On Labour Organisations in Myanmar

Stephen Campbell

When Myanmar's new Labour Organisation Law was promulgated in October 2011 it brought to an end a period of nearly 50 years during which independent workers' organisations had been effectively prohibited. Amidst the more open political climate of reform-era Myanmar, labour-related organisations and workers' unions have proliferated. The result is that some 500 organisations took part in the recent ILO-organised Labour Organisations Conference held in Yangon from 30 April to 1 May 2013.

Some rather chaotic events at the conference highlight a new set of challenges to workers in Myanmar as the liberalisation process has opened space for various actors seeking to shape the direction of the country's labour movement. On the first day of the conference, The Myanmar Times reported that some of the organisations in attendance raised concerns over what appeared to be a large number of unfamiliar faces in the room. Notably, these concerns were raised by members of the influential 88 Generation Students, a prominent group of Myanmar activists and ex-political prisoners. According to an article in the Myanmar Times:

Rana Plaza: Private Governance and Corporate Power in Global Supply Chains

Tandiwe Gross

With a death toll of over 1,120 people and more than 2,500 people injured, the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh on 24 April 2013 is one of the worst industrial accidents in world history. The 11-storey building accommodated shops and a bank on the ground floor and five textile factories with more than 3,000 workers on the upper floors. A day prior to the accident, workers identified major cracks in the building, which prompted the issuing of an evacuation order by the police. Despite this, on 24 April 2013 the workers were forced by the management to enter the building. The textile factories in Rana Plaza were suppliers to a number of popular international brands, including Primark, Bon Marche, Joe Fresh, El Corte Ingles, KiK and Mango. The building had been authorised by local authorities to be 8-storeys high. However, three additional storeys were illegally constructed. The reasons for the collapse are similar to those for the 2005 collapse of the Spectrum factory in Bangladesh which left 64 garment workers dead. There has been a series of fatal accidents in the country’s garment industry ever since. The last major factory fire, which resulted in 112 deaths in the Tazreen Fashion factory, occurred only a few months before the Rana Plaza building collapsed. In total, more than 700 workers have died in the industry since 2005, not including the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy.[i] More than 8 years after the Spectrum factory collapse, the collapse of Rana Plaza shows that the structural causes of unsafe working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry have not changed.

Austerity and Resistance: The Politics of Labour in the Eurozone Crisis

Andreas Bieler[1]

Europe is haunted by austerity. Public sectors across the European Union (EU) have been cut back and working class gains from the post-war period seriously undermined. In this article, I will assess the causes of the crisis, its implications for workers and discuss the politics of labour in response to the Eurozone crisis. 

The underlying dynamics of the Eurozone crisis

Current problems go right back to the global financial crisis starting in 2007 with the run on the Northern Rock bank in the United Kingdom (UK) and reaching a first high point with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Two major consequences of the crisis can be identified. First, states indebted themselves significantly as a result of bailing out failing banks and propping up the financial system. Second, against the background of high levels of uncertainty financial markets froze. Banks and financial institutions ceased lending to each other as well as industrial companies. Countries too found it increasingly difficult to re-finance their national debts. The Eurozone crisis, also known as the sovereign debt crisis, commenced. 

Swiss Referendums on Top Salaries and Minimum Pay

Andreas Rieger

On 2 March 2013 a referendum in Switzerland came out in favour of tougher rules on the setting of managers’ remuneration. 68% of the voters wanted to put limits on “rip-offs” – in other words, the millions handed out in bonuses and severance payments (golden parachutes) to top managers. Coming up are further referendums on limiting top incomes and setting a legal minimum wage.

Since the turn of this century, remuneration packages for top managers in Switzerland have soared to several million francs. The CEOs and Chairmen of public companies, particularly the major banks and pharmaceuticals firms, have been pulling in sums that are really only comparable with those in the USA. Ten years ago, this was already causing strong public discussion. The debates grew even fiercer when the million-franc payouts continued through 2009, despite the financial crash and the collapse of previously good business results.