A group of migrant workers were promised well-paid construction jobs but were instead handed over to the Russian military. After only 21 days of training, they were sent to the battlefield. Seventeen reportedly died on their first day of deployment. One returned home severely injured after crawling kilometres to safety. Two suspected traffickers have been arrested.
The intertwining of local economic crisis and global rise in raw material costs has led to paralysis in the industry. Trade bodies worried about competition from Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Malaysia, where foreign investors find lower costs per square meter to build. The government has agreed to raise capped prices for contracts on new roads by 20 percent, but has 200 billion rupees in back payments.
The government wants to revise rules on permits for nikkei yonsei, foreign descendants up to the fourth generation. The first immigration incentives with the Abe government in 2018, albeit within strict labor, social and language terms. A revolution dictated by aging and declining population, collapsing consumers and active workers.
The National Association of Skilled Workers slams the Malaysian government for not doing enough to get high school graduates into vocational training to meet the needs of local industry. For the country’s deputy prime minister, the government has a plan to coordinate Malaysia's 1,260 vocational schools to eliminate competition and improve training. The UN development goals include “inclusive and equitable quality education”.
About 10,000 new nurses graduate annually but 7,000 leave state-run establishments for better pay at facilities serving foreign patients or located abroad. Low wages and heavy workloads (up to 80 hours per week) are blamed.
China's third-most populous province has launched a "100-day" plan to reduce youth employment, now at 20.4. Massive government intervention and sending graduates to rural areas are meant to overcome the crisis of the private sector, hit by the pandemic but also by measures against high-tech companies. This is unlikely to be effective while discontent grows in universities.
Chhim Sithar was convicted of "inciting social chaos" at NagaWorld, Phnom Penh’s large gambling complex. She led a strike to defend workers' rights and get the company to reinstate hundreds of fired employees. Eight other union officials were given a suspended prison sentence ranging from 12 to 18 months. Meanwhile, the government has intensified its crackdown on dissent ahead of the July election.
The China Labour Bulletin dennounces: Despite forming a good percentage of the workforce, delivery women in China are discrimated against or given negative reviews simply because they are women. The starting pay is often lower. Several local trade unions have intervened but no platform negotiations have taken place.
Thousands of nurses walk out to protest the president’s decision to veto a bill approved by South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly. Doctors are against the new legislation, claiming that it will cause chaos. For nurses, such concerns are unfounded, insisting that the country needs more care centres to cope with a rapidly aging population.
Investigations focus on a racket that affects people across Southeast Asia. Lured to the Philippines for a regular job, the victims are held against their will and forced into criminal activities like rigged sales, erotic chats, and cryptocurrency scams. A Philippine senator raised the issue of “scam hubs" urging government action.
According to reports by international organisations, almost 105 million people are officially unemployed in Asia-Pacific, 12 per cent more than in 2019. Progress in informal and vulnerable jobs has also been lost, while the sectors with the highest employment growth actually offer few jobs.
On 24 April 2013, a building housing factories supplying major brands collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, most of them women. Despite some initial progress, wages continue to be low, unions have little room to operate, and survivors are hard-pressed to find work because of persistent health problems. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garments exporter after China.
The affidavit of a young man recruited through Facebook job ad was released today at a Philippine Senate hearing. About a thousand foreigners work in the same area in Parañaque near the international airport. A finger is pointed at the Bureau of Immigration easy entry visas.
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