Asia

workers news round-up

USA New York’s bus and subway workers, who shut down the US’s largest transit system for three days last month, have voted down the contract they were offered by seven votes. This agreement had called for wage rises of 3% in the first year, 4% in the second and 3.5% in the third, and an additional paid holiday. It would also have required workers to contribute 1.5% of their salaries toward their health insurance premiums. The union’s executive board, who were recommending the deal, put the vote down to a threat made by Governor Pataki, who refused to promise to ratify the pensions deal. The...

The forgotten massacre of the Vietnamese Trotskyists

On demonstrations in the 1960s, it was common to hear marchers chanting “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, we will fight and we will win”, in honour of the Vietnamese Stalinist who led the fight against US occupation. The best sections of the left replied with their own rhyme — Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh — how many Trots did you do in?” They were referring to the mass murder of the Vietnamese Trotskyists by Stalinist forces in 1945. Sixty years on, the massacre has largely been forgotten. The Vietnamese Trotskyists stood for independent working class politics against French and Japanese imperialists, the...

Against the odds in Pakistan

Trade unionists in Pakistan face a daily struggle to organise. The unions have often been hijacked by reactionary political parties. Farooq Sulehria of the Labour Party Pakistan tells the story. In Pakistan people often take on two jobs or have some small business after work to survive. All our governments, whether khaki or civilian, have had the same IMF-World Bank dictated neo-liberal agendas: privatisation, downsizing, and an end to subsidies. It may have been different had there been a workers’ party built by trade unions. But Pakistan’s trade unions are too weak and divided to build even...

Behind the China-Japan rift

By Harry Glass The diplomatic spat between Japan and China shows no sign of abating, despite several attempts at conciliation. For the last three weekends, students have attacked Japanese buildings and symbols in the capital Beijing and the Japanese consulates in Shanghai and Beijing. Similar demonstrations took place in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The demonstrations were sparked off by the Japanese government's latest approved list of history textbooks, which it publishes every four years. All but one of the textbooks fail to account for Japanese war-crimes during World War Two. Chinese people...

Union activist jailed following convention

Dharmananda Panta, chair of a branch of the GEFONT trade union in Nepal, has been imprisoned for 90 days for trade union activity. The authorities allege that his views had “hurt friendly relationships between neighbouring countries and disturbed peace in society”. Panta has been active in the Independent Transport Workers Association of Nepal (ITWAN-GEFONT) for over fifteen years. He led a demonstration prior to a recent union convention and together with other trade unionists had chanted slogans in favour of peace, democracy and the trade union rights. Following the convention a police van...

1,300 workers protest to demand redundancy payment

Cambodian riot police fired assault rifles and used electric batons last week to break up a protest by 1,300 workers demanding redundancy payment from a garment factory that shut down in January. The demonstration, outside the South Korean-owned Sam-Han Fabrics Company in the capital Phnom Penh, was also baton-charged by police. The Cambodian textile industry, which employs more than 240,000 workers, has suffered as a result of the expiry of the Multi-Fibre Agreement at the beginning of the year. At least 20 garment factories have closed in and around Phnom Penh in the last four months...

Workers' News Round-Up

A round-up of the latest news from working-class struggles around the world. Indonesia Airport workers in 13 cities in Indonesia are threatening to strike this weekend in protest at the government’s attempt to take over their pension fund. According to The Jakarta Post, workers at state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura had agreed to stage a “massive protest” from 18 to 20 January before going on strike on 21 January. Air traffic controllers at the 13 airports will notify all airplanes that they will not be able to land or take off from the airports, affecting flights to tourist resorts such as...

Bangladeshi garment workers demand job security

Hundreds of garment workers from different parts of Bangladesh held a massive rally on 1 January to mark the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA). Under the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), garment products from countries such as Bangladesh enjoyed quota free access to US and European markets. But the MFA was phased out on 31 December as part of a global agreement with the World Trade Organisation. The rally was organised by 24 national trade union federations from the country’s garment sector. Unions fear that a large number of garment workers may lose their job due to the expiry of the MFA...

Cambodian garment workers protest over factory closure

Cambodian police broke up a protest by 100, mostly female, garment workers on Christmas Eve. The workers were protesting over the closure of their factory. Riot police kicked some of the women after they refused to end their sit-down protest, but there were no arrests. Some 600 workers lost their jobs when the Ho Hing garment factory closed in November after new orders dried up. Cambodia’s garment sector employs 300,000 workers, most of them young women who earn about $45 a month and face an uncertain future after export quotas known as the Multi-Fibre Arrangement guaranteeing access to North...

Veteran Vietnamese Trotskyist dies

The veteran Vietnamese Trotskyist Ngo Van has died in Paris at the age of 91. For more about his life and ideas, see this article from New Politics .

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