Category Archives: Workers’ rights

Another World Cup will be tainted by worker deaths if Fifa fails to act, say rights groups

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Saudi Arabia is likely to host the 2034 tournament, but a Guardian investigation has revealed there are already a high number of ‘unexplained’ migrant worker deaths in the Gulf kingdom

Human rights organisations are warning that another World Cup will be tainted by the deaths and suffering of low-paid workers if Fifa does not take urgent steps to ensure that Saudi Arabia deals with the widespread abuse of its migrant workforce.

As the sole bidder, Saudi Arabia is almost certain to be anointed by Fifa this year as host of the World Cup in 2034, but rights groups said “workers cannot afford a repeat of Qatar 2022”.

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Vermont senator Bernie Sanders introduces four-day workweek bill

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Independent lawmaker says it’s time for workers to have a better quality of life with a 32-hour workweek without loss of pay

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, introduced a bill to establish a four-day US working week.

Studies and pilot programmes have shown that four-day workweeks can increase productivity and happiness. Given Republican control of the House and a Senate split 51-49 in favour of Democrats, however, the legislation stands little chance of success.

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Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office

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Exclusive: Test case likely against UK’s seasonal worker scheme as charity alleges breach of right to be protected from labour exploitation

When Ismael found himself sleeping rough at York station in the late October cold he struggled to understand how an opportunity to pick berries 7,000 miles from his home had so quickly ended there.

He had left Indonesia less than four months earlier, in July 2022. He was 18 and ready for six months of hard work on a British farm to save for a science degree. “I thought the UK was the best place to work because I could save up a little money and help my parents,” he said.

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‘I feel like a criminal for quitting’: nurses in the US fight ‘stay or pay’ agreements

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Filipino nurses for Ohio-based company say they have been forced to pay thousands in fees after signing training contracts

Filipino nurses are calling for the US’s top labor watchdog to review controversial “stay or pay” training repayment agreement provisions that have left them facing lawsuits and thousands of dollars in fees after they quit their jobs.

Training repayment agreement provisions (Trap) are contracts employers require workers to sign before beginning a job and stipulate that if a worker leaves the job before a specified time, they owe substantial fees.

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Oregon teachers reach tentative deal to end strike after three weeks of no school

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Portland school district reaches agreement with teachers’ union allowing 45,000 students to resume classes

Oregon’s largest school district said late on Sunday it had reached a tentative agreement with its teachers’ union and roughly 45,000 students would be back in school on Monday after more than three weeks without classes.

The agreement must still be voted on by teachers who have been on the picket line since 1 November over issues of pay, class sizes and planning time. It must also be approved by the school board, but the union agreed that classes could resume while those votes go forward. Portland Public Schools students missed 11 days of school before the district began its weeklong Thanksgiving break.

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P&O Cruises and Cunard threaten to fire and rehire more than 900 UK staff

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Cruise firms could dismiss crew unless they accept salary cuts and flexible working arrangements

P&O Cruises and fellow cruise firm Cunard have made provision to fire and rehire more than 900 UK-based crew unless they accept salary cuts and more flexible working arrangements.

The affected crew include officers on the British flagship, the luxury ocean liner Queen Mary 2, and nine other ships operated under Carnival UK, which is part of the $18bn-listed Carnival group.

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Wells Fargo workers at two US branches of bank launch efforts to unionize

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Employees in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bethel, Alaska, make rare move to organize staff in financial industry

Workers at two Wells Fargo bank branches are planning to launch unionization efforts on Monday in a rare move to organize staff at a financial services company.

Employees in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bethel, Alaska, said they would notify the National Labor Relations Board that they plan to hold elections to decide whether to unionize, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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Bangladesh garment workers fighting for pay face brutal violence and threats

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Workers describe hands and arms being targeted in ‘merciless’ beatings as protests over low wages turn increasingly violent in Dhaka

When Masuma Akhtar arrived at the garment factory where she works on the outskirts of Dhaka on 31 October, she was expecting a normal shift. Instead, she was met with brute violence. “The moment I walked through the factory gates, a group of armed men began beating me with wooden sticks,” says Akhtar. “I fell down on to the ground. Even then they wouldn’t stop beating me.”

Akhtar, 22, is a seamstress at Dekko Knitwears in Mirpur, where she spends long days churning out clothes for western fashion brands, including Marks & Spencer, C&A and PVH Corp, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

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Hollywood actors’ union reaches tentative deal with studios to end strike

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Sag-Aftra union hails agreement of ‘extraordinary scope’ with Hollywood producers, bringing to a close historic work stoppage

Hollywood actors are set to end their nearly four-month strike, the Sag-Aftra union announced on Wednesday, bringing to a close a historic work stoppage that had brought the film and television industry to a standstill for months.

Sag-Aftra and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday, ending film and television actors’ longest strike roughly a month after writers signed their new contract. The deal came after parties had resumed talks last week following stalled negotiations in early October.

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Workers for fast fashion brands fear starvation as they fight for higher wages

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Garment workers in Bangladesh making clothes for UK brands say plans to increase their pay to £92 a month is not enough to survive

Garment workers making clothes in Bangladesh for UK high-street brands say they are facing starvation and are having to steal and scavenge food from fields and bins to feed their children, as protests continue over a new minimum wage for the garment workforce of 4 million people.

Over the past week, tens of thousands of workers have taken to the streets in increasingly violent protests that, according to unions and news reports, have left one young garment worker, Rasel Hawlader, dead.

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Motherhood penalty ‘has driven 250,000 women out of jobs’

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Cost and difficulties of balancing work and childcare has led one in 10 to quit, says Fawcett Society

About a quarter of a million mothers with young children have left their jobs because of difficulties with balancing work and childcare, according to a report by an equal rights charity that calls for the end of the “motherhood penalty”.

This juggling act, as well as the punitive cost, has led more than 249,124 working mothers of children aged four or under to leave their employer, according to the Fawcett Society.

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UAE to investigate recruitment of Filipina domestic worker who died

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Inquiry follows Guardian report on Vergie Tamfungan, whose death in the Gulf country has shone a spotlight on ‘cross-country’ employment practices

The UAE government has repatriated the body of a Filipina domestic worker who died last month, and launched an investigation into the findings of a Guardian report on the recruiters that brought her into the country.

When Vergie Tamfungan, 39, died on 25 September, she was being held in her recruiter’s accommodation in the emirate of Sharjah and had not yet been placed in a household to work. Her family said she had gone to the UAE that month after being promised a good salary and bonuses by the agency.

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Peter Mandelson calls for Labour caution in improving workers’ rights

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Peer warns party against over-zealous labour market reforms while dismissing former leaders as ‘weak, weak, weak’

Peter Mandelson has warned Labour not to go too far in bringing in labour market reforms to benefit workers and hit out at Unite’s Sharon Graham, while describing the past decade of party leaders as “weak, weak, weak”.

The Labour peer, a former business secretary and architect of the 1997 election victory, gave a combative speech to a City of London Corporation dinner at the party conference, where he warned against making labour market reforms that swung towards the “other extreme”.

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Ex-wife of Boris Johnson to help Labour protect women from bullying at work

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Marina Wheeler KC to be tasked with strengthening rights to safeguard women who report workplace harassment

A leading barrister and ex-wife of Boris Johnson is set to be appointed as Labour’s new “whistleblowing tsar”, offering advice on proposed protections for women against workplace harassment.

Marina Wheeler KC will help the party with its plans to strengthen employment rights to safeguard women from abusive colleagues, the Independent reported.

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Pakistan welcomes fast-fashion brand Boohoo despite poor staff safety claims

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Call to set up role comes as report alleges retailer uses factories that violate minimum-wage requirements and workers’ rights

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, has reportedly asked the British fast-fashion brand Boohoo to increase its presence in the country, despite claims that it has failed to tackle poor conditions at its suppliers’ factories there.

In a meeting with Kakar this week, Mahmud Kamani, chairman of Boohoo Group, expressed an interest in establishing long-term buying linkages with Pakistan, according to Radio Pakistan.

Kakar pointed out Pakistan’s pro-investment policies and facilities, and invited Boohoo to open franchises in the country, which is in economic turmoil, with a record inflation rate of 36.4%.

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Unilever to make payments to Kenyan tea pickers over 2007 plantation attacks

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UK law firm Leigh Day says money given to 77 workers for murders and rapes ‘sidesteps’ multinational’s responsibility over attack

Unilever is to make payments to 77 tea pickers who worked on one of its plantations in Kenya that was targeted during post-election violence in 2007.

The UK law firm Leigh Day, representing the workers, said the London-based consumer goods multinational had agreed to make voluntary, or ex-gratia, payments to former workers at its subsidiary Unilever Tea Kenya, who were attacked by armed assailants at its plantation in Kericho.

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Greens want superannuation theft made a crime in Labor’s workplace bill

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Senator Barbara Pocock says unpaid super is costing workers at least $3.3bn a year, while wage theft losses are about $1.3bn

The Greens have urged the Albanese government to make superannuation theft a crime, after failure to pay super was not included in the proposed wage theft offence in Labor’s closing loopholes bill.

The Greens’ employment spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock, has warned that unpaid super is costing workers at least $3.3bn a year, more than double the amount estimated to be lost through wage theft ($1.3bn).

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Keir Starmer: Labour in power would not ‘want to diverge’ from EU

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Party leader says he would not bring in lower environmental and food standards than in Europe or reduce workers’ rights

Keir Starmer has gone further than before in outlining his vision of a future UK relationship with the EU, saying Labour didn’t “want to diverge” – in comments that were immediately seized on by the Conservatives.

The Labour leader was speaking at an event in Canada bringing together liberal and centre-left politicians, where he said that “most of the conflict” since Brexit had arisen because the UK “wants to diverge and do different things to the rest of our EU partners”.

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Thirteen-year wage dispute between NYC and Staten Island ferry workers set to end

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Ferry captains, mates and engineers appear to be reaching deal after more than a decade without a union contract with the city

One of the lengthiest wage disputes in the US is reported to be drawing to an end, as Staten Island ferry captains, mates and engineers appeared to be reaching a deal after 13 years without a union contract with New York City.

A deal between the marine engineers’ beneficial association, which represents some 150 ferry workers, that has eluded negotiators since 2010, was set be announced Monday, according to the Daily News,

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Pret a Manger fined £800,000 after employee trapped in freezer

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Employee, who was stuck in walk-in freezer for more than two hours, was treated in hospital for hypothermia

Pret a Manger has been fined £800,000 after an employee was trapped in one of its freezers for more than two hours, where she tried to use croissant boxes to stave off hypothermia.

The employee was wearing jeans and T-shirt when she was stuck in a walk-in freezer, which typically had its temperature set at -18C, in July 2021, Westminster magistrates court was told.

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