Tuesday, August 17, 2010

SE Asian workers strike for justice

SE Asian workers are in revolt against low wages, exploitation and corporate race to the bottom economic development strategies.

First, Chinese workers struck at major transnational corporations like Honda and Foxconn Technology (a major supplier of companies like Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard), winning significant wage increases and other improvements.

Now garment workers in Bangladesh, employed by suppliers of WalMart and H & M have risen up, demanding a higher minimum wage and in opposition to attempts to lure garment production to Bangladesh through low wages.

The courage of these workers to stand up for their humanity illustrates what Dr Martin Luther King meant when he said: "The arc of the moral universe is long, But it bends toward justice."

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