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Asia
India: Outsourced NHM workers in Uttarakhand strike over non-payment of wages
Over 370 outsourced National Health Mission (NHM) workers from Tehri, Almora and Nainital districts stopped work on Tuesday to demand payment of wages for the past three months. Strikers included nurses, ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) and data entry operators, who also complained that their Employment Provident Fund deductions have not been paid to the government for the past six months.
“How can we respond to disaster situations, when our morale is so low due to lack of wages?” a worker told media. Their union warned of a wider strike if wages are not paid soon. There are around 1,400 NHM workers in Uttarakhand state.
Punjab: Mohali Municipal Corporation sanitation workers walk out
Sanitation workers from the Mohali Municipal Corporation began strike action on June 30 to protest the arbitrary actions by sanitation inspectors over attendance issues. Workers accused the inspectors of seeking early promotions while sanitation workers are not promoted even after working 10 to 15 years. The strike became a stand-off between workers and sanitation inspectors, but the corporation and state government MLA sided with the sanitation inspectors and demanded the strike end soon.
West Bengal LPG bottling plant workers in Parganas strike for pay rise
Workers at the LPG bottling plant of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) in Parganas district protested inside the plant on Tuesday to demand a pay rise. Workers halted production for some time and removed gas from cylinders as part of their protest. The bottling facility fills between 45,000 and 50,000 cylinders a day.
Police attack protesting Pakistan government employees outside the Karachi Press Club
Police violently assaulted members of the Sindh Employees Grand Alliance who were protesting outside the Karachi Press Club on Monday following the breakdown of negotiations over salary increases. Police fired tear gas and water cannon and detained 87 workers who attempted to march towards the chief minister’s house.
The workers’ demands include payment of pensioners’ dues, increase in salaries and pensions by 70 percent, a 50 percent increase in Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA) and House Rent Allowance, as well as promotions. Workers have vowed to maintain their protest outside the club.
Bangladeshi garment workers protest killing of a co-worker
On Tuesday, hundreds of apparel workers from Greenland Garments in Gazipur’s Konabari area protested demanding justice for the culprits of the brutal killing of Hridoy, 19, a fellow worker. The strike was organised by the Bangladesh Garments and Sweater Workers Trade Union Centre. Their protest blocked the highway for several hours, while police were deployed to prevent the protest spreading. The factory was indefinitely closed.
Hridoy, a mechanic at the factory, was killed on June 28 after allegedly being accused of theft. Workers began their protest after a video of him being beaten was posted on social media and went viral. Workers claimed Hridoy was tortured to death by security guards.
The Konabari Police Station have arrested a security guard and an employee of the factory. The officer-in-charge told the media that factory authorities “initially tried to cover it up” and arranged to send Hridoy’s body to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital. Hospital authorities, however, recorded the young man as dead on arrival at the facility.
Australia
Qantas engineers begin industrial action for pay rise
About 580 Qantas line engineers, responsible for towing and marshalling aircraft and performing turnaround checks on aircraft to ensure they are safe to take off again, put in place rolling work bans at all major airports across Australia on June 25. The action is part of their long-running campaign for higher pay. Bans were imposed on 20 duties, including restrictions on towing aircraft, de-icing and using forklifts.
The workers are represented by three unions, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Australian Workers Union and the Electrical Trades Union, who have allowed negotiations with Qantas to drag on since April last year. The latest action follows a series of strikes last year at airports across the country over the issue that involved 1,000 members.
Qantas has offered 3 percent per annum wage rises in a three-year agreement. Workers want a 15 percent wage rise in the first year and 5 percent for every year thereafter to compensate for three-and-a-half years of wage freezes agreed to by the unions during the COVID pandemic.
Qantas air freight pilots take industrial action in pay dispute
About 100 pilots represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), Australian Federation of Air Pilots and the Australian & International Pilots Association implemented low-level industrial action on Friday in their pay dispute with Express Freighters Australia, a cargo line owned by Qantas. The action, which includes not working on days off or completing work before scheduled shift commencement, follows six months of failed negotiations.
The TWU said Qantas had refused to improve an offer that in some cases would see pilots’ remuneration hovering around the bare legal minimum of the Air Pilots Award 2020, and would entrench poor work-life balance. The unions are calling for an increase in pay to match current industry standards, as well as improvements to roster protections and additional days off to improve work-life balance.
Express Freighters pilots mainly fly overnight, “back of the clock” flights and spend up to 260 hours away from home per month. Earlier this year, Qantas posted half-yearly results of $1.39 billion in underlying profit.
Grill’d fast-food restaurant workers strike over low pay and exploitation
Grill’d fast-food restaurant workers in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland walked out for 24 hours on June 28 to demand higher pay and an end to exploitation. The workers, mostly teenagers, are represented by the United Workers Union, which has accused the company of using a business model based on underpaying young people.
According to the union, many workers are classified as “trainees” and paid below the legal minimum wage, between $12.26 and $22.06 an hour, while the company receives government funding for employing them. Workers 18 years and under are trapped in the “junior rates” system that pays them less simply because of their age.
The strike followed a 24-hour walkout by Grill’d workers in Melbourne in October against underpayment of wages and exploitative traineeships. Workers are demanding an end to junior wages and exploitation and higher pay in a new enterprise agreement.
Queensland nurses and midwives escalate action in pay dispute
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union (QNMU) have notified the Liberal-National Party (LNP) state government that on July 8 its members will implement “Stage 2” industrial action in opposition to the government’s proposed enterprise agreement. Thousands of QNMU members employed by Queensland Health have been given a list of 13 actions they can choose from. These could include taking the full period of all breaks, not doing overtime, not attending management meetings, no cleaning or making beds, among others.
QNMU members approved the latest action after two weeks of restarted negotiations with the government failed this week. Thousands of nurses and midwives began low-level “Stage 1” industrial action on June 5, opposing the government’s proposed reductions in parental leave, reproductive leave, and flexible working arrangements. They rejected the government’s pay rise offer of 3 percent on April 1 followed by 2.5 percent and 3 percent in the following two years. Nurses said the offer falls short of what the LNP promised in the lead-up to the state election.
While the industrial action is the first in two decades, the union bureaucracy is working to keep action as limited as possible. QNMU’s stage 1 actions called for members to wear QNMU badges and shirts, put up posters and wear pink. Meanwhile the union has no concrete demands, including on pay, but is merely pleading that the LNP government delivers on its election promise of “nation-leading wages.”
I-MED radiology workers in Victoria hold another strike for a pay rise
On Monday, Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association (VAHPA) members at six of I-MED’s 68 radiology clinics in Victoria walked out for 24 hours at Camberwell, Caulfield, Collins Street, East Melbourne, Kew and South Yarra in their dispute with the company over its proposed enterprise agreement. The action followed two-hour stoppages at eight other clinics on May 22 and June 25.
The VAHPA has been in negotiations with I-MED since the expiry of their previous agreement in July 2024, but without being able to reach a deal. The company is refusing to meet workers’ demands for the industry standard of five weeks annual leave or for an acceptable wage rise.
VAHPA has over 190 members at I-MED’s Victorian clinics. After the company refused to improve its pay rise offer, workers voted overwhelmingly on May 7 to take protected industrial action that could include bans on billing and overtime and a number of other measures as well as strikes.
I-MED is on track to record $1.35 billion in revenue for the 2024–25 financial year.
Crown forklift manufacturing workers in Victoria strike for pay rise
Over 80 workers at Crown Equipment forklift truck factories in Wodonga, Mulgrave and Truganina walked out for 48 hours on Monday and rallied outside Bunnings, one of their major customer’s premises, at Box Hill in east Melbourne. They held signs saying, “Crown workers deserve respect” and “ Hands off our allowances,” in opposition to the company’s proposed enterprise agreement.
On June 6, workers put in place a ban on overtime and callouts after the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) failed to reach a deal in a new agreement. Negotiations began before the expiry of the last agreement in March. The AMWU claimed Crown wants to freeze allowances. The workers have not had a pay rise since April 2024.