Almost 600 former workers of Hindustan Unilever who were employed at its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, have finally won their fight to receive compensation for their injuries and illnesses. One of the main components of thermometers is mercury, a highly toxic substance for humans. Unilever for decades dumped unused mercury in the surrounding lands where workers and their families lived. Since 2001, the workers and their supporters have waged a continuous struggle to force the company to accept responsibility. While a settlement has been reached, Unilever still needs to decontaminate the region.

Syrians have seized on the partial cease-fire, particularly the bombing of civilian areas, and have come out in the streets in demonstrations and protest actions. Hundreds of such actions were recorded over a space of a few days. Almost all of these protests were by civilians who took up once again the slogans of the popular uprising of 5 years ago to demand the fall of the regime, for dignity and freedom. These protests show that in spite of all of the reactionary and imperialist interventions, the resistance that started five years ago has not been crushed.

Over 4,000 workers are employed at the Honda car plant in Tapukera, Rajasthan. Most are employed as contract workers, receive low wages and face harsh working conditions. For this reason, workers have repeatedly tried to form their own union. In Their latest attempt was repressed by the police in February this year, with over 100 workers injured and many arrested. The company has also laid off all workers and has brought in a totally new workforce. This repression is only the latest to happen in India’s automotive sector which is characterised by brutal exploitation and union busting.

Mahmoud Langroodi, Mohammad Reza Niknejad and Mehdi Bohlooli, all members of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association were sentenced this week by the Islamic Revolutionary court in Tehran to five years in jail. One of them, Mahmoud Langroodi, was already in jail serving a nine year prison sentence, which was also for trade union activities. Last year saw huge mobilisations by teachers in Iran, and these sentences are quite clearly an attempt by the Iranian government to destroy this new activism. Just last week, another labour activist, Reza Shahabi, a bus driver and labour activist, was sentenced to an additional year in prison.

In a long running dispute that started in July 2012 when around 2,000 women garment workers went on strike over wage issues, hundreds are still fighting for justice. Of the 1,300 workers that were fired following that strike, almost 350 of the workers are still fighting for jobs and compensation. They are organised by the local union that they founded in 2012, the SBGTS-GSBI. There is an international campaign to pressure the companies involved to pay compensation to the workers. 

The Cambodian government is in the final stages of drafting a new trade union law that will severely weaken workers’ ability to organise. In particular, the law excludes some workers from joining unions, limits the right to strike, limits the ability of unions to operate legally, and has minimal penalties for employers violating workers’ rights. While this proposed law has met with widespread opposition by Cambodian workers, the Cambodian government is still determined to enact it. The International Trade Union Confederation is co-ordinating a letter writing campaign to pressure the Cambodian Government.

In the huge metropolis of Chongqing in south west China, workers have increasingly been taking action to protest against wage arrears, low pay and working conditions. A new factor in workers’ grievances has been the increasing widening gap between their pay and the salaries of their managers. In addition, the established enterprise unions are seen as unable to defend workers’ rights and as not much more than social clubs. Strikes in China have been steadily increasing over the last few years.

At the end of February, unions in Japan launched a new campaign to raise the minimum wage by over 50% to 1,500 Yen/hour (see video). In Japan, around 40% of the workforce is in insecure employment arrangements as casuals, sub-contractors or on temporary contracts. It is these workers especially that need a living wage, not a wage that keeps them in poverty as the present minimum wage does.

As reported last week, tens of thousands of Palestinian teachers have been on strike and mobilising for better wages and conditions. Most schools in the West Bank have been shut for over two weeks. Importantly, one of the teachers’ demands is for union members to have the right to elect their own representatives and not for the union officials to be appointed by the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority is threatening to force the teachers back to work. Solidarity messages to the Palestinian teachers can be sent here. 

The automotive industry has seen a massive expansion over the last decade with hundreds of thousands of new workers being created. As in other countries experiencing this industrialisation boom, the working conditions are characterised by low wages, long days and atrocious OHS standards. Indian workers have fought hard against this exploitation. Even a business mouthpiece like the ‘Economic Times’ has had to acknowledge the widespread labour struggles in this sector. In the last couple of weeks, new actions have been taken by Honda workers in the Gurgaon region and the Tata Motors workers in Karnataka.