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Asia
India: Mettur Thermal Power Station workers in Tamil Nadu demand permanent jobs
Around 1,500 contract workers, including 200 women, from the Mettur Thermal Power Station in Salem district are holding a sit-in protest at the plant which began on February 28. They are demanding permanent jobs. Some had worked at the plant for more than ten years.
Police intervened but failed to convince the workers to end their strike. Workers claimed that the Dravidian Progressive Federation government promised to make their jobs permanent in its election manifesto.
ASHA workers still on strike in Kerala
Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in Kerala are maintaining an indefinite strike for higher pay and permanent jobs begun on February 10. The health minister cynically claimed that ASHA workers are highly paid compared to their co-workers in other states and threatened to replace with new recruits if they did not soon return to work.
The workers want their monthly wage increased from a meagre 7,000 rupees ($US80) to about 21,000 rupees, a 5,000-rupee pension and withdrawal of the compulsory retirement age of 62. Workers complained that they only receive 4,000 to 5,000 rupees of the current monthly pay.
ASHA workers are involved in the vaccination of children from marginal and poor families, care for patients in outpatient wings, assisting pregnant women, recording births and deaths and many health awareness programs.
Tamil Nadu government schoolteachers and educators strike
The Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisation called a national strike on February 25 to protest false promises of the ruling Dravidian Progressive Federation government. While the government called for the strike be delayed by four weeks, it went ahead after last minute talks failed to reach agreement. There are about 1.1 million government school workers and teachers in Tamil Nadu. They want retention of an old pension scheme and resolution of pay disparity between employees.
Pakistan: Karachi steel workers demand reinstatement
Steel mill workers protested on the National Highway in Karachi on March 1, paralysing traffic for over seven hours. The protest ended after talks between workers and government authorities. The workers were protesting dismissals and the suspension of gas supply to their residential quarters. They demanded to be reinstated and restoration of all utility services to their accommodation.
Bangladeshi brick kiln workers protest kiln closures
More than 500 brick kiln workers demonstrated in Savar on Tuesday by blocking the Dhaka-Aricha Highway. They were protesting the administration’s demolition of their brick kilns, leaving thousands of workers unemployed. Workers ended the demonstration after police and army officials arrived at the scene.
A worker from Noor Bricks said, “Many of us work here, but our kiln was demolished a few days ago, leaving us jobless. It’s not just our brick kiln—many others are being destroyed too. That’s why all the workers have united and come to the streets.”
Bangladeshi farmers in Netrokona demand restoration of electricity
Farmers in Netrokona district in northeast Bangladesh demonstrated on Wednesday to demand the immediate restoration of an electricity connection needed to operate an irrigation pump during the ongoing Boro cultivation season. They formed a human chain at a field in Bishwanathpur-Baithakhali village organised by the Elakar Krishok Somaj.
A farmer in the village had installed a pump to irrigate around 20-25 acres of farmland belonging to over 60 farmers in the area. Farmers alleged that in April last year, the electricity connection for the pump was disconnected by the Kalmakanda Rural Electrification Board over an unpaid bill and although the bill was cleared the following month, the connection was never restored.
Sri Lanka: Public sector university non-academic workers protest austerity budget
Public sector university non-academic workers staged a national protest this week against the newly-elected Dissanayake government’s first budget.
Hundreds of workers demonstrated outside their universities over the hardship caused by the government’s austerity proposals. They carried handwritten placards with slogans such as, “Increase salaries immediately,” and “Stop the cuts in allowances and benefits including MCA.”
In June 2024, over 13,000 non-academic public-sector workers began 50 days of industrial action that included a sit-down strike outside the University of Peradeniya and other campuses. They were protesting austerity measures imposed by the previous Wickremasinghe government, as well as salary disparities and the non-payment of various allowances. None of their demands were met.
Australia
BAE shipyard workers in South Australia walk out for pay rise
Over 400 workers from British multinational BAE Systems naval shipyard at Osborn in Adelaide walked off the job for one hour during morning and afternoon shifts on February 25 and again on Tuesday to demand industry-standard pay rates. The workers are covered by three unions, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU).
The unions have allowed negotiations for a new enterprise agreement to drag on since March last year. In September, workers rejected BAE’s proposed enterprise agreement, which included a pay increase of only 9.75 percent over three years. Workers want 6.5 percent annual increases in the three-year agreement to compensate for accepting a real pay cut in their last agreement. Their last pay increase in 2023 was only 2 percent when the consumer price index annualised rate was over 6 percent.
Ship refuelling workers at Fremantle protest low wages
Eight Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) members involved in ship refuelling operations at Fremantle port, Western Australia imposed work bans on Friday in their fight for a pay increase. Teekay Shipping recently won the contract from BP to do ship refuelling at the port.
The MUA claimed that the workers, who were originally employed by BP, are now being employed by Teekay on common-law contracts which cut their annual pay by $10,000.
Nine work bans were imposed on Friday and will remain until April 11. These bans include not operating cranes between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., no refuelling of ocean liners unless they have been tied up to a wharf for 72 hours and no training of employees and contractors. The MUA is currently negotiating with Teekay for a new enterprise agreement.
Alstom Metronet train-building workers in Western Australia strike for pay increase
Over 40 workers at Alstom Metronet’s train-building plant at Bellevue in Perth planned to walk off the job on Friday in response to Alstom’s refusal to continue negotiations for a new enterprise agreement. Alstom responded by applying for a Bargaining Dispute in the Fair Work Commission.
The Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union members want a 23 percent pay rise over three years and a 36-hour week. Alstom has only offered a 12 percent pay rise over three years and afternoon-shift loading of 20 percent and rejected all other union claims.
Maurice Blackburn law firm locks out protesting lawyers
About 400 Australian Services Union (ASU) members at the Maurice Blackburn law firm are maintaining industrial action begun on December 12 to demand higher pay and improved conditions.
Lawyers involved in the action informed management on Thursday that they would impose a nationwide day-long ban on billing clients for legal work. Management responded by threatening that the lawyers would not be paid during the ban, an effective lockout. Legal assistants held a national three-hour stoppage on the same day but were not subjected to the lockout threat.
After seven months of failed negotiations for a new enterprise agreement, workers overwhelmingly voted on November 29 to take industrial action. Workers have been holding ad hoc short-duration stoppages since December.
The ASU has called for a 19 percent pay rise over three years, better work/life balance options, and 10 days of reproductive health leave in the new agreement.
The Labor-aligned company has only offered a pay increase of 10.5 percent over three years. Staff on less than $100,000 (60 percent of the workforce) would get a 5.5 percent increase in the first year. The firm’s original offer included a reduction in leave-loading entitlements.
Nestlé confectionary workers in Victoria strike for pay increase
After nine months of failed negotiations, about 450 workers from Nestlé’s confectionary plants at Broadford and Campbellfield in Victoria began industrial action on Thursday to protest the company’s low pay offer in its proposed enterprise agreement.
Members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) and the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) are striking for one hour at the start of each shift and have imposed work bans on overtime work, weekend work, early starts and late finishes and call-backs. The unions want 8 percent annual wage rises and retention of their current conditions.
Nestlé wants annual wage rises limited to just 3.5 percent and to make its maintenance workers adopt new rostering arrangements. It proposes ending three eight-hour shifts and the standard 36-hour work week and move to a 24/7 roster of 12-hour shifts of up to five in a row. Workers rejected this saying it would reduce their take home pay and quality of family life.
The unions want 8 percent annual wage rises and retention of their current conditions. Their previous agreement negotiated by the unions saw wages go backwards relative to cost-of-living increases. Wage increases in their last three-year agreement went up by only 10 percent while the consumer price index over the same period increased by over 14 percent.