SALON

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 10:46 AM UTC

Workers rally for better conditions on May Day

By

Topics: From the Wires, ,

Workers rally for better conditions on May DayWorkers and protesters hold banners with chinese words " Dignity " marching to government office at the Labour Day in Hong Kong Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Hundreds of workers, local labour right group and striking dockworkers join the annual May Day rally in Hong Kong to fight for better wage and working conditions. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) (Credit: Vincent Yu)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tens of thousands of low-paid workers took to the streets on May Day to demand higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions a week after a Bangladesh garment factory building collapse killed hundreds — a grim reminder of how lax safety regulations make going to work a danger in many poor countries.

Laborers in Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines and elsewhere marched and chanted en masse Wednesday, sounding complaints about being squeezed by big business amid the surging cost of living. Asia is the manufacturing ground for many of the world’s largest multinational companies.

Thousands of garment factory workers in Bangladesh also paraded through the streets screaming for safeguards to be put in place and for the owner of the collapsed building to be sentenced to death.

In Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, tens of thousands of workers rallied for higher pay and an end to the practice of outsourcing jobs to contract workers, among other demands. Some also carried banners and protested against a proposed plan for the government to slash fuel subsidies that have kept the country’s pump prices among the cheapest in the region.

A day earlier, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the country can no longer afford to pay to keep fuel prices low, given a growing budget deficit. The government is trying to iron out a plan that would help offset the increase among the poor who would be most affected by it. Most factory workers earn about $120 a month. In 2011, the subsidy bill ran close to $20 billion, the same amount the government plans to spend on infrastructure this year.

In the Philippines, an estimated 8,000 workers marched in the capital, Manila, to also demand better pay and regular jobs instead of contractual work.

“Wage increase, increase!” members of a coalition of workers’ groups chanted while holding steamers that also called for lower food and utility prices. “Trash contractualization.”

Some workers rallied outside the U.S. Embassy, torching a wooden painting stamped with the words “low wages” and “union busting” that depicted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III as a lackey of President Barack Obama.

Aquino on Tuesday rejected proposals that included salary increases and the exemption of workers’ bonuses from taxes. Instead, he announced plans to equalize government and private sector workers’ benefits, but also add a slight increase in contributions.

Workers’ Party chairman Renato Magtubo assailed Aquino for offering “scraps meant for slaves.”

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 Taiwanese workers also protested a government reform plan to cut pension payouts to solve worsening fiscal problems, saying the payout cuts reflect a longstanding government policy to bolster economic growth at the expense of workers’ benefits and compromised workplace safety.

Analysts say the poor income level has forced many young Taiwanese to share housing with their parents and delay marriages.

In Cambodia, more than 5,000 garment workers marched in Phnom Penh, demanding better working conditions and a salary increase from $80 to $150 a month. About a half million people work in the country’s $4.6 billion garment industry that makes brand name clothes for many U.S. and European retailers.

The garment industry has come under fire since an illegally built eight-story building collapsed last week in Bangladesh, bringing down five garment factories and killing more than 400 people. The collapse followed a garment factory fire in November when 112 people died.

A loud procession of workers wound through central Dhaka, waving the national flag and chanting “direct action!” and “death penalty!” while one participant vowed the deaths would not be in vain.

“My brother has died. My sister has died. Their blood will not be valueless.”

____

Associated Press writers Ali Kotarumalous in Jakarta, Indonesia; Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines; Annie Huang in Taipei, Taiwan; Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Chris Blake and Farid Hossain in Savar, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.

More Margie Mason.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations