Labor

Some 49 migrant workers employed by NBTC, a construction company in Kuwait, were killed in a fire that broke out on June 12 at a residential building leased by their employer, while another 50 were injured. Most of the workers were from India. Read More

An explosion at Aricell’s lithium metal battery factory in Hwaseong city in South Korea killed 23 workers in late June 2024. Most of the dead were low paid and undocumented female migrant workers from China who had not received properly training in industrial safety, according to their family members. Read More

Transparentem, a human rights NGO, published accounts of abuses among migrant workers at garment factories on the island of Mauritius. Fashion brands Barbour and PVH (makers of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger clothes) agreed to pay US$420,593 in compensation to workers at a factory operated by R.E.A.L Garments, who say they were charged illegal recruitment fees to get their jobs. Read More

Twenty workers were killed in an explosion at Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel smelter in Morowali Industrial Park on Sulawesi island in Indonesia last December, shining a spotlight on the safety problems that are rife in the production of one of the key raw materials for electric car batteries. Read More

Three workers at Starbucks Japan formed the company’s first labor union in the country on November 1. This came after the company refused to accept demands for higher wages during a collective bargaining session in August. Starbucks Union Japan has invited employees at other Starbucks stores across Japan to join them. Read More

The United Auto Workers union announced a historic strike against the “Big Three” U.S. Read More

Qantas Airways fired 1,700 ground staff in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced the workers with outside contractors to cut costs. The Transport Workers’ Union took the airline to court over violations of the Fair Work Act, which protects employee rights. After three years, the Australian High Court ruled that Qantas’s action was illegal. Read More

IT services provider Fujitsu supplied faulty Horizon accounting software to the UK Post Office in 1999. Over 700 UK Post Office staff were prosecuted for allegedly stealing thousands of pounds sterling. Some committed suicide, others went to jail. Read More

Ramalingam Murugan, a migrant worker from Tamil Nadu, India, was employed by ship repair company Rigel Marine Services in Singapore. In January 2021, he fell off a company lorry and fractured his leg. Read More

Bayern Munich, Germany’s most famous soccer team, ended its 5-year sponsorship contract with Qatar Airways, after fans spoke out strongly about human and migrant worker abuses in Qatar. Human rights groups say the Qatari government (which owns the airline) turned a blind eye to abuses during the massive construction spree for the 2022 World Cup tournament. Read More