· February, 2010

Stories about Labor from February, 2010

Singapore: Foreign workers

  20 February 2010

According to a finance committee report, Singapore will continue to welcome foreign workers. Foreigners comprise more than a third of Singapore population

Japan: A Typical Day

  18 February 2010

Matt Alt translated a diagram that shows the exaggerated schedules of a “normal” person versus that of a “NEET” (Not Employed, in Education, or Training).

Iran: Bus Drivers Union Calls for Green-Labor Unity

  16 February 2010

In Ahwaznews, an Iranian blog we read [fa]:”Starting March 6, We the Workers of Vahed Company [bus drivers] Will Wage Acts of Civil Disobedience (or white strike) to Protest the Condition of Mansoor Osanloo in Prison. We Appeal to the Iranian People and to the Democratic Green Movement–of which we...

Russia and Korea: Siberian Timbering

  16 February 2010

Robert Neff from The Marmot's Hole blogs about Korea's role in the logging of Siberian timber, in particular how North Korean are working as slave loggers in Russia.

China: Increasing Trend in Mass Incidents

  14 February 2010

Protests, known in Chinese as “mass incidents”, grew fiercer and more violent in 2009, while methods of protest grew in variation, says a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher. In a recent Southern Weekend article Shan Guangnai of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences analyzes new trends in “mass incidents”,...

Japan: Momus, on This Ageing Country

  12 February 2010

In “Growing old in, and with, Japan” on the Click Opera blog, Nick Currie (aka Momus) lists several points of what could be “a silver lining to Japan's likely silver age” but concludes that realistically, “Japan will get cheaper, smaller, poorer, purer, wiser, more itself.”

Nepal: Gulf Returnees

  3 February 2010

Migrant Rights Blog writes about the stories of Nepalis who came back home after after a stint working in the Gulf: “for every individual, there is a different story; some are tales of social mobility and achievement, others are tales of exploitation and disappointment.”