Signalfire

10 September
Riot police are reported to be protecting the premises of Chitungwiza’s municipality from angry flea market vendors whose stalls were demolished in a clampdown that started last week. The heavily equipped riot squad was deployed Wednesday morning after a truckload of people, suspected to be the flea market vendors, drove by the offices chanting intimidating slogans aimed at the town clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa.
The vendors assaulted the Mayor and several senior council members soon after the demolitions last week Tuesday. It was feared that they were planning another attack and officials were moved to vacate the municipal buildings and send the workers home.
Personal bodyguards are reported to have been hired for the town clerk Tanyanyiwa after last week’s incident. This has further strained relations between top officials and municipal workers because the municipality is short of money and many workers are complaining that they have not been paid.
Simbarashe Moyo, chairperson of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), compared last week’s demolitions to “Operation Murambatsvina”, when nearly one million innocent Zimbabweans were displaced after the government bulldozed their homes and businesses back in 2005.
The Chitungwiza council said that the stalls had been erected at undesignated sites but Moyo explained: “These people were trying to find home grown solutions to the problem of unemployment, which is over 90%, without resorting to any illegal means. Their property was destroyed and they were left with no option.”
Moyo said the Chitungwiza council had set aside land for the purpose of establishing a flea market so that they could collect some revenue, but had not built anything there. “The vendors could not be expected to wait while their families starved. It was an organized response to a crisis. You can understand their anger,” he added.
Chitungwiza Mayor Philemon Chipiyo told the press on Wednesday that he had been out of the office and did not know enough about the current situation to comment. He is quoted as saying he “wouldn’t want to engage in gossip” and he referred reporters to the town clerk.

Tens of traders clashed with police in Nairobi’s Muthurwa Market after a dawn demolition of their kioks in the area.

The hawkers arrived on Friday morning to find their kiosks flattened by council Askaris who had staged the exercise past midnight on Thursday.

In anger, the traders blocked a section of Nairobi’s Landhies Road and stoned motorists before police arrived and dispersed them. This also affected businesses in and around the market.

Traffic flow on some roads was affected in the melee that ensued.

The team of anti-riot officers used several teargas canisters and live bullets to disperse the hawkers who claimed they had been left with no place to operate.

Council officials said the demolition was conducted to enable easy operations there. An official, Robert Keriago said several illegal structures had been erected within the market hence blocking operations.

Seek approval

“They do not seek the approval of the council before constructing the structures. They are all illegal,” he said on the phone.

Central deputy OCPD Tom Atuti said none had been injured in the operation adding they would not allow the hawkers to disrupt business there.

The demolition came as the Cabinet cleared the way for the demolition of old council houses to pave the way for the construction of low-cost modern units.

The Cabinet approved the ‘re-development’ of the old local authority estates in a move expected to provide more affordable housing units for sale and rental in various cities and towns.

It further approved the development of multi-storey parking facilities, a move expected to ease parking pressure and congestion in urban areas.

They also resolved to improve the manner in which solid waste is managed in the country as this will create opportunities for employment and energy generation.

In Nairobi, at least 25 estates have been earmarked for demolition.

Estates likely to be affected include Muthurwa, Shauri Moyo, Bahati, Mbotela, Ziwani, Makongeni and Jericho.

Garment workers Wednesday blockaded highways demanding full payments of arrears, festival allowances, overtime bill and other financial benefits.

The fresh wave of protests in Manikganj and Gazipur signals the recurrence of violent unrest in the apparel industry ahead of Eid.

Police said thousands of workers of two garment factories in Manikganj and Gazipur blockaded Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Tangail highways as authorities of the units are yet to settle workers’ wages, dues and bonuses.

The street violence temporarily disrupted vehicular movements on the highways, causing sufferings to the homebound passengers.

Officer-in-Charge of Manikganj police station Mohammad Azizul Haque said the demonstration took place in Giland area of Manikganj Sadar Upazila from 8:00am to 9:00am after blockading Dhaka-Aricha highway.

He said the workers of Monnu Apparels were dissatisfied as the authorities provided lower quality Iftar and food Monday and did not declare holiday on Wednesday. The protesting workers also demanded overtime bills.

A sub-inspector of Chakrabarty police station said workers of RK Homes Textile at Zirani of Gazipur put barricade on Dhaka-Tangail Highway in the morning demanding full payments of arrears, bonuses and overtime bills.

The protestors later withdrew their blockades after getting assurances from the factory management.

A labour group recently announced that they would cordon off houses of the manufacturers unless workers’ dues, wages, bonuses and overtime bill were met by Wednesday.

They also urged garment producers to meet their demand by the deadline, saying the workers would definitely resist the owners that wrongdoing at any costs.

“We’ll launch nationwide protest programme unless workers’ dues, wages, bonuses and overtime bills were provided before the eid. We’re now observing the overall situation in the sector,” said a union leader seeking anonymity.

Officials of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) said they had asked the owners to clear all dues, wages, festival allowances and overtime bills before eid.

“Due wages and allowances have already been paid in most factories following the order. I hope the other workers will be paid by a day,” a senior BGMEA official said.

Ugandan police

Four police officers have been detained over the shooting of striking tobacco workers, which left two people dead and several others injured.

The dead have been identified as Dennis Bazara and Benard Byabasaija. Ms Sylivia Kabasuinguzi, who was seriously injured in the incident, has been admitted to Hoima Referral Hospital.

Investigations
The Mid-western Regional Police Commander, Mr Marcelino Wanitho, told journalists that investigations have revealed that the guns of two of the arrested police officers were used to fire live bullets during the strike.
The British American Tobacco Company Workers on Tuesday staged a sit-down -strike, protesting the delay by the company to pay their August salary.

Strike stopped
Anti-riot police rushed to the BAT office located in Kabati, a suburb of Hoima Town and fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse the workers who had been joined by disgruntled farmers. The latter were reportedly protesting the delay by the firm to pay for their tobacco.Mr Wanitho said the officer commanding the riot police and the officer in charge of Hoima Police Station, who were at the scene, will be charged with negligence of duty by the police disciplinary committee.

“They failed to effectively command the police which went to the scene and ended up shooting unnecessarily at innocent civilians,” Mr Wanitho said, adding that the police officers who fired the live bullets would be charged with murder.

Mr Wanitho apologised to the public and the bereaved families over the incident.
“It is regrettable, unfortunate and police is sorry about the shooting,” Mr Wanitho said.
“The IGP (Gen Kale Kayihura) has appointed a team from the police headquarters which will team up with our detectives here to investigate this incident,” Mr Wanitho said.

Victim speaks
“I saw a police official aiming a gun at me as I was running out of the factory. He shot me. I fell down and started bleeding on my right leg. I realised I was shot. I am in deep pain. I pray I survive,” Ms Kabasinguzi said at Hoima Hospital.

September 9

A security guard at a city petrol station is fighting for his life in hospital after being assaulted during the motor industry strike in Cape Town.

The 31-year-old suffered serious head injuries and multiple skull fractures in the attack with a brick, and is in a critical condition at the Netcare Kuils River Hospital.

He had surgery yesterday afternoon and was back in the ward by early evening.

Netcare 911 emergency medical services’ Lauren Copley said it was believed a group of striking protesters at a Brackenfell garage assaulted the security guard with a brick.

It is unclear, however, who was behind the violence.

Colleagues took the “seriously injured” guard to a nearby MediCross hospital.

Netcare 911 paramedics were dispatched and transported the guard to hospital.

When the Cape Times contacted the hospital yesterday, his girlfriend had just left after visiting him.

His family refused to speak to the media and had asked hospital staff not to release his name, allow photographs to be taken or their contact details to be released.

National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) organiser in the Western Cape Mohammed Ismail said it was not clear who had been behind the violence. It could not be confirmed whether it was Numsa members.

“It got chaotic here (at the regional officers where strikers convened). A number of people arrived who are not Numsa members and it got too volatile,” Ismail said.

Police spokesman Andre Traut said last night no one had yet been arrested and police would investigate a case of attempted murder.

There had been no other serious injuries reported to the police, Traut said.

A mass Numsa meeting is scheduled for today so members can discuss what has happened during the strike so far and whether they will accept an offered wage increase of 10 percent this year, 9 percent next year and 9 percent in 2012.

They want a 15 percent increase.

Several city petrol stations were forced to close temporarily as a mob of about 60, claiming to be striking motor industry workers, attacked and threatened non-striking workers and motorists trying to fill their tanks in Kraaifontein. They have threatened to continue their action today.

The group then boarded a train and headed to Brackenfell. When the Cape Times arrived in Brackenfell, members of the group, carrying whips and sticks and clutching chunks of brick, ran from the station towards a Shell garage.

There they attacked a worker before leaving her and running to a parking area opposite the garage. A group started whipping a car, then turned on another woman, jostling her. The mob ran towards an Engen garage but police cars sped up and blocked them off before they could get there.

Two men threatened the Cape Times photographer and a woman threw a piece of brick at this reporter, shouting that the reporter may not take notes nor the photographer photograph the mob’s actions.

A few people also shouted and swore at police officers telling them to “get out our way”. Scared petrol attendants and workers were rushed into a shop under police guard.

“No one is supposed to work. Everyone must get involved in the strike. Come here, come here or you’ll see,” a man, carrying a long stick, shouted.

The group ran to a nearby Total garage where they threw rocks at workers, whipped and kicked petrol pumps and smashed the window of a From Page 1

motorist’s bakkie. Tom Knoetzen, the owner of the bakkie, stood trembling as the mob moved on. “Look what they’ve done. Look at this,” he said. Another motorist tried to get petrol but the workers, huddled in a shop, indicated that she should leave.

The group, surrounded by police cars and officers carrying weapons, moved to the station where they boarded a train to Bellville.

In Bellville a group of about 1 000 striking Numsa members marched to Numsa’s regional office in Voortrekker Road, monitored by scores of police officers as a police helicopter hovered above.

The group had planned to picket outside petrol stations and car retailers, but this had to be called off as the situation began to spiral out of control.

A police officer urged Numsa marshals, who were to have surrounded the picketers, to report anyone intimidating petrol attendants. The BP in Voortrekker Road was empty and a sign read: “Closed due to strike. Sorry for inconvenience.”

Ismail said Numsa negotiators were trying to break the deadlock. Besides the 15 percent wage increase, workers want a 4.3 percent increase in bonuses, the outlawing of labour brokers and double pay for weekend work.

9 September

Garment workers planning the biggest strike in recent Cambodian history next week will not face government inference provided they obey the law, a government spokesman said Thursday.

The planned week-long, nation-wide work stoppage by an estimated tens of thousands of garment workers is set to commence on Monday unless industry captains succumb to demands for a US$43 dollar wage rise.

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said Thursday the workers were within their rights to strike and pledged not to intervene provided they followed government protocol and refrained from breaking the law.

“We will not deploy authorities or police at the factory if they follow the law but we will take action if they break the law by making violence or destroying the factory’s property,” he said.

It is not clear exactly how many workers plan to join the strike organised by the Cambodian Labor Confederation, which says it has collected over 80,000 thumbprints in support of the strike.

South Africa is set for its worst year of industrial action since all-race elections in 1994 after a 20-day strike by state workers won them raises of more than twice the inflation rate, encouraging miners and autoworkers to hold out on their pay demands.

About 1.25 million working days were lost to strikes in the six months through June, double that in the same period last year, according to Johannesburg-based Andrew Levy Employment, which advises clients on labor relations. It expects even bleaker data in the second half, when the 20-day strike by state employees cost about 10 million working days.

The labor action has spread to private industry, with about 80 percent of the 6,800 workers at Northam Platinum Ltd.’s Zondereinde mine downing tools on Sept. 6, after other walkouts by car-parts makers and gas station attendants. Manufacturers say that rising wages and the labor unrest threaten to undermine the competitiveness of exports, curb investment and deter companies from hiring in a country where 25 percent of workers are jobless.

“The competitive challenge has never been greater and this wage-cost inflation makes the situation even more challenging,” David Powels, managing director of Volkswagen AG’s South African unit, said in an Sept. 2 interview in Cape Town. “It’s a very serious situation. The impact on our customers, export customers in particular, is critical.”

On Aug. 31, the government agreed to give its 1.3 million employees a 7.5 percent pay increase, 2.3 percent, or 6.5 billion rand ($894 million), more than was set aside for wages in the February budget. Yesterday, unions that had been demanding 8.6 percent raises suspended their strike, which shut thousands of schools and saw patients turned away from state hospitals, giving themselves 21 days to consult their members.

‘Knock-on Effect’

A benchmark for this year’s wage settlement was set in May by the state-owned transportation company, Transnet SA,, which gave its workers an 11 percent increase to end an 18-day strike, Powels said.

State workers are not underpaid relative to other South Africans, according to Mike Schussler, chief economist at Economists.co.za., a Johannesburg-based advisory service.

“Civil servants get paid 28 percent of all formal sector wages, although they only make up 21 percent of all formal sector employees,” he said by phone yesterday. “There is definitely a knock-on effect” when they win such high increases.

The government denies it is driving up wages for private industries.

Companies won’t concede “anything that they can’t afford,” Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said in a Sept. 2 interview. “Workers have the right to pursue a decent standard of living and decent work.”

Car Industry

Gas station attendants and workers in the auto-parts industry began an open-ended strike on Sept. 1, demanding pay increases of 15 percent, more than double the 6 percent offered by employers.

Volkswagen, Toyota Motor Corp. and other vehicle manufacturers last month agreed to grant 10 percent increases to end an eight-day strike that shut their plants, while Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world’s second-largest platinum producer, raised wages by about 8 percent to ward off labor action. Northam workers are demanding 15 percent increases before they return to work, while the company is offering them 8 percent.

South Africa’s inflation rate is currently 3.7 percent.

“Overall wage settlements in South Africa are not only divorced from inflation but more importantly productivity,” Peter Attard Montalto, an economist at Nomura Plc in London, said in an e-mailed response to question on Sept. 6. “The government is clearly setting a bad example to the rest of the economy. The inflationary effects should start to come through from the first quarter of next year.”

September 5, 2010

An intelligence agency of police suspects possible unrest before Eid over wages in 110 garment factories in the capital as well as in Savar, Narayanganj and Gazipur.

The government had already requested all RMG factory owners to pay their employees within September 7 to avert any untoward incidents sparked by disgruntled employees.

The Special Branch (SB) of Police submitted a list containing names of the factories at a meeting on ‘Eid Security’ held at Police Headquarters yesterday, sources said. There are around 6,500 garment factories in Bangladesh.

“It is a list of possible organisations where unpleasantness might occur, though the figures may change,” said Hassan Mahmood Khandker, inspector general of police (IGP).

According to sources, police high-ups, including the IGP, have spoken to the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) after the meeting to seek their cooperation in this regard.

“We don’t want any unpleasant incident to take place over wages and won’t spare those who don’t pay before Eid,” warned the IGP, adding, “Everyone should follow the directives from the labour ministry and pay the workers by September.”

The meeting also discussed the issue regarding the safety of homebound people from extortionists as well as other kinds of harassers.

Police forces across the country have been instructed to take adequate measures to ensure safety of the travelers, said the IGP.

The home minister also visited a number of market places and found the security to be satisfactory as police was present to prevent crimes like extortion or mugging from occurring, he added.

Chaired by the IGP, the meeting was attended by Zaved Patwary, additional IGP and chief of SB, Shamsuddoha Khandaker, additional IGP (Finance); Muhammad Aminul Islam, additional IGP (Training); AKM Shahidul Hoque, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner and Md Mukhlesur Rahman director general of Rapid Action Battalion, among others.

Government employees close schools, hospitals and challenge President Jacob Zuma and ANC.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A nationwide strike by 1.3 million government workers — now in its third week — has brought to a standstill many of South Africa’s schools and hospitals.

The strike of public sector workers, including teachers, nurses, immigration officers and most other government employees, is for higher wages and benefits and threatens to become the most serious work stoppage since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The strike is also a battle for the political high ground in the country.

Government hospitals across the country are closed or operating with skeleton staffs including 3,000 military medical officers deployed to strategic hospitals. Several patients have died because of the reduced medical care, according to local news reports.

Strikers allegedly stabbed a non-striking nurse at Northdale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg a week ago and in Bloemfontein a fire is alleged to have been set by strikers.

Police have fired rubber bullets into striking workers, and hundreds of incidents of violence on the part of workers are being investigated by the courts. Schools are closed, exams are being missed, and there is no end in sight.

The country that so successfully hosted the World Cup of soccer has seen its government business crippled. The real estate business is hampered because government clerks are not processing  housing clearance certificates. The immigration office is not issuing work permits, passports or travel documents.

The car manufacturing industry, the biggest in Africa, shut down as well when the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) joined the strike on Aug. 30.

Nevertheless, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, said last week that the strike would not have a major economic impact.

This seems like hopeful thinking, since any pay increase would likely increase the South African government’s spending by 1 to 2 percent and would increase the national deficit significantly. If the strike carries on for much longer, there is every reason to expect economic growth will indeed suffer.

South Africa’s strong labor unions helped to bring about the end of apartheid to bring the ANC party to power. But now their demands for higher wages are often cited by potential foreign investors as a reason to avoid South Africa, depriving the nation of much-needed foreign direct investment.

In this country of almost 50 million people, unemployment runs at roughly 30 percent and inflation is about 4.2 percent. The unions are asking the government for an 8.6 percent rise in yearly take-home pay, more than double the inflation rate. The government has offered a 7.5 percent rise but the strikers are holding out for the remaining 1.1 percent and vow they will continue to do so.

The strike hits South Africa just as it was recovering from the worldwide recession.

Wages in South Africa are relatively low and living standards of workers are bad. Many black workers, especially trade union members, are angry that their lives have not improved significantly since the end of apartheid. More than 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to surveys.
The strike also comes at a sensitive time, when opposition to President Jacob Zuma’s government has grown, giving the work stoppage deeper political implications.

Zwelenzima Vavi, the head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is pushing the ANC government to implement more socialist policies to improve the lives of workers. He has also called for the government to crack down on corruption and cronyism.

Cosatu is a key supporter of the ANC party along with the South African Communist Party. But both the labor unions and the Communist Party are becoming increasingly angry with the ANC’s pro-business policies.

Cosatu is arguably the most powerful organization in the country and boasts a membership of more than 2 million. Vavi is at loggerheads with alliance partner the ANC over economic policy, media regulation and what some have called “the soul of the nation.”

Within this context, the strike is a show of power by Cosatu ahead of the ANC General Conference starting on September 20th.

“We will not make the mistake of voting into power our worst political butchers,” said Vavi recently.

“We have nothing to celebrate. We lost more than 1.1 million jobs. As a result, 5.5 million South Africans have been pushed into poverty,” Vavi said recently, reported the AFP news agency.

He has publicly lambasted Zuma for allowing corruption, especially in high profile cases of government ministers and his son Duduzane, who has reportedly amassed a fortune. Such criticism of the ANC by a trade union leader is a public break that last surfaced in 2001.

The test of whether or not the trade unions will continue to support the ANC may come later in September at the party’s National General Council. Without the support of Cosatu the ANC will struggle to lead to country.

The more likely scenario, according to local experts, is that Cosatu may try to force the ANC to change its direction. This may mean eventually replacing Zuma with his short-term predecessor, Kgalema Motlanthe, who is seen as above the fray, uncorrupt, and much more reliable as a leader by both business and labor.

The strike may ultimately decide more than the take home pay of a teacher or nurse. Less than a cry for more money, social commentators suggest the strike’s greater implications are about what kind of country South Africa’s black majority wants and who they want to lead it.

ISLAMABAD—Capital police arrested four PTCL workers when they were protesting for their demands in-front of national press club, here on Saturday. Workers of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited have initiated a demonstration camp in the PTCL headquarter Islamabad, since last five days for their demands. On their fifth day of protest they came in front of national press club. They closed the adjacent road for almost two hours and chanted slogans against PTCL administration. Then police arrested them.

Human rights activist Farzana Bari came there and resisted to police for arresting peace full demonstrators of PTCL, but in vain. Situation became very serious when Farzana Bari laid before the police van. She tried to stop the police from arresting the protesters. A.C city Asim Ayub called ladies police to tackle the female protesters.

Pakistan Telecommunication workers are protesting to take the fifty percent increase in salaries announced by Prime Minister of Pakistan. Farzana Bari was off the view that these are peace full protesters and their detention is illegal. “peace full protest is the right of every citizen”, she remained. Whereas police officials said that these persons opened fire on police party last night, that’s why we are arresting them. Police could arrest Muhammad Ramzan, Hamid Khan, Khalid But and Farrukh Jamil out of more than five dozen protesters. An arrested person Farrukh jamil Qureshi told to The Daily Mail from police van that he was not in the protesters, and he was the worker of peoples labour bureau. “I was passing by the road but police arrested me”, he said.

Workers from different countries have gathered here, even in the month of Ramadan. On Friday night police batten charged and arrested more than 70 demonstrators when they tried to enter the main offices of building, and shifted them to Margallla Police Station and I-9 police station.

More over PTCL workers are on strike in all most all cities of Pakistan and thousands of telephones are still silent since last months. In the protest camp regional general secretary PTCL workers union Gujranwala Rana Bashir Ahmed said that we would protest until the acceptance of our demands. “ we would jam the whole telecommunication system of country, if we are not given our rights”, he said.

Bangalore, Sept 4, DHNS

More than a dozen students of BSF Institute of Technology protesting against the alleged high-handedness of their prin- cipal sustained injuries as they were forcibly evicted from the college main gate at Yelahanka on Saturday.
Students of BSF Institute of Technology staging a protest in front of the college on Saturday. Students injured when BSF personnel forcibly evicted them. According to police, trouble started when principal B Anil Kumar sought to discipline the students who were allegedly indulging in “questionable” activities.

Protesting this, a section of the students took to the streets and attempted to block the road. The police, intervened and asked them not to disrupt the traffic. They also asked the students to move into the campus and sort out their differences with the principal.

The students gathered in front of main gate of the institute and started shouting slogans against the principal. They tried to block the movement of officers and vehicles also. The students threw stones at the windowpanes of the sentry’s room and a few vehicles compelling BSF service men to evict the protesters. A few students who sustained injuries in the melee have been admitted to the Government Hospital in Yelahanka.

According to sources, a few students had gone ‘astray’  by indulging in activities – smoking, playing cards etc – banned on the campus. The principal asked the erring students to vacate the campus insisting that they bring their parents.

The students, however, alleged that the principal was harassing them without any reason.
“He is evicting us from the hostel and the classroom for trivial reasons. The authorities should act against him,” Manekappa, a student, demanded. They accused the principal of harassing a lady teacher.

A complaint of unlawful assembly and damage to public property has been registered.  No one has been arrested, according to sources.

03 September 2010

Construction workers assemble in protest outside their worksite at the Vattanac Capital high-rise on Monivong Boulevard yesterday.

A KOREAN construction company is set to temporarily postpone work on the Vattanac Capital high-rise on Monivong Boulevard today following two days of protests by disgruntled workers, a union official said yesterday.

Sok Sovandeith, president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia and a representative of the construction workers, said yesterday that Doo Song Construction Company would halt work on the building in order to discuss the workers’ demands with the project’s key investors. Representatives of Doo Song could not be reached.

More than 700 construction workers have come out against an order that they work an extra night shift in exchange for 3,000 riels (about US$0.75). The workers are currently paid $3.50 per day.

Sreng Nary, a workers’ representative, said the company had agreed to ask its investors for permission to increase workers’ wages from US$3.50 per day to $4 per day, and to restructure regular working hours.

Chhun Leang, president of Vattanac Properties Ltd, said his firm was investigating the dispute.

“We are investigating in order to determine who has caused this problem,” he said. “If it was caused by the [construction] company, the company must be responsible.”

Khieu Savuth, deputy director of the Department of Labour Disputes at the Ministry of Labour, said he believed the company would resume construction early next week.

MAPUTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Mozambique’s government deployed soldiers to clear barricades as angry protesters on Thursday blocked roads and looted shops in the capital for the second day of deadly riots sparked by soaring bread prices.

Mozambique’s cabinet was meeting in an emergency sitting while police said the army was sent into the capital Maputo to help clear barricades erected by thousands of protesters.

“The army was called to clean the city (of barricades) and not to restore order and public security,” Pedro Cossa, spokesman of the general police command told state-controlled Mozambique Television TVM.

The sight of soldiers on the streets could scare off protesters and prevent further riots in which six people, including two children, were killed as police opened fire on protesters in the worst riots to hit the southern Africa country of 23 million people since 2008.

Mozambique’s Health Minister Ivo Garrido said on Thursday six people were killed and 100 injured in the riots, private television station Stv reported.

The rioting was prompted by a 30 percent rise in bread prices in one of the world’s poorest countries, which has never fully recovered from one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars and has a 54 percent unemployment rate.

After the price increase, a breadroll — known as pao and the bread staple of Mozambicans — costs 20 U.S. cents in a country where the average worker earns around $37 a month.

Most businesses in the capital were closed on Thursday and at the few bakeries that were open, people waited in long queues.

Despite its poverty, Mozambique is one of the fastest growing economies on the world’s poorest continent and the IMF expected the economy to grow by 7 percent this year. Its main exports are aluminium, electric power, coal and agricultural products including sugar.

Mozambicans say they have been hit hard by rising costs for basic necessities including bread, as wheat prices have soared around the world. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations said on Wednesday that international food prices were at their highest level in two years.

“I opted to join the protests because life is very difficult with these hikes, the government has turned a deaf ear to our long grievances, they only need us during election time,” said Teofilo Pedro, a resident of the industrial surbub of Matola on Maputo’s outskirts.

Analysts have warned rising food prices could spark protests in Africa and the Middle East and in recent months Egypt saw a number of protests over food prices.

POVERTY

An estimated 70 percent of Mozambique’s population live below the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook, and the country is heavily dependent on imports from South Africa, which have become more expensive in recent months as the South African rand currency strengthened.

Home Affairs Minister Jose Pacheco said the government was trying to identify the source of text messages and emails which have been circulating since Tuesday, urging residents to join the protests. No order to use live ammunition was given, he added.

Other top police officials said live ammunition was used in some places after police ran out of rubber bullets and citizens also reported that real bullets were fired.

Human rights group Amnesty International called on Mozambican police not to use live ammunition.

“While we recognise that the police are trying to contain a violent protest, live ammunition — which amounts to lethal force — should not be used except when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life,” Muluka-Anne Miti, Amnesty International’s Mozambique researcher, said in a statement.

Mozambique’s opposition Renamo party also criticised police for using live ammunition.

Private television station STv reported 10 deaths, about 140 arrested, 27 seriously injured and 32 shops, including banks, looted.

“I cannot risk going to work, police are heavily armed and indiscriminately firing live bullets because they think everyone is involved. It is too dangerous and I’m stranded here,” said Gerson Marcos, a resident in Magoanine, a densely populated suburb on the outskirts of Maputo.

President Armando Guebuza condemned the killings and destruction of property and called on Mozambicans to restore order, adding the government had made progress in implementing its strategic plan to improve food production, infrastructure and provide running water and better schools.

The violence was the worst since 2008 when at least six people were killed in protests over high fuel prices and living costs. The government agreed at that time to cut the price of diesel fuel for minibus taxis.

NEW DELHI — Thousands of workers in India ransacked the offices of a refinery run by British resource giant Vedanta, media reports said Thursday, in the latest of a series of difficulties for the company.

About 35 contract workers were arrested after buildings were attacked at the aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh in the eastern state of Orissa on Tuesday.

Vedanta received a major setback last month when its plans for a mine to supply the Lanjigarh refinery with bauxite were blocked by the government as the land was sacred to local tribes.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh accused Vedanta, owned by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, of violating environmental rules and showing “blatant disregard” for thousands of Dongria and Kutia Kondh tribespeople.

Ramesh also accused Vedanta of starting a six-fold expansion of the aluminium project without approval.

The violence at the refinery was due to Vedanta cancelling short-term staff contracts related to its expansion plans, the Economic Times reported.

The refinery was forced to halt work when 2,000 protesting workers carrying sticks and sharp objects cut off the power supply, the paper said.

Vedanta chief operating officer Mukesh Kumar estimated 200,000 dollars of property had been damaged by the protests.

2 September 2010.
Burmese workers in factories in Rangoon who launch or participate in industrial protests demanding better rights or conditions will be fired and blacklisted, said sources in Rangoon.

The new regulation was decreed on Aug. 20 at a meeting in Rangoon attended by industry employers, government ministers and Burmese military officials, including Lt-Gen Myint Swe of the Ministry of Defense.

The reason for the decree, the sources said, is that the Burmese authorities want to prevent further industrial action.

In March, workers at industries such as Shwe Pyi Thar, Taung Dagon and Hlaing Thayar launched protests demanding employers give them time off during public holidays and increase their salaries and payments for working overtime hours.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy anonymously, a military official in Rangoon said, “The employers don’t want their workers taking action to demand more money, so now they can fire those who protest and stop them from getting jobs elsewhere,” adding that the authorities were happy to go along with the employers’ request as it would help prevent unrest.

“If they [Burmese authorities] jail protesters, they will face worse criticism,” he said. “This decree will be useful in preventing people from taking industrial action. If they don’t want to be jobless, they won’t protest.”

A Burmese industry worker in Burma earns about 20,000 kyats to 40,000 kyat [US $20-40] monthly. Many of them have to work overtime because their monthly incomes are insufficient.

September 02 2010
The motor services industry strike turned ugly as a group of strikers in Germiston attacked a security vehicle outside a local petrol station.

At around midday on Wednesday, a group of about 400 strikers at the Engen service station on Jack Road began throwing heavy objects at an ADT security vehicle which was guarding the service station.

“The car was destroyed,” said Netcare’s Chris Botha. “The windows were completely smashed – gone,” he said, “and there were several large dents in the vehicle.”

The two security guards who were in the vehicle managed to escape, and, according to Botha, no one was injured. “The crowd dispersed after police arrived,” he said.
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According to Warrant Officer William Masondo, the guards in the ADT vehicle had responded to a panic button pressed at the station, and were attacked shortly after arriving at the scene.

“The men managed to escape on foot by the time police got there,” said Masondo. “We could not arrest any suspects because there were too many people at the scene,” he said, “but we are still investigating.”

Masondo said CCTV footage taken at the petrol station should help the police identify the main group of attackers, who used large stones and bricks as weapons.

Workers in the motor services industry, including panelbeaters and petrol station attendants, began protesting at their places of employment yesterday. The workers are demanding a 15 percent wage increase, better working hours and a housing allowance.

September 01, 2010

A student demonstration at the University of New Orleans turned rowdy today when protesters scuffled with campus police, who arrested two of them and led them away in handcuffs in a police cruiser. One of the students was sprayed by police with mace.

Campus police chief, Thomas Harrington, told a reporter that his left ankle was injured in the melee. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The arrests followed a 45-minute rally where as many as 100 students showed up to protest further cuts in the state appropriation that UNO receives.

While marching toward the school’s amphitheater, the student protesters stopped in a first floor hallway in the administration building and began chanting, “No more cuts! No more cuts!”

When campus police told them to leave, some refused and a fight broke out. The arrests followed.

Most other protesters proceeded to the amphitheater, where they listened to several speakers before one invited them onstage for a “dance party.” Reggae music blared.

Earlier this morning, about a half-dozen students barricaded themselves inside a UNO classroom building.

That ended at about 8:40 a.m., when the students exited Milneburg Hall.

UNO students and personnel are irate because about $14.5 million in state money already has been sliced from the school’s budget since January 2009 and because more cuts may combine academic departments and eliminate majors in fields such as management, marketing, English, science, mathematics and social studies. There would be a sharp reduction in the number of part-time teachers, faculty teaching loads would increase, and class sizes would be larger.

Several thousand workers of a garment factory in Ashulia withdrew their protest after four hours of work abstention Wednesday demanding full payment of arrears, festival bonuses and other financial benefits.

Police said nearly 3,000 workers of Natural Denim Garment Factory at Tongibari started demonstrating inside the factory compound at about 8:00 am to press home their 13-point demands after suspending production.

The demands include resignation of two production managers, Sanowar and Rubel, 100 per cent Eid bonuses from the existing 50 per cent and full payment of overtime bills.

Workers said they demanded resignation of the two senior employees of the unit for their maltreatment with the labourers.

Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Ashulia police station, told the FE that the workers later withdrew their movement after getting positive response from the owners who assured of them of taking action against the two production managers.

“Security has been beefed up in the area to avert further trouble,” he said.

The factory management also declared of adding 10 per cent more festival bonuses.

The announcement came after the labour minister had asked the factory owners to clear full payment of arrears, bonuses, wages, overtime bills and other financial benefits before Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims.

The minister made the announcement following intelligence reports that garment workers might become violent once again over those issues and might engage in street agitation as they did in the past.

01 September

A protest by hundreds of striking motor industry employees in Pinetown turned ugly earlier today.

KZN police have used rubber bullets to disperse the 400-strong crowd after they blockaded Shepstone Road about two hours ago.

Police spokesperson Jay Naicker says officers were called in when the group began overturning rubbish bins.

“Everything is back to normal, police are monitoring the clean-up operation at this stage. We’ve not had any reports of injuries.”

Naicker says – at this stage – they’re unable to confirm reports that protestors allegedly assaulted four people at a business on the road.

30 August

Up to 1000 oil workers protesting against alleged duping by an oil company in northwestern Burma last week were attacked by riot police, with two left seriously injured.

The protests had been going on since 14 August when workers at the Cherry Yoma oilfield close to Sagaing division’s Kalay township complained they were being ripped off by the company, whose name has not been revealed.

Both riot police and company-run security were called by the company’s owner on 25 August to disperse the crowd.

“The company’s security arrived at the site and started attacking the protesters apparently to discourage more people from joining them,” said a Kalay local. “The protesters were punched, kicked and beaten up with sticks.

“Two people had their eyes badly injured and also went deaf. The protesters and their leaders fled the scene and their camps and belongings were destroyed.”

The oilfield in question was being hand-dug by locals under the contract of a cooperative company formed by business tycoons thought to be close to the Burmese government.

Burma’s oil capacity is low, and its refining capabilities poor: in terms of proven oil reserves it ranks 77 in the world, and is a net importer. But a small sector for informal diggers has emerged, who collect and sell to companies by the barrel.

The Kalay local said that the protests were sparked by the company’s decision to increase the size of barrels whilst maintaining the same buying price.

“The locals have to give the company an extra eight gallons for every barrel they sell, and a further two bottles for each eight gallons. They are only giving 50,000 kyat [US$50] per barrel.”

The company has apparently upped to price of purchase since the protests, but the local said that tension between the company and workers has remained.

BUENOS AIRES Aug 27 (Reuters) – Oil workers maintained a blockade at a storage plant in southern Argentina on Friday, a protest that could affect crude output in the region if it drags on, a company source said.

The protest by workers at the Punta Loyola plant in Santa Cruz province has not hit production so far, but it is forcing several oil companies to store crude at their own facilities.

Brazil’s Petrobras (PER.BA: Quote)(PETR4.SA: Quote), Chile’s state oil company ENAP and local firm Roch are being affected by the 10-day old protest, launched by the Santa Cruz Private Oil and Gas Union.

A source at one of the companies, who asked not to be identified, said their storage facilities were close to full capacity, meaning production could be slowed if the blockade lasts much longer.

No one at the union could immediately be reached to comment on the protest, which was called to press for compensation to be paid to recently sacked workers.

The three firms produce about 2,000 cubic meters of light crude per day, the company source said.

29 Aug

ZHENGZHOU: In a vast muddy cornfield scarred with the tracks of heavy vehicles, two young engineers pore over a construction blueprint showing a grid of 100 rectangular factory blocks.

Here on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan in China’s interior, Foxconn, the largest company and exporter in “the workshop of the world” has staked its future on a mammoth new industrial complex.

New powerlines are being erected and roads built to the site under the watchful eye of local farmers who daydream about the entrepreneurial opportunities that up to 200,000 new workers in the area might present.

Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, which includes its flagship Hon Hai Precision Industry, makes gadgets for a constellation of global brands including Apple, Dell, Nokia and Hewlett Packard.

Most of that production comes from its plants in Shenzhen, in the Pearl River Delta area, one of the three major Chinese coastal manufacturing hubs, along with the Yangtze River area around Shanghai and Bohai Bay north of Beijing.

With this leap into Henan province, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from Shenzhen, Foxconn is expanding aggressively inland, where wages are lower and workers more plentiful, keeping mostly higher-value, engineering, and R&D work in China’s coastal areas. It will have as many as 1.3 million workers in China by the end of 2011, up from 920,000 now, company officials say.

Foxconn is by no means alone. Intel, the world’s biggest chip maker, opened a $600 million plant this year in Chengdu and Hewlett-Packard built a laptop factory in Chongqing, both cities in the western province of Sichuan.

Cheaper labour is not the only attraction. The worker has become the consumer in China, with the government determined to raise household incomes and reduce wealth disparities. Locating factories nearer to markets makes dollars and sense.

“Most of the villagers here think it’s a good thing,” said Meng, Xiangting, 46, a farmer prying stones from a wall with a crowbar for use on his own crumbling home. “They’ve guaranteed jobs for anyone in the area between 18 to 50 years of age. I’m not interested. I’d like to open a small shop for the workers instead.”

With factories closer to home, children of farmers like Meng won’t have to make the annual trek to distant coastal regions and live desultory lives as migrant workers in factory towns.

A rash of suicides at Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant which the company said weren’t work-related but which victims’ families blamed on tough conditions, helped fuel a wave of labour unrest — and has become yet another motivation to move operations into the less volatile interior.

Foxconn’s move will touch off a mini-boom in an ancient Chinese capital perhaps best known for the 5th-century Shaolin temple that is home to its famous brand of Kung Fu.

Foxconn’s suppliers will have to relocate as well. The workers will need housing and places to shop. Some may even be able to afford cars to commute to work on the new highways being built to Foxconn’s mega-factory and its satellites.

August 26

At his inauguration at the pre-Inca ruins of Tiwanaku five years ago, Evo Morales donned a poncho, it was a moment of high symbolism: Bolivia’s first president of Indian descent has championed their rights ever since.

Five landslide elections have made Mr Morales, a leftwing former llama herder and coca farmer, one of Latin America’s most popular leaders and left the opposition fragmented.

Mr Morales and his Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) have a comfortable majority in Congress, enjoy the loyalty of the military and hold sway over the judiciary. The government expects 4.5 per cent gross domestic product growth this year.

But divisions among his traditional Indian supporters are surfacing. In the mining region of Potosi, traditionally one of Mr Morales’ bastions, residents, miners and peasants have been on strike and engaged in anti-government protests since late July.

They are demanding greater investment in their region and want a solution to a boundary dispute with neighbouring Oruro. In one of Latin America’s key mining areas, these protests and blockades have ground mining production to a halt.

That disenchantment is increasingly visible around Bolivia. “Evo traitor” reads graffiti near the presidential palace, in La Paz.

“Evo has betrayed some large sectors of the indigenous population”, says Pedro Nuni, a disenchanted MAS congressman. “He and many others in the government love the label ‘indigenous government’, but the reality is that he is turning his back on some of the indigenous brothers – especially us lowlanders – on behalf of indigenous highlanders”, says Mr Nuni, whose lowland seat in gas-rich Santa Cruz lies in what was traditionally the heartland of the rightwing opposition.

“The situation is complicated,” says Senator Eugenio Rojas, one of Mr Morales’ closest allies. For the first time we the peasants, the indigenous, have the right to run this country. But now we are seeing problems between indigenous people over power, territories and ancient disputes,” he acknowledges. “This is provoking some clashes inside the MAS structure.”

Divisions within the MAS between leftist, indigenous, union and civic groups are growing, says Carlos Toranzo, a political economist with the Latin American Institute of Social Research. “They all fight for control of government spending and opportunities for patronage. These are classic power fights inside the structure of all-powerful political apparatuses that are based on clientelism.”

One problem is that Mr Morales has raised expectations in terms of the decentralisation of power, indigenous rights and land rights. Recent protests and strikes by Indians and trade unionists expose the government’s vulnerability to unrest from previously stalwart supporters. “Everybody seems to be taking advantage of the dissatisfaction with inefficiencies, corruption and MAS intimidation,” Mr Toranzo adds.

Part of the anger felt by some indigenous lowlanders is due to what some call “Evo’s oil lust” as the government explores for resources in protected areas of the Amazon.

“Evo’s environmentalist and industrialist rhetorical facade that helped secure a second term has fallen away. Everything shows that this is a government desperate to get money and is returning the country to what it said it was against: a model of pure extraction of natural resources at any cost,” says Mr Toranzo.

The energy sector needs investment urgently and fluctuations in the volumes and price of gas exports, Bolivia’s main source of revenue, have had an impact on the economy.

Some even fear Bolivia may lose a share of its main market for gas exports, neighbouring Brazil, if José Serra wins October’s presidential election. The centre-right candidate is likely to cool ties with some of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s leftwing allies, among them Mr Morales.

Bolivia’s finance minister, Luis Arce, forecasts 4.5 per cent growth for Bolivia and a $1bn trade surplus by the end of the year. “We are advancing and delivering results into the hands of the people,” he said. “The change is now irreversible.”

The bandh call by Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS) in the state on Wednesday, received response mainly in districts of Western Uttar Pradesh like Aligarh, Mathura, Agra, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Manvir Singh Teotia, who is heading the KSS, has rushed to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister. The AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi may be present at the meeting, said sources.

In Etmadpur area of Agra, farmers clashed with the police, pelted stones and set afire a few vehicles. The police fired rubber bullets and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob. In some districts, the farmers also blocked road and rail traffic.

Both Congress and the BJP had extended support to the bandh. The KSS is spearheading the farmers’ agitation, demanding higher compensation for their land acquired for the Yamuna Expressway project.

While BJP state president Surya Prasad Shahi, along with party supporters were arrested near the party office in Lucknow, the All India Congress Committee’s General secretary Digvijay Singh, who is also in-charge of UP Congress and the UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi participated in the farmers’ demonstration held in Dadri.

In Agra, farmers blocked the road near Chhaleshar-Kuberpur village on NH-2. By the time the police reached the spot, they had set afire a state roadways bus. “They also tried to set afire a ‘dumper’ vehicle, but the driver managed to escape,” said DIG Dipesh Juneja from Agra.

The farmers, he said brickbatted the police party.

“There was a railway track close to the blockade site and stones were available,” he said. The police chased them and got the blockade cleared. Denying that rubber bullets were used, Juneja said: “We used teargas shells.”
Farmers blocked the road at different points on Aligarh-Palwal road, besides in different areas of Khair Tehsil. Although Aligarh remains epicenter of the farmers’ agitation following the August 14 clash, Wednesday’s protest passed off peacefully. “The farmers also blocked the road near Tappal, where they continue their dharna programme under the banner KSS. Later in the evening, the traffic movement was restored near Tappal,” said a source in Aligarh.

The other points where farmers blocked the road included Sofa Nahar and Jattari villages. In Aligarh town, Congress supporters stopped the Lichchavi Express for a few minutes.

Supporters of Bhartiya Janata Yuwa Morcha, the youth wing of BJP, stopped a passenger train at Mathura Railway Junction. Later, they handed over a memorandum to the authorities in support of the farmers’ demand. The BJP workers also tried to enforce the bandh at the Mathura market. The Congress workers, led by legislator Pradeep Mathur, also made an attempt to block Mathura-Delhi Highway. The administration, however, stopped him from doing so.

26 Aug

LAHORE: Employees of Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation Limited (PTCL) are continuing their protest in Lahore for the second day; they have also indicated a country wide strike, SAMAA reported on Thursday.

Yesterday they staged a protest for a salary raise in front of the Lahore Press Club. One employee tried to burn himself in protest, but others foiled his attempt.

PTCL employees started their protest on Egerton Road and took the protest rally up to the Lahore Press Club.

Furious PTCL employees brought out a ceremonial funeral of the management; upon reaching the Press Club, they burnt it.

During the protest, one PTCL employee Abdul Ghafoor was chanting slogans against the management and beating his chest in protest. In between, he suddenly tried to burn himself but fellow protesters foiled his attempt. SAMAA

Aug 23, 2010

Civil service strikers burnt a car and barricaded the Mangosuthu Highway, in Umlazi, says KwaZulu-Natal police.
“At about 1am this morning [Monday] a group of protestors barged into Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in Umlazi and burnt a car belonging to a worker at the hospital,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Mdunge.

They proceeded to the Mangosuthu Highway at 5am and stopped traffic going into and out of the township.

“At this stage, the highway has been closed. The protestors have barricaded the road with a fridge and scrap cars. Police were on the scene and have started removing the barricade,” he said.

There was a mob on the road. No arrests had been made.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions and the Independent Labour Caucus announced a nationwide strike about a week ago after rejecting the government’s offer of a seven percent salary increase and a R700 a month housing allowance.

They are demanding an 8.6 percent increase and R1, 000 housing allowance.

August 25, 2010
Aggregate Industries Northeast, the huge asphalt and concrete supplier at the center of a Big Dig scandal last decade, is now embroiled in a major labor dispute with the Teamsters amid charges of vandalism at strike sites across the region.

Hundreds of Teamsters went on strike last week, forcing Aggregate to hire temporary replacements to drive trucks to keep its Northeast business up and running.

The company has since said it’s been hit with a rash of vandalism at its area sites, including slashed truck tires and windows. Teamster leaders were involved in contract talks yesterday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

The two sides may be close to tentative agreements on major issues, though it wasn’t clear yesterday if the compromises are enough to end the standoff.

The labor dispute involves union members at Teamster Locals 25 and 170, though workers at three other Teamster chapters have also gone on a “sympathy strike” across eastern New England. Up to 300 employees are now involved in the strike action.

Some workers have complained that Aggregate wants major wage and work place changes. Some have even suggested that Aggregate Industries Northeast, which last decade agreed to pay $50 million to settle federal charges that it provided substandard concrete to the Big Dig project, wants concessions to help pay for its past fines.

But Peter Bennett, an attorney for Aggregate, rejected those claims, saying the company wants “work-rule flexibility” to make it more competitive against non-union industry rivals amid a tough economy.

“The issue is that the economy is in the tank,” said Bennett. “We can’t compete now. There just isn’t much work materializing.”

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s worker union for the state-run power company has called a general strike, a day before the nation’s president is to announce his plans to privatize the industry.

The National Union of Electricity Employees called the indefinite strike Wednesday over unpaid allowances promised by the federal government. The strike will cripple the ability of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to provide electricity to Africa’s most populous nation.

Even when workers are present, Nigeria remains beset by blackouts and problems with its aging federal power grid, forcing the population to rely on private generators to provide electricity.

President Goodluck Jonathan is to outline a proposed $3.5 billion overhaul and privatization of the industry Thursday during a speech in Lagos.

Peru: Coca leaf producers’ strike reaches 8th day with road blockades The strike started by Ucayali coca leaf producers has reached its eight day today, and the farmers on strike have blocked the Federico Basadre road, where hundreds of vehicles are currently stranded.

These coca leaf producers are demanding the end of the “compulsory eradication” of their crops and the end of the control programs in the Alto Huallaga Valley, called the Corah Program.

General Marlon Savitzky, Police Chief in the Huallaga, told RPP radio that the blockade goes from the sector known as Cumbre de la Victoria (Km. 12) to San Alejandro (Km. 110).

He clarified that there is no food shortage, but that the transit is completely halted, even for small vehicles like motorcycles.

HANOI — More than 400 workers at a Taiwanese-owned garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City have struck for higher monthly bonuses, a local official said Tuesday. Workers at Lee Shin International Ltd went on strike Monday, said Nguyen Dinh Trung, a security official at the Tan Tao Industrial Park, where the factory is located.

The workers are asking the company to increase their monthly bonuses from 50,000 to 100,000 dong (US$2.65 to US$5.30), and to help pay for their rent and petrol. Workers at the company are paid an average of roughly 2 million dong (US$105) per month.

They also want the company to write clear policies on separate bonuses for workers who over-fulfill production norms, and to build more parking spaces for their motorbikes.

The newspaper Tuoi Tre reported local trade-union officials were mediating between workers and the company to resolve the strike. The company is reportedly waiting for guidance from management in Taiwan.