Irregular workers at GM Daewoo in South Korea have been in a long-standing dispute over union recognition.

In 2007, the management refused to recognize the union and instead carried out mass sackings. For over three years now, the dismissed workers have been fighting for reinstatement.

In July 2010, the workers organized a rally commemorating the 1000th day of a tent sit-in protest and calling for justice for irregular workers.

On 1 December 2010, two members of the irregular workers union began a high-altitude sit-in protest on the arch that stands 10 meters above the front entrance to the GM Daewoo factory in Bupyeong. Calling for abolition of illegal dispatch work, reinstatement of fired workers and regularisation, they have vowed not to come down until their demands are met. They have been on the arch for over 30 days, in a cramped space and brutal winter weather.

To send your solidarity messages and to read more about this dispute, click here

After a long battle over union recognition, electronics workers in Malaysia have succeeded in fighting for their right to join a union of their choice.  On January 27 2011, ST Microelectronics workers, the majority of them women, voted to join the newly formed Electronics Industry Workers’ Union (EIWU).

With the assistance of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, the EIWU resisted the company’s anti-union tactics including attempts to register a company-controlled union.

On the morning of the balloting, the police and local authorities attempted to disrupt the union from gathering outside the factory where balloting was conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources. IMF Regional Representative Arunasalam intervened and met the company's Human Resources Director, and following that the pressure from the police and local authorities reduced.

Read More

Pay Justice Action

Tuesday 8 March 2011
at 5:30pm at the State Library, Cnr Swanston and La Trobe Streets
More information: Alison Thorne, 9388 0062

Victoria Trades Hall Council & Australian Council of Trade Unions

Ship-breaking workers in the Gadani ship-breaking yard are demanding better working conditions, health and safety standards, proper equipment and better wages.

In June 2010, approximately 15,000 ship-breakers went on strike in the town of Gadani, Balochistan province, and since then have taken various forms of industrial action.  Gadani ship-breakers work for twelve to fourteen hours a day, receiving between 200 and 300 rupees, and remain unregistered in any government social security institution through which they could access medical facilities. Despite having worked for ten to fifteen years, they don’t have formal confirmation of their employment status. Even though the conditions of work are arduous, there are next to no workplace safety guidelines - they are not provided safety shoes, gloves, goggles, helmets, belts, or other necessary safety items. As a result of this neglect, in the last year approximately 20 workers have died on the job. There is no clean water to drink, nor any decent food provided. The workers are also not provided with proper accommodation, and the nearest hospital is in Karachi, which is about 50km away, that could guarantee emergency treatment in the event of an accident.

To read the Ship-Breaking Democratic Workers' Union's statement about this struggle, written during the June 2010 strike, click here.

The struggle for union recognition, as well as better wages and conditions continues.

Send your letters of condemnation to the Balochistan Government by clicking here.

Send your letters of solidarity to the Pakistan Labour Federation by clicking here.

How can we use OHS for international organising?

How do we achieve a global ban on asbestos?

AAWL Public Meeting
Wednesday 3 November 2010
6:30 - 8 pm Trades Hall, Lygon Street, Carlton

Report from the 2010 OHS Conference, Melbourne

Download leaflet

Pro Choice activists everywhere are fighting to decriminalise abortion and to stop the prosecution of a 19-year old woman and her partner for using the approved abortion drug, RU486 to terminate her pregnancy.  Charged under Queensland's 1899 Criminal Code, they face jail terms.  Their committal hearing starts on 3 September.

Rally in defence of women's right to choose!

Saturday 22 August 2009 at 10am

Fertility Control Clinic, 118 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne

Speak Out for the Right To Choose Everywhere!

• Drop the Queensland Charges
• Free, Accessible Abortion on Demand
• Unconditional recognition of every woman's right to make her own reproductive choices
• Fully Funded reproductive health & support services for all women

More information: Campaign for Women's Reproductive Rights, 9388 0062

Agreement has been reached by CFMEU at Hazelwood.

The solidarity planning meeting scheduled for Thursday 27 August at 6pm,
at Trades Hall, has been cancelled.

Thank you for all the support & solidarity.
More information: Dave 0412 484 094

Emergency Services Officers at Morwell's Hazelwood power station were striking for 4 months, demanding better pay and conditions on par with their fellow workers at Yallourn and Loy Yang power plants, increased numbers and proper safety training. 

Emergency Services Officers take on responsibilities in situations of fires, leakages, equipment failures and all other safety risks in the mine and the power plant. Yet their base rate of pay is just $19.32 per hour, only slightly above minimum wage.

The company employed scabs in the power plant, while strking workers were locked out.  The Hazelwood Power Plant Workers need your support & solidarity.

"Continue our struggle until we acheive the elusive justice that rightfully belongs to the workers.
The blood shed by our departed comrades will never be wasted, not one drop."

Diosdado "Ka Fort" Fortuna 1954-2005

On 22 September 2005, the president of the Union of Filipro Employees Drug, Food & Allied Industries (UFE-DFA-KMU) in Cabuyao, Laguna, Diosdado "Ka Fort" Fortuna, was shot dead in Southern Tagalog. He was killed by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen on his way home.  Nestle workers had been on strike since 14 January 2002, over a deadlock in the collective bargaining agreement. The Nestle management was and continues to refuse to include the retirement benefits of the workers in the Agreement, despite rulings of the Supreme Court in favour of the workers.

Ka Fort manned the Nestle picketlines since their strike started in January 2002. He consistently advocated workers' rights and welfare by actively serving the union and progressive people's movement in Southern Tagalog, despite dangerous conditions and threats on his life.

In the Philippines, workers are commemorating the 4th anniversary of the death of Ka Fort, and continuing the struggle of Philippines Nestle Workers.

Tuesday 22 September at 7pm
Nestle Philippines Cabuyao Factory
Cabuyao, Philippines

Eighteen Migrante Saudi Arabia (KGS-Migrante) leaders were arrested in one of their safehouses in Riyadh on 14 August 2009.  

The Migrante safehouses are designed to house and support overseas Filipino workers in distress in Saudi Arabia who have run away from their employers.  On the afternoon of the arrests, Migrante staff were interviewing overseas workers and documenting the human rights abuses experienced by them at the hands of their employers.

The Philippines' largest national export is workers, and since the Global Economic Crisis, the number of workers leaving the Philippines to find work abroad has increased.  The Middle East is a major destination for Filipino workers.

Migrante is the largest organisation advocating for the rights of Filipinos working abroad.

Release the KGS-Migrante Leaders!
Defend Migrant Rights!

More information: www.kilusangmayouno.org