· May, 2010

Stories about Labor from May, 2010

China: Responses to FoxConn's suicides

  31 May 2010

SACOM have several updates on reactions and responses to FoxConn workers’ consecutive suicides, including 1. Appeal by Sociologists on FoxConn suicides, 2. Global Day of Remembrance for Victims of Foxconn, 3. Letter to Apple and 4. A protest action in Hong Kong

Iran: Economic problems and Green Movement

Culturallogic writes [fa] that Green Movement should learn lesson from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's humiliation in Khoramshar where protesters chanted “we are unemployed” during his speech. The blogger asks Green Movement talks about Iran's economic problems.

Iran: “We are unemployed”

Several Iranian protesters at an outdoor speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday shouted their concerns about unemployment in Khoramshahr. Here is a video film where we can hear ” we are unemployed, we are unemployed” shouts.

China: Dying young in FoxConn

  24 May 2010

SACOM, a NGO in Hong Kong which concerns about labour rights issue, posted an investigative report on the 10 consecutive suicide cases in FoxConn, one of the I-phone subcontractor in China.

Egypt: Workers on Protest Face Security Crackdown

Amonsito textile factory owner Syrian-American Adel Agha fled Egypt in 2007 and responsibility for the factory was assumed by Manpower and Immigration Ministry and Bank Misr. Amonisto workers went on strike and Tabula Gaza blogged how they were kicked out of a parliament session, with six workers “kidnapped” and taken...

Russia: Coal Miners Block the Railroad

Desperate coal miners in Mezhdurechensk [EN] (Kemerovo region, Siberia) blocked the Transsiberian Railroad and were suppressed by the police (video here [RUS] and here [RUS]). Miners claim that the official data on the casualties in the May 9 Raspadskaya mine explosion [EN] were underestimated. Their official appeal is here [RUS]....

China: expelling the unemployed from Shenzhen

  10 May 2010

Ridding the city of those unemployed for longer than three months—that’s what Shenzhen’s vice mayor and police chief suggested April 29 in response to security problems in this special economic zone in South China.  The suggestion has generated a strong online response. In a meeting with the Hong Kong-Macau Political...

China: Apple hexane poisoning

  5 May 2010

SCAOM has a report on a poisoning incident at a subsidiary factory of Wintek Corporation, which is an Apple Computers contractor in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. The incident is believed to be related with the chemical, hexane, used for cleaning the touch screen of i-Phones

Philippines: Labor Day 2010

  5 May 2010

Workers of the world celebrated International Labor Day on May 1. In the Philippines, thousands of workers marched on the streets to demand higher wages and better working conditions as the government held job fairs and moved the official labor day holiday to May 3.

Ecuador: Social Groups March in Celebration of Labor Day

  4 May 2010

Like many countries around the world, Ecuadorians commemorated International Worker's Day on May 1st. This day has historically been a day where workers in the country have pushed for better working conditions, ever since it was officially made a national holiday in 1915.

Iran: Workers demonstrated in several cities

Iranian workers demonstrated in several cities in Iran today. Iranian blogger,Nasabonline, has published a photo from workers’ demonstration in Shiraz. According to [fa] the blogger at least 50 workers protested against firing workers and one said did not get paid for months.