South Korea: South Korea: Samsung service unit executives found guilty of anti-union activities
27 September 2018: The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted 16 current and former executives and employees of Samsung Group for their alleged roles in a scheme to hamper labor union activities at the conglomerate’s after-sales services unit.The prosecution held the scheme led by Samsung Group’s now-disbanded Future Strategy Office an “organized crime”. Prosecutors have framed the chairman of Samsung Electronics’ board of directors Lee Sang-hoon and others of enforcing the scheme from 2013, such as forcing subcontractors with active unions to shut down, and inducing workers to resign from the union. Including those that have already been indicted for similar allegations, seven chiefs of Samsung Electronics Services’ subcontractors and three officials from the Korea Employers Federation, a total of 32 will face trial.
Turkey: Airport workers arrested for protesting against deplorable working conditions
19 September 2018: A Turkish court on Wednesday ordered 24 workers and union activists to stay in jail after they were detained in a mass crackdown over protests on working conditions at Istanbul’s giant new airport.Hundreds of workers from the airport had been rounded up at the weekend after they stopped work over labour violations in the frenetic construction to finish the airport on time for its opening next month.
Workers have in the past made complaints regarding violations of labour safety which has led to dozens of deaths on the site and lack of properly organised transport to take them to and from work.
US: Hospitality sector workers strike
7 September 2018: Thousands of hotel and hospitality sector workers employed in different hotels came together to demand better wages, regulated work hours and better health coverage in Chicago. The strike has since spread to other areas in the United States and drawsn support of contract workers as well as workers employed in retail food chains such as McDonalds.
Nigeria: Trade unions come together to demand living wages
7 September 2018: Nigerian Trade Unions launched a nation-wide strike over the federal government’s refusal to reconvene the tripartite national minimum wage committee. Workers are demanding a living minimum wage of N 50,000 with the current wage being a miserable N 18,000. Nigeria over the last two year has suffered fuel price hikes and currency devaluations that have eaten into real wages of workers.
