressed, already-worn look have been popular since the 1990s, but one way the effect is achieved is by blasting them with sand – and this can give factory workers an incurable lung disease. So should we stop buying them? “I have difficulty breathing… When I return from work I feel so tired. [...]

The State Railway of Thailand’s dismissal of seven union leaders amounts to a destruction of the labour union and a gross human rights violation, say labour and human right advocates. Tim De Meyer, a specialist with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said gatherings, negotiations and work stoppages were among the basic rights of workers which [...]

A garment factory hit by two mass fainting incidents last month has been accused of trying to get rid of workers who subsequently joined the Free Trade Union to push for better working conditions at the facility in Kampong Chhnang province, according to the Phnom Penh Post on September 23. FTU president Chea Mony wrote [...]

All workers will be given days off during the Pchum Ben festival later this month so that they can return to their hometowns and villages to register on voting lists or check to ensure their names are on the lists, a letter from Minister of Labour Vong Sauth released last Friday states. The order demands [...]

Over 1,000 workers went on strike Thursday ( Sept 8 ) over low pay and a tightened work schedule at a factory in south China owned by the European lingerie giant Triumph International. The strike started Thursday morning at the Hainan Youmei Underwear Company in Haikou, capital of the southernmost island province of Hainan, with [...]