Corporate Watch

Some ailing former workers shut out of Samsung’s illness compensation plan

By Kim Min-kyung The Hankyoreh Despite serious conditions among victims, Samsung says they’ll only compensate those with particular illnesses Kim Mi-seon, 35, who met a Hankyoreh reporter in the emergency room of Asan Medical Center in the Songpa District of Seoul on the morning of Jan. 18, has only one hope - the negotiations about diseases that workers at Samsung contracted on the job. The stalled negotiations resumed last year. Kim had been working at Samsung Electronics’ liquid crystal display (LCD) plant in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province for three years when she had to quit her job after coming down with multiple sclerosis in 2000. Today, her unending hospital bills make it hard for her to get by.

Visiting Bayer Workers in Leverkusen

 Editor notes: This is a report on a Chinese activist visiting Bayer workers in Leverkusen, Germany. The city is the location of the giant company Bayer, and because of this it was heavily polluted since its founding in the 19th century. After a tour to the gate of the company the reporter was taken to a small labor centre to meet with Bayer workers there. The latter waged a struggle against the employer's attempt in sacking them. The report is available in Chinese only.

Hungary’s red sludge: a product of capitalist restructuring

Source: Workers World   By Heather CottinPublished Oct 15, 2010 10:17 PM Hungary has arrested Zoltan Bakonyi, managing director of MAL Aluminium, the privately owned company responsible for the country’s worst environmental disaster. Bakonyi is son of the company’s owner, Arlep Bakonyi, “a businessman who played a central role in the privatization of the country’s aluminum industry and is the largest shareholder of the company.” (New York Times, Oct. 11)

Striking coal miners in Bangladesh return to work

DHAKA, March 27 (Reuters) - Hundreds of striking miners at a state-run Bangladeshi coal mine returned to work on Saturday after their demand for higher pay was met, the chief executive of the mining firm said. More than 1,100 miners of Bangladesh's state-run Barapukuria Coal Mine Co Ltd (BCMCL) struck work five days ago to demand higher wages and shorter hours, affecting coal production at the Barapukuria mine, 415 km (260 miles) north of the capital, Dhaka.

Workers at the Shougang Hierro Peru iron mine set to strike

* Workers at Cerro Verde copper mine to strike on March 31* Workers at Shougang iron mine to strike March 29* Miners demand larger share of profits By Teresa Cespedes and Patricia Velez LIMA, March 24 ( Reuters ) - Workers at the Shougang Hierro Peru iron mine and Cerro Verde copper mine will go on strike next week to demand better wages and a larger share of profits, union leaders said on Wednesday. Miners at Shougang Hierro Peru will put down tools on March 29, while workers at Cerro Verde will strike on March 31.

British Airways Strike - The Fact

Job2709 BA A5 Flyer the Facts Final

Calling on Samsung to Accept Responsibility for Occupational Deaths

Petition Calling on Samsung to Accept Responsibility for Occupational Deaths and to Provide Safe and Decent Working Conditions The families and friends of electronics manufacturing workers at Samsung in Korea have discovered a cancer cluster among young workers exposed to toxic chemicals.   The pattern of cancer deaths bears a striking resemblance to the pattern of cancer deaths among IBM “chip” workers in the US* and to other electronics cancer clusters around the world.   March 6th is the third anniversary of the death of Yu-mi Hwang, a Samsung semiconductor factory worker, who died from leukemia at age 22.  Her death – and similar coworker deaths - has motivated people to demand that Samsung:

Turkey: Will Hunger Strike of Tekel Workers Lead to General Strike?

by Tolga Korkut (Monthly Review) Six union confederations in Turkey have announced that they will go on a general strike if the government does not respond to the Tekel workers' demands by 26 January 2010.  The hunger strike mentioned below is now on hold pending the government response by the deadline.  -- Ed. Worker Yaşar from the Tek Gıda-İş union: "The workers expect the confederations to put a general strike on the agenda.  There is no area left that was not attacked by the government.  The hunger strike was our last resort.  If I died today, my children would benefit from a higher pension".

Tekel workers decide to continue demonstrations

(Source: Today's Zaman. 7 January 2010) Workers dismissed from Tekel, Turkey’s alcohol and tobacco monopoly, decided on Wednesday to continue their demonstrations, which have now entered their 23rd straight day, in protest of factory closures. The results of a vote conducted among workers countrywide revealed that some 8,150 out of 8,180 valid ballots were cast in favor of continuing the demonstrations.

Italian autoworkers strike over plant closings

By Martha GrevattSource: Workers' World. Jan 7, 2010 In December a two-day strike halted production at the FIAT automobile assembly plant in Termini Imerese, near Palermo, in Sicily. Workers were protesting FIAT’s plans to shut down the plant, which employs 1,400 workers, this year. As of Jan. 3 the Termini Imarese workers are on temporary layoff until Jan. 7.
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