As previously reported, the fight for direct elections has been shaking Hong Kong for a number of months with unions actively involved in these protests. The size of the protests has been fuelled by widespread anger against increasing inequality, corruption and the high cost of living. This week, the Hong Kong government cleared the last remaining camp of the protest movement. Many people were arrested by police, including prominent unionists from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), though they were later released. Protest organisers have promised that they will be back. On the mainland, shoe factory workers won an important three month battle over compensation.
The last few years have seen growing confidence among workers in Indonesia with the staging of major strikes and actions to win better wages and conditions. Nevertheless, many workers continue to face harsh working conditions, unsafe workplacesand repression by the state. Thus, labour organisations continue to push for their rights. Earlier this month, huge numbers of workers took to the streets all around Indonesia to test the new President Jokowi stated goal to tackle the growing inequality in Indonesia by calling for higher wages.
Around 150 workers in the southern city of Melbourne have been on strike for two months against the giant Otis company, the world’s largest manufacturer of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. Otis employs over 60,000 workers world-wide. The workers are fighting for better wages and conditions with the company trying to downgrade workers’ entitlements. A fighting fund has been established and solidarity messages have been received from around the world. While local workers are united, coordinated industrial action by other Otis employees at their workplaces in other countries would be the most effective way to fight against this global giant and support the Australian workers.
It has been well over a year since the massacre of over 1,100 garment workers at Rana Plaza and still the fight for proper compensation continues. Benetton is one of the major brands that has not contributed anything yet. In an unrelated development, owners of two of the garment factories that were in Rana Plaza were granted bail, raising fears that they will never be held to account for their actions. Meanwhile a separate investigation, has highlighted the appalling working conditions for workers in the coal processing sector. The continued repression of unions in Bangladesh has forced millions of men and women to work in appalling conditions for starvation wages.
