Abuse of power - Hazards issue 111 July-September 2010

WORKING WORLD

Our day
It is the world’s largest health and safety event, involving thousands of trade unions representing millions of members across 100 countries. more

Samsung's shame
Campaigners have so far collated evidence suggesting 23 Samsung workers in Korea have suffered from haematopoietic cancers like leukaemia or lymphoma, and at least nine workers have died. more

Target Asia
Canada increased its asbestos exports last year. But a new organisation, the Asian Ban Asbestos Network (A-BAN), is not letting the deadly trade go unopposed. more

Child labour
Child labour isn’t about helping out mum and dad. For millions of children worldwide, it’s a way of life. more

FACK at work
Familes Against Corporate Killers (FACK) members speak about their high profile campaign for justice. more

Asbestos threats
The asbestos industry may be ailing, but it’s not dead yet. more

Thai troubles
When 54 migrant workers suffocated in April, the world’s media focused momentarily on Thailand’s appalling safety record. But a new group says deadly exploitation is routine and largely ignored. more

Working in Japan
Many of today’s fast and furious work methods originated in Japan. Mick Holder looks at how JOSHRC, a small, union-backed advocacy organisation, has ensured safe and healthy work has survived on the agenda. more

Palestine
Israeli occupation and an economic crisis in Palestine mean the jobs that do exist tend to be poorly paid, unsafe and insecure.
more

Lumbered
The Chilean Confederation of Forestry Workers (CFT) is one of the most active unions on health and safety in the sector anywhere in the world. more

Making links
AAWL’s Manrico Moro describes the Melbourne-based organisation’s groundbreaking regional health and safety project. more

Human Wreckage
Shipbreaking workers from India travelled to London to expose the deadly risks commonplace in the industry and to demand urgent reforms to save lives.
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Supply chains
Why should a worker in Bangladesh have to put her or his life on the line simply to make a cheap sweater or t-shirt for European shoppers? Nina Ascoly of the Clean Clothes Campaign describes the global campaign for safe work and justice. more

Life and death in Gujarat
Gujarat is one of the most industrialised regions of India providing millions of extremely hard, harsh and hazardous jobs. PTRC explains how it works to improve working conditions. more

China
Rapid industrialisation has seen China emerge as an economic superpower. It has also brought hundreds of thousands of cases of occupational disease each year and tens of thousands of workplace fatalities. more

Hazards Campaign
How can thousands of workers in one of the world’s richest nations die each year because they face obvious and preventable hazards at work? Workers have to organise for the sake of their health. more

VTHC
Unions in the state of Victoria, Australia, have been breaking new ground on workplace health and safety for over 150 years. more

NUMSA
Hlokoza Motau, international officer with metalworkers’ union NUMSA, explains how the union fights hazards and apartheid’s deadly legacy. more

Enough said
CUPE national health and safety director Anthony Pizzino tells Hazards why his union said "enough!" and moved to a more militant approach to union health and safety, with organisation at its core. more

Don't mess with the unions
A global union campaign has seen James Hardie's rapid descent from darling of the stockmarket to company in crisis, facing protests and legal action on three continents. more

Image: Union Mettle -IMF

Union mettle
Anita Gardner of the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) describes the global union's campaign to protect shipbreaking workers. more

NZCTU image

Vital signs
New Zealand's Labour government, after intensive lobbying from unions, has introduced new laws requiring worker participation in health and safety. more

Bargaining on safety
Cathy Walker, health and safety director of autoworkers' union CAW, describes the Canadian unions' lifesaving fight for better rights and better workplaces. more

ICRT image

Secrets of the cleanrooms
From Silicon Glen in Scotland to Silicon Plateau in India, there are serious concerns about the long term health and environmental impact of the micro-electronics industry. more

Hazards magazine 84 photofile image

Growing pains
With agriculture one of the most dangerous industries, improving health and safety is a top union priority. more

Have a safe journey
ITF says co-ordinated union action on a workplace, national and global scale is the ticket to safer transport. more

Material damage
Global union ITGLWF tackles textiles hazards. more

Union building
In construction at least 108,000 workers are killed on site every year, says global union IFBWW. more

Two million killed each year
"If terrorism took such a toll, just imagine what would be said and done." Jukka Takala, ILO. more

Made in China
Global movement towards local solutions. more

Safety in numbers
Global mega-union ICEM is making things safer at work more

Building solidarity
Asia photofile: Union backed OHSE institute tackles deaths disgrace. more

Little luxuries
Union tour sees the bitter fruits of international exploitation. more