Full Coverage: Labour

24.02.2006 While gains have been made in some sectors and some countries, women still aren't getting the same opportunities as men in education, employment, and other aspects of life—with unfortunate consequences for society as a whole.

22.02.2006 Yesterday's adoption by the World Bank's private sector lending arm of a new loan performance standard on labour rights and working conditions was welcomed today by a major international trades union alliance.

21.02.2006 A new consolidated maritime labour Convention, to be voted here on Thursday by the International Labour Organization's Maritime labour Conference, reflects "labour history" in the making by providing a modern approach to addressing decent work and a fair globalization, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said.

17.02.2006 Workers at an Indian shipbreaking yard have announced they will hold demonstrations over the next few days and, if necessary, go on hunger strike in protest against French President Jacques Chirac's decision to recall the decommissioned aircraft carrier Clemenceau.

17.02.2006 The decision by French President Jacques Chirac to withdraw the asbestos-contaminated aircraft carrier Clemenceau from dismantling in India ends an embarrassing journey for the ship, and for the French government.

16.02.2006 Segundo a revista do Observatório Social, empresas como Basf, Faber-Castell e ICI Paints compram produtos de fornecedores que exploram a mão-de-obra infantil nas minas de talco em Ouro Preto (MG).

13.02.2006 An opinion poll commissioned by Greenpeace and conducted by the Hansa Research Group has found that nearly 70 per cent of respondents want the Indian government to disallow decommissioned French war ship - Clemenceau - from entering Indian waters because of toxic wastes. Read the Greenpeace press release for more information.

13.02.2006 The Greenpeace-commissioned survey, conducted by HANSA research, on the public's perception of environmental pollution in India with special emphasis on the perception of the production, trade, use, and release of hazardous materials in India. Read the full report.

08.02.2006 The International Labour Organization (ILO) began consideration on Tuesday of a draft Convention on maritime labour standards, which if adopted will represent the most sweeping and comprehensive global legal instrument ever forged regarding the worldÂ’s shipowners, seafarers and maritime nations.

03.02.2006 The Turkish Company "Kurum" closed down its operations in Elbasan, a move that resulted in the laying off of 1000 workers. The reason for the closing, according to Kurum, lies with the high price of electricity. Kurum (steel and metallurgy industry) was charged to pay 9 Lek per kW/h of electricity, while the other companies in the region pay less than half that price.

03.02.2006 The Department of Non-Resident Keralites' Affairs (NoRKA) and the SCMS Institute of Paramedical and Development Studies, Kalamassery, have joined hands to provide training to prospective housemaids who plan to go abroad, especially to the Gulf countries.

03.02.2006 Thursday,Feb 2:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act near Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Launching the massive programme, Dr. Singh described the event as "a landmark in our history in removing poverty from the face of the nation."

02.02.2006 The rural employment guarantee programme begins with the government and the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council not recognising two a priori flaws. First, the 250 district-wide jobs programme can be manipulated as ruthlessly as the 150 district-wide food for work scheme was. In the latter, as several exposes in this newspaper established, fake muster rolls are the norm. The rural jobs plan doesnÂ’t offer any institutional innovation to address this.

01.02.2006 The Office of the Ombudsman of Albania receives a huge number of complaints in 2005, from employees that have been sacked from their jobs in the adminsitration upon entry into office of the new Government. The public sector and Customs and Taxes Bureau seem to be striken the most by this practice.

01.02.2006 Rural areas in Madurai district are free from child labour and a majority of the urban areas too have come out clean on this count.All 431 village panchayats in the district, the 12 special grade panchayats and six municipalities have become child labour-free. An official at the Collectorate told The Hindu that authorities in the Madurai Corporation had undertaken rescue and rehabilitation measures to rid the urban area of the vicious system of stifling child rights