· December, 2006

Stories about Labor from December, 2006

China: Cops and bikers

  29 December 2006

Guangzhou, China's third largest city just a few hours north of Hong Kong, is the last major city to do away with motorbikes, effective January 1, 2007, in a move aimed at tackling pollution, traffic congestion and, more seriously, the high levels of street crime for which Guangzhou and a...

Serbia, USA: What Serbs Think About America

  28 December 2006

In his blog post called “America is shaking”, Neven Andjelic shares his opinion on the United States (SRP): This big country is shaking. A number of events have caused the current condition. None of them has anything to do with my arrival to Berkley four months ago when I first...

Puerto Rico: Do you see what I see?

  27 December 2006

Gil the Jenius enlists the help of refrain from a Christmas carol in his diatribe against what he sees as some of the administrative and political problems affecting Puerto Rico.

Guadeloupe, India: 152nd Anniversary of Tamul Hindus’ Arrival

  26 December 2006

Atout Guadeloupe announces (Fr) that Guadeloupeans of Hindu Tamul origin celebrated the 152nd anniversary of their ancestors’ arrival in Guadeloupe on Dec. 24. Says the feed: “Hindus arrived after the second abolition of slavery.” The ceremony which took place in capital Pointe-a-Pitre included offerings of flowers to the ocean and...

Jamaica: Entrepreneurship and governance

  26 December 2006

Jamaican blogger Francis Wade is concerned that “our leaders of government who have never run companies do not understand the nature of business, and when they start to support the individual’s “right to a job” they do not understand what they are saying.”

Haiti, Dominican Republic: Slaves in Paradise

  24 December 2006

Says Collectif Haiti de Provence (Fr):”For International Anti-Slavery Day, May 10, 2007, Pour Que L'esprit Vive Association is organizing a series of activities to denounce living conditions in [Dominican] bateys: photo exhibits, roundtables with Haitian and Dominican intervenors, films. The event will be titled ‘Slaves in Paradise’.”

Sri Lanka: Discrimination and those of the Indian Origin

  21 December 2006

Moju on workers in Sri Lanka of Indian origin being paid less than average and the troubling times for this ethnic community. “Their call on an indefinite strike to raise their daily wages to an amount of Rupees 300 from Rupees 135 per day is staged when elsewhere in the...

India: The glory of strikes

  21 December 2006

Random thoughts of a demented mind on enjoying a Bandh (strike) in West Bengal. “Postponing a bandh? What kind of lunacy is that? Don’t people understand that the bandh needed to be on 21st (Thursday), 22nd (Friday) so that with the weekend (23rd and 24th) and Christmas (25th) we would...

South Korea: migrant news roundup

  21 December 2006

Jamie from Two Koreas reprints some news from Migrant Worker TV to sum up some of the current issues going on in the migrant movement in South Korea these days.

Bangladesh: A strike in Calcutta

  14 December 2006

imperfect world 2006 on being caught in a bandh (strike) in Calcutta. “My brave taxi driver was scolded mercilessly for breaking the bandh by a bunch of CPM lumpens comrades”

Jamaica: Anti-Service Culture

  14 December 2006

“…Sales people often seem to be actively working against closing the deal; in this sense, we can call it an ‘anti-service’ culture,” writes Stet as she offers fascinating examples of this Jamaican phenomenon.

Bangladesh: Migrant workers in South Korea

  7 December 2006

imperfect world 2006 on Bangladeshi migrant workers in South Korea. “There are around two hundred thousand undocumented workers not registered with the authorities, many of whom are unemployed. They provide cheap labour, often in dangerous conditions.”

China: no sex in Australia?

  7 December 2006

ESWN translates an article about translation errors in putting “banning for personal reasons resulting in pregnancy or impregnating” into “banning sexual intercourse” concerning the working conditions of Chinese workers in Australia by a Chinese newspapers. The errors resulted in a lot of discussion concerning labour rights.

Israel: Municipal employees strike update

  6 December 2006

“Last week's strike was over quickly after promises were made by the government offices, to transfer money to the municipalities who have not been paying their employees’ salaries for many months now due to their dire financial situation. Some municipalities indeed paid, but the majority never received money and 12.000...

Japan: foreign workers

  6 December 2006

Debito translates an article about the treatment of foreign workers in Japan and NGO's effort in advocating “free choice of work sector”.

South Korea: water cannon below 0 degree

  5 December 2006

Jamie from Two Koreas blogs about the union demonstration against bills on irregular work. The demonstrators were received by water cannon at freezing weather. You can find a video link in the blog.