Kosice, Slovakia | AFP | As day breaks through smudged tram windows, Slovak workers heading to the U.S. Steel Kosice plant mull their fate after hearing the company plans to sack a fifth of them. Some stare silently at the morning haze behind the chimneys of the sprawling communist-era factory. With …
Read More »Wolfram mining company lays off workers in Rubanda
Rubanda, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | KI3R Minerals International Limited, a United Kingdom-based company that is mining Wolfram in Nyamuriro Wolfram Mines, Muko Sub County Rubanda district has laid off its workers. The mines which cover 175 acres were revived by KI3R Minerals Limited in December 2016 after a takeover from …
Read More »Tokyo Olympic construction race raises worker safety questions
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | As Tokyo 2020 Olympics preparations enter their final stage, officials are touting the city’s readiness, but activists and workers groups say speedy venue construction has had dangerous consequences. The Olympic opening ceremony is now less than a year away and more than half the new venues …
Read More »One miner missing, 11 others injured in Ntungamo mine
Ntungamo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | One miner is missing following an accident at Mwerasandhu Tin mines in Rwamwire-Ruhaama Sub County in Ntungamo district. The mine, which belongs to German firm, Zanak Holdings caved in on Wednesday injuring eleven miners. Some of the workers told URN that they were called in …
Read More »Gov’t to export 80,000 workers to UAE
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is in need of 80,000 Ugandans to work in United Arabs Emirates in the next 12 months. On 26th June 2019 Government through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social development signed a bilateral Agreement with the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) in …
Read More »The coming Community Health Workers
Experts query their cost and compare them to current VHTs Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | Flue, cough, headache, or diarrhea; these simple ailments can be quite uncomfortable. But are they worth going to a health facility to get treated, especially if it is far away, crowded, and the doctor might …
Read More »Chinese companies monitor workers brains
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | It sounds like something out of a science fiction, but according to recent news reports, Chinese companies are using special helmets to monitor workers’ brain activity in order to reduce stress and manipulate break times so that they can produce more. Employee brainwave uses sensors …
Read More »Influx of commercial sex workers worries Bunyoro Bishop
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The influx of commercial sex workers in the Albertine graben has drawn the attention of Rt. Rev, Samuel Kahuma, the Bishop of Bunyoro Kitara diocese. Bishop Kahuma has in a statement denounced the many commercial sex workers he says have invaded the oil rich Hoima …
Read More »STRIKE: Why workers pick weapon of last resort
STRIKE: Why Ugandan workers pick weapon of last reason? Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | Salary wars usually get ugly, especially if they involve a strike by medical workers. So when members of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA), a 6000-member body started their strike over pay on Monday 06, the country …
Read More »In Rio, office workers join the ranks of the homeless
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Vilmar Mendonca used to be a human resources director for several companies in Brazil. Now he is homeless, sleeping outdoors along with thousands of other victims of the country’s economic crisis. Mendonca lost his job in 2015 and for a while, he lived off …
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