Summary and links to news stories of workers‘ struggles around East Asia during October 2012 and related resources. The most important stories appear on my Twitter feed as soon as I find them: http://twitter.com/spartacusnews.
This month there has been news from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. I haven’t had time to check the JTTP.cn or Jasmine Revolution website this month, but they’re worth a browse for the photos even if you can’t read Chinese or be bothered to use Google Translate. Reports I’ve come across for countries outside of the region can be found here.
„The main costs of living for garment workers are food and rent; both are rising much faster than wages. The overall inflation level is around 10%. So workers are demanding pay increases of up to 50% and are calling for rent controls to be implemented. These are the main demands of the recent struggles which began in mid-May (see earlier report) and have now exploded again to new levels. Though there has been also been trouble at nearby Naragayanj, the unrest is centred on Ashulia where about 500,000 garment workers are employed in 350 factories.“
Entdinglichung 