Stop oil palm plantations! Fight for land, fight for life!
Statement
March 30, 2016
As we mark the Day of the Landless on March 29, the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) is launching the “Stop Oil Palm Plantations!” campaign. This, amidst the massive and aggressive expansion of the palm oil industry that further threatens the life and livelihood of countless farmers, farm workers, indigenous peoples, and other oppressed and exploited rural sectors in the region.
Research Report by Labour at Infomal Economy, Bangladesh
This action research was conducted between 2014 and 2015 to examine the working and living conditions of a broad spectrum of women workers in Bangladesh, and to make recommendations as to how their conditions can be improved through capacity building, organising and advocacy, while taking into consideration their specific concerns. In addition to garment workers, informal workers such as waste pickers, street vendors, domestic workers and tea plantation workers were included.
This action research conducted by EILER examines how women in the informal sector in two urban communities in Manila make the most of available resources in order to rise above their seemingly disadvantaged situation within the economy.
In Indonesia, 1,300 mostly women workers were unfairly dismissed from their factory PT Panarub in 2012 after they went on strike to demand payment of wage arrears and the right to organise.
To date they have not received their severance pay and wage arrears from the Panarub group, and buyers Adidas and Mizuno refuse to admit responsibility and provide support to the workers. The workers' union SBGTS-GSBI continues to demand justice for the workers, and are currently running a campaign against Adidas and Mizuno.
Support the campaign by Hong Kong Conferedation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), Globalization Monitor (GM) and LabourStart to free the labour activists and stop the crackdown on independent labour NGOs.