isocr's blog

Less than a month ago, mineworkers in Bulqiza (a region of eastern Albania) formed a trade union. Five days later, their employer -- AlbChrome -- responded by sacking the union chairman. The workers walked off the job, demanding his reinstatement as well as higher wages and more generally a respect for workers rights. The police were called in, and other union leaders and activists were arrested and questioned.

In South Korea, 1,000 people die annually due to truck crashes because big corporations like Samsung and Hyundai force low rates onto truck drivers.

Those drivers are forced to work long hours, overload their vehicles, and drive at dangerous speed.

Korean truck drivers work over twice the annual average for OECD countries, but as 'owner drivers' they are entirely unprotected by labour law.

After years of struggle, their union finally won historic Safe Rates legislation last year.

Ten union leaders in Poland employed by a company called Castorama have been sacked because they dared to speak out.

The trade union NSZZ Solidarnosc Commerce had embarked upon an organising drive among Castorama workers when the company dismissed union chairperson Wojciech Kasprzyk and others.

The company says that they were engaged in "activities to the detriment of the company" and "damaging the employer's image".

What the workers say is that they were using the Internet, including social media, to help workers and get them organised.

The Duterte regime in the Philippines has intensified attacks against the trade union movement.

The Education International is particularly concerned about the harassment and repression targetting its affiliate, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).

Several ACT offices were raided by the police and at least one ACT provincial coordinator was arrested in a new crackdown against unions and civil society organisations in the country.

The repression operations are ongoing, and ACT fears that more of their members could be targeted.

In July this year, Erlan Baltabay, a leader of the Independent Oil and Energy Workers' Union in Kazakhstan, was sentenced to seven years in prison on politically motivated charges.

A huge international union mobilization followed, including a LabourStart campaign signed by thousands calling for his release. He was released from prison in August after being pardoned by the President and was able to return home to his family.

Netherlands-based Perfetti van Melle, maker of Mentos and Chupa Chups, calls itself the third-largest global confectionery company. Child labourers come and go at the company’s factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. They disappear during inspections, only to reappear once the inspections have ended.

Union President suspended at Cambodia's giant Naga World Hotel Casino for defending her members' right to bargain their wages!

The 5-star Naga World Hotel Casino in Phnom Penh has 1,685 rooms and suites - but no room for the right of its thousands of employees to collectively negotiate their wages through collective bargaining - a universally-recognized human right.

For 18 years, workers at the Pearl Continental Karachi (Pakistan) have fought with unflagging determination for their collective rights and for recognition of their union.

That's an extraordinary thing -- for 18 years, denied their rights, those workers continue their struggle.

The trial of Reni Desmiria (http://www.iuf.org/w/?q=node/6944) , secretary of the SPBMI union of workers at seafood processor Bumi Menara Internusa (BMI) in Lampung, Indonesia, has concluded with her conviction and a reduced sentence. The notoriously corrupt legal system declared her guilty as expected, but faced with campaigns at local, national and international level was forced to reduce the sentence to 4 months with time served.

US-headquartered packaged seafood provider Chicken of the Sea promises ‘A Sea of Good’ and likes to talk about sustainability. Its products are well-known throughout the Americas. Like many US seafood companies, Chicken of the Sea sources products from Bumi Menara Internusa (BMI) in Lampung, Indonesia. And BMI is trying to send a brave trade union leader to prison for 6 years. Human rights violations are swimming in the Sea of Good.