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Leung Chau-ting, Chairman, Hong Kong Federation of Civil Service Unions; President Hong Kong Clerical Grades Civil Servants General Union (CGCSGU), and Chan Wai-keung, First Vice-President of the CGCSGU
19 March 2002

ALU  How many members do you represent, what is the rate of representation, and what kind of workers are they in general?

Together with China Labour Bulletin (CLB) and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Liaison Office of the international trade union movement (IHLO) is launching an international campaign in preparation for 4 June 2002, commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Chinese government’s bloody repression of workers and students near Tiananmen Square.

Dear American people:

We social movement activists in Taiwan, are devoted to realising a democratic, equal, and peaceful society. Here we would like to express our sincerest sympathy for all victims of the terrorist attacks on 11 September.

We, just like you, are strongly opposed to attacks that inflict heavy casualties on civilians. Terrorist atrocities will never be of any help to achieve justice and peace, but do tremendous harm to people’s mutual understanding and solidarity all over the world and even justify and intensify the rulers’ oppression and domination.

Sanjiv Pandita

Is the Internet a common shared public resource, which symbolises free speech in society or is it just a medium to enhance corporate globalisation and a delivery system for neo-liberal agenda? This was one of the issues discussed in the Asia Internet Rights Conference which was held in Seoul from 8 to 12 November 2001.

Sujata Gothoskar

Informal work and informal workers are not a new phenomenon. They have been in existence since the beginning of work itself. Even after industrialisation and its development, informal work has co-existed with the formalisation of the economy. In large parts of the economies of Asia and Africa for example, informal work has been the source of livelihood of the majority of workers. Government policies are largely responsible for proliferating informal work in many countries.

Tim Pringle

Li Qiang

Kim Aehwa

Peter Lusk

The effect of globalisation on workers and other low-income people in New Zealand (NZ) has been devastating. It is as if a nation were asset-stripped, its manufacturing trashed, and its workforce pauperised.

Rene Ofreneo, Melisa Serrano and Stephen Frost

Union members at posh 5-star Shangri-La Jakarta Hotel have been locked out since December 2000 for protesting over the illegal dismissal of their SPMS union president. All these innocent workers want is to return to work with union recognition by the company. (See ALUs 37 and 38 for details)

The term ‘globalisation?is a confusing concept as it means different things to different people.

This issue of ALU shows what companies and governments mean by it, the impact it has on labour, and how we can fight it.

Stephen Frost

Tim Pringle

“What the hell have you come here for? We’ve got nothing here! The mines have shut down and those bastards in their offices are corrupt to the bone! We had a strike, but there’s no way of controlling them. It’s not like the USA where everyone’s rich and you’ve got democracy. Shulan town? It’s a joke.”