Thousands in Asia march on May Day

Thousands in Asia march on May Day

Macau Daily
Saturday, 02 May 2009

Chanting slogans workers in several Asian cities took to the streets to protest at the deteriorating work conditions and unemployment, demanding welfare benefits and a halt on military spending.

Organisers in Taipei said the estimated turnout of more than 12,000 that joined was one of the biggest May Day protests in recent years and showed people's resentment against the government was brewing as more and more people lost their jobs. The island's unemployment rate hit a record high in March.

"Anti-unemployment! We want dignity!" shouted the protesters, largely from the island's eight leading unions, threatening to surround the cabinet building "if our demand for a dialogue between the government and labour and management is not accepted," Hsieh Chuang-chih, of the Federation of Labour, told reporters.

The rally came after the government said last month that the island's unemployment rate was up to a record 5.81 percent in March as businesses slashed jobs in the ongoing recession.

Asia's sixth biggest economy, Taiwan has been hit hard by the global financial crisis with record falls in its key export sector, particularly at electronics firms.
"In the face of the worsening job market, the government may have created some temporary jobs, but what people really need is stable and long-term jobs," one demonstrator said.

In Tokyo, some 36,000 people rallied in Yoyogi park, demanding more welfare benefits and others protesting military spending, with many more youths and people in their 20s joining the event than in recent years.

In South Korea, over 8,000 workers and students rallied in a Seoul park urging an end to lay-offs and wage cuts caused by the crisis.

More than 1,000 Cambodian marched through Phnomn Penh to demand better wages and conditions and a halt to violence against unionists as they marked international labour day.

The group of mostly textile and hotel workers, carrying colourful banners and Cambodian flags, marched from a park near the royal palace to the parliament, where they handed a petition to political opposition leaders.

"The government has to listen to our requests," said Chea Mony, head of Cambodia's largest workers' group, the Cambodian Free Trade Union.
"It has to take care of the workers because they help bring billions of dollars to the government," he said.

The workers later marched to the place where Chea Vichea, who headed the country's largest labour union and was a vocal critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government, was gunned down in January 2004. The daylight murder was condemned by rights groups as a brutal attempt to silence opposition-linked unions.

Demonstrators shouted their demands through loudspeakers – the establishment of a labour court, a monthly 120-dollar minimum wage, fair treatment and a reduction in working hours from 48 hours to 44 hours per week.

Garment exports from the impoverished country have dropped sharply amid the global economic downturn and tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs this year.

Hotel workers are also suffering from lower tourism revenues after foreign tourist arrivals in Cambodia dropped by 2.19 percent in January compared with the same period last year.