Activision Blizzard Strike Fund Passes $350,000 as Management Finally Replies

"Activision is deeply committed to the wellbeing of all of our teams, including our QA workforce," the statement reads.

By Jared Moore
Updated: 6 Jan 2022 

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

A spokesperson for Activision has finally issued a response to the ongoing strikes by employees at the company. While the spokesperson has said that leadership has "engaged" with staff over their concerns, the strike action has now entered its third week, with an ABK Workers Alliance Strike Fund having now raised over $350,000.

Activision Blizzard Staff Are Going on Strike, and They Want Your Help - IGN Daily Fix

In a statement issued to gamesindustry.biz, a spokesperson from Activision has said that management at Raven Software has been speaking to its employees in order to listen to their concerns. "Activision is deeply committed to the wellbeing of all of our teams, including our QA workforce," the statement read.

Many Activision staff are striking in solidarity with members of Raven's QA department, whose contracts were terminated last month.

"Raven leadership has engaged in dialogue with its staff to hear concerns and explain the company's overall investment in development resources. As previously announced, we are growing our overall investment in development and operations resources and converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees across our studios, the largest conversion in Activision's history.

"For the 12 temporary workers at Raven whose agreements were not extended, we provided an extended notice period, included payment for the two-week holiday break, and will be working directly with those that need relocation assistance. Raven is full of people dedicated to improving the culture at Activision, and we look forward to partnering with employees to do that work together."

The statement from Activision comes just days after the ABK Workers alliance issued a statement on Twitter detailing a letter sent by Raven QA to leadership on January 4. As part of the letter, the group issued a number of topics that it wished to discuss with leadership, including the context of the situation from the leadership's perspective, its goals for the QA department moving forward, and relocation packages for those affected who moved to Wisconsin.

It's unclear what discussions have taken place thus far. However, as of yet there has been no confirmation that the strike action is set to cease. In order to fund the strikes, the ABK Workers Alliance has set up a Strike Fund. According to the Workers Alliance, the fundraiser, which has now gained over $360,000 (at the time of writing), will be used to support with wages for striking coworkers, and to assist with relocation costs for any Raven QA who the group believes has had to move unassisted "at the behest of A/B/K".

For a more detailed insight into the initial strike action being taken by members of the studio, please read our in-depth article on the subject.


Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

 • Chart: How U.S. Trade Union Membership Compares | Statista

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
UNC tells public servants: Use civil disobedience

CLINT CHAN TACK 

04/1/2022

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh. -

THE Opposition UNC on Wednesday called upon public servants to display civil disobedience against anyone who tries to force them to be vaccinated against covid19 or disclose their vaccination status.

The UNC made this call as it supported the Joint Trade Union Movement's (JTUM) and the Public Services Association's (PSA) position that public sector workers should not disclose their covid19 vaccination status to their employers. The Government has said public-sector workers should be vaccinated or they will be furloughed without pay.

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh, the UNC's labour spokesman, said, "We call upon the public servants to display a sense of what we would call civil disobedience, because at the end of the day, your medical records are your personal records."

That, he argued, is the greatest infringement in terms of a person's civil liberties.

Indarsingh also said, "We want to make it very clear that we stand on the side of public servants and the labour movement in this latest war that the people have to undergo and more so, in this instance, public servants."

Indarsingh called on teachers, healthcare workers, law enforcement offiers and workers across all state entities "to unify if they are to push back the Government." He accused the Prime Minister, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh of "poking their fingers in the eyes of public servants."

Indarsingh reiterated the UNC's support for vaccination but opposition to mandatory vaccination.

"We are not anti-vaxxers."

He said of the policy, "We believe it is violation of the citizens' constitutional rights. The Government is operating under the existing public health regulations, to force public servants to get vaccinated."

Indarsingh said the Government must engage in moral suasion and community dialogue in order to increase covid19 vaccination. He reiterated the UNC's claims that Dr Rowley's announcement last month, that public-sector workers who choose not to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons could be furloughed, is contrary to previous statements by Industrial Court president Deborah Thomas-Felix and the World Health Organization's (WHO) position on mandatory vaccination.

Last February, Thomas-Felix said an employer cannot alter terms and conditions to make covid19 vaccination mandatory for existing employees.

Last December, the WHO said, "Mandates around vaccination are an absolute last resort and only applicable when all other feasible options to improve vaccination uptake have been exhausted.”

UNC PRO Dr Kirk Meighoo supported Indarsingh's statements.

"The UNC has always defended the human rights of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago."

NIGERIA
NASS Workers To Embark On Strike From January 10 Over Unpaid Allowances

The National Assembly workers on Thursday staged a peaceful protest to press home their demands, requesting in particular the payment of eight months outstanding national minimum wage as well as 15 months CONPECULIAR allowances.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, 

NEW YORKJAN 06, 2022

Members of the Parliament Staff Association of Nigeria have threatened to start a strike action from Monday, January 10, 2022 over the failure of the National Assembly management to pay their allowance arrears.

The National Assembly workers on Thursday staged a peaceful protest to press home their demands, requesting in particular the payment of eight months outstanding national minimum wage as well as 15 months CONPECULIAR allowances.

According to a communiqué on Thursday and issued after the joint NASS/NASC congress held in Abuja, the workers led by the Chairman of PASAN National Assembly, Sunday Sabiyi, and Vice Chairman of National Assembly Service Commission, M. A Liman, demanded full implementation of the national minimum wage signed into law in 2019 as well as the revised condition of service.

The workers in the two-page communiqué accused the National Assembly management of “breach of the Memorandum of Understanding entered with PASAN on the 13th of April, 2021 on the full implementation of the new national minimum wage Act 2019 and the revised condition of service, congress hereby observes the following: breach of MOU by the decision of the management not to honour it as at 31st December 2021, is the fourth quarter of 2021”.

It added, “In view of the resolutions, congress resolves to embark on industrial action, commencing with mass picketing from Monday, January 10, 2022, in protest of the breach of the MOU.

“In view of the contraventions above, the NASC/NASS joint emergency congress resolves as follows: That management should pay with immediate effect 5 months outstanding balance of minimum wage, the year 2021 rent subsidy, 15 months arrears of CONPECULIAR allowances, six months arrears of hazard allowance to National Assembly staff.

“In addition to the MOU, congress also demands the implementation of 50 per cent balance of CONLESS, immediate release of the year 2022 training template for staff and evidence of provision of gratuity for retiring staff.

“Whereas management had earlier identified the supplementary budget 2021 as one amongst various sources of funding the MOU, congress is amazed that suddenly the Supplementary budget and virement of the 2021 fiscal appropriation have become the source of funding items not captured in the MOU including end of year bonus and promotion arrears.”

Nigerian Labour Congress’ Planned Protest Against Petrol Price Increment Should Be Followed By General Strike, Says Revolutionary Group

Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, had announced in November 2021 that the subsidy on petrol would be removed and a N5,000 transport grant would be disbursed to the “poorest” Nigerians to cushion the effect.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK

JAN 05, 2022

The Revolutionary Socialist Movement has backed the planned protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress against moves by the Nigerian Government to increase petrol price.

Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, had announced in November 2021 that the subsidy on petrol would be removed and a N5,000 transport grant would be disbursed to the “poorest” Nigerians to cushion the effect.

Speaking on the proposed subsidy removal in December, the NLC said rallies will hold in all states on January 27 while a national protest will take place in Abuja on February 1.

Reacting to the move, RSM called on Nigerians to “rise up, once again, against the anti-poor, pro-rich policies of the Buhari administration”.

The group added that the planned actions should include a 48-hour general strike by the entire workforce.

The statement, “We call on the Nigerian people to rise up, once again, against the anti-poor, pro-rich policies of the Buhari administration. The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Labour Congress at its meeting of Friday 17th December 2021, decided to reject and resist the planned increase in the price of fuel by the Federal Government.

“In a communiqué issued by the labour centre and made available after the NEC, it states that the NLC NEC has resolved to organise protest rallies in all the 36 states of the federation on 27th January 2022 which would culminate in the submission of protest letters to all the 36 state governors and another national protest will take place on 1st February 2022 in Abuja. In case government decides to announce new petrol prices before the proposed protests, the protest will kick off instantly and without any further notice in every state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“The NLC has also used the new year message to send a warning signal to the federal government, that it will face mass action if it continues to implement anti poor policies such as the increase in fuel price. RSM will actively support and take part in these protests, aiming at building a mass movement to reject this new attack.
RSM also calls upon the Trade Union Congress to come out with a plan of actions to fight back against the anti-poor, neoliberal policies of the government.

“This plan of action has to include a 48-hour general strike by the entire workforce. No other means of struggle but strike action will be taken seriously by the establishment, no other kind of struggle can force them to retreat and abandon their policies that attack the working class, the poor and the youth. Strike activity paralyses the economy and attacks the capitalist class where it hurts them most: their profits.

“The Federal Government has always deceived the masses by saying it is necessary to remove the fuel subsidy. At the beginning of the present administration’s term the fuel price was at N95 (the present exchange rate between the euro and the Niara is about 1E:465N) and today the Nigerian people are paying N165. This government has increased fuel prices twice in the course of its term.

“Despite the protests of the NLC against the removal of the fuel subsidy, the ruling capitalist class in Nigeria is determined to do what is in the interests of their profits and of their imperialist supporters and allies. Just to site one example, recently the World Bank stated that it is high time the Nigerian Government removed the subsidy on fuel.

“The recent statement of the NLC should represent the beginning of the mobilisation of its rank and file to prepare for a protracted struggle to stop this capitalist/imperialist agenda in Nigeria. Only through mass action can this new attack be blocked. The Trade Union movement in Nigeria ought to be at the forefront of this struggle. The leadership of the trade unions however has lost the confidence of big sections of the activists and of the working class, because of its past betrayals, like the suspension of the general strike on 28 September, 2020.

“Initiatives from below, form rank and file activists and trade union centers are particularly important in this conjuncture.

 
RSM welcomes all actions to resist this attack on the masses. We particularly stress the need for a united struggle of all Trade Union Centers to make sure our movement is not divided or split. Both the NLC and the TUC must reject deregulation as well as the arguments about the lack of finances that the Federal Government uses. They must expose and severely criticise the political elite – the Nigerian political office holders are among the highest paid in the world at the same time as applying austerity policies against working people and the poor.

“RSM will also actively support the peoples’ alternative political movement, TPAP-M, that plans protests, in order to commemorate the “Occupy movement” of the January 2012 removal of fuel subsidy struggle. We call upon TPAP-M to link the struggle to put an end to the high salaries and privileges of the political office holders.

“We call on NLC and TUC to link these struggles with the struggle against deregulation, for the immediate reduction of cooking gas and electricity tariffs as well as against insecurity, repression and mass killings across Nigeria. We demand that key sector of the economy should be nationalised and democratically controlled by elected representative of workers and the masses.”

INDIA

HINDUTVA DISINFORMATION
Chinese hand in Foxconn protest?

Can't be, says union leaders

However, trade union leaders refute such views and point out that the protest had nothing to do with the factory or the working condition in the factory, near Chennai

Published: Jan 04,2022

Chennai:

 
Was there a Chinese hand in the recent women workers' protest at Foxconn Technology India Pvt Ltd factory in Tamil Nadu?

It seems so, as per a report by The Week magazine quoting an intelligence report.

However, trade union leaders refute such views and point out that the protest had nothing to do with the factory or the working condition in the factory, near Chennai

The Week, in its online edition, quoted the intelligence report as saying: "Chinese aid to the left leaning workforce inside Foxconn."

Citing the intelligence report, it said: "The knee-jerk reaction to the substandard canteen food causing ill health to a few staff members is an indicator of an international design to destabilise industrial establishments."

Late last month, hundreds of workers of Foxconn protested on the National Highway demanding to know the status of colleagues who were affected by food poisoning recently.

According to workers, several women workers were affected due to food poisoning after taking lunch at one of the dormitories.

The affected workers were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment and some were admitted. According to workers, the management did not give any proper answer when queried about the health condition of women workers who were admitted to the hospital.

Queried about the "Chinese aid@ for workers protest, DMK Rajya Sabha member and Secretary General of the party's labour arm, Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), M. Shanmugam told IANS: "The workers protested on issues outside the factory. They had protested against the food provided in their hostel and the facilities there."

He said the workers put in long hours of work, and there will come a flash point when they resort to protests.

Echoing him, G. Sukumaran, General Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Tamil Nadu, told IANS: "The reality was that the women workers were staying in buildings not certified as hostels. They had suffered food poisoning and the issue was brewing among the workers for three days."

"When there was a WhatApp message about the fate of seven workers, workers had reached their flash point and began their protest," he said, adding that the CITU and others were interested in an amicable resolution.

The seven workers had gone to their native places and they spoke to the protesting workers on WhatApp call, he added.

Sukumaran also said the Chinese hand theory is a bit far fetched as that country would not be majorly affected because of Foxconn manufacturing here.

Shanmugam said: "Foxconn is not a new company.A It was producing components for Nokia earlier."

According to the union leaders, the Chinese aid theory is perhaps to shift the blame on the workers.

About 14,000 men and women are employed in the Foxconn unit that makes electronic components, iPhones for Apple and others.

Many of the women workers are staying in the nearby dormitories.

Later, in wake of the protests, the Tamil Nadu government urged Foxconn to provide necessary basic facilities at the hostels where its women workers are staying.

The state government said it has urged the Foxconn to improve the boarding and lodging facilities of its contract workers, provide adequate number of bathrooms and toilets, drinking water facilities and well ventilated rooms, get the District Collectors permission for the worker's hostels, and cook/supply the food at the place where the workers are staying.

The company was also asked sanction leave for the workers when they ask for it and make alternate arrangements with the manpower supply agencies during their absence.

According to the government, Foxconn has agreed to implement the suggestions

SRI LANKA

Fuel hikes crippling fisheries sector - Fisher trade unions

2 January, 2022


The fisher community sees the recent sudden fuel price revision as a move that would cripple the sector an pave the way for foreign entities to grab land along the coastal belt and establish their businesses in Sri Lanka.

“We consider the continuous price revisions of fuel and even other essential commodities as a move to destablise the fisheries sector enabling global companies to expand their territories making use of the port city to exploit the marine resources of the country,” said All-Ceylon Fisher-Folks Trade Union President Aruna Fernando.

Fisher society representatives said plans afoot to expand the number of fishery harbours in the country needing 35-40 feet draft to facilitate foreign companies to carry out businesses in the country using the cheap labour of the fisher community.

All trade unions of the fisher community will meet this month to map out our plan of action and communicate them to the authorities, a fisheries sector trade union leader said adding that if the lawmakers turn a deaf ear to our grievances the community would resort to tougher action.

“We have been battered for nearly two years with a meagre income due to the pandemic which has shattered the hopes of the community for a better living,” Aruna Fernando said.

The fisheries sector was one of the worst affected sectors due to adverse speculation about chemical contamination on marine life owing to two shipwrecks within a short span in the past two years followed by the global pandemic creating Covid clusters from the Peliyagoda market.

A case had been filed against the damage done to marine life from the vessel that caught fire.

MS ‘X-Press Pearl’, a Singapore-registered ship was sailing from India’s Gujarat to Colombo when a fire broke out onboard on May 20 around nine nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast.

The fisher community has been calling on lawmakers to formulate a national policy for the fisheries sector which has been a major need to develop the sector.

“We have been clamouring for a national policy to streamline and upgrade the sector which has enormous potential to promote and expand nautical tourism which is a dynamic and lucrative industry globally.

“The need to use new technology for precision and risk mitigation has been a long-felt need for the fisheries sector. Law makers talk high about the country being surrounded by the seas and marine resources but have done pretty little to support the sector especially during tough times.

“We need experts who know the nitty gritties of the sector rather than who make decisions in air-conditioned rooms not knowing anything about the sector,” Fernando said, adding that fisherfolk have no one to look up to for help when crisis hits them.

He said offering pittance during a crisis is an insult on the sector which is a vital cog of the economy.

The government granted Rs. 5,000 during the height of the pandemic for those in the sector to tide over the crisis.

5,000 Indian Rupee = 67.15 US Dollar

Steelworkers deliver petition demanding Canadian Tire pay global garment workers a living wage

TORONTO, – Today the United Steelworkers union (USW) visited a Canadian Tire store in downtown Toronto to deliver a petition addressed to CEO Greg Hicks demanding Mark’s/Canadian Tire pay living wages to workers in its global supply chain. The USW petition capped a month-long action campaign, part of the ongoing Justice for Global Garment Workers campaign by the Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF).

Throughout November, Steelworkers across the country mobilized to tell Canadian Tire to pay living wages to the women working in its supply chains, visiting 30 store locations across the country and circulating a petition that echoes those demands.

For years, trade union leaders and workers’ rights advocates in Bangladesh have denounced the appalling working conditions of the millions of Bangladeshi garment workers who make our clothes, and have fought to improve health and safety standards and increase wages.

“Canadian Tire is very focused on promoting the positive impact it has in local communities in Canada through its corporate social responsibility programs,” says Ken Neumann, USW National Director. “But it can, and must, make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers and their families. We are looking for leadership from Canadian Tire on an issue of fundamental justice for women garment workers worldwide.”

In March 2021, the SHF issued Not Even the Bare Minimum, a report that documents the working and living conditions of the women and men working for Canadian brands in Bangladesh, including factories producing for Mark’s and its owner, Canadian Tire. The wages that Bangladeshi garment sector workers are paid do not come close to what is needed for women to escape poverty, no matter how hard they work.

Meanwhile, Mark’s/Canadian Tire has continued to generate profits during the pandemic. Canadian Tire’s CEO Greg Hicks earned $4.49 million in 2020. In just two weeks, Hicks will earn the equivalent of 25 years’ salary for an entry-level garment worker.

The Steelworkers Humanity Fund is a registered Canadian charity funded by USW member contributions. For more than 25 years, the SHF has supported international development projects, trade union and workers’ rights in the global south and provided emergency humanitarian aid for disasters in Canada and around the world and more.

###

INDIA
Haryana: In Karnal, Amidst Show of Strength, Striking Anganwadi Workers Announce to Intensify Struggle

As the state government refuses to budge on their major demands, the unions spearheading the strike have now announced to observe Jail Bharo agitation on January 12.

Ronak Chhabra
05 Jan 2022

Anganwadi Workers and Helpers travelled from across the state to participate in a demonstration at Karnal’s New Anaj Mandi on Wednesday.

Karnal/Haryana: Unions leading the striking Anganwadi workers and helpers in Haryana announced on Wednesday to intensify their struggle with a Jail Bharo agitation on January 12, after the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government refused to budge on granting an increment to the all-women workforce in the state, promised to them by the Central Government in 2018.

According to the union leaders, the state government did accept a "few demands" of the agitating unions on Wednesday, when both the parties met for the third time within a month but didn't agree to the major demand.

Operations at almost all the 26,000 Anganwadi centres in 22 districts across Haryana have been hit since December 8 last year, as workers and helpers, led by one coordination committee of state-based unions, have been on strike.

On Wednesday, braving inclement weather, close to 20,000 of these workers travelled from across the state and participated in a demonstration at Karnal's New Anaj Mandi, ostensibly in a show of strength, to exert pressure on the state government. The demonstration was also joined by trade union and farmer organisation leaders and representatives of the Haryana-based Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS).

"The [state] government agreed on few of our demands - two out of three - but they didn't agree to implement the increment that was announced in 2018," Jai Bhagwan of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-Haryana told NewsClick over the phone from Panchkula.

Bhagwan was part of the union delegation that met the Chief Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Haryana. The union leaders of CITU-led Haryana Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union and AIUTUC-led Anganwadi Karyakarta Sahayika Union, the two unions spearheading the agitation, were also part of this delegation.

The Anganwadi workers and helpers in Haryana are pressing to implement the increment in their honorarium, which was announced earlier in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the press statement issued then, an increment of Rs 1500 and Rs 750 for workers and helpers respectively was announced.

Not implementing the same in Haryana, where the monthly income is Rs 12,000 and Rs 6,000 for the workers and the helpers, the Khattar-led government, refused to accept it even now, Bhagwan said.

"They, however, had agreed over disbursing Rs. 3 lakh as an ex-gratia amount and also introducing DA (dearness allowance) in the monthly honorariums of the workers and helpers," he added.

As word reached Karnal in the afternoon, announcements were made to the demonstrating workers and helpers to continue with the strike action. "20,000 women, in around thousand vehicles - small and big - have reached Karnal today, and they will continue the strike," Surekha, president, CITU, told NewsClick.

Informing about the decision of Jail Bharo agitation, Usha Rani, national president, All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Federation, said that if the government refuses to accept our demands, they must be ready for even more actions.

"Because, from here on, we are not going to turn back," she said.

The latest stalemate between the Anganwadi workers' unions and the Haryana government comes when the state is witnessing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases after the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Incidentally, last month, Khattar did announce several financial incentives for the striking staff, including a hike in the monthly honorarium - of Rs 400 from September 2020 and Rs 450 from September 2021 - and an additional COVID-19 incentive for the workers and a promotion policy.

But it had failed to persuade the two unions to withdraw the strike action, even as one organisation, which had earlier been part of the coordination committee leading the strike, withdrew its support.

20,000 Striking Anganwadi Workers of Haryana to Rally in Karnal

The workers and helpers have been on strike since December 8, 2021, demanding the increment promised to them in 2018.

Ronak Chhabra
04 Jan 2022



New Delhi: Nearly, 20,000 striking Anganwadi workers and helpers will take out a rally in Haryana’s Karnal on Wednesday to press for their pending demands even as one of the three unions spearheading the protest has decided to withdraw support to the strike.

Operations at almost all the 26,000 Anganwadi centres in 22 districts across Haryana have been hit since December 8, 2021, with the all-women workforce on strike and demanding increment in their monthly remuneration among other things despite chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announcing several financial incentives earlier last month.

Preparations for the upcoming rally are in full swing and the workers and helpers have booked vehicles to travel to Karnal, Shakuntala, general secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions-affiliated Haryana Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union, told Newsclick on Tuesday.

“We expect 20,000 Anganwadi workers and helpers to reach Karnal tomorrow. We have planned to take the rally to the district office,” Shakuntala said adding that the women will stay put outside the headquarters unless the state government doesn’t invite them for talks. Government employees, students, and farmer leaders in the state have extended support to the rally, she said. Though the government has told the union that the demands will be “considered” after the strike is withdrawn, she said, “We will continue to strike until the assurance is given in writing.”

Pusha Dalal, general secretary, Anganwadi Karyakarta Sahayika Union, which is affiliated to United Trade Union Congress, told Newsclick that women associated with their union will reach Karnal in “large numbers”. “We also organised a rally in Rohtak today to ensure that more women join the strike and reach Karnal tomorrow. We will ensure that the [state] government accepts our demands at the earliest,” she said.

There are around 52,000 Anganwadi workers and helpers in Haryana, according to government estimates. Anganwadi workers and helpers across the country play a significant role in the Integrated Child Development Scheme by providing nutrition supplements and other development help to children under six years and pregnant and lactating mothers.

Among the key demands of Haryana workers is the increment in their honorarium announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in early 2018. Currently, Anganwadi workers and helpers in the state are entitled to a monthly honorarium of Rs 12,000 and Rs 6,000 respectively.

According to a press statement, an increment of Rs 1,500 and Rs 750 for the Anganwadi workers and helpers respectively was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2018, according to the protesting unions. The union leaders said that the increment was never provided despite Anganwadi workers and helpers being on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19 since 2020.

Last month, Khattar announced several financial incentives for the striking staff, including a retirement benefit of Rs 1 lakh for the workers and Rs 50,000 for the helpers. He also announced a hike in the monthly honorarium and an additional COVID-19 incentive for the workers and a promotion policy.

Khattar’s announcement failed to persuade the unions to withdraw their strike. The unions reiterated their concerns saying that most of the announcements were “nothing new”. “These measures were announced earlier too but never implemented,” Dalal said. Moreover, the unions are unhappy with the new promotion policy, which makes it mandatory for the workers to take an examination instead of considering their seniority to be promoted as supervisors.

Meanwhile, another union affiliated with the Samyukt Karamchari Sangh in Haryana has decided to withdraw support from the strike. Chota Gehlawat, the general secretary of the union, told Newsclick that its members are “satisfied” with what the strike has “achieved” so far and “don’t wish to continue further with the strike”.

12,000 Indian Rupee =161.16 US Dollar

6,000 Indian Rupee = 80.58 US Dollar

750 Indian Rupee =10.07 US Dollar

1,500 Indian Rupee =20.14 US Dollar

50,000 Indian Rupee =671.50 US Dollar

1 LAKH = 100,000 Canadian Dollar =78,680 US Dollar 

 

For Myanmar workers, another problem emerges: labor abuse

Employees say they are forced to work overtime and their pay is often late 

since the Feb. 1 coup.

2022.01.05

A worker wears a face mask at a garment factory in Yangon, Myanmar, in a May 8, 2020 photo AFP

Factory managers in Myanmar are suppressing workers’ rights, with mandatory overtime and late payment of wages now routine following the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup that overthrew civilian rule in the country, sources say.

One worker at a foreign-owned garment factory in Yangon told RFA she now works 11 hours a day but receives no pay for overtime work. Managers have now “taken the upper hand” in their dealings with employees, she said.

“They’ll give you overtime pay, or they may not. This is the sort of situation that we’re in,” Hnin Hnin said. “A typical work day is eight hours, and if we work for 10 hours, those extra two hours should be overtime.

“But they will give that only if the quota for production is reached, and if a piece of cloth falls onto the floor, the price of that cloth is deducted from our wages,” she said.

Around 8,000 workers are employed at her factory, with almost all of them facing the same situation, she said.

Otto — a worker at a sweater factory in Yangon region’s Hlaing Tharyar township — told RFA he has still not received wages owed to him for 10 months of work after his factory closed due to the country’s COVID-19 pandemic.

“We asked for our normal daily wage, and they said they could not pay. Then we asked for half that amount, and they still wouldn’t pay,” he said. “Later, we appealed to the Labor Office for arbitration, and they decided I should be paid 50,000 kyat [U.S. $28] for each of five months that I had worked.”

The factory then reopened for a month, and closed again for another three months, he said.

“The 50,000 kyat per month allowed by the Labor Department is not enough to cover our cost of living, as food and accommodation alone cost around 70,000 kyat per month. But as the Labor Office has already fixed this as the rate, we don’t know what to do,” he said.

Khine Zar Aung, president of the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar, said she has received at least 50 complaints about rights violations that can be passed on for litigation.

“Most of these cases are in the garment sector, and though we can help with cases in the garment and footwear sectors, we can’t help anyone not working for international brands,” she said. “There is no rule of law here, so there are cases where rights are being seriously violated, and we can’t do anything about these at all.”

Around 40,000 garment workers are now without jobs in Myanmar as a result of the Feb. 1 coup, but the military has arrested members of trade unions and other workers’ organizations in the country, making it difficult to organize a legal defense.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Labor has denied reports that workers are not receiving the minimum pay allowed by law, but workers in the garment industry say most are not receiving full pay, overtime pay, or severance pay when separated from their jobs.

Reporting on labor rights in the year before the coup, the U.S. State Department noted "continued reports of employers engaging in forms of antiunion discrimination," including firing or other forms of reprisal against workers who formed or joined labor unions.

"Trade unions reported cases in which criminal charges were filed against workers for exercising their right to strike, and trade union members were arrested and charged with violating peaceful assembly laws when holding demonstrations regarding labor rights generally," said the agency's 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Richard Finney.