Archive for the ‘Human rights’ Category
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Cory Doctorow has a new young-adult novel out, and it’s something that union organisers and communicators very much need to read.
For The Win meshes together the lives of people working in and around MMORPGS, the massively multiplayer online role-playing games which grow in size and value every year. Set about ten minutes into the future, it shows how these virtual worlds have developed virtual economies, with people who work in them, legally and illegally. (more…)
Tags:China, Cory Doctorow, For The Win, Gold farming, India, IWWWW, netroots, Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, review, Webblies
Posted in China, Human rights, Internationlism, Organising, Uncategorized, Unions, grassw00ts | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Bad day to be an HTC fanboi like me. LabourStart have a campaign running in support of YFOTU, the union of workers in Taiwanese mobile phone touchscreen manufacturer YFO. There have been some grim reports of working conditions at the company, with child labour, forced overtime and poor safety.
After seeing reports of bad conditions at iPhone component factories, I was feeling all smug with my non-union-busting HTC TouchHD (the third HTC handset I’ve had now, and a very nice one too), but it looks like mine may be just as bad. YFO have dismissed a number of union reps and members recently, which the union belives is in contravention of employment law. (more…)
Tags:HTC, Labourstart, petition, twitter, unionbusting, YFOTU
Posted in Human rights, unionbusting | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Urgent campaign action
Farzad Kamangar is an Iranian teacher, unionist and human rights activist, charged by the Revolutionary Court of Iran with being a terrorist (through alleged links to the PKK) and sentenced to death on no convincing evidence.
The international teachers’ union federation, Education International, has learned that Farzad has been taken from his political prisoner’s cell in Evin prison (where he has been tortured and denied medical treatment) today in preparation for execution by hanging. He may be executed in the next few hours – it is already afternoon in Iran. (more…)
Tags:EI, Farzad Kamangar, Human rights, Iran, Labourstart
Posted in Human rights, Iran, Online Campaigns | Comments Closed
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
The labour movement in Zimbabwe is being kept silent for yet another critical month, as Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leaders Wellington Chibebe and Lovemore Matombo turned up in court to face charges of “speading falsehoods prejudicial to the state”, only to find the prosecutor had again not turned up for the trial.
The human-rights infringing bail conditions of no public appearances for Wellington and Lovemore remain in force now until a new trial date of 17 September – no doubt strengthening Mugabe’s hand by keeping the ZCTU out of public opinion on the current power-sharing talks. (more…)
Tags:Human rights, Lovemore Matombo, trial, Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU, Zimbabwe
Posted in Human rights, Zimbabwe | Comments Closed
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
As Zimbabwe prepares to put its union leadership on trial for criticising the government’s violent excesses, a similar story is unfolding in neighbouring Swaziland. Jan Sithole, Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), was arrested on Friday, after 30 armed police stormed his house in the early hours of the morning. (more…)
Tags:COSATU, Jan Sithole, Swaziland, wearezctu.org, ZCTU, Zimbabwe
Posted in Human rights, Swaziland, Unions, Zimbabwe | 3 Comments »
