Australia Asia Worker Links

Members of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) called a general strike on 29 September to demand direct elections and condemn violence against Occupy Central protesters. Several thousand workers heeded the strike call, including social workers, teachers and logistics workers for Swire Beverages (a Coca Cola distributor). Occupy Central protesters are demanding the resignation of the current leader of Hong Kong Leung Chun-ying. Leftists within the movement are also calling for greater economic equality in Hong Kong.

The Philippines subsidiary of Dutch IT multinational, Philips, tried to bust the union and avoid signing a collective agreement by firing 24 officials of Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines. Now 12 out of the 24 have won their jobs back, while the other 12 will be given a compensation package. NXP has also agreed to a collective agreement, that gives workers between a 3 and 5% pay rise per year and converts almost 200 contract workers to permanent employment. This win is the result of constant campaigning in the Philippines and around the world. This is a significant campaign because the factory is located in a Special Economic Zone where employers and the state try and break unions and keep wages low to attract investment.

The new Modi government in India is intent on privatising state assets and using public-private partnerships to develop future infrastructure (listen to radio interview here). On 19 September an estimated half a million workers stopped work to protest the government’s plans to privatise the railways. The International Transport Federation has committed to fight transport privatisation around the world. Korean workers are also fighting against the privatisation of their railway system.

The disgraceful string of deaths continues at Rio Tinto’s Freeport mine in West Papua – the biggest gold and copper mine in the world. Several workers were shot dead after a strike in 2011, and 28 workers were killed in a tunnel collapse in 2013. On 27 September 2014 another four workers were killed in an accident. Immediately workers went on strike to demand compensation for the workers’ families, a guarantee of no more fatalities and punishment of the director of mining. Rio Tinto has given assurances that these demands will be met, but the company’s long-term neglect of health and safety proves that it’s willing to sacrifice workers’ lives for profit.

In November last year 15 union officials and 179 union members were sacked for striking against Palla Shoes’ decision to refuse wage increases. The fired unionists have also been blacklisted at other workplaces. Global unions and NGOs have been campaigning for Bata shoes, one of the factory’s buyers, to insist on decent labour standards at Palla. But instead Bata has stopped buying from the factory since the sackings, and denies any responsibility. This is a common limitation of the Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. Send emails to Bata serviceclient_ch@bata.com and Palla felipe@pallacompany.com supporting the workers’ demands for reinstatement and compensation.

Join the march to Liberal Party headquarters in Melbourne at 2:00pm on 11 October to demand rights for refugees.

The demands of the rally are:

Permanent protection not temporary visas
No Cambodia Deal
No Boat Tow Backs
No Offshore or Onshore Detention
Stop the scapegoating of refugees and Muslims

Amid rising media hysteria about ‘home grown’ terrorism, the Australian government is pushing ahead with its drive for war in Iraq and Syria. The conflict in Iraq and Syria has been a disaster for workers. Unions fight for a more equitable and just society. Internationally, unions are opposing this new war, click here and here. Workers need to resist all the imperialist, authoritarian and reactionary forces in this conflict. Syrian revolutionary forces oppose this war while there are reports of worker and left wing contingents crossing from Turkey into Syria to fight.

Earlier this week, a massive explosion ripped through the Nanyang Export Fireworks Factory, located in the city of Liling in southern Hunan province, China, killing 13 workers and injuring over 30. The cause of this explosion is not known but it is suspected to be due to lax work safety standards. While the situation has shown some improvements, tens of thousands of Chinese workers continue to die annually at their workplace. Independent unions are the best safeguard for workers lives.

The Australian government this week managed to sink even lower in formulating new repressive laws against asylum seekers. The Australian government agreed to pay the Cambodian government to accept Australian asylum seekers from the Nauru concentration camp.  Cambodia is a known violator of human rights. In a separate move, the government is about to introduce Temporary Protection Visas for asylum seekers who are willing to work in rural and regional areas. Given their vulnerable situation, asylum seekers will then become open to exploitative and dangerous work arrangements. Demonstrations are planned in October.

As reported previously, while political prisoners like Somyot continue to languish in jail, the wave of repression by the military continues. Amnesty International has released a report card for the human rights abuses for the first 100 days after the military coup. This week, more people were arrested for commemorating the 2006 coup and the military plans to move court cases from civilian to military tribunals. A recent report has underlined some of the economic inequalities that have sustained the social tensions during the last few years.

No to the military! Free all political prisoners! Organising is not a crime!