labor

Iranian workers continue to struggle for independent trade unions

Mehrnoush Cheragh Abadi Equal Times
During Iran’s post-revolution reform era (1997-2005), a new wave of trade unionism began in the country. However, this spring of unionism quickly turned to winter, and most union leaders were arrested when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005. Nowadays, any attempts by workers to organise strikes are met with severe repercussions by security agents. Nonetheless union resistance is growing.

labor

India: Workers Vow to Fight Maruti Suzuki Murder Charges

Sindhu Menon Equal Times
Since 16 March, over 100,000 workers across India have participated in work stoppages after a court sentenced 13 unionists to life imprisonment. The charges stem from deadly clashes that took place at the at the Maruti Suzuki India Limited auto plant in 2012 after management refused to recognize a union formed in a bid to end the mass casualisation of jobs and improve working conditions. India's auto industry is one of the world's largest.

labor

America’s Construction Carnage

Sam Pizzigati OtherWords.org
In 2014, the last year with full statistics, 899 construction workers nationwide died from workplace injuries. The reason: loss of union strength and decline in OSHA funding. President Trump's anti-union and anti-federal spending polices promise to only make the situation worse.

labor

New U.N. Report Shows Just How Awful Globalization and Informal Employment Are for Workers

Elizabeth Grossman In These Times
An estimated 60.7 percent of the world’s workers labor in the informal economy, without legal or social protections. While the impact of working without the freedom to organize is most dire in the world’s poorest countries, U.S. workers are not an exception to the types of labor rights abuses the described in a United Nations Report.

High Times: How Will Budtenders and Trimmigrants Fare If Pot Is Legalized?

Judith Lewis Mernit Capital and Main
As California voters prepare to vote about legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, promises and omens have become part of the debate over the state’s future if Proposition 64 is passed. Will the traditional small-time pot farmers be replaced by industrial grow operations? Will employees in this newly legalized commerce receive decent pay, working conditions and benefits? Or will the new cannabis worker have more in common with the low-wage, immigrant farm workers?

Obama’s TPP Would Widen the Divide

Manuel Pérez-Rocha Inequality.org
NAFTA worsened poverty in Mexico. But some did profit from "Free Trade." Mexico now has 12 billionaires. Before our government started selling off public enterprises to cronies to lay the groundwork for NAFTA, we didn’t have one.

labor

South Korea: Independent Union Leader Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Yi San Labor Notes
South Korea's unions, once one of the best organized segments of the global labor movement, have suffered setbacks since the late 1990s, when the government made it easier for employers to lay off workers and hire casuals. Fewer than one in 10 workers is now unionized, the country’s lowest level ever. South Korea’s government and business leaders want to put Han away because he represents a pivotal segment of what is left of labor militancy.

What I Didn't Read in the TTIP Reading Room

Katja Kipping War on Want
The secrecy surrounding the text of TTIP is revealing. Anyone who wants to enhance environmental protection, consumer protection and labor standards would have nothing to fear from transparency. Anyone who’s engaged in selling out democracy, on the other hand, is obviously going to want to avoid public scrutiny.
Subscribe to labor rights