Stories about Labor from December, 2011
A Radical Solution For Global Poverty: Open Borders
Various experts say that extreme poverty isn't inevitable. The most radical solution to drastically reducing global poverty would be, for many economic experts, opening the borders between countries and allowing workers to migrate where labor is most needed.
China: Rural Migrant Workers’ Protests
Archer Wang from Ministry of Tofu translated an online special feature report on Chinese migrant workers’ protests for collecting their due salary from employers.
Kazakhstan: Reactions to Strike Crackdown as Police Brutality Video Emerges
Clashes in the town of Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, on December 16-17, 2011, when a labour strike suddenly broke out in violence, looting and arson leaving at least 14 dead and hundreds of civilians and policemen injured, have caused considerable debate online. Adil Nurmakov reports.
Street Vendor Life in China
Tricia Wang shares her research field note about the everyday life of street vendors in China.
Singapore: Latest Job Statistics
Leong Sze Hian reviews the report published by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower about the latest job, wage, and other economic indicators. The report mentioned that real average monthly earnings...
Singapore: Stories of Migrant Workers
The number of foreign workers in Singapore continues to rise but little is known about their working and housing conditions. Curious to know the personal stories of migrant workers in prosperous Singapore, three interns conceptualized the ‘Made by Migrants’ project and documented the daily activities of construction workers for two weeks
Brazil: Journalist Threatened at Belo Monte Dam Construction Site
Brazilian journalist Ruy Sposati, in Altamira, Pará, denounces the death of yet another worker at the Belo Monte Dam construction site, another round of mass layoffs of workers on strike...
India: Photos Of West Bengal Handicraft Fair
Sukanya C posts photos of the West Bengal Hasta Shilpa Mela (Handicraft Fair) which features artists and their art from all over West Bengal (India).
Russia: Interview With an “Overseas Filipino Worker”
English Dad in Moscow interviews a woman from the Philippines who works as a cleaner and babysitter in Moscow: “I wanted to know how hard is to move here as...
Brazil: Constraining Identities Through “Aesthetic Standards”
Brazilian journalist and blogger André Forestieri writes [pt] about the rights of an employer to constrain a black employee if he or she does not fit the “aesthetic standards” imposed...
Cuba: Same Old Story
Laritza's Laws compares the content of a 1989 edition of “Granma…the official mouthpiece of the Central Committee of the Party” to a current one, and says: “The failure is evident....
Haiti: Business Wins, Haiti Loses
Haiti Grassroots Watch has been looking at the issues surrounding the inauguration of an industrial zone in the north of the island, and finds that “once again, Haiti’s government and...
Nepal: Increase In Remittance
Chandan Sapkota reports that Nepal was sixth highest remittance receiver (share of GDP) from migrant workers and diaspora in 2010.
Bulgaria: 30,000 Protest Against Cuts and Pension Reform
According to the trade unions, between 25,000 and 30,000 people protested in Sofia on Wednesday against the new pension reform, social cuts and the cancellation of the majority of trains...
