· December, 2008

Stories about Labor from December, 2008

Fiji: Dispute over local jobs

A government infrastructure project in Fiji was delayed after local residents demanded that workers in the project should come from the local community.

31 December 2008

Egypt: Down sizing Car factory

In the middle of everybody's talk about Gaza's siege and Israeli brutal attack on Palestinians, Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is asking people not to forget Egyptian internal affairs. In her new...

30 December 2008

Cuba: Subsidies

As “Raúl Castro reaffirmed the idea of ending subsidies”, Generation Y observes: “Between the symbolic price of a pound of rationed rice, and the enormous ‘slice’ of our salaries taken...

30 December 2008

Haiti: Restavek

“In the truest definition of the word it means ‘one who stays with'”: Tara at The Livesay Haiti Weblog says that the Restavek system “might be one of the most...

29 December 2008

Japan: Un-hiring fresh graduates

Job hunting for fresh graduates in Japan is an intense trial called shushoku katsudo or shukatsu for short. University students in their third year start shukatsu during the winter in hopes of receiving several naitei (informal job offer/promise of employment) in May at the earliest, to start their new jobs on April 1st of the following year.

27 December 2008

Southeast Asia: Newsmakers of 2008

For Southeast Asia, 2008 was a year of terrible disasters, both natural and man-made. Rice consumption was reduced, milk products were contaminated with melamine, jobs were lost, bloggers were arrested, and homes were destroyed. But the situation is not hopeless.

26 December 2008

Jamaica: Bailout Plan?

“It is indeed a sorry state of affairs. Usually in times of downturn, alcohol sales increase as people look to drown their sorrows!”: As employees of a rum manufacturer are...

24 December 2008

Russia: The Crisis and The Potential For Unrest

In mid-October, Global Voices published a roundup of Anglophone bloggers' views on the financial crisis in Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia and Ukraine. Below is another installment on the effects and the likely consequences of the crisis in Russia.

21 December 2008

Japan, Brazil: A centenary of Japanese Immigration to Brazil.

In June 1908, the Japanese ship Kasato Maru docked in the Port of Santos after a 52-day voyage, bringing the first Japanese families to Brazil. A hundred years later and after a hard period of adaptation, Japanese and Japanese-Brazilians reflect on the history and cultural heritage of this cross ocean cultural mix.

20 December 2008

Brunei: The ‘Ali Baba’ syndrome

Brunei has the potential to achieve economic diversity. However, development is hampered by little or lack of productivity. The Bruneian Malay culture may in fact be one of the reasons as to why progress is slow.

14 December 2008

Migrant Workers in the Gulf

Nimr, from America-Palestinian Kabobfest, discusses the issue of migrant workers in the Gulf – and how their governments are not fending for their rights thanks to the millions of remittance...

12 December 2008