Australia Asia Worker Links

A massive fire in the Cavite Export Processing Zone on February 1 has injured more than 100 workers with at least two in a critical condition. Luckily, so far no fatalities have been reported.  There is some dispute between Government official reports, and unionists, family members and co-workers about the number of people still unaccounted for. The fire took place in Singaporean company, House Technology Industries (HTI), which manufactures housing parts such as shower rooms, windows, and counters made of wood or plastic.  HTI has a shady health and safety record with a previous fire in 2012 blazing for 10 hours before it was able to be put out. Activists are now calling for a transparent investigation, which would include the participation of labour organisations and a proper interrogation of HTI’s OHS compliance certification.

Sujeewa Mangala who has been at the forefront of industrial action for over a month against Sri Lanka's main telecommunications provider has been found three days after his abduction.  He went missing on January 29 following court orders banning protests led by his union.  Sujewaa Mangala is the Vice President of the All Ceylon Telecommunication Employees' Union and was found dumped blindfolded at the roadside on 1 February. Telecommunication manpower workers have been on strike since 26 December 2016, for job security. Of nearly 8000 workers, at least 2100 employees come under the manpower employee category. Some of them have been in temporary employment for seven years. Sujeewa Mangala was threatened by the perpetrators to abandon the six week long strike action.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Australia in February 2017.  Netanyahu has been responsible for Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza, as well as Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. In 2014, Netanyahu ordered Israel's 50 day murderous assault on Gaza, which resulted in the death of more than 2,250 Palestinians, including almost 1,500 civilians, one third of whom were children, along with 299 women. Netanyahu has also just announced the first new settlements in the West Bank in 25 years. Demonstrations are being planned including a solidarity event in Melbourne, where Netanyahu has cancelled a stopover.

The Australian union representing workers in media and the arts is calling on the government to resettle Behrouz Boochani, Mehdi Savari, and ‘Eaten Fish’, respectively a journalist, an actor and a cartoonist who have been detained in a refugee detention camp on Manus Island. These comrades are among 900 other refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers detained on Manus Island as victims of the Australian Government’s cruel policy of deterrence and indefinite offshore detention for those who seek refuge in Australia by sea (see here, here and here). To join the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance campaign, see here.

Workers in Australia remain under sustained attack by the capitalists, with existing EBAs being threatened with termination.  The latest example of this is Parmalat, owned by Lactalis, the largest dairy manufacturing company in the world. In July 2016, they presented the ETU and AMWU with an enterprise agreement log of claims that represented a major attack on the wage rates and employment conditions at the Echuca site.  When the union said no, Parmalat lodged an application with the Fair Work Commission to terminate the existing EBA.   The workers have been locked out since 18 January, and the Fair Work Commission is due to consider the application on terminating the EBA on 16 and 17 February.

Over 20 garment workers lost their jobs this week when the Chinese-owned Unitedtex Overseas Co factory dismissed them for trying to unionise. A report released by Progressive Voice in December 2016 revealed that workers in the garment industry continue to be frequently exposed to unfair working conditions including being forced to work overtime, reduced break times and threat of unlawful dismissal and continuous verbal abuse. As labour organisations and trade unions struggle to fight for workers’ rights, the incentive for factory management to take advantage of workers is evident. Organising is not a crime!

In commemoration of 100 years since the Russian Revolution that was sparked by International Women’s Day, for this year’s IWD Rally in Melbourne Australia, we’re raising the demand Peace, Bread and Land!  Additionally, Victoria Trades Hall is organising its annual Women’s Rights At Work Festival.  For details of WRAW Fest, check out this link, and for details of the Melbourne IWD rally, check out this link.

On Wednesday this week, the Seoul High Court upheld the jailing of Han Sang gyun, the president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) for the ‘crime’ of organising demonstrations. The court sentenced Han to 3 years' imprisonment with a fine, which is a reduced penalty from the one he received a few months back. Nevertheless, this once again shows the political nature of the legal attacks against the powerful South Korean workers’ movement. In light of the massive anti President Park mobilisations and her subsequent impeachment, this ruling shows that the Korean working class is still a force to be reckoned with but is facing hard battles ahead.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, a labour activist with the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Workers’ Organisations in Iran and a Children's Rights advocate, is facing a new round of interrogations and harassment. Behnam has been in jail since 2010. He was originally given a 5 year sentence for the ‘crime’ of organising, but because of his continued activism while in jail, he received a new extended sentence. Behnam has been brutally treated while in prison, and recently his family have also been harassed. Iran has unfortunately become a prison gulag for labour activists with countless workers jailed for attempting to organise.