Category: Special Exploitation Zones

  • “You celebrate International Womens’ Day, while we smash our cerebrals to a speeding train”

    This seems to be the message of challenge to the fighters of women’s causes and more importantly to the plethora of unions claiming to fight the injustice against garment workers particularly women. In a shocking instance (just three days before the celebration of International Women Day this year) to the kind of desperation faced by…

  • Super growth or Super exploitation?

    Textile Industry in India is the second largest employment generator after agriculture. In fact Indian textile industry is the second largest in the world, second only to China. The policy of the Govt. is also aimed at achieving the target of textile and apparel exports of US $ 50 billion by 2010 of which the…

  • Condition of Garment Workers in Bangalore

    Garment Industry: Special Exploitation Zone There are over 1000 garment industries employing over 5 lakh workers (Statistics given by Garment & Textile Workers Union – GATWU). But according to conservative govt. figures there are only 787 units employing 3,55,000 workers out of which 85 – 90% are women. Most of these workers have come from…

  • Domestic Workers: Struggle for Social Security Benefits

    Globalization & the new economic policy have only benefited capitalism & their stooges in the Indian govt. Liberalization policy have only resulted in crores (millions) of organized workers being pushed out to the unorganized sector. Of the 800 million (80 crore) unorganized workers, a significant part of them are domestic workers (over 100 million). From…

  • Police Batons in the service of the Corporates

    Police disperse striking workers ; allow the company to declare an illegal lock-out It should come as no surprise that the police joined hands with a company management to put down the genuine protest by workers. The workers were merely demanding their basic rights of 8 hour work-day and an association that could represent them…

  • Condition of Agarbatti Workers in Bangalore

    The incense stick (or popularly known as Agarbatti in India) used in every devout Hindu households for religious purposes, is today a highly marketed commodity both in India & abroad. But not much thought seems to have gone into how these agarbattis are produced or manufactured. With limited infrastructure such as a wooden board, availability…

  • Garment Industry :Special Exploitation Zone

    The garment industry in Bangalore with about 1200 registered units employing over a half a million workforce and one of the biggest sources of exports in the country, but hardly is there any mention in the media on the living and working conditions of the workers who are the real makers of some of the …

  • 25,000 textile workers protest against poor wages

    Textile workers are on the move again. More than 25,000 textile workers defied a ban on protests in emergency-ruled Bangladesh to demand back pay and bonuses in one of the country’s biggest industrial zones. The workers walked off the job in Tejgoan industrial area in the capital Dhaka and held protests in the streets, forcing…

  • Call Centres and ‘Outsourcing’: The New Satanic Mills

    There are 5,500 UK call centres employing 400,000 workers, many of whom have no union representation and work in appalling conditions. These workers are now threatened with “off-shoring” or “out-sourcing”. Dave Moody, from Taunton Socialist Party explains how this workforce can be organised to fight for job security and better pay and working conditions. Call…

  • World Social Forum: Workers Speak Out

    AS WE reported in last week’s issue of the socialist, over 120,000 people, mainly from the Indian sub-continent and other Asian countries, attended the fourth World Social Forum in the Indian city of Mumbai. Members of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI – the international organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated), have sent these…