Stories about Labor from June, 2007
Bahrain: The Tale of a ‘Legal Slave’
No longer a tax haven, people in Bahrain are fuming at the introduction of a one per cent tax to benefit an Unemployment Fund. Bloggers caught on the bug and are ranting and fuming on their blogs in this report by Ayesha Saldanha. In other related matters, bloggers talk about a new law which bans workers from working between noon and 4pm in the summer heat, lavish weddings and the forgotten 'martyrs' of the civil unrest which rocked Bahrain in the 90s.
China: Luxurious Buildings and Shanxi Bricks
CCTV News investigation team asked the Tianya community to submit information concerning extravagant and luxurious building in China (zh). There were many submission. Cha Jing highlighted one of the comments: Without building all these, where to sell all those bricks (produced by slave labour) in Shanxi? (zh)
China: Victims of slave labour
Tan Weishan posted some photos of the victims of slave labour in Shanxi brick kiln, one of them lost his legs because of the supervisor abuse. He was dumped in the middle of the mountain in 2002. Eventhough he had won the court case and the brick kiln had to...
Algeria: Holiday Debate
Algerian Nouri gets us in into the debate of changing the weekly holiday from Thursday/Friday to Saturday/Sunday here.
Anguilla: Slave Labour?
As imported Indian labourers marched against unfair wages on a high-profile resort project, Corruption-free Anguilla writes: “Our government has lost its way. It was the compassion of the ordinary Anguillian that redeemed our government today.”
Latvia: Economy
Edward Hugh of A Fistful of Euros posts a thorough examination of Latvia's economy, complete with some policy proposals.
Jamaica: Engaged Employees
Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle links to research which finds a connection between engaged employees and increased competitiveness: “Interesting, especially given my estimate that some 60-80% of Caribbean employees are disengaged.”
Barbados, Dominica, Antigua & Barbuda: Deported Journalist Recounts Events
The CARICOM journalist that was recently deported from Antigua and Barbuda tells his tale to Barbados Free Press.
China: Pollution in Shanxi
Among the 10 most polluted cities within China, the top three were at Shanxi province. As Zuo Ai Chong pointed out, pollution in China is always related with politics, Shanxi's pollution is somehow related to its illegal mining of coal and recent slave workers scandal (zh).
Bahrain: Are Taxes Un-Islamic?
Money matters feature high in the posts of Bahraini bloggers this week, writes Ayesha Saldanha. Other issues being tackled include: Are taxes un-Islamic? Is culture and art appreciated in Bahrain? And how hot does it really get in the Middle East in Summer?
South Korea: Inequality, Empolyment Outlook
Jamie from Two Koreas blogs about the increase in income gap in South Korea and two stories about Chaebol's labour management, including companies strategies for intervening in a union election and Samsung's labour training for mass game.
Iran:”Go kill yourself”
Arosak Kooki writes [Fa]that a worker in Rasht committed suicide.He did not get paid for several months and he could not survive anymore.When he asked his boss for his money,the factory owner told him “go kill yourself”, I have no money!The blogger says that in Islamic Republic in the name...
Bahrain: Thoughts on the One Per Cent
Bahraini blogger emoodz gives us his two cents on a new scheme to introduce the dole in Bahrain.
Taiwan: 《Voyage 15840》– the photo book powered by migrant worker
Voyage, means a period of trip to anywhere. 15840, it is the minimum wage for workers in Taiwan. However, for migrant workers in Taiwan, it means the “maximum”. By naming Voyage 15840, TIWA (Taiwan International Workers’ Association) gathered all the photo works from 19 migrant workers in Taiwan. They published...
China: Online discussion on slave labour
Bingfeng observes some interesting features in the online discussion of slave labour despite the government censorship instruction.
Trinidad & Tobago: Happy Labour Day
The 5Rivers Kid acknowledges the celebration of Labour Day in Trinidad and Tobago.
Kuwait: Dream Lunch
“If your lady manager invited you for lunch in your dream, would you tell her the next day about it?” writes Purgatorian from Kuwait.
China: More on Slave workers
ESWN translated various local reports on Shanxi slave workers issue. They give more background on the morality of contemporary Chinese society.
China: Slave Labour
Bingfeng put together reports on the Shanxi slave labour scandal. Chong from interlocals translated an internet article on the power of internet to expose and rescue the forced labour.
Ukraine: Want an “A”? Pay $30!
When Ukrainian news site Korrespondent.net reported last week that Kyiv street cleaners would be receiving $400 a month beginning this June, a number of readers confessed that they were earning less working as college lecturers or medical doctors. How some skilled Ukrainians manage to survive on their meager salaries was highlighted five days later, when Korrespondent.net ran a piece about a college lecturer who had told her students they were to pay her to pass their exams. To the readers who have commented on the story, corruption at Ukrainian colleges appears to be a familiar subject: hardly anyone was shocked by the lecturer's crime, but many found it surprising that the woman was charging very little.
Korea: Labor Law and E-Land
Last November, the Korean government finally changed the law for irregular workers. To fight discrimination against irregular workers and despotism of companies, the most significant change was to force companies to switch the status of irregular workers who have worked in the company more than two years to that of...
