Latest News
How Facebook (and other IT companies) can help kick coal off your computer
12 March 2010
Greenpeace calls upon Facebook to use 100% renewable energy. How the internet is powered is an issue not just for Facebook but for the entire IT industry. The industry holds many of the keys to reaching our climate goals by innovating internet based solutions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency. Technologies that enable smart grids, zero emissions buildings, and more efficient transport systems are central to efforts to combat climate change. However, the IT industry's global environmental footprint is still growing — in fact, it's set to double by 2020.
Women in the metals and manufacturing sectors hit hard by financial crisis
12 March 2010
Pre-existing inequalities exacerbates effects of the financial crisis on women, concludes a meeting of metalworker unions held in commemoration of International Women's Day. Over-represented in precarious and low paid employment, women in manufacturing jobs have been badly hit by the financial crisis. Seeking to highlight the situation of women in the metals and manufacturing sectors during the crisis the meeting examined what has happened to women's employment and discussed what strategies should trade unions adopt to tackle these issues.
Conditions and standards in the mobile phone manufacturing industry in India
12 March 2010
A recent report by labour rights organisation Cividep shows that in the electronic sector wages are still below the living wage calculations, even if they seem to be comparatively better than in other manufacturing sectors such as the garment sectors. Labour rights violations were reported by the interviewed workers. Especially the lack of collective bargaining agreements and the absence of any other mechanism through which workers can assert their rights in any of the factories should be of concern. A comparison of the results of this study and research conducted in 2006 shows that the industry still does not engage with any external bodies on human resources issues or their CSR practices.
Discarded mobile phones add up to tonnes of electronic waste in India
12 March 2010
Huge amount of electronic waste is generated by discarded mobile phones in India. The Indian mobile phone market adds almost 10 million annual subscribers, writesToxics Link. Every year 35 million mobile phones are discarded, creating 5000 tonnes of electronic waste in the country. The environmental crisis stems from the fact that mobile phones contain a number of carcinogenic and hazardous compounds that pollute air, soil and water.
Rights groups protest as millions of Burmese migrants face deportation from Thailand
12 March 2010
Over 2 million migrants have been threatened by the Royal Thai Government with deportation after February 28, 2010 if they fail to enter a complex "nationality verification" process. The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) has joined its Thai affiliate TEAM, other labour and human rights groups in seeking to relax this ruling and ensure protection of migrants' human rights. Over 80 per cent of these migrants are from Burma and face ethnic and political conflict as well as continuing economic deterioration in their homeland, which is controlled by a military government.
