Over 200,000 workers in Bangaldesh entered a third days of strikes, demanding the minimum wage be raised from the current 3,000 takas ($38) to 8,114 takas ($100).
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A large strike in Colombia underscores the dangers of free trade agreements and suggests that we should pay close attention to current negotiations around the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Tens of thousands of miners began their strike nearly a month ago, but it wasn't until this week that other sectors, including health workers, joined in. Also participating were some workers from Colombia's three most powerful labor federations, whose members oversee such unions as teachers and oil workers.
The fast food strikes could be the embryo of a new labor movement that challenges the power of organized money and the skyrocketing inequality that has made the American middle class an endangered species.
Familias Unidas Para la Justicia at Sakuma Brothers Farms are attempting to demolish the dismal conditions of their labor. In doing this they are cultivating a newer and more democratic form of work through their strike. "Viva la Huelga!" is the call of the hour. There is much the labor movement can learn from these striking workers and the long tradition of struggle they come from in Oaxaca.
Low-cost labor has attracted Western brands to the Southeast Asian country and garments now account for around 75 percent of its exports, but strikes over pay and working conditions have become common. Thousands of workers at Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing Corp went on strike for higher pay from May 21.
Fast food workers strike in Seattle - 7th city in past 8 weeks. Workers say their wages are stagnant and want a living wage of $15, more opportunities to advance, and the right to organize without retaliation. "Personally I'm on food stamps, my hours have been cut back," Burger King worker Andrew Thomas said. "Being here for a year and half. I haven't gotten a raise."
The UC health-care system boasts nearly $7 billion in operating revenue, but management wants to create a two-tier pension system for workers, while executives get yearly pension payouts of as much as $300,000.
The union is demanding stronger protection against subcontracting. Workers also want more of a voice in staffing and patient care matters.
Calling for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without fear of reprisal from their bosses, workers at McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Simply Fashion and Taco Bell in Milwaukee joined their fellow workers who have walked off the job in Detroit, New York City, Chicago and St. Louis in recent weeks.
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