· December, 2011

Stories about Labor from December, 2011

A Radical Solution For Global Poverty: Open Borders

  27 December 2011

Various experts say that extreme poverty isn't inevitable. The most radical solution to drastically reducing global poverty would be, for many economic experts, opening the borders between countries and allowing workers to migrate where labor is most needed.

Singapore: Latest Job Statistics

  16 December 2011

Leong Sze Hian reviews the report published by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower about the latest job, wage, and other economic indicators. The report mentioned that real average monthly earnings fell this year in Singapore

Singapore: Stories of Migrant Workers

  14 December 2011

The number of foreign workers in Singapore continues to rise but little is known about their working and housing conditions. Curious to know the personal stories of migrant workers in prosperous Singapore, three interns conceptualized the ‘Made by Migrants’ project and documented the daily activities of construction workers for two weeks

Brazil: Constraining Identities Through “Aesthetic Standards”

  10 December 2011

Brazilian journalist and blogger André Forestieri writes [pt] about the rights of an employer to constrain a black employee if he or she does not fit the “aesthetic standards” imposed by society. He illustrates with the case of a student whose teacher in a school she worked wanted her to...

Cuba: Same Old Story

  9 December 2011

Laritza's Laws compares the content of a 1989 edition of “Granma…the official mouthpiece of the Central Committee of the Party” to a current one, and says: “The failure is evident. The housing situation is precarious…public services in decline; and don’t even talk about the protection of the workers…”

Haiti: Business Wins, Haiti Loses

  6 December 2011

Haiti Grassroots Watch has been looking at the issues surrounding the inauguration of an industrial zone in the north of the island, and finds that “once again, Haiti’s government and her private sector – and their international supervisors – are pitching sweatshop level salaries as a key ‘comparative advantage.'”

Bulgaria: 30,000 Protest Against Cuts and Pension Reform

  1 December 2011

According to the trade unions, between 25,000 and 30,000 people protested in Sofia on Wednesday against the new pension reform, social cuts and the cancellation of the majority of trains in the country (a photo; videos – here and here). The police sent to contain the rally supported the people's...