Australia Asia Worker Links

Workers at PT Jaya Readymix, a subsidiary of Australian company Boral, located in the greater region of Jakarta, have taken industrial action following the company's refusal to implement labor rights in accordance with the prevailing laws and regulations.

In particular, workers are unhappy that the minimum wage is not being paid, allowances are not added, and overtime pay is not being calculated accurately.

Solidarity messages can be sent to the workers union, SBJR – KASBI, at international@prp-indonesia.org

Click here for your latest

Asian Workers Organising newsletter

July 2010

Spotlight on The Philippines and

sth Korean workers movements

Asia Pacific Currents 03.07.2010
Labour updates from Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India and South Korea.
Interview with Marisol Salinas on the major indigenous, and non indigenous, conference in Alice Springs around worker and indigenous rights.
File Download (30:41 min / 14 MB)

Asia Pacific Currents 10.07.2010
Labour news from French Polynesia, Fiji, China, Pakistan & Timor Leste.
Interview with Lisa Navidad from the Coalition for Peace & Justice Guahani (Guam).
File Download (27:38 min / 13 MB)

Asia Pacific Currents 17.07.2010
Labour news including strikes in China, India, Turkey and Bangalesh, and proposals for Work-Choices like reforms in New Zealand.
Interview with Afshin Nikouseresht from Iran Solidarity, about the state of organized labour and other progressive campaigns in Iran.
File Download (30:49 min / 14 MB

Asia Pacific Currents 24.07.2010
Labour news from Pakistan, China, South Korea, Fiji, PNG, Iraq and Iran.
Interview with Mimmy Kowel Labour Rights Consultant - Oxfam, discussing issues around organising workers in garment and sportswear factories in Jakarta, Indonesia.
File Download (28:12 min / 13 MB)

Asia Pacific Currents 31.07.2010
Labour news from Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Korea, Indonesia and PNG.
Interview with Farooq Tariq, Labour Party of Pakistan, on workers, religious fundamentalism and war.
File Download (28:21 min / 26 MB)

After more than a year of actions, workers at a Coca Cola bottling plant in Multan have won.

All dismissed workers have been reinstated, union members will not be victimised and the workers union will be recognised by the company as the workers' representative.

Meanwhile, the power loom workers in Faisalabad, after more than a week of strike actions, that involved over 100,000 workers, have won their demand for the implementation of a 17% wage increase. For an earlier update.

A strike by over a thousand workers at RD Tuna Fishing Ltd in Madang province is continuining amid harassment of workers by management.

The original industrial dispute was over the non payment of the minimum wage, K2.29/h or AUS$1.20/h, but now management has dismissed over 250 workers.

For more information, click here and here

Since the middle of July, migrant workers have been organising a series of actions around the country to protest the South Korean government’s unjust crackdown against undocumented migrant workers. The protests have been organised by the Migrant Trade Union (MTU), an affiliate of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

The MTU calls for an end to the criminalisation of, and repression against, undocumented migrants.

Solidarity messages can be sent to migrant@jinbo.net

After accusing four leaders of the Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers Association (TMPCWA) of planning and executing production sabotage, the Toyota Motor Company fired these workers in early August.

This action is only the last of a long line of anti worker, anti union actions that Toyota has taken over many years.

For more information and how to support the Toyota workers.

On February 13, 2010 Mr. Han Sang Kyun the Chairman of the Ssangyong Motor Company Union was sentenced to four years in prison. AAWL is campaigning for his release. Download the updated leaflet here and send your solidarity letter before Han’s final appeal hearing on 9 August 2010.  Click here to send your solidarity message to the Korean Metal Workers' Union. (You may need to click on 'Read more' at the bottom of this item and then cut and paste the text of the letter.)

We strongly protest comrade Han’s continued detention, and we demand that he be freed immediately. We echo  the Korean Metal Workers' Union call on the Court of Appeals to find Hang Sang Kyun and his 21 other comrades not guilty, and rule in favour of their immediate release.

Mr Han led a 77 day strike at the Ssangyong  vehicle manufacturing plant in protest against mass sackings. The company and South Korean government responded with violent police attacks against the strikers and solidarity supporters including the use of chemical agents. They blockaded the workers and denied them food, water and medical aid. The strike ended in August 2009. More information about the strike can be found here and here.

At a protest to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia, over 30 human rights activists were arrested.

The ISA is a preventive detention law that was enacted after Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957.

The ISA allows for detention without trial and has been used to suppress political and labour struggles.

Trade unionists and activists are continuining to campaign around the world to free imprisoned trade unionists in Iran and to stop the ongoing repression of Iranian workers

Unfortunately, the Iranian government has a long history of suppressing internal political dissent.

Mehdi Aslani will give a talk on the 28th of August in Melbourne, Australia about the period of repression in the late 1980's. For more details