Organizing Madagascar’s textile and garment industries23 May, 2022Under the theme - union organizing dynamics in the textile, garment, shoe, and leather industries in Madagascar - the unions that organize in the sectors met in Antananarivo 16-17 May to discuss how to sustain and build union power in a post-Covid economy.
Safety first? Another fatality at Rio Tinto4 February, 2015A worker was killed at Rio Tinto’s mining operations in Madagascar on 28 January, less than a week after a fatality at Rio Tinto’s minority-owned mine in Indonesia.
Guard strike points to global problem at Rio Tinto21 October, 2015A security guard strike at Rio Tinto’s mine in Madagascar points to a global problem: the company’s overreliance on and failure to take responsibility for precarious workers.
Strike win just first step for Rio Tinto contract workers17 November, 2015Over 100 security guards for Rio Tinto in Madagascar have won a three week strike, a first step toward addressing poor working conditions for contactors at the mine.
A worker from Madagascar who is part of global efforts to save endangered species19 September, 2022Environmental workers at mining sites are often on the fringes of mining activities, but with more focus now being given to environmental, social and governance issues, their important work is becoming visible and getting more recognition.
Campaign for ratification of C190 continues 9 March, 2023Since the ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work was adopted in 2019, unions around the world have been campaigning for its ratification. To date, 25 countries have ratified C190, with Canada and Ireland being the latest additions.
Unions intensify demands for release of Madagascar trade unionist23 March, 2023IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates in Madagascar are intensifying their campaign for release of unfairly jailed trade unionist, Sento Chang, and the for expunging his sentence.
Unionist nine-month jail ordeal expose workers’ rights violations in Madagascar 6 June, 2023After a presidential pardon, jailed unionist Sento Chang has been released after nine months in Madagascar’s Antanimora prison, one of the worst prisons in the world according to Human Rights Watch. Sento was jailed for posting the outcome of union negotiations on social media. Unions from Madagascar participating at the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland, are challenging the sentencing and jailing, and calling upon the island nation’s government to stop repeatedly violating workers’ rights.
Malagasy unionists arrested over QMM protests must be released! 19 July, 2023From 26 June to 3 July, Madagascar’s independence days, communities from the villages surrounding the Rio Tinto subsidiary QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) mining site at Mandena in Toalagnaro (Fort Dauphin) protested inadequate financial compensation on loss of livelihoods, water pollution, and community exclusion from consultations when the mining licence was renewed by the government. In dispersing the protestors, the police and gendarmerie used disproportionate force which saw ten demonstrators injured and over 80 arrested and imprisoned, including five trade unionists.
