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Asia
Korean rail union suspends strike again, claiming agreement reached
The Korean Railway Workers’ Union on Tuesday suspended strike action at Korean Rail Corporation (KORAIL), claiming it had reached agreement with the government. It was the second time this month the union had called off a strike at the last minute.
The union suspended a planned strike on December 11 after claiming it had reached a tentative agreement with management on increasing performance-based bonuses.
If the strike had gone ahead, KORAIL said, 25 percent of commuter and cargo services would have been affected. KORAIL operates intercity/regional, commuter/metro and freight trains throughout South Korea.
Workers say the government has failed to deliver on a commitment to normalise performance-based bonuses, an issue that has been pending for 15 years. The union argued that KORAIL should apply the same standard as other state-run companies, in which the bonus is based on 100 percent of base pay.
Determined to prevent Tuesday’s strike, the union accepted a compromise deal in which the government offered a phased plan to raise performance bonus payments, paying 90 percent of base salary next year and increasing the rate to 100 percent in 2027. There is no guarantee the issue has been resolved. The government has reportedly said it will resolve the issue through the finance ministry’s steering committee on public institutions.
India: Nurses in Chennai, Tamil Nadu protest for permanent jobs
As of December 23, scores of nurses in Chennai had been protesting for six days, demanding permanent jobs for about 8,000 colleagues appointed on a contract basis. Workers decided to continue their protest when talks with the health minister failed. The minister said the nurses were to pass a qualifying exam set by the Medical Recruitment Board. The Indian Medical Association supported the nurses saying it is unfair that they had been working as contract nurses for the past eight years.
The protest was called by the Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment Association. Police intervened in their protest at Guduvanchery, in Chennai and detained several protesters on December 23. The police action sparked protests by nurses across all the districts in the state.
Haryana power utility workers protest online transfer policy
Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB) workers and foremen held a protest on December 23 in opposition to the board’s online transfer policy. Workers said the online transfer policy would lead to the elimination of many jobs and put the lives of many manual workers and foremen under risk, and that defaulters could not be easily identified under this policy.
The protest was called by the HSEB Workers Union, affiliated with the Haryana Employees Federation in the Sirsa Circle in Haryana.
Assam power utility workers hold six-hour hunger strike
Assam State Power workers who are employed in the Bongaigaon Electrical Circle held a six-hour hunger strike on December 23. The Assam State Power Workers Union’s 12 demands included the need for proper service regulations for third- and fourth-grade power employees, proper cashless medical facilities and immediate pay revision which has repeatedly been delayed. Workers threatened more rigorous action if their demands were not soon met.
Indian Swiggy and Zomato delivery workers announced two-day national strike
Swiggy and Zomato food delivery workers announced two India-wide strikes for December 25 (Christmas Day) and December 31 (New Year’s Eve) to demand fair wages, fair treatment and social security. The two days are usually busy for delivery workers, who chose these days for maximum media attention for their demands. The Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union are calling for “the dignity of gig workers against the owning platform.”
Pakistan: Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa protest
On Wednesday, workers at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (SBBU) Sheringal, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, staged a protest demanding immediate acceptance of longstanding grievances, including the payment of arrears and the reversal of salary deductions.
Workers, carrying placards and banners, announced that the joint action committee had decided to continue the protest and keep all university administrative and academic activities suspended. Speaking to journalists, committee members said the protest would continue until all legitimate demands, particularly promotions for employees from Grade 3 to 15, were fulfilled.
Bangladeshi hotel and restaurant workers threaten strike for minimum wage
The Minimum Wage and Labour Law Implementation Action Committee, representing hotel and restaurant workers, held a protest in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on December 18. Protesters demanded that the interim government and hotel and restaurant owners immediately implement the legally announced minimum wage.
The action committee alleged that the government had reneged on its pledge after announcing a minimum monthly wage of 13,050 taka ($US107) for hotel and restaurant workers on May 5. A committee spokesperson accused the government and employers of failing to implement the wage increase in most hotels and restaurants.
The action committee threatened that workers would strike on January 14 if the government’s pledge was not implemented by then. The committee said workers were struggling to survive amid worsening living conditions, while employers openly flout labour laws. Following the protest, a delegation went to the Labour Directorate and handed over a memorandum with their demands.
The threatened strike highlights the growing anger of workers in Bangladesh, who are increasingly forced into struggle as the burden of the economic crisis is forced onto them by the austerity measures of the Interim Government, headed by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, as dictated by the International Monetary Fund.
Australia and the Pacific
Sealife aquarium workers in Sydney and Melbourne strike over pay and safety
About 80 United Workers Union (UWU) members employed at Merlin Entertainment Sealife sites in Sydney and Melbourne stopped work at 11:30 a.m. on December 20 and rallied outside their workplaces to protest low pay and unsafe working conditions. They put in place several work bans that will impact visitor education presentations.
Merlin Entertainment owns popular wildlife attractions and entertainment venues Sealife, Wildlife Australia and Madame Tussauds.
Eight months of negotiations with Merlin Entertainment for a new enterprise agreement has ground to a halt, with management refusing to accept workers’ demands for increased staffing levels and to lift wages to be on par with workers doing similar work at major zoos around Australia.
The UWU claimed that Merlin Entertainment workers are paid up to $5 per hour less than their counterparts at Sydney and Melbourne zoos. Workers also complained that in peak visitor periods they are staffed at only half capacity, creating an unsafe environment. As well as a pay increase, they are calling for minimum staffing levels to match guest surges and rotating rosters to protect staff and public safety, reducing fatigue and burnout.
Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books workers strike again over low pay
Close to 100 members of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) employed at 19 Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books (HHBB) stores across Australia began a five-day strike on December 20, their second this month. Workers want pay and conditions lifted to industry standards in a new enterprise agreement. Management attempted to coerce workers to break the strike by offering an extra $2.50 per hour to remain at work.
The workers’ current pay and conditions are tied to a “zombie” enterprise agreement made in 2012. The HHBB 2012 agreement was passed by the Fair Work Commission even though it abolished all weeknight and Saturday penalty rates and casual penalty rates.
Workers said they are hired on a permanent part-time contract which only guarantees four hours’ work a week, with no regular days or hours and subject to change week-to-week, without casual loading. After three meetings since October and mediation in the Fair Work Commission, HHBB has refused to have further discussions.
Workers want a minimum wage of $31 an hour and the return of the conditions that were stripped out in the 2012 agreement. In addition to penalty rates, they are seeking protection against unfair treatment and job security rights, particularly for part-time employees.
Downer EDI rail maintenance workers in Newcastle on indefinite strike
About 100 Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) members from the Downer EDI rail maintenance workshop at Cardiff, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales, are on an indefinite strike.
Workers are demanding improved pay and conditions in a new enterprise agreement. They want a 21.5 percent wage increase over four years, or an 18 percent increase over three years. Downer EDI is offering only a 14 percent pay rise over four years, well below the official annual inflation rate of 3.8 percent, which the Reserve Bank of Australia expects will increase further.
Industrial action began on December 5 when AMWU members walked off the job for an initial 24 hours after already enacting a railcar shunting ban. They decided to remain on strike after management said they would dock their wages while work bans remained in place. A union spokesman said the strike would continue at least until Christmas unless a deal was struck.
Sorell Dental Clinic workers in Tasmania strike for higher pay
On Monday, eight workers at the Sorell Dental Clinic, north-east of Hobart, Tasmania, stopped work for two hours and demonstrated outside the clinic as part of ongoing statewide protests and stoppages by state public sector workers in dispute with the state Liberal-National government over wages and conditions. Workers from the Bridgewater Dental Clinic held a similar protest on December 15.
The workers are members of the Health and Community Services Union protesting the government’s refusal to improve on its 3 percent wage rise offer in its proposed one-year enterprise agreement with no improvement in conditions, to be followed by further negotiations. The meagre offer has been rejected by public sector workers across Tasmania.
Sorell Dental Clinic workers complained that workload had sharply increased since the government axed the remote mobile dental service on the Tasman Peninsular, causing children to come to the clinic with more acute dental ailments.
Vanuatu teachers to end 18-month strike
Vanuatu teachers will return to school in 2026 after 18 months on strike following an agreement struck before Christmas between the Vanuatu Teachers Union (VTU) and the government. Teachers across the Pacific nation have been on strike since June 2024 over a range of issues. These included basic pay rates and entitlements for principals and deputy principals working away from their home island or villages.
Many schools were kept open with teacher aides or those not properly qualified. Before the settlement, the strike involving 2,600 VTU members was threatening to roll into a third year. Despite government officials declaring earlier in December all outstanding teachers’ claims had been paid, the union produced evidence showing more than 100 claims were outstanding. Additionally, 70 teachers still had backpay and salary amounts owing.
In May, Vanuatu’s Supreme Court ruled the teachers’ industrial action was legal after quashing a Teaching Service Commission decision to suspend and terminate more than 600 teachers for participating in the strike. It then took another five months of negotiations between the VTU, the Teaching Service Commission and the Ministry of Education to resolve the claims.
The government has budgeted VATU$4.2 billion ($US34.7 million), stating the new agreement addressed payroll management, unpaid entitlements and working conditions.