Stories about Labor from October, 2007
Israel: Junior Academic Staff Join Strike
“The Junior academic staff have joined in with the Senior staff to have a one-day solidarity strike today. Many thanks for the support!” reports Israeli blogger Yael.
India: Child Labour
Atanu Dey raises some questions about banning child labour, especially relevant in the context of recent media reports about GAP sourcing its clothes from vendors who use child labour.
Laos: Farmers Might Need Help
Lao Voices has images from Laos where farmers are trying to save their harvest from flooding earlier this month.
China: Province scraps Hukou system
Jeremy Goldkorn at Danwei with breaking news of southwestern Yunnan province's plans to abandon the hukou system, implemented in the 1950s, making it the first province in China to do so: “This is significant news. The hukou system is one of the biggest problems migrant workers face in getting urban...
South Korea: Worker's Public Suicide
CINA blogs on two workers’ demonstration on 27 October in Seoul, one organized by construction workers, one by irregular workers. In the former protest, a worker committed public suicide by burning himself.
Iraq: D Cups and the Greenzone
Neurotic Iraqi Wife complains about life in the Greenzone – where she says backstabbing and D cups are the rule.
China: Collective Labour Arbitration
Fons from China Herald brings up into the attention of the drafting of labour arbitration law. One missing element is the collective labour arbitration process.
Egypt: Red Card for Professionals
Egyptian Mostafa Hussein discusses the Red Card – available to professionals in his country. “In Egypt, we already have a system called the ‘Red card’ for expelling highly skilled professionals. Ensuring that the country will keep the finest of its minds away,” he notes.
Pakistan: Women and Harassment
All Things Pakistan on the harassment and bullying women face at the workplace or in school.
Bahrain: The times they are a-changin'…
Many of Bahrain's bloggers are either lamenting or advocating change of one kind or another this week, whether concerning family celebrations, employment practices, political priorities – or even footwear, writes Ayesha Saldanha, in her latest round up of the Bahraini blogosphere.
Japan: Investigation commission to discuss welfare cutbacks
Starting in 2008, according to blogger tokyodo-2005, an investigation commission will begin discussing plans to cutback the welfare system in Japan. tokyodo-2005 writes that the existence of the commission has only been covered by one media organization (Hokkaido shinbun), and that otherwise there has been a virtual media blackout on...
Japan: NOVA on the brink of collapse
Despite numerous statements to the contrary from an increasingly evasive management, the collapse of Japan's largest English language school operator NOVA appears imminent as bloggers have been reporting lesson cancellations, school closings, and busy phone lines. Read about the thoughts and first-hand experiences of Japanese bloggers in today's post.
Central & Eastern Europe: “Human Capital”
Edward Lucas writes about “a lack of brainpower” in Eastern and Central Europe.
Japan: Starving in the Land of Plenty
The recent story of a man starving to death as a result of not being able to receive welfare assistance, made famous thanks to his having documented his last days in a diary, sparked many Japanese bloggers to reflect on the broader implications of their country's welfare policy. Read some of their thoughts on the issue in today's post.
Japan: Employers to start reporting non-Japanese employees
Debito reports that Japanese employers have been forced to start reporting all their non-Japanese workers to the government, in an attempt by the government to crack down on illegals.
Iran:Sugar cane workers were paid,finally!
Salam Democrat informs[Fa] that Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers who started a strike on 27 September,finally received their unpaid salaries.
Iraq: Teens Work to Help Families
Alive in Baghdad brings us the latest from a war torn Iraq, where at least 50 per cent of the population are under the age of 18. “Despite the ongoing impact of violence and terrorism that affects all Iraqis, children must even risk their lives to get to school, and...
Bulgaria: Sex Trade
The Natashas, an anti-trafficking blog, comments on a BBC article about sex trade in Bulgaria and the readers’ comments it has received.
Japan: NOVA Union Action Day
Tomorrow (October 15), NOVA Union will organize an action day to give pressure to the President Nozomu Sahashi for filing to the court for bankruptcy protection, so that employees can retrieve 80% of their unpaid waves through government subsidies and start to receive unemployment benefits. Debito has blogged the Union's...
Egypt: Efficiency
Efficiency is not just a scientific term used by Mechanical Engineers. The Egyptian blogger Ahmed Tharwat (Ya Marakby) decided to apply it on society as well as Tarek Amr shows us in this post he has translated from Arabic.
Philippines: Racist Remarks
Mukamo Philippines is carrying a post on a retired Filipino nurse who encountered racist insults at her workplace in the U.S. and is now trying to seek justice.
