Stories about Labor from February, 2007
Iran:Remember fired bus drivers
Several people demonstrated in front of a Court building where Mansour Osanloo,bus syndicate leader,was judged yesterday. Demonstrators asked that fired bus drivers back to work. Osanloo and other bus drivers are in trouble because they launched a strike and ask for better work conditions.You can see photos in Revolt68.
Estonia: Migrant Workers
Hello Estonia writes about Estonian construction workers in Finland.
China: collective bargaining but no right to strike
Fons blogs about the latest discussion about the new labour law in China and quotes from a labour law researcher on a possible outcome: In 2007, tripartite regulations will be drawn up governing collective bargaining. It struck me as a significant development, but tripartism the Chinese way. On the lawful...
Ukraine: Corruption (Cont'd)
A week ago, there were about 200 comments on Yuri Zushchik's post on corruption at the National Bank of Ukraine (including an irrelevant but lively discussion of IKEA – which is yet to open in Kyiv, by the way). Today, there are 320 comments, and the following exchange (RUS, UKR)...
China: new year trash
According to Peijin Chen from Shanghaiist, during the lunar new year, Shanghai produced 12,000 tons of daily trash. And the rural migrant workers have to take care of that.
Israel: Anglosaxy's Job Trouble
Israel-based blogger Anglosaxy continues to battle it out with his boss (who apparently is trying to push him out of a job) here. He even found an advert for his job on his department's server!!!
Senegal: Poor Working Conditions for Workers at a Chinese Owned Factory
Blog Politique du Sénégal outlines (Fr) poor working conditions for Senegalese workers at Henan Chine, a chinese-owned factory in Senegal: “Holidays are not paid, social contributions are not made even though they are withheld from salaries.” Adds the blog: “Can things be any different given the rights (or non-rights) of...
Myanmar: Exploitation of Burmese Workers
Yangon Thu is pondering setting up an information portal for guest Burmese workers to prevent them from getting exploited by scrupulous agents and contractors.
Malaysia: Sub-Contracting Woes
Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin ridicules Malaysian government's plans to strictly enforce its affirmative action policies in infrastructure projects. Malaysia awards a lot of its official contracts to Bumiputra (ethnic Malay) contractors. These contractor in turn used to sub-contract it to local or foreign sub-contractors who may not necessarily be bumiputras....
Brunei: Need A Good Tailor
Jewelle in Brunei wonders where all the good tailors have gone too.
Ukraine: Corruption
Ukrainian journalist Yuri Zushchik spent this Valentine's Day in the company of his wife and her close friend, Sveta, who is dating a “mid-level employee” of the National Bank of Ukraine. On his blog at Korrespondent.net news site, Zushchik shares (RUS) what Sveta has revealed about the origins of her...
Syria: You Know You're an Engineer When..
Are you an engineer or do you know one? Syrian blogger Omar has a hilarious insight into the lives of engineers here.
South Korea: Korea US FTA Round 7
Jamie from Two Koreas blogs about the background, debating points in the most recent Korea US FTA negotiation.
Arabisc: Jordanian MPs Having a Ball!
Jordanian blogger Batir Wardam doesn't mince his words when he says that Jordan's Members of Parliament are in for a great weekend. After all, for a few hours of work, they enjoy the perks of being amongst the highest paid civil servants in Jordan. سوف تكون نهاية اسبوع سعيدة للسادة...
China: The west is red
If you're still up in the air over what to do over the Chinese New Year holiday, or if you just happen to have a couple weeks off, you could always go to China's impoverished inland region and participate in the construction of the new socialist countryside. Southern Rural News...
The Balkans: Iraq Jobs
Neretva River reports on an American firm recruiting the unemployed in the Balkans “to carry out various jobs assisting the US military in Iraq in fields of work ranging from truck driving to engineering”: “One 22 year old prospective KBR employ noted that his family were praying that he wouldn’t...
Hungary: Why Study English
Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar points out that the Hungarian government is suggesting the wrong motivation for studying English: “[…] achieving the rather lofty (and therefore completely unmeasureable) objective of increasing the ‘mobility of upcoming Hungarian generations’ and improving ‘their options on the labor market.’ Think about the logic...
Bahrain: First Woman Commercial Pilot
Bahraini Maysaa Hazeem has been appointed as Bahrain's first female commercial pilot, reports Mahmood Al Yousif. He hopes this will be an inspiration for women who think sky is the limit.
China: Disney sweatshop closed down
Chong translated a citizen report by Lung at interlocals.net on the closure of Disney's factory which is found having environmental and labour problems. However, about 800 workers were left unemployed and the factory failed to pay workers various compensations, a total of 4-5 million Yuan.
Argentina: “Recuperated Workplaces”
From Global Labor Strategies: “What happens when a group of workers take over their workplace and try to run it without private owners, professional managers, or the government? 10,000 workers in 200 workplaces in Argentina are trying to find out.”
Much ado in Zimbabwe
There was much ado in Zimbabwe over the last week. Much ado about nothing, that is. The biggest development in the beleagured nation's news was Gideon Gono, the controversial governor of Zimbabwe's central bank delivered a much anticipated monetary statement last week. Sadly, like everything else in the country, it...
