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Four railway workers in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi have been detained under that country’s harsh anti terrorism laws for taking part in a strike on July 23. The drivers have been accused of trying to organise other workers in a locomotive shed to take part in the strike. Unfortunately this is not the first time that workers have been arrested under anti-terrorism laws, with six power loom workers from Faisalabad having to endure four years in jail for also organising a strike.

In the last year alone, over 500 garment workers, mainly women, from just four factories were hospitalised due to faintings and collapses at work. While individual reasons vary, the underlying causes are the brutal and punishing working conditions these workers face. On top of unsafe working conditions, most are employed on insecure contracts which means they feel compelled to work long overtime hours under pressure from their employers. Additionally, more than 200 workers who were employed at the Ching Fai Knitwear factory are still fighting for their unpaid wages more than a year after the factory closed down.

At the end of July, tens of thousands of workers of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation went on an indefinite strike over plans to privatise part of their sector. The Sri Lankan government responded by mobilising the army to take over operations and prevent workers from organising and demonstrating. With the arrest of over 20 labour activists, the government was able to break the strike. While much of the commentary suggested that the workers were opposed to the sale of Sri Lankan facilities to other countries, the reality was that workers saw this sale as another attack on their conditions. 

The court case this week of an Afghan refugee that was paid anywhere between 60 and 20% of the minimum wage while working at a fruit and vegetable market in Melbourne, is an example of the systemic exploitation that vulnerable workers face, especially those in the agricultural sector. Whether it is backpackers on working holiday visas, or Pacific Islander workers on special work visas, they face the same type of exploitative conditions in the extensive agricultural sector in Australia. Only via determined organising by unions, will this exploitation be decreased.

The Thai military junta’s reign of oppression has now spread into neighbouring Laos with the apparent forced abduction of Wutthipong ‘Ko Tee’ Kochathmmakun. Ko Tee was abducted by a group of armed Thai speaking people. Ko Tee had been a fierce critic of the Thai Monarchy and the military for years, fleeing to Laos after the coup in May 2014. Meanwhile, more activists are being targeted inside Thailand, with Watana Muangsook and Pravit Rojanaphruk, both being charged over separate Facebook posts under the draconian anti sedition law.

Free all political prisoners in Thailand!  

Abolish Article 112!  

End the military dictatorship!

Thousands of Anganwadi workers, mainly women employed as sexual health, nutrition and child development workers, marched through the streets of New Delhi last Friday in a continuation of their ongoing strike. The workers have been demanding better pay, conditions and an end to insecure working conditions. The strike has now been going for 7 weeks and the workers are as determined as ever to continue until their demands are met. 

While the Israel government’s attempts to hinder Palestinian’s right to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque were defeated by the force and unity of the protests by Palestinians, the reality on the ground is as repressive as ever. On Sunday July 23, over 40 Palestinians, including Parliamentarian Omar Adbel-Razak, were arrested in mass sweeps in the Occupied Territories. Most Palestinian prisoners are imprisoned over minor charges of resisting the Occupation or simply held on administrative detention for up to 6 months. In the last week a large group of Argentinian Parliamentarians and the South African Government have made formal protests against these ongoing arrests.

The occupational health and safety labour activists of SHARPS had another win in court recently when a judge upheld an earlier decision confirming that a Samsung Electronics worker’s disease was caused by her work. The case centred on Kim Mi-seon, a former worker who assembled LCDs and who developed Multiple Sclerosis from her time at Samsung. This is only one of many cases of disease that workers at Samsung Electronics have endured. In the meantime, the sit in front of Samsung offices has passed 660 days.

Tens of thousands of nurses at private hospitals across the southern Indian state of Kerala ended their two month strike after the government agreed to more than double their wages from less than Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 (USA $310) per month. This is a great achievement by these workers and the two main unions, the Indian Nurses’ Association (INA) and the United Nurses’ Association (UNA), that co-ordinated these industrial actions. The workers’ determination was fuelled by years of low wages and increasing levels of poverty among nurses.

For 41years 3CR Community Radio in Melbourne, Australia has featured union, worker, indigenous, women’s, ethnic, environmental, music and other community programs that are not heard elsewhere. As a community radio station, 3CR Radio funding comes from its listeners. Every year, a Radiothon is held to raise funds for the radio station. Asia Pacific Currents is AAWL’s weekly radio program on 3CR Community Radio. Support labour struggles, support 3CR Radio.