* A living wage = a human right:
Working alongside garment workers, trade unions, consumers and campaigners we are calling for those working in the garment industry to be paid a wage they can live on.
A major industry
The garment industry is a major employer across the world – in Asia for example over 15 million people are employed by the industry. With global brands making millions in profits every year this booming industry has come to rely on, and exploit, the cheap labour of millions of garment workers whose wages fall far short of a living wage.
The right to a living wage: A living wage should be earned in a standard working week (no more than 48 hours) and allow a garment worker to be able to buy food for herself and her family, pay the rent, pay for healthcare, clothing, transportation and education and have a small amount of savings for when something unexpected happens.
The lack of a living wage means many garment workers are forced to work long hours to earn overtime or bonuses and cannot risk taking refusing work due to unsafe working conditions or taking time off due to ill health. The low wages mean that workers often have to rely on loans just to make ends meet and have no savings to use if they find themselves out of work.
Clean Clothes Campaign believes that in order for a living wage to become a reality brands and retailers must take concrete steps to ensure they are paying a living wage in the countries they source from, and national governments must ensure that minimum wages are set at a level that allow people to live with dignity.
read more.
* The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA):
The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) is an international alliance of trade unions and labour rights activist who are working together to demand garment workers are paid a living wage.
As an alliance led by unions in the key garment producing countries in the region, the Asia Floor Wage Alliance represents the concerns and needs of the workers themselves. Central to their demands is a call for a living wage to be paid to all garment workers, this led to the development of the Asia
Floor Wage calculation, as a way to calculate a living wage for payment across Asia.
read more. & read more.
* The Clean Clothes Campaign calling for living wage:
Pay a Living Wage Action Week
From October 21st – 28th 2013, Clean Clothes Campaign partners across Europe will be launching the next phase in our campaign to demand garment workers are paid a living wage.
* Clothing brands and companies to take action by setting concrete and measurable steps throughout their supply chain to ensure garment workers get paid a living wage.
* National governments in garment producing countries to make sure minimum wages are set at living wage standards.
* European governments to implement regulation that make sure companies are responsible for the impact they have on the lives of workers in their suppply chain, including their right to earn a living wage.
Join our call for all garment workers to be paid a living wage –
sign the petition today here. & read more.
20150706
20:49:22 local time 
BURMA/MYANMAR
* Wage war heats up:
Workers are up in arms for a pay hike, but higher wages may hurt investment climate
Low wages in Myanmar, now among the lowest in Asean, have been mentioned as the primary advantage for companies planning to locate their manufacturing plants in the country.
Many companies have taken advantage of the situation.
The number of foreign-owned factories has been on the rise, despite the existence of major challenges, such as poor infrastructure throughout Myanmar.
According to data provided by the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), 407 companies have invested a total of US$4.42 billion in the manufacturing sector, or 9.56 per cent of combined foreign investment in the country, as of May this year.
This amount reflects a 17.55 per cent increase from the $3.76 billion in investment in the manufacturing sector at the end of 2014. In terms of the number of investors, the figure rose by 13 per cent from 360.
More companies have committed to pour more investment into the sector, as the total number of foreign companies with permission at the end of May stayed at 497.
Together, they promised a combined investment of $5.65 billion, which would account for 10 per cent of the total foreign investment permitted.
read more.
20150704
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Labour organizations: don’t view Myanmar workers as slaves:
As well as setting a minimum wage of Ks.3600 (U.S $ 3.2) per day, other benefits obtained by workers are needed in order need to see Myanmar workers as human beings instead of being seen as slaves, according to labour organizations at a news briefing on July 3.
The minimum wage for garment factory workers is less than the lowest minimum wage of government staff, and workers are demanding other benefits such as transportation fees, living expenses, and to get the opportunity to train while working.
They have also asked for Ks.10000 per year.
If the government agrees to their demands, they will also agree to the government’s proposal of Ks. 3600, according to press brief made on July 3.
The press brief was held at the headquarters of Myanmar Workers Union in Insein, Yangon.
It was attended by representatives from five federations, the Myanmar Farmers’ Agriculture and Production Federation, Myanmar Workers’ Union, Myanmar’s Teacher’s Federation, Myanmar Seafarer Federation, and the Network for Migrant Workers.
“According to surveys made in Yangon and the rest of Myanmar, various options such as Ks. 5600, Ks. 6000, Ks. 7000 and Ks. 8500 per day were put forward. But, these five workers’ federations have to choose the most suitable and the most feasible amount of Ks. 500 per hour for 8 hours per day (i.e.: Ks.4000) were set,” said the Chairman of Myanmar Workers’ Union, Aung Lin.
read more.
* Myanmar workers nod on minimum daily wage:
Five Myanmar workers’ federations in Yangon on Friday agreed on the government’s recent designation of minimum daily wages as a final stage of negotiation, saying that there will be no further negotiation on the issue.
In its announcement over their stance on the issue, the five workers’ federations stressed the need to form a socio-economic committee comprising representatives from the government, employers and employees.
The five workers’ federations include Agriculture and Farmer Federation of Myanmar (AFFM), Myanmar Trade Union Federation (MTUF) , Myanmar Teachers’ Federation (MTF), Myanmar Maritime Workers’ Federation (MMWF) and Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN).
On June 29, the government decided to designate 3,600 kyats ( about 3.27 U.S. dollars) as the proposed minimum daily wage for all workers in the country after conclusion of one year’s coordination between the government, employers and labor representatives.
However, Myanmar’s garment entrepreneurs on Thursday objected the proposed minimum rate, saying that the issue will be submitted to the regional authorities for further action.
to read.
20150703
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* 200,000 jobs at stake as garment factories threaten closures:
The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) has threatened to close down factories if the proposed 3,600 kyat (US$3.60) per day minimum wage is approved by the Burmese government.
Representatives of Chinese- and South Korean-owned garment factories at an MGMA meeting on Thursday said they would shut down their businesses by September if the minimum wage proposed earlier this week by the National Committee for Minimum Wage (NCMW) were adopted.
Participants at the meeting unanimously objected to the NCMW’s 3,600-kyat-per-day recommendation, saying it would be unaffordable.
Speaking to DVB on Friday, MGMA Secretary Khin Khin Nwe said, “We already promised to honour a minimum wage of 2,500 kyat. My point is that everyone wants to give their employees higher pay.
It’s not for a lack of generosity, but simply because it is not affordable for us [manufacturers and factory owners].”
MGMA claims to represent about 300 firms, mostly garment factories, which employ upwards of 200,000 workers.
In a news release on its website on Tuesday, the owners association reacted to what it noted would be a “colossal” increase in pay.
read more.
* Garment manufacturers threaten to close factories if minimum wage implemented:
Several Chinese and South Korean garment manufacturers have threatened to shut down their factories and leave the country if the Myanmar government institutes a minimum daily wage of Ks 3,600 (just over US$3).
They manufacturers announced these conditions during a meeting of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) in Yangon yesterday.
Sandar, the managing director of the Myanmar Apparel Co Ltd and Pearl Garment and local representative for a Chinese investment group, was the first to threaten to close her factory in response to the new minimum wage.
Won Ho Seo, chairperson of the Korean Garment Manufacturers Association, said Korean manufacturers would also close their factories following the Chinese, citing the likelihood of labour protests as the reason.
After the meeting, the Chinese Investors Association issued a statement in opposition to the proposed minimum wage.
read more.
* Garment Industry Rejects Minimum Wage Proposal:
Garment manufacturers in Rangoon announced that they will push back against a minimum wage proposed by the Burmese government, claiming they cannot afford to pay laborers the 3,600 kyats (US$3.24) per eight-hour day recommended by an expert committee.
More than 150 members of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) convened on Thursday to discuss the proposal, which was announced earlier this week by Burma’s National Minimum Wage Committee.
Following two years of research and analysis, the committee settled on the number based on recommendations by both unions and employers against escalating commodity prices in Burma’s emerging market.
Once approved, the wage would apply to all sectors with the exception of small and family-owned businesses employing less than 15 people.
The committee’s memo, published in state media, invited individuals and organizations to submit appeals and recommendations within two weeks, after which a stakeholder meeting will be held before a wage is officially enacted.
read more.
* Myanmar: Employers Must Accept Minimum Wage:
Trade unions have reacted angrily to threats by Myanmar manufacturing companies, backed by Korean and Chinese business interests, to close around 100 factories if a minimum wage is introduced.
The government has announced a minimum wage of US$3.20 per day following a year of consultations between unions, government and employers.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said “The new minimum wage will still leave workers and their dependents just above the global severe poverty line of US$1.25 per person, and many will still struggle to make ends meet.
Now, just like the American Chamber of Commerce’s global campaign to undermine minimum wages and decent work, some companies in Myanmar are trying to stop workers getting even that basic level of income in order to survive.
read more.
* Labour unions, employers to fight minimum wage proposal:
In a strictly temporary marriage of convenience, both labour and some employer representatives are criticising the government’s announcement last week that the minimum wage should be K3600 (about US$3.20) for an eight-hour day.
Labour says it is not enough. Management says it’s too much.
The Myanmar Trade Unions Federation (MTUF) has been compiling letters of complaint ever since the government’s June 29 announcement of the minimum wage, which was set following a two-day meeting in Yangon between stakeholders.
Two months of consultation over the figure will be held before the issue goes to parliament for a final decision.
“We will submit complaints from all over the country in time for the deadline,” said U Tun Wai, vice chair of the MTUF.
Labour sources said within three days of the announcement more than 200 complaints were collected from workers saying the daily minimum should be set at K4000.
“Even K4000 would not be enough,” said U Tun Wai, adding that the minimum should be based on civil-service pay rates.
read more.
* Garment factories vote against proposed minimum wage:
Myanmar garment factory owners on Thursday unanimously voted against a proposed minimum wage set at K3,600 for an eight-hour day, promising to send their objections to the National Minimum Wage Committee within two weeks.
The vote was done by more than 200 businessmen from 145 garment factories attending a meeting at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, at which they discussed the challenges they face in meeting the proposed minimum wage, which was announced by the government on 29 June.
There are about 300 garment factories in Myanmar.
Garment industry bosses had offered a wage of K2,500 during the 22-23 June negotiation between the employers and employees, but the two sides could not reach an agreement during the talks sponsored by the government.
The employers cannot agree to the proposed minimum wage because the garment cutting, measuring and packaging industry does not depend on working hours but rather on productivity, said Daw Khaing Khaing Nwe, secretary of the Myanmar Garment Manufactures Association.
read more.
20150702
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Myanmar unions win first minimum wage:
Three years after unions were made legal in Myanmar, their fight for a minimum wage delivered a victory on 29 June.
The country’s first-ever minimum wage of 3,600 kyatts per day is equal to US$3.2.
The union demand had been 4,000 kyatts per day, while employers lobbied for 2,500 kyatts. Government’s proposal of 3,600 has been accepted by the unions and will be signed into law following a two-month period for comments.
The figure is based on an eight-hour working day and has national coverage. While final clarification is needed on workers’ entitlement to paid leave, the new minimum wage is higher than the US$68 monthly wage of Bangladesh.
Employers are still lobbying for the right not to pay workers for Sundays.
The minimum wage will be applicable for workplaces with at least 15 employees. The union demand had been for the wage to apply to workplaces with 5 employees, and that demand will remain in the evaluation of the minimum wage after 12 months.
read more.
20150701
21:19:22 local time 
THAILAND
* Private sector poll finds opposition to hike in minimum wage next year:
The daily minimum wage of Bt300 should be maintained next year, while any future changes should be determined on a provincial basis, according to a significant body of opinion in the private sector.
The survey was jointly conducted with the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
read more.
20150630
22:19:22 local time 
CHINA
* Wage growth for China’s lowest-paid workers continues to lag behind:
Wage growth for China’s lowest-paid workers continued to slow in the first half of this year with less than a third of the 32 regions with the authority to set their own minimum wage levels announcing an increase.
According to data collected by CLB from official media and government sources, as of 1 July, only ten provinces and municipalities had increased the minimum wage, the most significant region being Guangdong, where a 19 percent increase on average went into effect on 1 May.
However Guangdong’s increase came a full two years after its previous increase in 2013. Photo below shows a recruitment poster for a Guangzhou restaurant where cleaners can earn around 2,500 yuan per month.
read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Ministry hints at wage hike, firms seek delay:
The Labour Ministry has sent a signal a minimum-wage increase is possible next year after receiving proposals from provincial wage committees.
“There’s no question 300 baht [a day] has become the minimum. But when to increase the wage, where it will apply and by how much will be later finalised by the central wage committee in August,” said Labour Ministry permanent secretary Nakorn Silpa-archa on Tuesday.
“From what we heard from operators, 90% of them said the rate should not be raised now,” he said.
“Everything will be clear in August. The new minimum rate need not take effect on Jan 1. In fact, if it’s raised, operators will be informed two months in advance.”
(…)
Meanwhile, labour groups insist the minimum wage be raised to 360 baht a day nationwide.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* 3,600 Kyat Daily Minimum Wage Proposed for All Sectors:
Burma’s National Minimum Wage Committee proposed on Monday that the country’s minimum wage be set at 3,600 kyats (US$3.24) for an eight-hour day.
Organizations and individuals will have a two-week window to submit feedback on the proposal before the wage can be enacted.
If approved, the proposed wage—which amounts to less that 50 cents per hour—will be applied across all sectors nationwide, with the exception of certain small and family businesses.
After the feedback window closes, state- and division-level wage committee members will review public input and submit it to the national committee within 30 days.
The national wage committee will then convene with government, industry and labor force stakeholders to reach a final decision within 60 days of Monday’s announcement.
Once the wage is approved by the committee and the Union government, the Minimum Wage Law, approved in early 2013, will immediately take effect.
The amount will be assessed and adjusted at least once within its first two years.
read more.& read more.
20150628-29
22:19:22 local time 
PHILIPPINES
* Workers to receive daily wage increase in Region 10:
The Regional Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) of Region 10 has approved a wage order mandating a P12 daily wage increase for all private sector minimum wage earners in the Northern Mindanao, which will take effect on July 3.
RTWPB chairperson Raymundo G. Agravante said in his report the new wage order, Wage Order RX-18, raises the minimum wage in the region to P318 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and to P306 for workers in the agricultural sector under the Category I, which covers the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and the municipalities of Tagoloan, Villanueva, and Jasaan, Misamis Oriental.
It also ups the minimum wage rate to P313 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and P301 for workers in the agricultural sector under Category II, which covers the cities of Malaybalay, Valencia, Gingoog, El Salvador, and Ozamiz and the municipalities of Maramag, Quezon, and Manolo Fortich.
In Category III, the new minimum wage rate of P308 applies for workers in the non-agricultural sector and P296 for the agricultural sector in the cities of Oroquieta and Tangub and the municipalities of Lugait, Opol, and Mambajao. Included in this category are all the establishments employing ten workers or less.
For other areas not covered by the three categories, hence falling under Category IV, establishments shall now pay a new minimum wage rate of P303 to workers in the non-agricultural sector and P291 to workers in the agricultural sector.
read more.
21:19:22 local time 
CAMBODIA
* Employers need to sacrifice too:
Dear Editor,
The Phnom Penh Post article titled Unions agree to push for $177 wage at meet published on June 23 reflects a debate on what should be the appropriate level of the legal minimum wage in Cambodia today.
Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, was quoted as saying about the unions’ target that “$177 per month is unreasonable, and much higher than other competing garment manufacturing countries”.
He reportedly added that “current levels are [already] high, and we are not competitive with current levels”.
In reaction to the above assertions by the employers’ representative, I would like to make two remarks.
• Firstly, with regard to the current salaries of Cambodian workers compared with those of their counterparts in other countries, it would be more appropriate to compare real salaries and not nominal salaries.
(…)
Sam Rainsy
Minority leader
Former finance minister
—
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Minimum wage likely to be set at $2.86-$3.58:
The country’s minimum wage will be declared by the end of this month, likely to be set in a range of Ks3,200-Ks4,000 per day or approximately US$2.86-$3.58.
We still have to consider whether overtime wage, which were previously double the wage amount, should be set as 1.5 times the minimum wage.
The amount we settled upon was the result of efforts to please all parties,” said Permanent Secretary of Labour Myo Aung. The most affected sector is likely garment factories.
In February, workers at garment factories in Shwepyithar Industrial Zone staged protest. Earning less than Ks100,000 per month at present, they demanded an increase of Ks30,000 in line with the higher cost of living.
A hike in civil servants’ salaries took effect in April. Civil servants with the lowest pay of Ks75,000 a month will get Ks120,000. Those who receive the highest pay of Ks250,000 will get Ks500,000.
read more.
19:49:22 local time 
INDIA
* CITU warns of prolonged struggle on workers’ plight:
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), affiliated to Communist Party of India (Marxist), on Sunday warned the government of a prolonged struggle if the governments at the State and the Centre do not shun anti-worker policies.
The trade union leaders gave a call to the worker community to be prepared to fight for their rights in the future.
CITU leaders were addressing a public meeting at Adilabad town after their Karmika Porubata bus yatra reached here in the afternoon.
They had earlier addressed similar rallies in Mancherial, Kagaznagar and Utnoor and will be crossing over to Nizamabad in the night.
CITU State general secretary M. Saibabu accused the governments of pursuing anti-worker policies.
He demanded a minimum wage of Rs. 15,000 to workers.
read more.
20150626
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* PM brushes aside wage rise demand:
Take country’s needs into account, he says
Workers rallied to demand a rise in the minimum wage and price controls on basic goods, but Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha waved away the demands as unrealistic. (Post Today photo)
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha brushed aside labour networks’ calls to raise the minimum daily wage to 360 baht, saying the country’s needs should also be taken into account.
He was speaking Thursday after a meeting with the Policy Committee on the Special Economic Development Zone.
Earlier, labour groups led by Wilaiwan Sae Tia, president of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC), gathered at the Royal Plaza to press their demands, and later proceeded to Government House to submit the wage rise petition to the prime minister.
Gen Prayut said he wanted labour networks to understand the country’s situation rather than put pressure on him for a wage rise, or urge workers to stage protests.
read more.
* Prayut rules out increase in daily minimum wage:
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha affirmed yesterday that the daily minimum wage would not be hiked, as doing so it would require a large budget.
to read.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Proposed K3600 minimum wage draws mixed response from workers, employers:
Garment workers and small businesses have given a mixed reaction to a proposal to set the national minimum daily wage at K3600 (US$3.20), with employers saying they will continue to campaign against it.
The National Committee on the Minimum Wage – which includes ministries, employers and labour organisations – thrashed out a long-awaited agreement on June 24, settling on K3600 a day, according to participants, although the figure has not yet been officially announced.
All sides have two months to respond to the proposal before the issue goes to parliament, which first passed a law calling for a minimum wage in 2013.
The garment sector was one of the areas where debate was fiercest, with employers calling for a minimum wage as low as K2500 while workers demanded K4000.
read more.
20150625
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Activists rally Thursday for 20% wage hike:
Minimum pay fails to keep up with inflation
Labour groups are demanding a 20% hike in minimum wages for blue-collar workers to be applied nationwide, and today plan to march to Government House to submit a statement to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, according to the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee.
The 300-baht minimum daily wage has been in place for almost three years, during which time the costs of living have soared, said the committee’s president, Wilaiwan Sae Tia.
Labour groups, who have asked the Ministry of Labour to raise the daily minimum wage from 300 to 360 baht, will gather at the Royal Plaza at 9.30am to reaffirm their call. They will then proceed to Government House to present the statement to the premier.
The 300-baht wage minimum, which was enacted during the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, was unprecedented in Thailand.
read more.
* Labour umbrella group calls for minimum daily wage increase to Bt360:
Some 150 labour activists led by the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee and the State Enterprise Labour Relations Committee Thursday submitted their demand for a daily minimum wage increase to the prime minister and chief of the National Council for Peace and Order.
to read.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* National minimum wage proposal agreed at K3600:
Workers sew garments at a factory in Yangon. (Aung Htay Hlaing/The Myanmar Times)
A national committee yesterday proposed a nationwide minimum daily wage of K3600 (US$3.20) for all workers at the conclusion of a year of often heated debate between the government, employers and labour representatives.
A union representative and a Kayin State labour ministry official, both members of the national minimum wage committee, disclosed the figure to The Myanmar Times on the final day of a closed-door meeting in Yangon that appeared to deal a blow in particular to the garment industry.
Minister for Labour and committee chair U Aye Myint declined to confirm the amount.
He told The Myanmar Times that the minimum wage might be set between K3200 and K4000 and that the exact figure would be officially announced over the next days.
“It is sure that the minimum wage cannot be less than K3000, even if we can’t say how much it is fixed exactly at this moment,” he told a press conference after the meeting.
read more.
20150624
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Trade Unions Agree on $177 Wage Demand:
A group of nine trade unions representing some of the country’s 700,000 garment workers agreed on Monday to push for a $177 monthly minimum wage for the sector during fast-approaching negotiations, matching the figure they unsuccessfully lobbied for last year.
A group of nine trade unions representing some of the country’s 700,000 garment workers agreed on Monday to push for a $177 monthly minimum wage for the sector during fast-approaching negotiations, matching the figure they unsuccessfully lobbied for last year.
The Labor Ministry raised the minimum wage from $100 to $128 in December, disappointing some unions but appeasing them enough to stave off the crippling strikes and protests that hit the multibillion-dollar sector in late 2013.
Unions, employers and the government are set to start the monthslong process of setting next year’s minimum wage in a few weeks. Nine of the country’s independent unions met in Phnom Penh on Monday to set their demands.
“We have decided to discuss $177 with the government and employers,” said Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, the largest independent union in the country.
“We chose this number because there was a study that found out how much workers need to cover their expenses,” said Collective Union of Movement of Workers president Pav Sina, who joined the meeting.
read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Floating wage plan falls to earth:
The business sector has urged the government to delay a floating minimum wage plan or any policy that would push the daily wage above 300 baht, as it would push consumer prices higher and have a negative impact on the economy, says the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB).
Industries (FTI), a component of the committee, said the FTI had worked with the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) on the issue by conducting a survey and questioning 1,303 companies.
The poll found 21.8% disagreed with the plan to float the minimum daily wage or raise the wage above 300 baht.
Moreover, 18.2% said the daily wage for skilled labour should be increased appropriately, while 15.5% said wages should be based on the cost of living in each province.
Another 13.6% said the government should ask for comments from the business sector before taking any decision to raise the minimum wage.
read more.
* FTI calls for any wage hike to be considered province by province:
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has called for the government to set up a tripartite committee to consider changes in the minimum wage on a provincial basis, while most enterprises want to delay a wage hike amidst uncertainty about recovering growth and concern over the impact of drought.
If a change is to be made, it must be considered by all parties, while many factors should be given weight, including inflation, each province’s situation, labour capability, and supply and demand,” FTI chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree said yesterday.
(…)
As to wage adjustment, the FTI chairman suggested that a tripartite committee composed of representatives from the government, employers and employees should consider any increase in the minimum wage, and that a single figure should not be imposed nationwide.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Govt to Opt for Middle Ground on Minimum Wage Demands:
A two-day workshop in Rangoon has failed to find common ground between workers’ representatives and employers, as the Burmese government prepares to implement an official minimum wage in the coming months.
The National Committee on Minimum Wage, which met on Wednesday at Rangoon’s Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, expects to unveil an interim minimum wage proposal before the end of June, which will give employer and labor groups 60 days to lodge complaints before a final decision is approved by the Union government.
Labor unions on Wednesday pushed for a 4000 kyats (US$3.60) daily base rate, while garment factory owners at the meeting held firm to a daily rate of 2500 kyats ($2.25). Employer groups are also calling for different minimum wages across other industries.
Myo Aung, director-general of the Department of Labor, proposed a floor wage of 3600 kyats (US$3.25), reflecting a consensus proposal arrived at by state and divisional labor departments, but failed to satisfy either side. Nonetheless, a member of the committee told The Irrawaddy that “it will likely be that amount”.
The Union Parliament passed a Minimum Wage Law in March 2013. It took until January this year for the Ministry of Labor to begin a household expenses survey that will be used to assist in formulating the minimum wage.
read more.
* Wage war:
Negotiations are currently being held in Rangoon which may pave the way for an official minimum wage in Burma.
A workshop between employees’ representatives, international labour organisations, government officials and the parliament-appointed National Committee for National Wage (NCNW) began on Sunday at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and was expected to continue through Wednesday.
On the first day of the workshop, workers’ leaders urged the NCNW to propose a basic minimum wage of 4,000 kyat (US$4) per day across the board. In response, employers’ representatives suggested varying minimum wages dependent on work category.
Based on consensus from the workshop, the NCNW is due to recommend a minimum wage plan that should become official after approval by the government and parliament.
According to official accounts, Burma’s legal minimum wage is currently set at 15,000 kyat (US$15) a month for salaried public employees and 500 kyat ($0.50) per day for day labourers. However this is widely ignored throughout the country, and little if any enforcement exists to guarantee employers will pay minimum wages.
read more.
20150623
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Unions agree to push for $177 wage at meet:
Leaders of several independent garment-worker unions yesterday agreed that they will again push for a $177 monthly minimum wage next year, with negotiations officially slated to begin next month, according to the head of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union.
Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) and the Cambodian Labour Confederation, said that the consensus was reached during a meeting of union leaders at the labour rights group Solidarity Center’s office.
The gathering included about 20 union leaders from C.CAWDU, Collective Union of Movement of Workers, Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions and other independent unions, Thorn said.
“I think [we will] start with this amount, and we can decrease that amount,” said Thorn, who admitted that he doubted garment workers will receive a $177 per month floor wage.
“Normally, the government and companies want to give less . . . and unions want to get more.”
(…)
Compared to that, last year’s talks on the 2015 wage were relatively sedate, said Joel Preston, a consultant for the Community Legal Education Center, though that may change this year.
“If the cost of living is increasing and workers can’t stay ahead of that, I think we’re going to see a large [pushback],” Preston said yesterday.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Bosses demand time to set minimum wage
The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association demanded time to fix a minimum wage as workers called for Ks4,000 a day at a workshop at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Yangon.
Ks3,000 for the clothing factory workers is not enough.There will be discontent from some businesses if different rates are set.”
read more.
* Minimum wage to be set this month: labour minister:
Minister for Labour U Aye Myint promised yesterday to determine a proposed minimum wage for garment factory workers by the end of this month, despite strong opposition from employers.
Factory owners would be given two months to lodge their complaints against the proposed amount, the minister said yesterday.
The long-running process of reaching an agreement for one of Myanmar’s most vital export sectors has been punctuated by strikes and protests that have dented investors’ confidence.
The minister was speaking at a minimum wage workshop bringing together the labour ministry, employers and trade union representatives organised by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce (UMFCCI).
A meeting in Nay Pyi Taw of a national committee responsible for setting minimum wages said on June 17 that manufacturing sector factory owners were willing to agree on a minimum wage, likely to be K4000 (US$3.60) a day.
But garment factory owners in the cutting, manufacturing and packaging (CMP) export sector were strongly opposed, arguing they could not gain market share at such rates.
(…)
Ko Kyaw Lwin Oo, a garment worker from E-Land Myanmar who attended the workshop, said more than K4000 was needed as a “living wage” because of rising commodity prices.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Hike minimum wages: BJP:
The trade union wing of State BJP has submitted a memorandum to Home and Labour Minister N. Narasimha Reddy seeking a minimum wage of Rs 15,000 a month for workers in the unorganised sector.
The revision of minimum wage in the sector was due every two years but the previous governments enhanced the period to five years.
Yet, the wage was not hiked in the last nine years, it said.
to read.
20150622
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* There’s a wage crisis in Delhi’s factories – and the Modi government’s new labour laws won’t help:
As the experience of workers in Okhla demonstrates, adequate wages and bonuses still remain out of reach.
A major overhaul of labour laws is underway in India. The National Democratic Alliance government has drafted two proposed labour codes, one on wages and the other on industrial relations.
Together, they are aimed at shrinking the reach of the state in industrial areas, ostensibly to spur growth in manufacturing jobs.
But trade unions warn that they will end up stripping away hard-earned workers’ protections.
Away from the high-decibel debate, how do the proposed changes impact the worker-management relationship?
This series of reports from Okhla industrial area in South Delhi tries to find out.
HAITI
* The High Cost of Low Wages in Haiti:
LIVING WAGE ESTIMATE FOR EXPORT APPAREL WORKERS
Haiti’s export apparel sector is rapidly expanding as the result of generous incentives for investors, new factory construction, and infrastructure development.
But, despite a 45 percent increase in apparel exports since the earthquake, the industry is not delivering for workers.
The Haitian women and men who sew t-shirts, jeans, and undergarments primarily destined for the U.S. market barely earn enough to pay for their lunch and transportation to work.
And, amidst a controversy regarding whether the daily minimum wage in the apparel sector is 225 or 300 Haitian gourdes (HTG), the Solidarity Center finds that a real living wage must be approximately 1,000 HTG (about $23) per day to allow workers to meet their basic needs.
read more in pdf report.
20150617-18
22:19:22 local time 
MALAYSIA
* Government Has No Plans To Fix Minimum Wage According To Categories:
The government has no plans to implement different minimum wages based on work experience or seniority, type of industry or the size of a business, and nationality.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said this was not suitable as the government’s stand on the minimum wage policy was to fix a floor wage in the private sector and not establish overall wages.
“The ministry via the National Wages Consultative Council (MPGN) had conducted a study and is of the view that implementing different minimum wages is unsuitable,” he said in reply to a question from Normala Abdul Samad (BN-Pasir Gudang) in the Dewan Rakyat, here, today.
read more. & to read.
19:19:22 local time 
PAKISTAN
* ‘High inflation forces women, children to work’:
The government can increase the minimum wage of labour to Rs 20,000 if all the political leaderships practically show labour-friendly attitude as a labourer is not getting even Rs 9,000 wage.
These views were expressed by the discussants at the Jang Economic Session on ‘how to ensure implementation of minimum wage’. The panelists were Dr Qais Asalm, Huma Aziz, Robina Jameel, Mumtaz Moghal, Azeem Bari and Manzor Malik while hosted by Sikindar Lodhi.
Dr Qais Asalm said the labour force was an asset of Pakistan while availability of basic civic amenities was their right.
He said that ensuring basic facilities to labour force should be the top priority of the political parties more than their slogans and manifestos.
He called for active role of labour courts to resolve labour issues.
He suggested an increase in the minimum wage to 15,000 per month while this should also be implemented on non-skilled labour.
Huma Aziz said every political party gave slogan of Rooti, Kapra aur Makan but none of them ever initiated any practical step towards it.
She said the government should introduced employment schemes for the workers rather than making them dependent on loans.
She believed that implementation of minimum Rs 13,000 wage would be helpful to resolve the economic issues.
read more.
20150616
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Workers reject Rs 1,000 increase in wages:
The Pakistan Textile Workers Federation and the Punjab Trade Unions Federation have rejected the federal and Punjab budgets.
Addressing the general body meeting of the two federations here on Monday, Haji Abdul Jabbar, Maroof Khan, Muhammad Ali Alvi, Muhammad Bashir Shakir, Khalid Mehmood Khan, Rana Ghulam Muhammad, Muhammad Imran and Shah Muhammad Khan said that Rs 1,000 increase in wages of workers was unacceptable to them.
They demanded the federal and provincial governments announce adequate increase in the workers’ wages otherwise they would be forced to stage demonstrations.
to read.
20150614
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Factory owners offer Ks1,500 a day:
Factory owners have threatened to shut down operations if an “unaffordable” minimum wage rate emerges before a new level could be fixed, while offering to pay just Ks1,500 a day.
Garment entrepreneurs apparently told Daw Win Maw Tun, deputy minister for labour, employment and social security, at a meeting that they would shutdown their factories if an “unreasonable” minimum wage was fixed.
Aung Lin, chairman of Federation of Trade Unions Myanmar, said: “Pressure from garment entrepreneurs before a minimum wage rate is fixed is extreme.
The [national minimum wage fixation] committee will issue a new rate in accord with the law and then forward it to Parliament.
Any person may remonstrate with it within 60 days.
But now we have yet to release the proposed rate. If they fix a rate that cannot cover workers’ living costs, we will respond after collecting the views of labour unions across the country.”
To rapidly agree on a proposed rate, the committee will meet on June 17.
Ko Naw Aung, a worker representative on the committee, said: “It seems that the meeting may focus on the fixing of the minimum wage. We will discuss the fixing of a daily wage at not less than Ks4,000.”
read more.
20150613
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Cambodia to commence talks over 2016 wage hike for garment sector next month:
Cambodia will begin to discuss the annual increase of monthly minimum wage for the garment and footwear industry for 2016 in July, according to a Labor Ministry’ s statement issued late Friday.
The talks will be carried out by a tripartite working group, which comprises representatives of the labor ministry, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), and the trade unions, the statement said.
It added that the final result of the negotiations will be released in early October and the new wage will take effect from Jan. 1, 2016.
The garment and footwear sector, the kingdom’s largest foreign currency earner, consists of 1,087 factories with approximately 700,000 workers, according to the labor ministry.
read more. & to read. & to read.
20150610-11
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Unions eye wage discussion:
Garment factory workers protest on Phnom Penh’s Veng Sreng Boulevard in September last year, calling for the industry’s minimum wage to be increased. Photo by Hong Menea.
Negotiations for next year’s minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment and footwear sector are already gearing up, as union leaders prepare to meet this month to discuss what wage they will demand.
During the week of June 21, union heads will hold a preliminary consensus-building meeting, said Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union.
They will use this time to decide the minimum wage they should shoot for in the coming months of negotiations with the Ministry of Labour and employers.
“We have a plan already; we invited other union leaders for a discussion,” Thorn said yesterday. “[Later], we want the government . . . and employers to get together and make sure the wage will be researched and [then] have the amount.”
Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour yesterday said there is a set timeline and process for negotiations.
First, the unions, government and employers will meet internally through July. Then, in August, the government will hold separate bilateral negotiations with unions and employers.
Finally, tripartite talks will be staged in September in order to reach a final decision by October.
read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Companies keen on floating wage rate:
Businesses are voicing support for the National Wage Committee’s decision to cancel the fixed 300-baht minimum daily wage next year and replace it with a floating rate, with 300 baht to remain the daily floor.
But Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the floating rate should depend on the strength of the economy in each area, with provincial wage committees considering whether their rates should be increased.
The more economic growth in a province, the higher the minimum wage should be, he said.
“The FTI agrees with the National Wage Committee that the fixed rate should be cancelled. However, the new minimum daily wage should be floated and increases should be in line with costs of living in each area,” Mr Supant said.
read more.
* Discussion on wage proposed for July:
Federation of Thai Industries chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree is geared for a landmark discussion with business leaders on the minimum wage next month.
to read.
SOUTH AFRICA
* SACTWU concludes R300 million wage agreement for clothing industry:
The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU), has resolved its 2015 clothing industry national wage increases with clothing employers.
The new wage rates were adopted by a normal Council meeting of the clothing industry bargaining council, earlier today.
The meeting was held in Cape Town, at the Head Office of the bargaining council.
Approximately 85 000 clothing workers nationally will benefit from the agreement.
The increases will come into effect on 1 September 2015, which is the normal due date for annual wage increases in the industry.
The increases emanate from a two year wage agreement signed with clothing employers in mid-September last year.
read more.
20150609
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Minimum wage could only rise: govt:
The government yesterday said any change to the Bt300 daily minimum wage would see it increase, but suggested a more flexible wage policy could be introduced in the future.
read more.
20150608
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* B300 wage here to stay, says ministry:
The Labour Ministry has clarified any change to the 300-baht national minimum wage will only be in one direction — higher.
Deputy permanent secretary Arak Prommanee, in his capacity as ministry spokesman, said on Monday earlier reports that the Wage Committee had resolved to scrap the B300 national daily minimum wage and to float the wage were misleading.
“Actually, they were just proposals made by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida). They were revealed at Friday’s seminar for the sake of discussion. It’s definitely not a resolution of the committee,” he said.
For the wage in 2016, the committee told provincial committees to study and determine whether the wages should be increased and by how much, based on the cost of living in each province, he added.
“If any province thinks the wage shouldn’t be raised, the minimum wage in that province will remain at 300 baht. Under no circumstance will it be below that level,” he said.
read more.
* Labour rights groups opposed to plans to float minimum wage:
Labour rights groups are against any move to float the minimum wage, saying the move would be retrogressive and unfavourable for workers.
read more.
20150606-07
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Workers left in dark on wage future:
The military government has declined to reveal whether workers in some provinces will face pay cuts when the 300 baht national daily minimum wage is scrapped at the end of the year.
The government has announced it is revoking the 300 baht national daily minimum wage — a core policy of the ousted Pheu Thai government — in favour of the old system where wages are set on a province-by-province basis.
Labour Ministry permanent secretary Nakhon Silpa-archa gave few details of the decision when he addressed a seminar involving wage committee members on Friday.
He was unable to say how much workers can expect to be paid in future, since remuneration will be based on the cost of living and the economy in each province.
read more.
* B300 wage to be scrapped next year:
The 300-baht national daily minimum wage will be scrapped next year, to be replaced by the old system where wages vary by each province based on the cost of living.
The rate will take effect until the end of this year, Labour Ministry permanent secretary Nakhon Silpa-archa was quoted by Thai media as saying at a seminar of wage committee members on Friday.
It remains undecided whether the daily minimum wage will be higher but the Wage Committee decided on Dec 8, 2014 to reinstate the old regime where wages vary by the cost of living and the economy of each province, he said.
“The ministry is studying the feasibility of floating wages and an appropriate way to set the rates,” he said.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Minimum wage deadline approaches:
A forum of employers, employees, civil servants, scholars and politicians will take place this month to discuss the minimum wage, according to Myo Aung, the permanent secretary from the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* APWC for fixing minimum wage at Rs20,000
All Pakistan Workers Confederation, in an emergent meeting of trade unions’ representatives and workers held Saturday at Bakhtiar Labour Hall, passed a resolution declaring that the proposed federal budget for 2015-16 had not wooed the social and economic sufferings of the poor masses and the working class.
The federal government, instead of raising revenue for the welfare of the common citizens by taxing the elite and feudal lords and crony and capitalists who are transferring their wealth to Swiss bank and Dubai, has reduced tax collection this year 7.
5% than previous year 10.
2%.
At the same time, it has raised the expenditures of the President and Prime Minister’s Houses @ 8% than the previous year whereas paltry rise in the pay and salaries and pension of the employees and pensioners was only @7.
5% while the minimum wages had been fixed only Rs.13000 per month, whereas, the Punjab Assembly in a resolution passed unanimously had decided to raise their monthly allowance @ 100%.
read more.
20150528
22:19:22 local time CHINA
* China to achieve minimum wage growth target:
China is expected to achieve its average annual minimum wage growth target of 13 percent for the five-year period ending in 2015, experts said on Thursday.
Nineteen regions in China increased minimum wage at an average rate of 14.1 percent in 2014, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on Thursday.
The growth pace is faster than the planned annual average growth rate, but slower than the previous three years, said the ministry in a statement posted on its official website.
In China, where city and provincial governments set minimum wage standards, 27 regions raised the minimum wage by an average rate of 17 percent in 2013, while minimum wage hikes in 25 regions surpassed 20 percent on average in 2011 and 2012.
Last year, Shanghai registered both the highest statutory minimum monthly wage of 1,820 yuan (about 297 U.S. dollars) and the highest minimum hourly rate of 17 yuan, the statement said.
to read.
20150525-27
23:19:22 local time 
NORTH KOREA
* S. Korea firms to pay wages for N. Koreans at joint factory park:
South Korean firms in an inter-Korean factory park in North Korea plan to pay wages to their North Korean employees this week, a government official said Monday.
The move came days after Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s tentative offer of wage payments for North Korean workers at the factory park in North Korea’s border city of Kaesong at a previously agreed level until separate consultations are held.
The deal on Friday would allow South Korean firms to pay the wage based on the US$70.35 per month that was originally set. But it called for the 124 South Korean firms to provide retroactive pay based on the outcome of separate consultations.
read more.
21:19:22 local time 
VIET NAM
* Ministry wants wages, bonuses at State-controlled firms tightened:
The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is gathering comments on a draft decree on enhancing management of employees, wages and bonuses at joint stock companies with majority State ownership.
The ministry said some State-controlled enterprises offer managers wages and bonuses not corresponding to their business results and much higher than those of staff at the same firms and wholly-owned enterprises.
Data of the ministry showed monthly salaries of employees at 345 joint stock companies with majority State ownership in 2013, mainly medium and small firms, were VND10-11 million but the wages of managers were 2.3-2.5 times higher, VND25-26 million per month.
At major and profitable companies, the monthly wages of managers ranged from VND70 million to VND90 million and probably up to VND155 million for certain positions. These are many times higher than the average levels of employees and managers at 100% State-owned enterprises as pays at these enterprises are capped at VND40-45 million per month.
read more.
20150522
22:19:22 local time CHINA
* Higher wages in China show better productivity:
Rising wages may have cut the cost advantage of China’s products, but a group of Standard Chartered economists on Friday predicted even higher productivity to come.
Wage rises and labor shortages are evident in the Pearl River Delta in South China, according to a report released by the bank on Friday. The country’s manufacturing base accounts for 27 percent of foreign trade.
Standard Chartered surveyed nearly 300 manufacturers in the region in February and March and 85 percent said the labor shortage is not getting better.
They expect wages to rise by around than 8.4 percent this year.
(…)
The bank also found some manufacturers moving production to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, where cheap labor is in abundant supply.
It is mostly textiles and clothing factories at the low end of the manufacturing chain that are moving out, the bank said.
read more. & read more. & read more.
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* S.Korea, DPRK agree to keep current wage in Kaesong complex for now:
South Korea and the Democratic People ‘ s Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed Friday to maintain the current level of wage for DPRK workers in the Kaesong industrial complex for the time being, Seoul’s Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said.
From early this week, officials from the management committees of the two sides for the Kaesong industrial zone have made intensive consultations about the wage issue and reached a final agreement Friday, the ministry said.
Under the agreement, South Korean companies running factories in Kaesong would be allowed to pay wages for DPRK workers at the current level first and the remainder of increased wages later in accordance with the results of the future inter-Korean consultations.
read more.
21:19:22 local time VIET NAM
* Trade unions push for higher, realistic wages:
The monthly minimum salary that took effect on January 1 could not cover workers’ living costs, representatives of trade unions in Ho Chi Minh City have said.
Under the law, minimum monthly salaries in HCM City were raised to 3.1 million VND (142 USD), 400,000 VND higher than the previous threshold.
At a recent workshop, Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran, deputy chairwoman of the city’s Labour Federation, said that, as of April 20, 3,904 enterprises in HCM City had increased their monthly wages.
She said that some companies had raised their wages even higher than the State’s requirement, but many of them had stopped giving allowances for accommodation, petrol, and meals.
Tran Thi Hong Van, chairwoman of the trade union at Nissei Electric Vietnam in Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, said total living expenses for a couple with two children were 10 million VND (476 USD) each month.
“The average income of workers is more than 4 million VND (190 USD),” Van said.
read more.
20150514-20
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* N. Korea slams South over wage row at Gaeseong complex:
North Korea rebuked South Korea on Wednesday for refusing to raise wages for North Korean workers at their joint industrial park, claiming that the North has a legal right to decide the issue.
The North’s criticism came as it rescinded its approval of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s planned visit to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex this week.
Many expected the U.N. chief’s trip to help resolve stand-offs between the two Koreas, including the wage row at the complex, where about 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there by 124 South Korean firms.
South and North Korea have been embroiled in a drawn-out dispute following North Korea’s unilateral decision to hike wages by 5.18 percent for its workers. Seoul has rejected the North’s move, saying that the North violated a 2004 agreement that calls for the two sides to set wages together.
read more.
* Seoul proposes talks with Pyongyang over wage row:
The spokesman said the joint committee meeting should be held urgently to resolve issues of mutual concern
South Korea’s unification ministry on Monday confirmed that it has offered to hold talks on the management of an inter-Korean economic zone, including the ongoing wage hike row for North Korean workers.
The Kaesong industrial zone, launched in 2004 and jointly managed by the two Koreas, has been seen as one of the key symbols of inter-Korean economic cooperation. Some 120 South Korean companies with 53,000 North Korean workers are operating in the park, Xinhua news agency reported.
The proposal came amid the row between Seoul and Pyongyang over the wage hike for North Korean workers employed by South Korean in Kaesong.
read more. & read more.
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* Employers urge two-tiered wage system:
Employers have urged the immediate nationwide roll-out of a two-tiered wage system wherein employees and enterprises share in the productivity gains of the business replacing the yearly minimum wage setting.
Edgardo B. Lacson, president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), said in a speech at the 36th National Conference of Employers in Pasay City that the Department of Labor and Employment’s two-tiered wage system should be ready for implementation after a successful piloting in the Calabarzon area.
“Mandating an increase in minimum wage without any link to productivity is not conducive to more investment and business growth,” Lacson said in his speech at the opening of the NCE on Thursday with the theme “The Ultimate Challenge: Creating More Wealth, Creating More Jobs.”
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* The new sweatshop of Asia?:
Conditions at garment factories are said to be improving, but many of the underlying concerns over pay and long hours remain. Photo: Hong Sar
Foreign clothing companies are licking their lips as they seek to set up shop in Myanmar, Asia’s new investment opportunity.
Since President U Thein Sein’s government came into power in 2011, there has been a drive to encourage foreign companies to set up a manufacturing base in the country to help pump life into the economy, bring much needed employment, and to introduce and upgrade expertise.
On the face of it, foreign clothing manufacturers can help provide a win-win situation, where the companies make money and workers and the country benefit.
In theory. The garment sector may be “in the starting blocks” and “showing real potential,” as the head of the German fashion association, Thomas Ballweg, recently told DPA news service, but the events of May Day last week were a reminder that all is not well, despite efforts by the government and business players to talk up the industry.
On that holiday for workers, the number of protesters on the streets in Yangon calling for a minimum wage was only in the hundreds, but they echoed a growing theme among those working on the factory floor making garments – pay and conditions leave a lot to be desired.
Raising your voice, however, may have a price.
Anger has been voiced by some workers over the detention of two trade union leaders, Naing Htay Lwin and Myo Min Min, who work in garment factories in Yangon. Myo Min Min is the chairperson of the Garment Factory Workers Organisation in Shwepyithar, and Naing Htay Lwin works for the Ford Glory Garment Factory.
The two men helped spearhead a protest over pay and working conditions in their factories.
As they highlighted, an average garment worker gets paid only 43 US cents [K430] an hour.
To make ends meet, the workers typically have to do two days overtime, meaning they often work a full seven days a week.
Workers have demanded an increase of US$1 a day so that they can better support their families.
However, both men were arrested for organising protests calling for a pay rise of $1 a day.
They were picked up for protesting without permission, and their supporters say they were also falsely accused of advocating violence during protests.
They remain in Insein Prison awaiting a trial that could put them in prison for up to three years.
The garment workers continue their protests calling for a pay rise and the release of their protest leaders.
read more.
20:19:22 local time 
BANGLADESH
* Jute mills workers observe hunger strike for 5-point demand:
Several thousand of workers of nine state-owned jute mills of Khulna-Jessore industrial belt observed hunger strike for six hours starting at 10:00am on Tuesday to press home their five-point demand.
The workers wearing shrouds sat in front of Aleem Jute mill at Atra industrial belt of Khulna city as part of an 18-day movement under the banner of CBA and non-CBA Oikya Parishad.
They are agitating for allocation of adequate fund to keep going production of the state-owned jute mills, payment of their wages and other financial benefits, payment of 20 per cent dearness allowance, exploring markets both at home and abroad for selling jute products and removal of corrupt officials and employees to make administration of the mills transparent.
Oikya Parishad convener Md Sohrab Hossain said that government must take positive move for implementation of Anti Polythene Act–2010 and also for implementation of Jute Goods Act–2002.
read more.
* Police halts garment workers’ march towards labour ministry:
Police intercepted a march of garment workers towards the labour ministry at the secretariat in the capital on Sunday.
They were going to besiege the labour ministry protesting at illegal closure of Swan Garment factory, a job place of over 1300 workers, and demanding their due payments.
Over 1000 employees of Swan Garment factory gathered in front of the National Press Club in the city under the banner of Garment Workers Trade Union Centre in the afternoon and held a protest rally demanding immediate payment of their dues and reopening of the factory.
The speakers at the rally alleged that the factory authorities closed it on April 10 without any prior notice and without paying their dues.
As a result, over 1300 workers became jobless and they were passing their days in utter hardship, they said.
They also said they urged the government and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to resolve the problems but none paid heed to their problems.
read more.
* Workers’ demo in front of secretariat:
Nearly five hundred workers staged demonstration in front of the secretariat in city Sunday, demanding the payment of their dues.
Led by the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Worker Trade Union Centre, workers of Swan Garments Factory of the city’s Dhakkhinkhan area have taken poison there since 12:20pm on the day.
Prior to that, they formed a human chain in front of National Press Club, and protested the owners’ decision of shutting down the factory without prior notice.
Moreover, they demanded payments of their 4-month dues.
read more.
* Chunnu assures RMG workers of solving problem:
State minister for labor and employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu assured Swan garments workers of solving the existing problems within two days.
Bangladesh Garment Worker Trade Union Centre general secretary Jolly Talukdar said after getting the assurance the workers left the secretariat in city around 2:15 Sunday.
But the workers leader threatened that the workers will press home their demand if the state minister does not fulfill his promise.
Earlier in the day, nearly five hundred workers staged demonstration in front of the secretariat, demanding the payment of their dues.
read more.
* Workers of North Badda garment factory rally for wages:
Workers of a garment factory at North Badda owned by Chunji Knit Ltd staged a rally on Thursday, demanding payment of all outstanding salaries.
The demand came under the banner of the United Federation of Garments Workers (UFGW) at Jatiya Press Club.
Workers alleged they are owed four months’ salaries. They also alleged that the management is mounting pressure on them to leave the factory forgoing their due salaries and other benefits.
Workers also alleged lawmaker AKM Rahmatullah, MP, is the owner of the building and the garments is widely known as ‘Rahmatullah garments’ in the locality.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Power loom workers begin indefinite strike:
Power loom workers began their indefinite strike in Pallipalayam after the promised wage as per the new pact was not paid to them.
Power loom owners and workers were demanding increase in wages for many months now and were on indefinite strike since April.
The district administration conducted tripartite meeting with textile manufactures, power loom owners and workers and a new wage pact came into force from April 25, 2015.
Accordingly, manufacturers of lungis should provide an additional charge of 20 per cent to the owners who would in turn pay it to workers.
Also, manufacturers of RG varieties should provide an additional charge of 24 per cent to the owners, who would pay additional 20 per cent to workers. Hence, the strike was withdrawn and workers were back to work.
However, it is said that workers were not paid the additional 20 per cent wages. The workers have decided to meet the Collector.
to read.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Helpless, hapless home-based workers:
Numerous consultations and seminars by different stakeholders for over a decade has yet to yield positive outcomes. Even a policy for home based workers at the national and the provincial level has not been adopted by the government(s).
Although, policies have been prepared but their approval is long awaited.
The helpless home-based workers who had been hoping for uplift in their working conditions are watching the whole exercise in futility.
Home based workers comprises 71.4 percent females and 29.6 percent males who are deprived of minimum wage of Rs12,000 as prescribed by the government of Pakistan.
It has been estimated in a study that the earnings of female and male workers respectively are Rs 2,116 and Rs 5,550 monthly.
According to the survey carried out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the homes based workers in rural areas account for 67.2 percent and rest are from the urban areas. As per the labour laws they are not able to have the right to organise and bargain collectively, have equality in treatment as well as access to social security, old age benefits and other workers welfare programmes.
read more.
20150513
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Garment labourers ordered to resume work:
Labourers from two garment factories protesting on March 4.
The Labour Tribunal Commission has ordered 158 workers, including Moe Moe Khing from the Costec garment factory in Shwe Pyi Tha Township, to resume work their respective factories within 30 days.
Workers from the Costec and Ford Glory garment factories staged demonstrations in January in front of the factories calling for a minimum wage increase, the formation of labour unions, an end to discrimination against workers and the full protection of labour rights.
The commission’s decision also stipulated that if the workers do not resume work within the allotted time, they will effectively be resigning from their jobs and will not receive compensation.
The decision was passed down on May 7.
In the wake of the decision, many of the workers have pledged to resume their work.
“We, the workers from Ford Glory and Costec garment factories in Shwe Pyi Tha Industrial Zone, staged camp-in protests in front of the factories. In the case of the Costec garment factory, the Labour Tribunal Commission negotiated with the factory owner and local authorities. We will hold a meeting on Sunday, May 17, and we will resume our work on Monday and Tuesday.
read more.
20150512
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* S. Korea urges N. Korea to end work slowdown at joint complex:
South Korea called on North Korea Monday to end the work slowdown at a joint industrial park in the North amid a drawn-out row sparked by Pyongyang’s unilateral wage hike.
The two Koreas have been embroiled in the wage dispute as North Korea unilaterally decided to hike the minimum monthly wage to $74 for about 53,000 North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the border city of the same name.
Seoul has requested its companies not to send out March paychecks, vowing to punish violators. Despite the warning, 49 out of 124 South Korean companies have paid March wages to the North’s workers apparently after threats from the North.
The 10-day period of the wage payment for April began on Sunday, signaling for more tension between the two Koreas. The Ministry of Unification said that there has been a reported work slowdown at the complex.
“South Korea cannot accept North Korea’s unlawful activities,” Lim Byeong-cheol, the ministry spokesman, said in a press briefing.
“The North should come to the talks to resolve the wage row after immediately ending such activities.”
read more.
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Brands are key to achieving living wages in Cambodia:
Affiliates from Cambodia and the Philippines came together in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on May 7-8 to share experiences in their respective campaigns for a living wage and to plan future strategies.
Cambodia’s existing minimum wage fixing process has limitations and has not been able to deliver a living wage.
Representation on the wage-fixing council is not equal; research findings that the level of a living wage is much higher than the current minimum wage are not implemented; the government and employers are still worried that if the minimum wage is raised too high, brands will stop sourcing from Cambodia.
Affiliates welcomed IndustriALL’s engagement with global garment brands towards developing industry bargaining for garment workers.
IndustriALL policy director Jenny Holdcroft says:
“Garment buyers need to be engaged in discussions on wages, to make commitments towards continuing sourcing from Cambodia and to use their leverage with employers to increase the wage.”
A wages expert from the ILO provided valuable information on wage fixing mechanisms and how to use them. The importance of regular, steady increases to the minimum wage with annual adjustments, based on analysis and consensus-building was emphasized.
Union representatives from the Philippines shared their experiences with working with a minimum wage fixing mechanism which is built on by collective bargaining increases, and described how they are using these structures to continue their fight for a living wage.
read more.
20150511
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Power loom workers’ strike ends:
The fortnight-long strike by the power loom workers of Pallipalayam came to end on Sunday, thanks to the wage revision settlement arrived at during the talks held in the presence of State Industries Minister P. Thangamani.
The power loom owners agreed to hike the wages by 21.5 per cent and also give the revised wages with retrospective effect from April 1, during the talks which continued till Saturday midnight.
The workers employed in more than 20,000 power looms in Pallipalayam and surrounding areas began the indefinite strike on April 26 demanding new wage revision pact. The previous wage agreement expired a few months ago.
The power loom workers unions affiliated to the CITU, AITUC, AICCTU and other unions demanded 25 per cent hike in wages.
read more.
19:49:22 local time 
SRI LANKA
* Sri Lankan government to present legislation on minimum wage for private sector employees:
The Labor Ministry in Sri Lanka says that legislation to set a minimum wage for all private sector employees will be presented to parliament shortly.
The draft Bill has stipulated that the minimum monthly wage of any private sector employee to be Rs.10,000, regardless of whether the employee falls under categories named under the Shop and Office Act or the Wages Board Act.
The Bill has reportedly been sent to Attorney General’s Department for approval.
Labor and Labor Relations Ministry Secretary Herath Yapa has said the proposed legislation will benefit more than 1.5 million private sector employees in the country.
Minister of Labor S.B. Nawinna has proposed to increase the wages of private sector employees from May 01.
According to his proposal, the minimum wage of private sector employees will be Rs.10, 000, while the minimum daily wage would be Rs.400. Every private sector employee should receive a minimum base salary of Rs. 10,000 from May 01.
read more.
20150508-10
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* Is minimum wage bad for poor?:
It is one of our most enduring shibboleths: “Workers are entitled to a just wage, which is defined as no lower than a legal minimum wage (LMW). Only in this manner can we reduce poverty and achieve social justice.”
This logic seems irrefutable. However, recent Philippine studies estimating the impact of LMW on employment and household income have raised serious questions about the wisdom of this generalization.
The good intentions behind LMW may have unintended consequences that are harmful if not expressed through appropriate policies. Good intentions, in fact, may end up paving the road to perdition—in this case, persistent unemployment and underemployment, lack of investment and continuing poverty.
Case against LMW
Every year, there is a clamor for large increases in LMW. As expected, last January the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)-Nagkaisa and other labor groups, together with their political allies, filed a demand for a huge LMW increase: an additional P136 a day on top of the minimum wage of P466 a day for workers in Metro Manila.
read more.
20150508 * ‘Proposed wage hike to spur unemployment’:
A large number of workers will likely lose their jobs if the government approves the legislated P16,000 national minimum wage (NMW) being pushed by some labor groups.
Citing a study conducted by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz warned the small and medium-sized companies, which make up most of the country’s employers, will be unable to afford the proposed wage hike.
“The NWPC already conducted a study (on that proposal). Based from their computation the minimum wage adjustment will be too much for the private sector,” Baldoz said.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Decoding the new labour code:
Proposals in the wage and industrial relation codes could reshape labour-management ties
In 2002, the Second Commission on Labour Laws proposed radical changes in the country’s labour laws to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Among other proposals, the commission suggested labour laws be broadly grouped into segments pertaining to
1) industrial relations
2) wages
3) social security
4) safety and
5) welfare and working conditions.
It took nearly 13 years for the government to give the recommendation careful thought.
Now, the Union government plans to replace 44 laws with five codes relating to wages, industrial relations, small factories, social security and welfare.
It is in the preliminary stages of discussions with stakeholders from the Centre and states on wage and industrial relation codes.
The proposals in these two codes contain some radical changes, which could reshape labour-management ties in India.
Wage code
A unified wage code broadly merges four Acts – the Minimum Wages Act, the Payment of Wages Act, the Payment of Bonus Act and the Equal Remuneration Act into a comprehensive code. Each of these laws defines wages differently.
The code, however, has a uniform definition, as stipulated by the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
read more.
20150507
19:49:22 local time SRI LANKA
* Sri Lankan unions come together for major wage hike:
IndustriALL affiliates in Sri Lanka has through collective actions achieved a wage increase for private sector workers by 15 – 35 per cent, making the minimum national wage for the sector SLR 10,000.
The new Sri Lankan Government has agreed to enhance wages of the Private Sector workers by SLR 2,500, equaling a raise of between 15 and 35 per cent. This sets the minimum wage for private sector workers at SLR 10,000 per month.
Meanwhile, state sector employees have seen their wages revised by SLR 10,000, resulting in a minimum wage of SLR 30,400, including allowances and benefits.
IndustriALL Sri Lanka Council and affiliates have been fighting for an increased minimum wage in the private sector for a few years, and played a major role in this latest success.
read more.
20150506
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Factory owners push back against proposed wage rate:
Minimum wage negotiations are inching toward a compromise far below the amount demanded by protesting labourers, though garment factory owners are still holding out for little or no pay boost, according to a representative from the country’s peak business body.
“We are arranging a meeting with garment factory owners soon and we are planning to negotiate based on the K3000 minimum salary that the government pays its personnel,” said U Aye Lwin, secretary of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
While most private industry employers have agreed to a minimum wage set between K3000 to K4000 (US$3-4), U Aye Lwin said garment industry bosses are the last holdout. The garment factory owners have been unwilling to lift pay rates beyond K1500 a day.
Striking factory workers have demanded wages fixed at a K5600-a-day baseline.
read more.
20150504-05
21:19:22 local time 
LAOS
* Laos gov’t supervises enterprises to ensure increases of minimum wage flowing to workers:
Factories and manufacturing assembly plants are in the sights of Laos’ officials as the government seek to ensure recent increases of the minimum wage flowing to workers, Lao News Agency KPL reported Monday.
The minimum monthly wage for unskilled labor increased to 900, 000 kip (111.25 U.S. dollars) from 626,000 kip (77.39 U.S. dollars) as a result of regulations that came into force on April 1.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare began inspections of businesses in the capital to ensure compliance with legislation and expects to complete its nationwide inspection by September.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Roundup: Myanmar seeks establishment of national minimum wage for workers:
Myanmar’s Labor Ministry is encouraging a prompt negotiation between employers and employees in garment factories in Yangon for establishing a national minimum wage for workers.
The ministry is trying to get a proposed figure for the national minimum wage out of the negotiation and submit to the parliament for debate and approval. The minimum wage is expected to be announced in the months ahead.
Parliament speaker U Shwe Mann suggested both employers and workers consider the daily wage level of 3,000 Kyats (about 3 U.S. dollars) for government employees set by the Ministry of Finance and Revenue as a standard for setting the minimum wage level for workers.
The current minimum daily wage levels range from 900 Kyats to 1, 300 Kyats in industrial zones.
read more.
* Minimum wage a ballot sticking point for labour protesters:
Workers petitioning the government for a fixed minimum wage are trying out a new angle: holding votes hostage. If the ruling party wants labourers’ backing in the upcoming 2015 general election, they’ll have to earn it through effectively shifting the country’s wage policy, rights groups warned on May Day.
The labour groups are also threatening country-wide strikes if stultifying wage negotiations don’t change course and offer results by the end of the month, they said.
“The government needs to address the vital requirements of its labourers with fixed minimum wages,” said U Htey, a member of the Labour Affairs Action Network and one of the May Day demonstrators.
read more.
19:49:22 local time SRI LANKA
20150505 * Sri Lankan government urged to increase salaries of private and estate sectors:
The trade union representatives urge the government of Sri Lanka to increase the salaries of the private and estate sector workers.
The Inter Company Employees’ Union (ICEU) has claimed that the government has betrayed the private sector workers by reducing the promised wage increase to Rs. 1,500.
The ICEU has noted that while the private sector workers have demanded a Rs.5,000 wage hike, the government has promised a Rs. 2,500 salary increase. However, the union claims that the amount has now been reduced to Rs. 1,500.
read more.
20150503
21:19:22 local time LAOS
* Labour inspects new minimum wage payment:
The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare currently inspects business units in Vientiane Capital to find out whether the government policy on raising minimum wage from 626,000 kip to 900,000 kip is being observed.
The government’s announcement of the increase of the minimum wage took effect on 1 April 2015.
The ministry expects to complete its nationwide inspection by September of this year.
“Currently, district and provincial officials across the country are inspecting business units and sectors to find out whether they are paying the new minimum wage and it is expected that the inspection will be completed sometime between August and September 2015.
The results will then be publicized,” said on Wednesday Mr Phongsaysack Inthalath, Director of Labour Management, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.
read more.
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* On Labor Day, workers, employees call for union organizing:
“Amid conditions of low wages, lack of job security, exploitative setup victimizing women, health issues, we can assert our calls and demand that the government responds to our problems if we have a union.”
Thousands of workers from different industries mobilized this Labor day in Liwasang Bonifacio clamoring for decent wages, an end to contractualization, creation of jobs in the Philippines and not labor export, which, they said, only engenders cases like that of Mary Jane Veloso.
Other sectors also came out to amplify not just calls for security of tenure and decent wages but also the ouster of President Benigno S. Aquino III.
Low salary, no secure jobs
The protesters decried the massive contractualization happening in both the public and private sectors.
Francis Ugay, union president of Alorica call center employees, the first to form a union in the BPO sector, said at Liwasang Bonifacio that some may say call center agents are receiving higher salaries and so there is no more reason to go abroad for a higher paying jobs.
“But a call center agent only takes home P12,000 ($271) to P13,000 ($293) monthly salary, less than the P16,000 national minimum wage we are demanding. We do not have security of tenure — if we committed just one absence, we can be kicked out of work.”
read more.
* No wage hike for workers from PNoy:
Hopes for a salary increase for Filipino workers on Labor Day have been dashed after President Aquino mentioned nothing about such incentive in his Labor Day speech.
Instead, the President highlighted the administration’s efforts to promote the welfare of the labor sector, from generating job opportunities, extending skills training program, to promoting industrial peace between workers and management.
read more.
* Labor groups hold protest; calls govt to provide decent jobs, good pay:
Labor groups and the laborers wearing white masks called the government to provide decent jobs and good pay to avoid more cases of overseas Filipino workers who suffered negative experiences abroad.
They marched in Manila from España, Liwasang Bonifacio and other parts of the city of Manila before converging in Mendiola for a massive labor protest.
Labor group Bayan called for the implementation of P16,000 minimum wage and reiterated its call to end contractualization, as well as the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III.
read more.
* Solon backs P16-K national minimum wage demand:
read more.
20:19:22 local time BANGLADESH
* Workers celebrate May Day:
Organisations of apparel workers, transport employees, domestic helps and rights groups take to the streets in colourful processions in Dhaka and elsewhere voicing the workers’ demand for the establishment of trade union rights at all factories on Friday, marking International Labour Day, widely known as May Day.
— New Age photo
Workers across the country celebrated May Day, also called International Workers’ Day, on Friday demanding better wages and working conditions.
From large rallies held in the capital and elsewhere in the country the workers demanded increased minimum wages and congenial working atmosphere.
May 1 is traditionally a public holiday in Bangladesh to facilitate the May Day celebrations.
Workers, politicians and rights activists said at rallies that the workers, factory owners and trade unions needed to work together to ensure the rights of the workers.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Move to jail those who refuse wage:
Now, denying a labourer his or her notified minimum wages can land you in jail.
Arming the city’s labourer with the confidence to take on exploitative contractors and employers on May Day, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that, in all these years not a single employer who denied minimum wages to workers has faced a jail term, but this is set to change.
The existing law which provides for a fine of just Rs 500 and imprisonment of up to six months will soon be amended to make punishment more stringent. Amendments to the law will be tabled for approval of Delhi assembly in the budget session in June.
At a gathering of labourers in Shalimar Bagh, Kejriwal said that his government is also working on a plan to ensure equal pay for equal work for contractual employees till a scheme for regularizing them is put in place.
The chief minister also launched Shramik Vikas Mission which includes a slew of programmes for welfare of workers.
read more.
* Power loom workers’ strike continues:
With the third round of talks over wage hike failed to yield any results, power loom workers in Pallipalayam continued their indefinite strike for the sixth consecutive day here.
Workers were demanding 25 per cent additional wage hike while tripartite talks at the Collectorate held recently reached an agreement for 20 per cent additional wage hike. However, trade unions refused to accept it and continued their strike. Workers are planning to intensify their strike from Monday.
to read.
20150502 * Powerloom units on indefinite strike for wage hike:
Hundreds of powerloom units affiliated to Master Weavers’ Association in Chatrapatti near Rajapalayam began an indefinite strike on Friday demanding a wage hike.
According to association president K. Mathooran there were 800 members with around 7,000 powerlooms, which make grey cloth (before bleaching) for surgical bandage manufacturers who cater to domestic and international market.
“All the materials are supplied by the manufacturers and we make bandages at piece rate, which was fixed at 96 paise per metre for 2013-14 with effect from May 1,” he said. The agreement was made with both the exporters and domestic players. As per the agreement the wage will be increased by 4.5 paise every year for 2014-15 and 2015-16.
read more.
20150502 * ‘Textile units violate norms’:
Trade unions have slammed the officials of Labour Department and Inspectorate of Factories for not taking stringent action against the units which functioned on May Day without following the guidelines in letter and spirit.
Double wages
Labour Department officials told The Hindu that the units could function on the day provided they submit Form 5 A with the labourers’ signature and submit the same to the concerned officials besides paying the workers double wages for the day.
M. Chandran, state secretary of CITU, said that textile sector entrepreneurs were mostly interested in getting their works completed without looking at the rights of the labourers even on the May Day.
read more.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Labourers demand Rs30,000 minimum wage:
On May Day, different labour organisations demanded of the government to fix Rs30,000 as minimum wage for the workers so that they could meet basic requirements of life.
They also demanded implementation of the decision regarding minimum wage and ensuring job security for workers in different private sector organisations.
In Peshawar, the day was marked by a rally on the Ring Road jointly organised by employees of different trade unions. The participants held banners and placards inscribed with demands for solution to their problems. The rally was led by leaders of All Pakistan Workers Confederation.
read more. & read more. & read more.
20150502
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Thousands take to the streets in May Day protests:
Workers protest in front of the Senate yesterday for May Day.
Photo by Sreng Meng Srun.
Low pay, poor working conditions and a lack of justice top of workers’ concerns during rallies
In a show of strength on May Day, thousands of workers yesterday descended on Phnom Penh to voice their frustrations with low pay, poor working conditions and discrimination against unions.
A coalition of several independent unions organised three separate rallies across the capital, including one at Freedom Park, one at the Ministry of Labour and a third at the National Assembly.
Some 500 workers delivered a petition to the National Assembly, calling for an increase in the minimum wage to $177 a month, the scrapping of short-term contracts, the dropping of charges against union leaders and activists and justice for families of workers fatally shot by security guards during last year’s Veng Sreng strike.
The groups also called for the establishment of a labour court, the easing of restrictions for registering unions, a maternity leave scheme and more consultation on the proposed trade union law, which unions say will undermine workers’ rights.
“We want better wages,” said 25-year-old garment factory worker Khun Meta, among demonstrators in Freedom Park.
read more.
* Unions March on Labor Day Despite Warning:
Workers take part in a march to the National Assembly to mark Labor Day. About 3,000 workers took part in three demonstrations held in Phnom Penh. (Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily)
About 3,000 workers took part in three separate rallies to mark Labor Day in Phnom Penh on Friday, with the municipal government warning of possible legal action against the leaders of two of the demonstrations, who failed to heed official warnings not to bring workers onto the city’s streets.
More than 1,000 workers rallied outside the National Assembly, hundreds more outside the Labor Ministry and a similar number at Freedom Park—the only location approved by the government—calling for higher wages, better working standards and the scrapping of the controversial draft Trade Union Law.
(…)
Mr. Sreng noted that union leaders Pav Sina and Far Saly, who led the rally at Freedom Park, had received permission for their event, but said that Vorn Pao and Ath Thorn, union leaders who have previously been hit with legal action, had crossed authorities.
“Vorn Pao did wrong,” Mr. Sreng said. “Ath Thorn made a big mistake. We ordered him directly to Freedom Park and he not respect that.”
read more.
22:19:22 local time MALAYSIA
* Workers have right to protest, says MTUC:
Union busting has led to the lack of recognition of trade unions by employers, leading to a controlled and unjust working system, said the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).
Secretary-general N Gopal Kishnam said there were instances where employers had denied workers’ their rights by having one-on-one negotiations with union members.
(…)
“Workers have a right to picket and protest. It is stated in the (Industrial Relations) act that unions should use it to seek justice and fight for their rights, but look at what happened in the end.”
He also said the authorities always got involved in union organised protests and victimised the workers with unnecessary litigation.
Gopal also highlighted that lower income workers were not taken into consideration with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“How are those with incomes below the poverty line suppose to live when studies have shown that the price of goods have increased by 20 per cent since GST was introduced?” he asked.
Gopal said MTUC demanded the minimum wage be adjusted to RM1,200 for economic balance.
read more.
22:19:22 local time 
INDONESIA
* Government Policy, Wages Are Workers’ Key Gripes On May 1:
Calls for a cabinet reshuffle as well as the enactment of key legislation were among workers’ demands on May Day this Friday, as tens of thousands of workers took to the streets of major cities across Indonesia.
The demonstrations in the capital were centered outside the State Palace in Central Jakarta, with dozens of labor unions represented among the thousands of people in attendance.
Jumhur Hidayat, the deputy chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPSI), urged President Joko Widodo to replace cabinet members deemed hostile to workers’ interests.
He cited a recent policy issued by Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri allowing only company-level union representatives to conduct negotiations between workers and their employers.
This, he argued, blocked workers from having access to more experienced lobbyists from national-level labor unions.
(…)
Tens of thousands of workers also marched on Jakarta’s main streets to reject government plans to revisit the minimum wage every two years.
Provincial minimum wage negotiations are currently conducted every year.
read more. & read more. & read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Minimum wage ‘not enough for daily expenses’:
Workers from around the country marked Labour Day yesterday by reminding the government that the low minimum wage and poor working conditions were just two of many issues the workers face.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Workers demand Ks5,600 a day:
Workers march on May Day in Yangon. (Photo-Aung Kyaw Htet)
More than 150 workers from industrial zones in Yangon Region staged a march on the 125th International Labour Day on May 1, calling for rights and a daily wage of Ks5,600.
The workers marched from the Bo Sein Mahn ground in Bahan Township to Kyaikkasan, holding placards saying “Daily pay of Ks5,600”, “rights for workers”, “release detained workers” and “release arrested farmers”.
Wai Wai Khaing, a union member, said: “We demand a minimum wage of Ks5,600 per day.
The Ks1,500 proposed by factory owners is very difficult to survive on. Monthly rent is at least Ks35,000.
A bundle of water grass is about Ks200. It will be difficult for us if we don’t get Ks4,500 a day.”
read more.
20150502 * Thein Sein addresses minimum wage concerns:
The Burmese economy will be negatively impacted if ongoing disputes between employers and employees are not resolved, President Thein Sein warned.
In a May Day address to the nation, the president said, “As disputes between employers and employees emerge, more and more workers are protesting via demonstrations and strikes.
In this type of situation, if we do not resolve the issues quickly or mitigate the problems according to the law, the industrial action will hurt the national output and the lives of workers’ families.
It will also deter foreign investment and delay plans to extend domestic enterprises into ethnic areas.
This will have an unwanted impact on our country’s developing economy.”
He noted that if the minimum wage were too high, it would increase production costs and consequently block foreign investment; however if the minimum wage is too low then workers who are struggling to survive will inevitably take to the streets to protest.
Burmese labor unions held May Day parades in Rangoon and Mandalay on Friday, with calls for the government to increase the minimum wage and provide full labor rights.
Some 500 factory workers from Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in Rangoon’s western suburbs issued a list of 11 demands during their rally on 1 May, including an increase in the minimum daily wage at the industrial park to 5,600 kyat (US$5.60). The workers are currently paid between 1,500 – 3,000 kyat per day.
read more.
* MAY DAY: Labor Activists Still In Jail For Demanding A $1 Pay Rise:
The Burma government continued its crackdown on political activists with the February arrest of two union leaders who demanded a $1 pay rise for garment workers.
The Burma Campaign UK, on the eve of May Day, called for the “immediate and unconditional release of two union leaders, Naing Htay Lwin and Myo Min Min.” The Rangoon based union leaders were arrested in February 2015 for protesting without the Burmese government’s permission.
The Burma Campaign UK said that factory workers in Rangoon have started to protest over pay and working conditions. The Burma Campaign UK pointed out that, “an average garment worker gets paid only 43 US cents an hour. To make ends meet, they have to do two days overtime, meaning they often work 7 days a week.”
read more. & read more.
19:49:22 local time SRI LANKA
* Sri Lanka’s Labour Minister proposes to increase wages of private sector employees:
Minister of Labour S.B. Nawinna announced that he has proposed to increase the wages of private sector employees from May 01.
The Labour Minister said the proposal to increase wages of private sector employees was submitted to the cabinet of ministers on Friday, May 01.
According to the proposal, the minimum wage of private sector employees will be Rs.10, 000, while the minimum daily wage would be Rs.400. Every private sector employee should receive a minimum base salary of Rs. 10,000 from May 01.
Furthermore, a salary increase of Rs. 2,500 will be implemented in two stages.
read more.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* ‘Only one per cent of Pakistan’s labour is unionised’:
Many challenges and injustices faced by the service sector in Pakistan were highlighted at the media launch of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) report titled Status of Labour Rights in Pakistan: 2014 at the Karachi Press Club here on Thursday, the eve of May Day.
“Here we have 60 million labourers and 55 million jobs. When the available labour is more than the available jobs, the employer gets to keep the upper hand,” pointed out senior journalist Zubeida Mustafa while speaking about the issues of workforce at the launch.
“And while the employer has the upper hand, only one per cent of labour is unionised. So the labour gets exploited in such a situation,” she added.
“The labour laws are there, but how many of these laws are implemented and how many actually apply? The land reforms have been set aside after being called ‘un-Islamic’! The poor working class, who make up most of the rural population, are also vote banks of big MNAs and MPAs. But they, too, don’t care about them or their rights,” she said.
(….)
“May Day,” Mr Karamat Ali said, “was a movement where people fought and died, too, for eight hours a day of work.
But if you aren’t even paid the minimum wages for those eight hours what do you do with the remaining hours of the day?
The majority in Pakistan are working in the informal sector like Ali Enterprises in Baldia, which wasn’t even registered with the labour union department, and where people worked for 14 hours.
So the government figures of labour jobs are misleading,” he added.
read more.
20150429-0501
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* UP Diliman supports call for P16,000 national minimum salary:
The University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) community under the banner of All Workers’ Unity – UPD expressed full support for the call to peg the national minimum wage of all workers at P16,000 (US$358) a month.
Faculty members, researchers, employees, drivers, vendors, residents and UPD officials led by Chancellor Michael L. Tan shared a solidarity breakfast at the UPD Quezon Hall this morning.
The “budget meal” of half cup of rice, half fried egg, dried fish (tuyo) and a cup of weak coffee symbolizes how families of Filipino workers cope with poverty and hunger due to meager wages.
read more.
21:19:22 local time CAMBODIA
* Cambodian workers mark Int’l Labor Day:
Thousands of Cambodian workers on Friday marked the International Labor Day, calling for higher wages and better working conditions, a union leader said.
One event held in front of the National Assembly brought together more than 1,000 participants, mostly garment workers, while the other gathering at the Freedom Park saw about 1,000 revelers.
“Workers have still been facing many challenges such as low wages, excessive overtime work, and poor environmental workplaces, ” said Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, which organized the event in front of the National Assembly.
“We urge the government and parliament to re-negotiate with the employers in order to raise the minimum wage of 177 U.S. dollars per month for the workers in the garment and textile industry,” he said.
read more.
* Unions March on Int’l Workers’ Day:
Garment workers and unionists gathered on 129th International Labor Day to ask for an acceptable minimum wage.
The Cambodian Labor Confederation (CLC) rallied in front of the National Assembly (NA) voicing their concerns to the lawmakers. Ath Thorn led the few hundred and spoke to them.
“We ask the National Assembly … to urge the employers to re-negotiate and raise the minimum wage for garment workers to $177. We want to have a study made that reflects the worker’s actual living costs [and can be] agreed upon by employers, workers, and the government.”
A 42 year-old garment worker, Choun Tan, was at the rally and said, “I came here to ask for $177 minimum wage. My salary is $123 a month. Sometimes I’m paid by the month, sometimes I’m paid by the piece-count.”
The country director of American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), David John Welsh, showed his solidarity by saying, “We pledge our support to what Ath Thorn was saying – that workers in the garment sector need a living wage; that workers in the civil service, teachers, the agricultural sectors need … a living wage.”
read more.
* Peaceful Workers’ Day rallies take place in Phnom Penh:
This morning, in celebration of International Workers’ Day, marches and rallies were held at three sites around Phnom Penh.
One group of around 500, representing amongst others, garment workers, farmers, and informal sector workers marched and rode in tuk-tuks from the Olympic Stadium to the Ministry of Labour where they delivered a statement calling for greater respect for workers’ rights.
(…)
Another group of around 1,000 workers gathered at the National Assembly. The group listened to speeches and made several demands including for an increase in the minimum wage to $177.
At Freedom Park another group of over 500 workers held a rally and listened to speeches on worker conditions, the minimum wage and freedom of expression.
read more.
22:19:22 local time MALAYSIA
* MTUC Sarawak has wish list for May 1:
Collective bargaining has become nothing more than collective begging as the government pursues anti-union policies.
MTUC Sarawak has come up with a 20-point wish list under eight categories viz. ; minimum wage; minimum retirement age; cola (cost of living allowance) and high cost of living; more liberal trade union laws; foreign workers; corruption; and unemployment insurance.
MTUC Sarawak Secretary Andrew Lo identified liberal trade union laws as the key to resolving the woes facing workers in the country. “The New Economic Model (NEM) calls for the creation of a high-income nation for everyone.”
“You cannot have a high-income nation if wages remains stagnant by making it easier for employers to sack workers and reduce the influence of trade unions.”
As a result, he added, collective bargaining has become nothing more than collective begging. “We must amend the labour laws to offer greater protection to workers and their unions.”
read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Call to hike minimum wage:
Labour groups demand Bt360 a day from January 2016; poll shows sharp rise in the debt of low-income earners
read more.
20:19:22 local time BANGLADESH
* Govt to consider new wage commission for workers, says PM:
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government would consider declaring a new wage commission for workers so they get sufficient wages and benefits in consistent with the living cost.
Addressing a discussion organised by the Ministry of Labour and Employment at Bangabandhu international Conference Centre in the capital marking the historic May Day, Sheikh Hasina said her government was always dedicated to the welfare of the working class people.
read more.
* Only 40 sectors out of 100 under minimum wage framework:
The government has so far fixed minimum wages for workers of only 40 sectors while a large number are working in manufacturing industries, service and other sectors.
The Minimum Wage Board under the ministry of labour and employment declared minimum wages for workers in 40 private sectors since 1983 out of 100 which have employed millions of workers.
A large segment of the workforce, mostly from the informal sectors, remains outside the purview of the minimum wages, as most of them have no trade union rights, labour directorate officials, trade unionists and rights activists said.
read more.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* PML-Q for Rs20,000 minimum wages:
The PML-Q has demanded of the government to fix Rs20,000 minimum wages.
The PML-Q leaders adopted seven resolutions at the PML Labour Wing convention held at the Muslim League House here on Thursday in connection with the Labour Day.
It demanded that a quota should be fixed for the labour class in all government residential schemes. Besides, labour colonies should be built across Punjab to provide them roof.
It said a new labour policy should be framed in consultation with the representatives of labour organizations.
read more.
* Prevention of accidents, deaths at workplace highlighted:
The working class on Tuesday observed International Workers Memorial Day to highlight the importance of prevention of accidents and deaths of labourers at workplace, particularly in mines and electricity, textile, engineering, chemical and construction and transport sectors.
Representatives of constituent trade unions of All Pakistan Workers Confederation (APWC) from all over Punjab gathered at Labour Hall to renew their pledge to continue creating awareness among employees and employers about the significance of a safe and healthy workplace.
The representatives said matters pertaining to labour should be viewed as social issues while labour leaders should visit heirs of victims of industrial accidents to see whether the promises of payment of compensation or provision of employment to kin of victims were fulfilled.
They said absence of effective labour inspection, rising poverty and unemployment, contract system and non-implementation of minimum wages had ruined the traditional precautionary mechanism.
Scores of people worked at premises but without documents of the factory and subsequently no rights.
Workers were being exploited in the name of meeting export orders and were not even allowed to go home at night when the employer gets a big order.
read more.
* Home-based workers demand a fair deal:
Working conditions for home-based workers, particularly in Sindh, are very unsatisfactory and we demand that home-based workers be treated as regular labour and accorded all the benefits that labourers are entitled to.
This, in a nutshell, was the demand of the Home-Based Workers’(HBWs) Network at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday afternoon.
Farhat Fatima of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), said, “We feel that the HBWs, which are an integral part of the economy, are not officially treated as labour, which is unfair.
According to ILO conventions and labour laws, a minimum wage has to be fixed for us.”
read more.
20150428
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Employers, Workers Far Apart in Minimum Wage Negotiations:
Workers from the Myue & Soe Garment factory stand during a protest for a salary increase in front of the Mayangone Township labor office in Rangoon on Sept. 7, 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun)
Tripartite discussions between Burma’s Ministry of Labor, workers’ representatives and factory owners in recent days have revealed wide differences of opinion about the country’s future minimum wage, which will be determined in the next few months.
Sai Khaing Myo Tun, a workers’ representative on the tripartite National Committee on Minimum Wage, said workers’ organizations are demanding about 4,000 kyats (about US$4) for an 8-hour work day, excluding welfare benefits, overtime and bonus payments.
The workers representatives set out their demands during a meeting with Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security Aye Myint on Sunday.
Dozens of employers met with the minister on Saturday and garment factory owners, one of the largest sources of industrial employment in Burma, demanded a 1,500 kyat minimum wage for an 8-hour work day, according to a Rangoon-based factory owner, who asked not be named.
He said garment factory employers had demanded the 1,500 kyat wage due to the labor-intense production process in the sector, adding that the owners of other type of factories, such as wood-processing factories, were willing to accept a minimum wage of 3,000 kyats per day.
read more.
20150424-27
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* S.Korea struggles to resolve wage issue with DPRK in economic zone:
South Korea is struggling to resolve the wage hike issue with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for workers employed by South Korean companies in the Kaesong industrial complex as the DPRK-proposed deadline went by last week.
Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing Monday that the South Korean side plans to consult with the DPRK on the wage increase issue though detailed schedules had to be fixed yet.
Lim said the government will make utmost efforts to have consultations with the North side, with its focus on the written guarantee that the DPRK called on South Korean companies running factories in Kaesong to sign.
The row over the wage hike came as the DPRK unilaterally decided in February to raise minimum wage for DPRK workers in the inter-Korean factory park in Kaesong, just north of the inter- Korean land border.
read more.
22:19:22 local time MALAYSIA
* After minimum wage talks fail, workers union places last hope in Najib:
Consultative Council could not come to a consensus on a new minimum wage for private sector employees, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) is banking on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to fix the ceiling rate at RM1,200 per month.
MTUC secretary-general N. Gopal Kishnam said the council failed to agree on an acceptable sum for an increased minimum wage despite holding three meetings.
“We now hope the prime minister will make an announcement in his Labour Day message to fix the minimum wage at RM1,200 until the end of next year,” Gopal Kishnam told The Malaysian Insider.
He hoped that the government would also compel employers to pay another RM300 per month as a cost of living allowance (Cola).
“Employers will have no choice but to pay once the government has made its stand,” Gopal Kishnam said, adding that he believed that the Human Resources Minister would have briefed the Cabinet on what transpired at the council.
read more.
* MTUC’s May Day wish: RM1,200 minimum wage:
Union turns to Prime Minister Najib Razak to make its wish come true on Friday.
Talks on a new minimum wage have failed after the National Wages Consultative Council had met for the third time and the unions were now turning to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general N Gopal Krishnam said they want the government to fix the minimum wage at RM1,200 per month and are hoping Prime Minister Najib Razak would announce it on Labour Day this Friday.
The minimum wage for private sector workers was set in January 2013 at RM900 for Peninsular Malaysia and RM800 in Sabah and Sarawak. It must be reviewed every two years under the Minimum Wages Order 2012.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Speaker demands minimum wage:
The Speaker of the Lower House, Thura Shwe Mann, told the Ministry of Labour to set a minimum wage as quickly as possible at a meeting with employers and employees from Hlaingthaya industrial zone held at Kanaung Hall, Yangon, on April 24.
The deputy minister for labour, employment and social welfare, Win Maw Tun, said a draft of the minimum wage bill would be released at the end of May.
There were five levels to set for a minimum wage: one for the entire country, another for states and regions, a level for different types of work, like garment and industrial labour, another according to the skills involved and one according to the priority of work, said Win Maw Tun.
read more.
20:19:22 local time BANGLADESH
* Seven women apparel workers injured in police firing in N’ganj:
Police firing on apparel workers’ sit-in injured 15 women apparel workers in Fatullah of Narayanganj on Sunday.
Among the injured, seven sustained bullet wounds, said workers and doctors.
They were taken to Khanpur General Hospital.
Garments Sramik Trade Union Narayanganj district unit president MA Shahin said some 400 workers of Jabbar Fashion Garments in East Isdair of Fatulla were staging a sit-in in demand of their outstanding salaries on Sunday morning in front of the factory, which was shut down without prior notice on April 16.
At about 9am, police asked the protesters to leave the place, triggering a heated exchange among them.
At one stage, police started charging batons and firing gunshots on the protesters, leaving at least 15 injured.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Power loom workers in Pallipalayam begin indefinite strike:
With failure of talks over wage hike, power loom workers in Pallipalayam began their indefinite strike on Sunday.
There are more than 20,000 power looms in Pallipalayam in which over 15,000 families are employed.
Wage hike
Demanding additional wage hike of 25 per cent, power loom owners and workers have announced indefinite strike from April 26.
A meeting was earlier organised at the District Collectorate on Saturday in which textile manufacturers, power loom owners and workers participated.
read more.
* Honour wage pact: Collector:
District Collector V. Dakshinamoorthy has asked textile manufactures in Komarapalayam not to violate the wage agreement reached on April 20.
Workers in Komarapalayam were on an indefinite strike for a month. At the meeting on April 20 with textile manufactures, power loom owners, and workers, an agreement was reached wherein manufacturers would provide an additional charge of 20 per cent which the owners would pay to their workers.
The strike was later withdrawn. As manufactures were refusing to pay the 20 per cent raise, an indefinite strike would again begin on April 26.
If manufactures violated the agreement, action will be taken against them, the Collector said.
Complaints can be lodged with Tiruchengode Revenue Divisional Officer, and Tiruchengode Deputy Superintendent of Police for initiating legal action, he said.
to read.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Workers demand a minimum of Rs25,000 monthly wage:
The Sindh Hari Mazdoor conference held here on Sunday called for fixation of minimum wages at Rs25,000 per month, cut in defence spending and increase in health and education budgets.
The conference jointly organised by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), the Home-Based Women Workers Association and the Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union raised workers’ issues and urged the government to meet their demands.
It urged the government to abolish the third party system of hiring workers, ensure issuance of appointment letters and put in place health and safety precautions at workplaces and labour inspection system in factories.
read more.
20150421-24
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Myanmar: union helps solve strike in garment factory:
Striking garment workers in Myanmar have agreed to go back to work after IndustriALL affiliate IWFM helped mediate a solution which resulted in a nearly 30 per cent pay increase.
At the beginning of April, 590 out of the almost 700 workers at a garment factory in the town of Yayni, Myanmar, went on strike.
Demanding a pay raise, workers also claimed to have lost several of their rights when the factory was privatized and production changed from paper and household goods to clothing.
Organizers from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) assisted the striking workers.
They were told of conditions in the factory, with one toilet for 690 workers, how they lack access to pure drinking water, and that workers do not enjoy benefits that they are entitled to by law.
The striking workers made a number of demands including no to forced overtime, double overtime rate on Sundays and national holidays, increased break time to 20 minutes, as well as a salary increase from 30000 Kyats (US$30) per month to 60000 Kyats (US$60).
After negotiations all demands apart from the pay raise were met. After first only agreeing to an increase of a few dollars, the employer and the workers settled on a new monthly salary of 41,000 Kyats (US$41).
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* AITUC demands revision of minimum wages:
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has demanded an immediate revision of the minimum wages of the working classes in Goa
read more.
* Working People’s Charter comments on Draft Labour Code on Wages:
Modi govt proposes dangerous Labour Draft Code..makes it easier for employers to violate labour laws.
To Mr. S.K. Tripathi, Under Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment
Sub: Comments/Suggestions on Draft Labour Code on Wages
Dear Mr. Tripathi,
The Ministry of Labour and Employment in a notification dated 21st March 2015, reference no.No. Z-13025/ 6 /2015-LR Cell announced a call for comments/suggestions on a Draft Labour Code on Wages.
The notification stated that the Labour Code on Wages was drafted with intent of amalgamating four laws pertaining wages:
(i). The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
(ii).The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
(iii). The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
(iv). The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
While we agree that the harmonization and rationalization of different labour laws is required, the manner in which the proposed Code has been drafted leaves us
wondering whether the intent was merely harmonization or a move to renege on fundamental rights and entitlements secured through the four principal acts.
Please find appended a detailed commentary on the Draft Labour Code on Wages, including comparisons with the four principal acts mentioned. Based
on the appended document, listed below are some of the key roll – backs and ambiguities present in the draft code:
1) Role of Central Government and State Government
* Under Section 6 of the draft code, the complete onus of fixing minimum wages has been placed on the State Government.
This has implications for a National Floor Level Minimum Wage, which has been an Endeavour of the Govt.
* The underlying competitive federalism inherent in this shift of responsibility
severely dilutesthe concurrent nature of ‘labour’ as outlined in Article 246, Schedule 7 of the Constitution.
This will also lead to competition between states to lower wage standards and lead to a raceto the bottom, which negatively impacts growth owing to reduced effective demand.
* States are responsible for fixing and implementing minimum wages, but
only Central Govt. has been given power to remove difficulties with the code under section 40 of the
code.
read more.
* Powerloom workers return to work after a month:
Powerloom workers resumed work on Tuesday after they were on an indefinite strike for a month demanding a raise in wages.
There are more than 30,000 powerlooms in Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam in which over 52,000 workers are employed.
Wages are fixed every two years.
The wages were not revised in 2014.
The workers wanted a 75 per cent increase in wages.
As textile manufacturers refused to raise the charges, powerloom owners too refuse to pay more.
Meeting
Workers in Komarapalayam were on indefinite strike from April 8.
(…)
Additional wage
He asked the manufacturers to provide an additional wage of 20 per cent, which the powerloom owners should provide to the workers.
He said that the new wage pact would be effective from April 1 for two years. Textile manufactures and powerloom owners signed the pact but some of the trade union members refused to do so.
read more.
20150414-17
22:19:22 local time MALAYSIA
* Minimum Wage: 191 Investigation Papers Open, 118 Brought To Court:
A total of 191 investigation papers were opened on the failure to implement the minimum wage since Jan 1 last year to March this year, with 118 of them taken to court.
Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Ismail Abd Muttalib told the Dewan Negara today, from the total, 64 cases were prosecuted involving fines totalling RM211,600.
“The Labour Court has also decided on 1,260 cases with claims amounting to RM20.5 million.
“The court has since 2014 to March this year also ordered RM1.746 million to be paid to the workers,” he said in the question and answer session.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Wage talks fail:
With the talks between the district administration, manufacturers, power loom owners and workers over the wage hike issue failed, the next talks were scheduled for April 20.
Power loom workers
Demanding hike in wages, power loom workers in Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam were protesting for the past few months.
They began their indefinite strike on April 8.
However, Industries Minister P. Thangamani had requested them to postpone their strike and workers have rescheduled it for April 26.
read more.
* Labour Ministry proposes single Labour Code on wages:
The Labour Ministry has proposed to come out with a single Labour Code on Wages by amalgamating provisions of various relevant laws.
“The Ministry of Labour & Employment has proposed to come out with a Labour Code on Wages by amalgamating the relevant provisions of the Minimum Wages Act 1948, The Payment of Wages Act 1936, The Payment of Bonus Act 1965, and The Equal Remuneration Act 1976,” an official statement said.
read more.
20150411
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* ‘Union is workers’ potent weapon vs attacks on wages’ — KMU:
Philippines belong to a union.
And of these few unionists, even fewer, only 12 percent, have collective bargaining agreements, which give them slightly better wages and work condition than those prescribed by law.
Five years into his six-year term, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino earned the title of “No. 1 violator of workers’ rights,” the unionists from Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said in their picket in front of the Department of Labor and Employment this Friday.
The labor group said Aquino has presided over massive layoffs of workers trying to form unions and responded to workers’ strikes with either inaction or repression.
Doods Gerodias, KMU deputy secretary-general, cited cases and figures showing Aquino’s anti-labor and anti-union acts.
He said the Philippine government under Aquino has failed to comply with the conventions of the International Labor Organization guaranteeing workers’ rights to form unions and hold strikes – the latter being an essential part of workers’ right to collectively bargain.
The Philippines is a signatory to both ILO Convention 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, approved in 1948, and ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organize and Collectively Bargain, approved in 1949.
read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Wage debate ignores obscene incomes:
Why executives’ pay is never an issue is a mystery
The minimum wage – the lowest payment allowed under the law to unskilled labour – is always linked with how good the economy will be doing and how “attractive” a country is to foreign investors.
Whenever workers want more, there’s an outcry.
When the Yingluck administration sought to fulfil its election campaign pledge of a Bt300 daily minimum wage, critics rounded on it. Now, it’s the interim Prayut government’s turn to face the often-explosive issue.
Nobody cares how much corporate executives are paid.
This is despite the fact that even a fraction of their earnings could significantly boost the income of those at the lowest end of the economy.
Executives’ salaries are not legally capped, and figures are often glorified and not cringed at.
When the labour movement wants Bt20 more per day for the unskilled workers, it often sends economists scrambling to point out how ominous the |figure is.
The battle will be over something higher than Bt20 this time.
A labour advocacy group has called for a minimum wage of Bt360 per day, a Bt60 rise.
It has been a tradition for the labour movement to drive a tough bargain at the beginning, so it’s safe to say that the final contentious amount should be around Bt30-Bt40.
Even that would make entrepreneurs squirm.
The Federation of Thai Industries has come out to baulk at the Bt60 figure, citing weak demand in domestic and international markets.
(…)
The minimum wage, therefore, is deeply linked not only to how much workers want but also with the attitude of those at the top of the economic pyramid.
It’s too bad that the latter have rarely been taken into the equation.
The minimum wage is often about “competitiveness” or “political games” played by labour groups whereas the bottom-line should have been the sharing of good times and bad times between workers and their employers.
read more.
20150409
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* FTI rejects call for wage increase:
The business sector has rejected a proposal to raise the minimum daily wage above 300 baht, saying an increase would have adverse effects on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Up to 100,000 companies could be put out of business by rising labour costs, it is claimed.
Vallop Vitanakorn, vice-chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said it was not a good time to increase the daily wage as it would increase production costs at a time when the economy had not fully recovered.
read more.
* Feasibility study on minimum wage:
The Ministry of Labour has launched a feasibility study into five options for raising the minimum wage next year and this study would be ready for government deliberation in May.
Labour permanent secretary Nakhon Silpa-archa, also a chairman of the minimum wage committee, said the panel had insisted that the Bt300 daily minimum wage be maintained until the end of 2015.
According to the labour panel, more than 6,000 workers from 223 companies based in 12,229 locations received |daily wage at less than Bt300, hence the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare will take legal action against these employers.
Violators of the minimum wage regulation face a maximum six-month jail term and/or a fine of Bt100,000.
to read.
20150408
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* ROK, DPRK reconfirm differences in wage hike for economic zone:
South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) reconfirmed their different positions on wage hike for DPRK workers in the Kaesong industrial zone during Tuesday contact, Seoul’s unification ministry said on Wednesday.
Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing that the first inter-Korean contact over the wage increase issue was held in Kaesong between South Korea’s management committee for the factory park and the DPRK’s General Bureau for Guidance to Central Special Economic Zone Development.
During the contact, both sides failed to reach any compromise over the wage hike.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Workers continue protest after inadequate wage offer:
Workers protesting in front of the SUMEC garment factory.
Disgruntled workers from the SUMEC garment factory in Yaytarshay Township, Yayni City, Bago State, continued to protest in front of the factory after their employer offered inadequate pay raises.
“The employer has raised our salaries Ks 3,000 per month, which is Ks 100 per day, and he said if we are not happy with what the raise, we can leave the factory,” said labour leader Pyae Sone Aung.
“We asked for a Ks 60,000 minimum wage, but the raise they offered is far below that,” he continued.
The garment workers currently receive a minimum wage of between Ks 15,000 and Ks 35,000 per month. About 700 wokers decided on April 4 to strike when the Union parliament approved a bill to increase public servants’ basic salaries to Ks 120,000 per month.
read more.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* SC seeks report on non-payment of minimum wages:
The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday sought reports from all the four provincial labour secretaries regarding the volume of complaints received pertaining to non-payment of minimum wages and measures taken so far in this regard.
A two-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, was hearing a suo moto notice about the payment of minimum wages by the federal and provincial governments.
Faiz and Mudasir Naqvi had filed the petition under Article 184(3) of Constitution.Additional Advocate General Balochistan informed the court that they have law of minimum wages and there is six months imprisonment for not implementing it.
He said that the Welfare Workers Funds had issued notification of minimum wages of Rs12,000.
read more.
20150407
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* SUMEC workers vow to protest until wage demands met:
Disgruntled workers from the SUMEC garment factory in Yaytarshay township, Yayni City, Bago State, will continue striking until their demands for a basic salary of Ks 60,000 per month are met.
The garment workers currently receive a basic salary of between Ks 15,000 and Ks 35,000. They decided to strike when the Union parliament approved a bill to increase public servants’ basic salaries to Ks 120,000 per month.
The workers issued a total of 13 demands, including an increase in their basic salaries, on April 4. When the workers met the company’s management on April 6, the workers’ demands were not met.
“We will continue protesting until we get the wage amount we asked for.
The factory manager Dr Khin Maung Aye said to us that not even 6 kyats will be increased, let alone 60,000.
If they would prefer to shut down the factory rather than increase our salaries, that is up to them. As for us, we will keep m going until all workers receive the appropriate amount,” said labour leader Pyae Sone.
The workers in the factory mainly hail from nearby villages and rural areas.
read more.
20150406
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* S.Korean businessmen to visit Kaesong complex to discuss wage hike:
South Korean businessmen with factories in the Kaesong Industrial Complex will visit the inter- Korean factory park Tuesday to discuss the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s unilateral decision to hike wages for its workers there.
Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol told a press briefing Monday that a group of 13 South Korean businessmen, including Chung Ki-sup, chief of the council for South Korean firms operating factories in Kaesong, will travel to the zone Tuesday.
They will hold a meeting with other businessmen to discuss how to respond to the DPRK’s February notification of its decision to raise minimum wages for DPRK workers in Kaesong from 70.35 U.S. dollars to 74 dollars starting from March.
The new wage will be paid from April 10.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Minimum wage debate still unresolved:
Two years after the government passed a law to set a minimum wage, it still has not come into existence.
The issue has been a source of tension particularly in the garment industry, with a number of strikes so far this year revolving around issues of wages and overtime. Yet experts say it has been a difficult process to put a minimum wage into place, with the topic more complex than it first appears.
“We raise all the issues, but the main challenge is the understanding of the definition of the minimum wage,” said minimum wage-fixing committee member Daw Khine Khine Nwe, also general secretary for the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA).
The debate has reportedly hit a stumbling block as it approaches what the legislation will provide for, as measures beyond the minimum – such as paid wages that reflect worker productivity – get factored into arguments.
In March 2013, parliament replaced minimum wage laws from the late 1940s with one creating a committee to carry out research and then develop a minimum wage, according to previous analysis from Myanmar legal and tax advisory firm VDB Loi.
read more.
20150404-05
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Workers demand B421 minimum wage:
Labour unions in Rangsit and nearby areas have decided to seek a minimum wage of 421 baht per day on National Labour Day, May 1, according to Matichon Online.
Samai Phuphaenna, chairman of a group of labour unions in Rangsit and nearby areas, was quoted as saying the resolution was made at a seminar of his group and the Textile Industry Federation.
The topic of the seminar concerned the daily wage and whether it was enough for the cost of living.
Academics and workers in various fields agreed that the current 300 baht per day minimum wage is not enough to cover living costs.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Clothes makers demand pay rise:
Workers demonstrate at Sumec clothing factory in Yeni, Bago Region. (Photo-EMG)
About 700 workers demonstrated in the compound of Sumec Textile and Light Co Ltd’s factory in Yeni, Bago Region, demanding a minimum monthly wage of US$60.
They claimed they lost their rights when the factory was privatised and shifted from producing paper and household goods to clothing.
“The lowest salary is US$15 and the highest is US$35. The government promised an increase. Our salary was raised by only 20 US cents. We demonstrate because of this,” said worker Yin Swe.
They have 13 demands, including not enforcing overtime without the employee’s agreement, to get paid a day before the last day of the month if it falls on a holiday, to arrange a ferry if an eight-hour-overtime shift is completed, to cut the pay only for one day if someone is absent for a day, to increase the break time to 20 minutes, to double the overtime rate if it is an official holiday, to pay double on Sunday overtime and to give them the chance to leave for various reasons.
read more.
* EU Investment Deal Could Keep Garment Sector Wages Low:
London-based charity ActionAid has warned that a trade deal currently being negotiated by the Burmese government and the European Union could negatively impact female garment workers in the country.
The Bilateral Investment Treaty would set terms and conditions for foreign direct investment into Burma, and provide legal protection to European companies. Critics warn that such agreements can undermine the ability of governments to regulate business practices.
Talks on the deal were conducted in February and further negotiations are expected in May.
A post on Action Aid’s website compared the deal to the controversial Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TIPP, that would govern trade between the United States and European Union member states. The charity called for the Burmese government to ensure laws were in place to protect workers’ rights as investment from overseas ramps up.
“The government of Myanmar hasn’t had time to put the right laws and policies in place to make sure this investment benefits its own citizens,” said the post by Ruth Kelly, ActionAid’s program policy manager.
read more.
19:49:22 local time SRI LANKA
* Wage talks likely to drag on:
Despite commencement of discussions on renewing the Collective Agreement (CA) between the three major plantation trade unions and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC), the signing of the agreement is likely to see a delay due to the temporary halt of talks, informed sources said.
The agreement which was previously signed in 2011 expired on March 31 this year.
Accordingly, unlike the previous occasion where the biennial collective agreement was sealed even before its expiration, the negotiations this time are likely to drag on due to the prevalent political situation as well as the crisis faced by the plantation industry.
A series of negotiations pertaining to the renewal of the agreement had commenced during the latter part of last month where employers and workers had placed their concerns and demands at the discussion table.
read more.
20150401-03
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* S. Korea not budging on Kaesong wage row:
South Korea said Wednesday it will ask the country’s firms at the Gaesong Industrial Complex in writing not to succumb to North Korea’s pressure to raise wages for its workers.
The unification ministry said it will soon send a formal letter to 124 South Korean firms operating in the zone just north of the inter-Korean border.
The move comes as the companies, mostly small and medium-sized, will begin to pay March’s wages to around 53,000 North Korean employees on April 10.
In February, the North decided unilaterally to revise a set of labor rules that included the elevation of the minimum wage for its workers at the Gaesong Industrial Complex from $70.35 to $74 starting in March.
read more.
22:19:22 local time INDONESIA
* Indonesian unions strengthen unity towards IndustriALL goals:
The fight for living wages and sustainable industrial policy advance in Indonesia through two IndustriALL workshops.
Industry in Indonesia is characterized on the one hand by high-tech production involving skilled workers, and on the other low-tech extraction of raw materials. Production relies on imported materials while raw materials are exported.
At the workshop, Industriall Global Union affiliates identified the need for Indonesia to develop connecting industries such as processing and transportation as part of a comprehensive industrial development policy. Corruption is still a huge problem that needs to be addressed in Indonesia and this eats into resources intended for infrastructure improvement.
The Indonesian Government has developed a national development plan for 2011-2025, known as MP3EI, but the unions were not consulted and are largely unaware of it. The plan identifies Java as a centre for industry, while other regions focus on natural resources.
(…)
Living wage
Minimum wages in Indonesia are set at regional level. Unions have managed to win large increases in minimum wages, but they still do not cover a worker’s basic needs.
Inequality is increasing and there are large regional variations in wage levels: one region of Indonesia has the second lowest minimum wage in South East Asia, after Laos.
The government is now proposing to only increase the minimum wage every 5 years with no cost of living increases in between.
Affiliates discussed how the minimum wage does not take account of company profits, which are high compared with wage increases.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Mind the gap: Living Wages report:
How the global brands are not doing enough to ensure a dignified life for workers in the garment and electronics industry in India.
This report is a joint effort of Future in Our Hands (Framtiden i våre hender), Norway and Civil Initiatives for Development and Peace (Cividep), India, both civil society organizations working for fair distribution of wealth globally through respect for the rights of workers and communities.
The study compares working conditions and wages in two different global supply chains that cater to the European market with links to South India – the garment industry in Bangalore that produces apparel for well-known European retailers including H&M, a Swedish multinational, and Norwegian Varner Group as also the electronics industry in Sriperumbudur (near Chennai) where electronics companies Dell and Samsung (USA and Korea respectively) are manufacturing their products.
The report concludes that the working conditions in both supply chains are below universally recognized standards set by International Labour Organization (ILO) in many aspects and the wages these workers are paid cannot be termed as a ‘living wage’.
Also the study shows that working conditions in all the five factories cannot yet be termed as “Decent work” a concept created by the ILO and which stands for the right of employment in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
The report highlights the working conditions at five factories in the garment and electronics sector, it compares consumption and expenditure pattern of workers in the two sectors, also to what extent they need to take up loans for various reasons and purposes, as well as their thoughts of the future.
read more.
* Minimum wages hiked by 5% in Delhi:
The new financial year has started with a roughly 5% increase in minimum wages for all categories of labourers in the city.
The government notified revised monthly wages for “unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled” workers on Wednesday.
The wage structure applies to eight-and-a-half hours of daily work. Employers violating the rule will face action from the department of labour.
The minimum wages for unskilled workers such as security guards, gardeners, peons and car cleaners will increase from Rs 8,632 to Rs 9,048 per month.
For semi-skilled workers—fitters and welders—wages will increase from Rs 9,542 to Rs 10,010 per month. For skilled labour, like drivers, tailors and masons, the new minimum wage is Rs 10,998 per month, up from Rs 10,478.
read more. & read more.
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* FTI rejects proposed wage hike:
The Federation of Thai Industries rejected the tri-partite wage committee’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to Bt360.
Wallop Witanakorn, vice-president of the federation, said that the hike would significantly affect the domestic manufacturing sector and drive investment to neighbouring countries that offer lower wage.
He noted that the committee should take into consideration that the wage was just recently raised to Bt300. At present, several manufacturing firms are operating with lower profits, amid poor economic condition.
to read.
20150331
21:19:22 local time THAILAND
* Workers ask for B360 minimum wage:
Workers sew at Ecco’s now-defunct Phichit plant before the company looked to consolidate in November 2013. Ecco offered labourers the choice of moving to work at its main plant in Ayutthaya province. (Bangkok Post file photo)
The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, one of Thailand’s major labour organisations, has called for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to increase the minimum wage to 360 baht from the current 300 baht per day.
Wilaiwan Sae Tia, president of the TLSC, said higher public utilities charges and rising food prices have increased the cost of living and placed a greater burden on workers.
To compensate for this, the daily labour minimum wage should be increased to 360 baht, she said.
Ms Wilaiwan also called on the government to disband the provincial labour wage committees, saying they were not able to effectively represent workers; to draw up a clear wage structure; and to create a mechanism to protect workers who have been employed a year or more, to guarantee a regular wage adjustment and welfare benefits.
read more.
20150327-29
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* Aquino’s wage hike call hypocritical – KMU:
National labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno said today that Pres. Noynoy Aquino was just being hypocritical when he called on employers last Friday to increase wages, saying the chief executive has just implemented a meager P15.00 adjustment in the minimum wage in Metro Manila.
The labor group said Aquino’s statements, made at a convention of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., that limiting wages could reduce the economy and that increasing wages could boost the economy, run counter to his measures on wages in the past five years.
KMU also said the president’s appeal would amount to nothing because telling capitalists, especially the biggest ones who employ the most workers, to increase wages is like calling on pigs to fly.
read more.
* Wage workers get an increase:
The Department of Labor and Employment announced last week that its Regional Board has approved a P15 increase in the wage of minimum wage workers in the National Capital Region.
It will benefit around 12.5 percent of private-sector workers in Metro Manila – 587,000 employees. The remaining 87.5 percent – 4.1 million workers – are not affected as they are already paid above the prescribed rate.
As may be expected, national labor groups have called the increase “too meager” compared to the amount needed by a worker’s family to live decently. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) had asked for a P136 increase but the government approved only P15, saying this was what employers can absorb.
read more.
20:04:22 local time 
NEPAL
* Govt to give special facilities to SEZ employees:
They say the minimum wage for SEZ workers will not be lower than minimum wage fixed for other workers.
“The law has tried to treat employees in a special work to make SEZ more important,” Yam Kumari Khatiwada, spokesperson of Ministry of Industry, said.
read more.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Minimum wage:
The long-delayed process to raise the minimum wage in Sindh as promised in the last budget provides a window into the careless way the concerns of the poor are handled by the state.
First of all, it was not necessary to allow the process of issuing a notification to take so long. Two separate notifications have been sent, by two departments, creating confusion about the status of the announcement.
The first notification went out in December, and the second in March. The lack of coordination between various departments of the Sindh government that this shows is startling, and industrialists now have an opportunity to take advantage of the confusion and refuse to pay the higher minimum wage till the matter is clarified.
But bureaucratic incompetence aside, the minimum wage — upon which the majority of workers in the country depend for their livelihood — also raises important issues for other provinces.
read more.
20150324
21:19:22 local time VIET NAM
* Roadmap to adjust business minimum wage:
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has ordered the design of a roadmap to adjust the minimum wage for businesses in line with their respective manufacturing sectors.
- Vietnamese manufacturing on the rise: HSBC report
- HSBC: Vietnam manufacturing PMI peaks for eight months
- RoK spawns manufacturing growth of Vietnam
The minimum wage adjustment is made annually but has yet to satisfy workers’ needs, especially those paid through the State budget.
Therefore, the Deputy PM, who is also Head of the National Steering Committee on salary reform and social insurance, directed ministries to study and propose an adequate level of payment for joint-stock businesses in which the State holds a dominant stake.
read more. & read more.
20150320-22
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Panel to study minimum wages in Delhi:
Delhi government today announced that it would form a committee to study minimum wages in the national capital.
Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai, at a public hearing, directed officials to ensure that wages are paid to all workers at least as per the minimum notified rates.
According to a senior government official, as per minimum notified rates in city, Rs 8,086 is paid to unskilled worker while semi-skilled worker can be given Rs 8,918. Besides, Rs 9,802 can be paid to skilled worker.
“The committee, which will also have around two MLAs as its members, will soon be formed. It will study and come up with new minimum wages in Delhi,” the official said.
read more.
* Unions say wage panel defunct:
Trade union leaders made a shocking revelation at the first “jan sunvai” of the labour department since the AAP government took charge.
The Minimum Wages Advisory Board, meant for reviewing and revising the wage structure for skilled and unskilled labour, has not had a proper meeting since 1995 and been almost defunct for quite sometime now.
Stunned to hear about the defunct Board, labour minister Gopal Rai issued directions to officers that steps be taken to revive the Board so that review of wages can be done at the earliest and people are paid their dues.
Representatives of over 150 trade unions told the open house that the revised minimum wages notifications over the past years were largely based on addition of dearness allowance on the basis of the Centre’s inflation index.
They sought a real time revision of minimum wages after a thorough review.
read more.
20150318-19
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* S. Korean businessmen calls to restrain anti-DPRK leaflets spread:
South Korean businessmen running factories in the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Wednesday called for the South Korean government to restrain the scattering of leaflets against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to resolve the issue on a wage hike in the inter-Korean factory park.
A group of about 10 South Korean businessmen traveled to the DPRK’s border town of Kaesong, where some 120 South Korean firms are operating factories and hiring around 53,000 DPRK workers, earlier in the morning.
Their visit came after the DPRK unilaterally notified South Korea of raising the minimum wage for DPRK workers in the Kaesong industrial zone from 70.35 U.S. dollars to 74 dollars starting from March. The March wage will be paid on April 10.
“If the anti-DPRK leaflets scattering is restrained, the wage issue on the Kaesong industrial complex will be easily resolved,” Chung Ki-sup, chief of the council for South Korean firms operating factories in Kaesong, told reporters before heading to Kaesong.
read more. & read more.
22:19:22 local time PHILIPPINES
* Aquino made wage regionalization worse – KMU:
Continuing its condemnation of the meager P15 wage hike approved by the Metro Manila wage board, national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno said today that the regionalization of wages was made worse under Pres. Noynoy Aquino.
Citing an infographic published by GMANetwork.com last May 1, 2014, the labor group said the minimum wage in Metro Manila is already low but the minimum wage levels in regions outside Metro Manila are even lower, and the gap between Metro Manila’s minimum wage and that of other regions has increased under Aquino.
read more.
* P15 ‘insulting’ wage hike in NCR fails to appease restive workers:
The P15.00 ($0.34) increase in workers’ daily wage is not even enough to cover for the increase in fares in the country’s train systems.
It’s not enough to cover for the rising prices of basic commodities, especially food items, and rising payments for basic services,”
Rea Alegre, spokesperson of broad workers’ group All Workers’ Unity (AWU), described the P15 ($0.34) wage hike approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board last Tuesday, which will take effect mid-April for Metro Manila workers, as too sparse that it is insulting; the timing too is suspect.
“This is as insulting as the previously announced P238 to P268 ($5.32 to $5.99) wage rate increase in Caraga Region, which also allows companies and industries to give workers coupons instead of an actual wage increase.
Workers need immediate relief and a National Minimum Wage, in the amount of P16,000 ($357.60) monthly, not alms.”
read more. & read more.
* P15 wage hike insulting, won’t stop protests vs. Aquino – KMU:
National labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno condemned today the Metro Manila wage board for implementing a P15.00 wage hike, saying the amount is insulting to the country’s workers and won’t stop protests against Pres. Noynoy Aquino.
The labor group said the wage hike, which was approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board last Tuesday and will take effect mid-April, is too meager compared with the amount needed daily by a workers’ family to live decently.
“If Aquino thinks this wage hike will weaken workers’ protests calling for his resignation, then he is sorely mistaken.
This meager wage hike is insulting to workers and does not address the government’s and big capitalists’ attacks against the minimum wage,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.
read more.
21:19:22 local time VIET NAM
* Vietnam – on the road to a living wage:
With a systematically rising minimum wage, Vietnam is well on its way to achieving a living wage.
But collective bargaining and labour relations with foreign companies remain a challenge.
In January 2015, the Vietnamese government raised the minimum wage by 15 per cent to US$ 145 per month. This was a result of research and a consultation process through a tripartite National Wage Council.
According to studies, the minimum wage now covers 75 per cent of living costs, and increases will continue in the coming years. Reaching a living wage is a priority for the government and the trade unions, as well as a key global campaign of IndustriALL.
On a recent visit to Vietnam, IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina, said:
“With a systematic tripartite minimum living wage program, Vietnam sets a good example to other countries in Asia for boosting purchasing power, economic growth and creation of new jobs.”
(…)
Vietnam’s National Union of Textile and Garment Workers is preparing an application to join IndustriALL. The situation in the sector highlights the structural difficulties that the unions are trying to solve.
The Textile and Garment Workers’ Union represent 120,000 workers, but there are more than 3 million workers in the booming textile, garment, shoe and leather industry. At the moment, the VGCL provincial and city organizations organize workers in foreign-owned enterprises and joint ventures.
A number of foreign investors refuse the respect workers’ rights, which led to almost 300 strikes in 2014.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Judge closes courts for labour activist hearings:
Journalists and colleagues of labour activist Ko Thu Zaw Kyi Win were yesterday barred from sitting in on his first court appearance since being arrested for incitement on March 4.
Ko Thu Zaw Kyi Win was detained in Shwe Pyi Thar township following a crackdown on protesting garment workers on March 4. He is facing a charge under section 505(b) of the Penal Code, which carries a potential two-year jail term.
The court’s legal officer has submitted a request to the regional court to shift the case to Yankin or South Okkalapa townships for security reasons.
The judge at Shwe Pyi Thar is yet to make a decision on the request, which is opposed by the defendant because it would make it hard for his family to attend court.
The decision to close the court at yesterday’s hearing was condemned by Ko Thu Zaw Kyi Win’s lawyer, Ko Nay Lin Aung.
read more.
* Government go-slow on minimum wage panned:
A union leader has urged the government to speed up its consideration of the minimum wage, warning that delay could bring more industrial unrest. U Aung Lin, chair of the Myanmar Trade Unions Federation, said yesterday that the government should try to finalise the matter by April, four months earlier than planned.
His call has received significant support, with U Maung Maung Win, a lawyer and member of the government’s labour Arbitration Council, describing wages as the “fundamental cause” of recent protests and strikes in industrial zones.
“The government should start setting the minimum wages, instead of collecting surveys all the time. It’s just delaying the process,” he said.
U Ye Naing Win, a member of the Cooperative Committee for Trade Unions, said setting the minimum wage would be beneficial for both employers and workers.
“For employers, it will reduce labour disputes and they will know exactly what their labour costs will be, rather than costs increasing whenever there is a protest,” he said.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* CITU plans stir on May 12;
The CITU will stage an agitation in all district headquarters in the State, pressing for various demands, including better wages to tannery workers, on May 12, CITU State general secretary Sukumaran has announced.
Addressing the 73{+r}{+d}annual general body meeting of Tannery Workers’ Association here on Wednesday, he said the minimum wages for tannery workers should be fixed as Rs.15,000.
More than 50,000 workers had been working for meagre wages in tanneries in seven districts. Safety measures at work sites were very poor.
The government did not take any steps to implement labour welfare laws and neglected the problems of labourers, he charged.
The general body appealed to the government to establish an integrated tannery industrial complex in Dindigul and an ESI hospital.
to read.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Labour law reform:
Labour laws are meant to regulate the relationship between employers and workers in which the interests of both sides are safeguarded.
Employers have to ensure that the place of work is safe, hygienic and airy, and that the workers are not exposed to health hazards.
The salary and perquisites drawn by the workers and the terminal benefits should be sufficient to enable them to meet their own and their family’s needs.
Where entrepreneurs are concerned, the labour laws should help them operate their businesses with a clear vision of their statutory rights and obligations and protect them against undue interference from government officials or the subversion of discipline by the workforce.
Once employers fulfil their obligations under the law, they expect reciprocal commitment and cooperation from their employees.
Regrettably, such a critical sphere of legislation that affects both the national economy and people’s welfare, has been totally neglected by successive governments for the last more than two decades.
During this period a number of commissions were formed by the governments with the primary motive of simplifying and consolidating the labour laws and introducing a one-window operation related to welfare laws in which the employers had to pay monthly contributions to the government.
read more.
20150316-17
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Garment workers deserve support too:
Garment workers stage a sit-down protest on a road in Insein township on March 4 after police blocked their planned march to downtown Yangon. (Naing Wynn Htoon/The Myanmar Times)
Amid all the furore and outrage over the excessive force used by police against student protesters this month, another violent clampdown has dropped from public attention.
On March 4 – one day before civilian thugs were employed to violently quash student activists gathered at City Hall – a similar scene took place at Yangon’s Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone.
The protesters in that incident were striking garment-factory workers. As would be repeated at the student protest the following day, hired civilian men, decked in red armbands bearing the word “duty”, broke up the protest, apparently at the instigation of the authorities.
According to a spokesperson for the garment workers, those who were arrested were “violently beaten” in the process. Those beaten and arrested at Shwe Pyi Thar were calling for a minimum working wage of K60,000 a month (US$60).
Those arrested remain in detention more than a week later – along with three activists arrested during an earlier wage protest.
read more.
* Time for government to step up on labour disputes:
A demonstation by workers was timed to coincide with student protests against the National Education Law recently.
Several strikes broke out simultaneously at factories in the Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone. Some resolved their disputes through compromise and negotiation, while some workers faced a violent crackdown by the authorities.
This is a good time to ask why labour disputes are difficult to reconcile in Myanmar, and how they could be dealt with better.
More than 5500 workers from Costec, Ford Glory, E-Land Myanmar and Red Stone garment factories and Tai Yi shoe factory in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone protested simultaneously.
According to a government statement, workers from four of the factories reached a compromise with employers and most have now returned to work. However, hundreds have also lost their jobs.
This includes more than 600 workers from E-Land Myanmar who still have not reached an agreement with their employer. Some of these were brutally attacked by plain-clothed thugs, and 14 leaders were arrested.
According to the latest figures, nearly 20 workers were arrested for their role in the protests.
On March 8, leaders of the Shwe Pyi Thar demonstration held a press conference at Mahabandoola Park in downtown Yangon, at which they called on the authorities to release the arrested workers, reveal who used the vigilantes to suppress the demonstrations and resolve the workers’ demand for a wage increase.
Poor workplace conditions and low wages were behind the decision to strike, but in particular the latter.
The government’s mediation team helped bring workers and employers together to discuss a wage increase, but some couldn’t reach agreement.
Workers complained that their minimum wage could hardly cover their living costs, while employers said that if they agreed to the demands they would lose money.
The workers’ demands are simple.
They said their monthly income ranges from just K80,000 to K130,000 a month, and this is not enough to cope with rising living costs. Workers from E-Land Myanmar demanded a K1000-a-day pay increase.
It is obvious there will never be a resolution if just workers and employers are negotiating.
The daily wage of a Myanmar worker – the equivalent of US$2.50-3 – is about the same as that earned by workers in Cambodia. But Myanmar has a higher cost of living than Cambodia.
read more.
* Detained labour activists threaten hunger strike:
Two labour union leaders and two activists under arrest for demonstrating for higher wages have threatened to go on hunger strike in Yangon’s Insein prison if their case is moved to another court.
Ko Nay Lin Aung, lawyer for the four unionists, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that the two union leaders, Ko Naing Htay Lwin and Ko Myo Min Min, and the two activists, Ko Thu Zaw Kyi Win and Ko Naing Zaw Kyi Win, had told him of their decision on March 12.
The legal officer of Shwe Pyi Thar Township Court requested on March 9 that the case be shifted to Yankin or South Okkalapa township courts for security reasons. Both courts are about 90 minutes’ drive from Shwe Pyi Thar.
The next hearing is due to be held on March 18.
“If the court is changed, then their families will face difficulty meeting them.
They and their lawyers will be too exhausted because of the distance.
So they told me they did not agree” with the request to change court, the lawyer said.
(…)
Ma Ni Lar, wife of Ko Thu Zaw Kyi Win, said that her husband suffered from liver disease and she was worried about how a hunger strike would affect his health.
She said prison authorities had not given the family permission to send medicines to him and that he rejected medical treatment from the prison hospital.
Ma Thandar Aye, wife of Ko Myo Min Min, labour union chair of South Korean-owned garment factory E-Land Myanmar, said she could not afford the costs of travelling to a distant court to see her husband. Since his arrest she has been the family’s sole breadwinner and cannot afford to take time off work, she said.
Ma Thandar Aye works in the same garment factory, earning about K100,000 (US$95) a month to support their two young children.
read more.
20150312-15
CHINA – CAMBODIA
20150313 * From Dongguan to Phnom Penh, its déjà vu all over again:
The supervisor on the floor is a relative of the boss and he doesn’t understand a damned thing.
He’s simply not up to the job of being a manager: he only knows how to scold people.
He knows that in one hour you can only manage to do 15 pieces, but he sets the quota at 50. If you can’t meet the quota, then you have to put in extra hours.
But there’s no overtime pay for that.
They say “other people can meet the quota, so why can’t you?” In fact, no one can ever fill the quota in time.
Interviewee in Dongguan factory 2004
“You woman – you must learn to use that machine faster.
Otherwise you can leave the factory. Do you understand?”
And he would throw the materials we were supposed to stitch on the machine or on us, and bang the desk and come close to our face and scream.
He is very harsh.
Interviewee in Cambodian factory 2014
In 2004, China Labour Bulletin investigated the pay and working conditions of migrant women workers in Dongguan, China’s “factory to the world.”
In 2014, Human Rights Watch investigated the pay and working conditions of the predominately women workers in Cambodia’s garment industry: The results were predictably similar.
Most of Cambodia’s garment factories are owned by Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and South Korean companies, and many of them set up shop in the suburbs of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh when production costs in Dongguan got too high.
They produce goods for the same international brands that bought from Dongguan in the 1990s and 2000s, and operate basically the same low cost, low margin, labour intensive business model.
The minimum wage in Dongguan in 2004 was just 450 yuan a month (US$54 at 2004 exchange rates).
A combination of labour shortages and increased labour activism pushed wages higher and as of 1 May this year, the minimum wage in Dongguan will be about four times higher, standing at 1,510 yuan per month or US$241 at today’s exchange rate.
In 2004, the minimum wage for Cambodian garment workers was US$50 per month, about the same as in Dongguan.
However, wages increased much more slowly in Cambodia and it was not until the upsurge in worker and trade union activism in 2013 that the minimum wage reached US$100 per month on 1 February 2014.
Protests over low pay continued last year and the minimum wage was raised again in January this year to US$128 per month.
read more.
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
20150313 * Two Koreas trade barbs over industrial park wage row:
North and South Korea have dug in their heels in an escalating row over wages at their Kaesong joint industrial zone
North and South Korea dug in their heels Friday in an escalating row over wages at their Kaesong joint industrial zone.
Pyongyang last month announced it would raise the basic salary of some 54,000 North Korean workers employed across 125 South Korean firms in the complex.
But the South rejected the idea, citing an existing agreement that any wage rise had to be agreed by a joint committee overseeing the management of the park, which lies just over the border in North Korea.
“The government can never accept any unilateral system change,” South Korean Unification Ministry Spokesman Lim Byeong-Cheol told reporters Friday.
Voicing “regret” at Pyongyang’s refusal to engage with Seoul’s offer of a dialogue on the issue, Lim said the ministry would work closely with company managers in Kaesong to resolve the dispute.
The North’s proposal would increase the average monthly sum the South pays for each worker — including allowances, welfare and overtime — from $155 to $164.
On Thursday, North Korea said it had no need to consult with the South over the wage hike, saying it had a “legitimate and normal” right to amend working conditions in Kaesong.
read more.
22:19:22 local time INDONESIA
20150312 * Indonesia to Factor Productivity Into New System for Wage Rate Hikes:
Indonesia plans to factor in productivity into a new rule to set annual minimum wage gains, in an effort to lift the skills of workers and avoid labor disputes.
The new system is still being discussed with unions and the main employers’ association, Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri said in Jakarta on Thursday, declining to give a time frame for implementation.
Minimum wages are usually set in November, with thousands of workers protesting last year in a nationwide strike for higher pay because of inflation.
“Certainly we need a system that means labor costs are predictable and also a formula that will be fair for labor,” Dhakiri said at a business forum.
“The formula is still secret. But essentially there are proposals to use productivity, that’s the main and important point.”
Indonesia’s labor productivity per worker is five times lower than neighbor Malaysia, and on average is also lower than in Thailand, the Philippines and China, the World Bank said in a report last year.
The government is seeking to lift productivity through competency-based training, Dhakiri said.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
20150314 * Myanmar fails transition test with brutal crackdown:
The return of sponsored thugs was a shock, but the govt can still pass the challenges of democratisation
Students marching in a largely peaceful nationwide demonstration found their route to Yangon blocked by 3,000 police and barbed-wire barricades last week.
The ensuing stand-off in central Myanmar’s Letpadan ended on Tuesday, when a column of baton-wielding riot police launched an attack, injuring dozens and arresting more than 100 students and monks.
“We didn’t break the law but we were peacefully protesting for academic policy change,” Yee Mon, a Yangon university student among 12 arrested then released on Thursday, told the AP. Many of his fellows remain in jail.
(…)
Education is not the only area where citizens are demanding more say in Myanmar’s future.
On March 4, female garment-factory workers marched in Yangon to demand better pay.
They too were attacked by government-hired thugs before being arrested by the police.
Many of the workers were badly beaten.
They currently earn less than 40,000 kyats (Bt1,270/US$40) per month.
The delay in setting a minimum wage comes amid government concern that higher labour costs might scare foreign investors away.
read more.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
20150313 * 25 lakh labourers wait revision of minimum wage:
A trade union organization CITU has alleged that minimum wage for about 25 lakh laboures in Haryana has not been revised for the past eight years maintaining that as per law its revision is mandatory after every five years.
A delegation of the CITU led by its state general secretary Satbir Singh on Friday met Haryana finance minister Captain Abhimanyu to demand fixation of Rs 15,000 as minimum wage for the labourers.
According to Singh, currently monthly minimum wage of labourers in Haryana is about Rs 5,600 monthly.
read more.
20150307-08
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Roundtable urges labour rights for home-based workers:
* Speaker says wages for home-based workers should be fixed under the minimum wages laws
Speakers at a seminar here on Saturday asked the provincial governments to remove all the bottlenecks in the labour and social security laws to ensure provision of all labour rights and social protection to all the home-based workers.
They were speaking at a Roundtable on “Social Protection mechanism for Home-based Workers” jointly organised by HomeNet Pakistan and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER).
Umm-e-Laila Azhar of HomeNet Pakistan recommended that home-based workers should be provided market access so that they can sell their products easily and earn honourable livelihood for living decent lives.
She said the data about home-based workers is not included in the Labour Force Survey of Pakistan, which should be included for effective policy planning and implementation.
The wages for the home-based workers should be fixed under the “minimum wages laws”, she suggested.
Speaking on the occasion, PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali pointed out that in many countries the governments have levied one percent tax on all the bank transactions and that amount is used for provision of social security facilities to the workers.
It is a right of all the citizens to receive social protection and the government must ensure provision of this right, he said.
read more. & read more.
* Women workers stage rally to mark International Women’s Day:
Women workers held a big rally on the occasion of International Women’s Day here and demanded of the Sindh government to announce the home-based workers’ policy immediately.
They said despite long struggle spanning over one decade, millions of home-based workers in Sindh are deprived of their due rights and they are yet to be accepted as ‘workers’ under the labour laws.
According to details, a large number of women workers from the platform of Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) and National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) staged a big rally from the Arts Council of Pakistan here to celebrate the international women’s day.
The rally led by the general secretary of HBWWF Zehra Khan was attended by a large number of home-based women workers, labours of different industries and sectors and also the affectees of Balida Factory fire tragedy.
They were displaying banners and placards inscribed with their demands including immediate announcement of home-based policy, giving the status of worker as per the local laws to the workers of informal sector, especially the women home-based workers.
read more.
* Home-based policy still distant dream for millions of workers in Pakistan:
Photo’s by Zehra Khan & Mohammad Hanif
By Zehra Khan, General Secretary of Home Based Women Workers Federation and Research and Education Secretary in National Trade Union Federation
Women workers held a big rally in Karachi on the occasion of International Women’s Day and demanded the Sindh government to announce the home-based workers’ policy immediately which would give home based workers of the informal sector the status of worker as per the local laws.
Despite a long struggle spanning over one decade, millions of home-based workers in Sindh are deprived of their due rights and they are yet to be accepted as ‘workers’ under the labor laws.
A large number of women workers from the platform of Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) and National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) staged a big rally from the Arts Council of Pakistan here to celebrate the International Women’s Day.
(…)
The women participants of the rally demanded the following:
– To announce the home-based workers’ policy immediately.
– Government should ratify ILO convention C177 and include it in the policy, besides ensuring its implementation.
– Home-based workers should be registered and their contactors should be included in the ambit of registration.
– Social protection of workers should be ensured including the facilities of healthcare, education, jobs and pension.
– All home-based workers should be accepted as workers under the labor laws and given all facilities as per law.
– Inequality in wages on gender discrimination basis should be stopped.
– Industry-wise data of the home-based workers should be gathered.
– The issues of home-based workers should be included in the agenda of labor movement.
– The rights of workers under the ILO conventions and GSP Plus should be respected and implemented.
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20150306
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Police charge 14 garment workers as protests gather pace:
Police block off workers at the Danyin Gone junction in Shwe Pyi Thar Township, Yangon on March 4, 2015. Photo: Hein Htet/Mizzima
Myanmar police have charged 14 garment workers with rioting following a crackdown on a strike, state media said March 5, as authorities face increasing criticism for their handling of a series of protests.
The workers, eight men and six women, face jail if convicted. They were arrested on March 4 after blocking roads to the commercial hub of Yangon in a protest over wages, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
Police broke the strike by hundreds of factory workers on March 4 and most of the employees have since returned to their jobs, the report said.
Those arrested “face up to two years in prison and fines if convicted” under the Rioting Act, it added.
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* Use of force not the solution to ongoing problems:
Police cracked down on about 100 workers from a Shwepyithar garment factory who were staging a protest on Wednesday by walking to Yangon City Hall from Shwepyithar Township.
During the crackdown, unidentified individuals wearing red armbands and the police arrested some workers. Most of the women protesters were asked to return home.
The authorities also threatened legal action against the protesters, who describe the crackdown as “unjust.” Law experts raise questions about such a crackdown on peaceful protesters and the involvement of those wearing red armbands.
read more.
* ‘Any Labor Dispute Will Only Be Resolved By the Parties Sitting Together’:
In recent weeks, some 2,000 workers of the E-Land Myanmar, COSTEC and Ford Glory garment factories in Rangoon’s Shwepyithar Industrial Zone went on strike to demand a raise in monthly wages from 80,000 kyats [US$78], up from 50,000 kyats.
Protests dragged as workers and factory owners failed to come to a resolution. Authorities stepped up pressure on workers, whose number eventually dwindled to a hundred, before police arrested the last remaining protestors on Wednesday.
When President Thein Sein’s nominally-civilian government took office it lifted junta-era restrictions on unionization and striking, and created laws that are supposed to regulate dispute resolution.
In January, a committee began conducting research to determine an appropriate minimum wage level for Burma, which lacks a minimum wage and has some of the lowest wages in Asia.
The Irrawaddy recently spoke to Steve Marshall, long-time liaison officer for the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Rangoon, about the protests, the state of labor dispute resolution and setting the minimum wage.
read more.
20150305
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* 14 Garment Workers Charged with Rioting:
Fourteen striking garment workers have been charged with rioting, police in Rangoon said on Thursday, punishable by up to two years in prison.
On Wednesday, police dispersed a sit-in of about 100 employees of the E-Land, COSTEC and Ford Glory Garment factories in the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone, after authorities thwarted their attempt to march to City Hall.
The workers had been on strike since early February, demanding a pay raise from their current 50,000 kyat (US$50) salaries to 80,000 kyats.
Striking workers received several warnings from authorities to clear the site and return to work, though several rounds of negotiations failed to produce an agreement.
read more. & read more.
* Plainclothes Vigilantes Make a Comeback in Rangoon:
Alone, they would have looked no different from ordinary men on the city streets. Together, they were mobilized and menacing.
In the last two days, two protests have been broken up with the assistance of groups of men in plainclothes, indistinguishable from the public were it not for the red cloth tied around each of their arms, emblazoned with the word “duty” in Burmese.
On Wednesday, they helped police break up the straggling remnants of a strike in the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone, during which a dozen female garment workers were detained alongside two reporters.
On Thursday afternoon they were downtown, attempting to agitate student protesters near Sule Pagoda before police moved in with batons to disperse the demonstration. In some cases, members of the plainclothes group seized and dragged protesters towards flatbed trucks, whereupon they were placed into police custody.
A photographer from The Irrawaddy saw the agents provocateurs being shepherded into City Hall, where a platoon of police officers are regularly stationed, shortly before the crackdown began.
read more.
* Police Arrest Protesting Garment Workers:
Police in Rangoon Division’s Insein Township arrested at least 20 striking workers on Wednesday afternoon who had begun a sit-in protest earlier in the day.
About 100 workers from COSTEC and Ford Glory garment factories in Shwepyithar Industrial Zone, who have been protesting to demand a pay rise from their employers for over a month, began a fresh sit-in protest on Wednesday morning after a planned march to City Hall was blocked by hundreds of police.
Hla Hla Htay, a striking worker from the COSTEC garment factory, said police moved on the protesters late on Wednesday, arresting at least 20 and forcing others to disperse.
On Feb. 2, about 2,000 employees of the E-Land Myanmar, COSTEC and Ford Glory garment factories began a strike to demand a raise in monthly wages to 80,000 kyat [US$78], up from 50,000 kyat.
The factories, which are owned by Chinese and South Korean firms, according to the workers, rejected the demands and offered 62,000 kyats.
read more.
* Workers, journalists detained in Shwepyithar protest:
Thirteen striking workers and two journalists were apprehended by police during a labour protest and detained in Rangoon’s Insein Township on Wednesday.
Workers from the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone were continuing their recent demonstrations calling for better pay by marching to City Hall in the former capital. Leaders of the strike from the industrial zone have previously been charged under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code.
Thirteen workers were detained on Wednesday, according to a report in state media, along with DVB’s Myo Zaw Linn and 7Day Daily’s Ko Nikki. The reporters were released last night after being held briefly, but the protestors remain in detention.
A report by state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said that locals assisted police with the dispersal of the “illegal” protest.
The journalists were taken to an interrogation facility on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road after being caught up in a clash between officers and workers at the Danyingone intersection.
“The police began manhandling the labour protesters, who resisted,” said Myo Zaw Linn, following his release.
read more.
* Myanmar authorities disperse striking industrial zone workers:
Myanmar authorities have taken action to disperse striking garment workers with Yangon’s Shwepyitha Industrial Zone as negotiation with the striking workers made no progress on settling labor dispute, a semi- official report said Thursday.
The workers from the foreign-owned E-Land Myanmar Garment Factory staging protest at the industrial zone were dispersed by the security force Wednesday near evening with about 15 protestors and two reporters including a foreigner being detained.
The two reporters were later released on warning, said the Global New Light of Myanmar.
read more.
* Myanmar police drag away protesting factory workers:
Police say they have detained more than a dozen factory workers, who were demanding higher wages and better working conditions, in a protest that follows a crackdown on students outside Myanmar’s biggest city.
The detentions came when about 100 workers tried to march from their factories into Yangon late Wednesday but were blocked by police. After some workers staged a sit-in, police dragged them away.
The protest in two industrial zones near Yangon came as police in an area 140 kilometers (90 miles) from Yangon were faced off with hundreds of students demanding education reforms.
Since the country started moving from a half-century of dictatorship to democracy just four years ago, the government has found itself grappling with the consequences of newfound freedoms of expression.
read more. & to read. & to read.
20150304
23:19:22 local time NORTH KOREA
* Gov’t to hold meeting with Kaesong firms over wages:
The South Korean government said Wednesday it will hold a round-table meeting this week with the heads of local firms operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex to discuss how to handle North Korea’s unilateral decision to raise the wages of its workers there.
The unification ministry is scheduled to hold the meeting with the council of relevant companies at its headquarters in Seoul at 5 p.m. on Thursday, said ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol. The ministry is in charge of inter-Korean relations.
“We plan to review measures regarding the recent situation,” he said at a press briefing. “Along with related government officials, Chung Ki-sup, head of the council, and about 10 other representatives will attend (the meeting).”
Another ministry official also said the meeting is intended “to share the government’s position on the matter and listen to the opinion of the firms.”
Last week, the North announced it would raise the minimum wage for its workers in the zone by 5.18 percent to $74 a month starting in March.
read more.
21:19:22 local time LAOS
* Unions warn that minimum wage rise must be applied:
Labour unions have warned employers to observe the new rule that raises the minimum wage from 626,000 kip to 900,000 kip per month.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Lao Federation of Trade Unions and Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently announced that the new rule will take effect on April 1.
The ministry noted a mistake carrie d in local media, which reported that the new rule would take effect on March 1. The increase in the minimum wage is intended to enable low income earners to cope with the rising cost of living.
The Lao Federation of Trade Unions has warned workplaces to strictly observe the new rule, saying it will keep a close eye on its implementation.
The warning cam e after the union experienced previous cases when many employers reportedly refused to pay the increased minimum wage, despite the three parties having agreed on the last increase to the minimum wage in 2012 from 348,000 kip to 626,000 kip per month.
read more.
20:49:22 local time BURMA/MYANMAR
* Police disperse garment workers:
Garment workers in Shwepyitha industrial zone, Yangon, were dispersed by security police Wednesday after unsuccessful discussion with local government authorities.
The workers who demanded increasing salaries from the E-Land Myanmar garment factory staged illegal protest at the industrial zone and started marching to Yangon City Hall.
With the help of locals in the afternoon, police scattered protesters and detained 15 persons in the crowd, including two reporters from Democratic Voice of Burma and 7 Day media, who were then released for not taking part in the protest after warning them of observing media ethics when authorities are taking their duties in accordance with the law.
The remaining detainees are still under investigation by Yangon region
government.
to read.
19:49:22 local time INDIA
* Government to ensure fair wages to workers: Dattatreya:
Not just minimum wages…I want fare wages,” the Labour Minister said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Wednesday said the government intends to ensure “fare wages” for the labourers.
“Not just minimum wages…I want fare wages,” Mr. Dattatreya said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
The Minister was replying to a question on whether the government would pay heed to the demand of major central trade unions and increase minimum wages to Rs 15,000 per month from existing Rs 10,000 a month now.
Mr. Dattatreya, however, did not give any timeline.
Seeking the hike in minimum wages, the trade unions had submitted a joint memorandum to the Finance Minister in June last year and had met the Labour Minister on the issue.
read more.
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Remuneration: Government ordered to constitute board to set minimum wage:
The Peshawar High Court has directed the K-P government to constitute a board within a month to determine the minimum wages for unskilled workers working in different industrial units of the province.
A bench of Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan issued the order to the government while hearing several connected petitions filed by owners of industrial units including Ferozsons Laboratories Limited, Bannu Woollen Mills and Ghazana Sugar Mills among others.
The court also suspended the earlier order of the provincial government wherein it fixed the minimum wage for labourers at Rs15,000 per month.
Qazi Ghulam Dastagir and Abdul Latif Afridi, counsels for the petitioners, informed the court that the provincial government had fixed minimum monthly wages at Rs15,000 from earlier Rs12,000.
The federal government had also fixed the salary at the lesser rate and other provinces paid the same, they contended.
Dastagir further informed the court that the provincial government had passed the Minimum Wages Act 2013 in the assembly under which this notification of an increase in the minimum salary was issued.
read more.& read more.
* Court suspends KP govt decision on minimum wage:
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesdaysuspended the KP government decision of increasing minimum wage to Rs15,000 for unskilled workers in the province.
A division bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani suspended the KP government decision that had increased the minimum wage to Rs15000 from previous Rs12,000.
The bench directed the provincial government to constitute minimum wage board within a month time, as under the law the board would decide the minimum wages for approval of the provincial government.
The bench was hearing a writ petition of Saif Textile Mills and other 24 industrial units of the province, which had challenged the increase in the high court.Qazi Ghulam Dastageer, lawyer for the industrial units, submitted before the bench that the Pakistan Tehreek-i Insaf-led provincial government had unlawfully increased the minimum wage of unskilled workers in the province.
read more.
20150302
19:19:22 local time PAKISTAN
* Minimum wages:
In the 2014-15 budget, the federal and provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa raised the minimum wage from Rs10,000 to Rs12,000 a month for unskilled workers.
Sindh has also raised its minimum wage from Rs10,000 to Rs11,000 a month. But Balochistan has decided to retain its earlier minimum wage of Rs9,000 a month which was set in 2012.
In Pakistan, however, minimum wages are determined by Minimum Wage Boards constituted under Ordinance, 1961, which applies to all industrial establishments’ employees whether skilled, unskilled or apprentices and even domestic workers but the ordinance has been dishonoured by most of the industries.
Private and semi-government educational institutions such as public schools, especially in rural areas, exploit their employees by denying commensurate compensation to them.
read more.
UGANDA
* Perspectives: Life of a Trade Union Leader:
Historically, I became the first female General Secretary of UTGLAWU from 2005. I have worked in the garment industry all my life as a designer/tailor.
Because I was an active organizer of workers, immediately I was promoted to an assistant quality supervisor position by management in order to leave my position in Union. However, my position in the union remained.
My first day of work was difficult because I only saw problems not work. It felt more of punishment than work.
I was forced to take a course in designing/tailoring by my cousin who paid my school fees. I was from a polygamous family where my dad had two wives, so we were many and my dad could not pay for all of us.
My cousin’s wife had no blessing for me to go further with studies; she never wanted me to take a secretarial course which is what I wanted. She fought to bring my future down.
This is one of the pull force which is common among women.
Nevertheless, little did I know that it was the beginning of my journey to another Promised Land and a blessing in disguise because it made me what I am today as a devoted trade unionist.
I love to be called a unionist than anything else. I eventually pursued a Certificate and Diploma in Public Administration in Institute of Advance Leadership (IAL) overcoming my humble background.
I quickly rose up though ranks as a member of the Union, Shopsteward, holding various positions in Union leadership up to federation level as a Treasurer General.
I attended various trade union trainings at Tombya Labour college(certificate),ILO-International Training Center-Turin Italy acquiring various certificates in the Trade Union field. Later, I was democratically elected in 2005 for the post of General Secretary winning over two male candidates.
UTGLAWU’s membership is mostly female. Women face many challenges ranging from long hours of work, sexual harassment, lack of maternity leave, lack of compensation, accident, workers safety, low salary and gender inequality.
Through advocacy, awareness raising and with support from the global union federation (ITGLWF by then) and with my involvement locally, we managed to mostly change the leadership status quo of the Union from 100% male to 50% female.
(…)
The labour laws that we enjoy today is because of the team work and our commitment to unions, although we were small at that time.
These were big achievements for the workers of Uganda as the 51% organizing requirement was amended and removed out of the law.
It was a new beginning for the Union and labour fraternity in Uganda in general.
Though the living wage is still below poverty level but we managed to rise minimum of 50,000Ugx to 117,000Ugx currently, achieved maternity leave for female workers and paternity leave for male worker, companionate leave (emergency leave with pay), death benefits, terminal benefits/retirement.etc.
read more.
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SEE * Minimum Wage-LIVING WAGE- PART 7
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