In recent months, Azerbaijani state employees — be they teachers, doctors or cleaners — have been asked to do extra work on weekends, usually manual labor. They tend gardens, work in the fields or clean the streets, with no pay for their efforts. This arrangement is particularly prevalent in the Autonomous Republic of Naxcivan.

During the Soviet era, many "subbotniks" regularly went to work in the fields on special occasions (for instance to celebrate Lenin's birthday) all in the name of glorifying Communism. They are a thing of the past in the rest of Azerbaijan, except in Naxcivan, where many state workers say they are compelled to work almost every weekend.

Some state workers say that while the extra work isn't compulsory, they have been told they will lose their jobs if they don't take part. "It is obligatory for teachers and anybody who works with state-budget organs to work in the fields," a journalist based in Naxcivan. "Every teacher has to produce 80 kilograms of wheat, which cost $200 [to produce] But the monthly salary is $60. But if you don't do it, youčre fired."

Unilever Calls on Police As Pakistan Unions Resist Outsourcing

Elite paramilitary troops and police have been deployed at the Unilever factory in Rahi, Yar Khan, Pakistan, as the union continues its protests against management's attempts to transfer machinery to an outsourced production site. When the machinery was removed with the help of the security guards, the union immediately wrote to management, protesting the action.

Workers at the Rahim Yar Khan factory have good reason to fear further outsourcing and casualization. In 1970, there were 1,200 permanent workers employed at the factory. Today, there are just 250. There are 350 workers employed on 9-month contracts (and paid daily wages) and another 800 workers hired through labor agencies as casual workers.

Despite increased profits and record production levels, the company refuses to hire a single new permanent worker. It also refuses to grant permanent employment to the hundreds of casual and contract workers that have worked at the factory for more than five years.

Thousands of Trapped South African Miners Rescued

Large numbers of hungry and exhausted gold miners remained trapped more than a mile underground in South Africa on Oct. 4 as a round-the-clock operation neared its climax. Union officials and rescue workers said that around 700 of an initial group of 3,200 mine workers trapped on Wednesday morning were waiting to be brought to the surface, but were confident that their ordeal would be over within a matter of hours.

While there were no casualties, there were signs that their long stay was taking its toll, with at least two miners brought out on a stretcher after a makeshift lift reached the surface. "This particular mine will be closed for between three and six weeks until the (lift) is repaired. We will prosecute if there is proof of negligence," said Buyelwa Sonijica, South Africa's Minerals and Energy Minister.

The National Union of Mineworkers spokesman, Peter Bailey, said the episode should serve as a wake-up call to the gold mining industry, which is a major drive of the South African economy. The ruling African National Congress said it was concerned about reports that poor shaft maintenance had led to the incident, which had "put the spotlight again on the crucial question of safety in our mines."

A French Oil Firm Accused of Complicity with Military in Burma

The French oil giant, Total, faces a renewed inquiry into claims that that it was complicit in crimes against humanity committed by the military regime in Burma. The federal prosecutor's office in Belgium has reopened a five-year-old case brought by four Burma refugees who allege that France's largest company financed human rights violations and used forced labor supplied by the junta to build a gas pipeline in the 1990s.

The Belgian government's decision, following a ruling by the country's constitutional court, is a further blow to Total as it struggles to defend its presence in Burma. Even the French government, which has defended Total's Burmese activities for years, has accepted recently that the oil giant could be vulnerable to new EU sanctions against the Burma regime and European countries operating there.

Total, the largest Western investor in Burma, built and operated a gas pipeline in Burma in a consortium with Burma's national oil company and the U.S. group, Unocal, now part of Chevron, to transport gas from fields in southern Burma to plants in neighboring Thailand. Burmese opposition groups have for years alleged that Total was a major conduit for cash to the hard-line military government.

Japan's 'Scheme' Abuses Foreign Workers

Over the past 17 years, thousands of foreign workers have traveled to Japan, taking part in an official scheme to learn what they cannot pick up in their own countries. The scheme was set up in 1990 in order, the Japanese government says, to help poorer countries learn from Japan's mastery of the manufacturing process.

But this year, the Japanese government's own experts have admitted that, in many cases, trainees are used as cheap labor. When the government last year made unannounced inspections at companies employing foreign trainees, it found that 80 percent of them were breaking the law on pay and conditions.

Japan's own panel of experts has decided that there is a need for stiffer penalties for companies that mistreat workers. However, these reforms will not be introduced for at least two years. It is an acknowledgement that the training system is not working, but it seems there is no rush to fix it.

Sugar Cane Workers in Southern Iran Go on Strike

Workers at the state-owned Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Plantation and Industry Company have gone on strike demanding payment of several months' unpaid wages. They gathered in front of the Governor's Office in Shush City and say they will stay on strike until their demands are met.

Haft Tapeh is the only sugar cane factory in Iran and was built around 47 years ago. It currently has 850 billion reals ($91,275,125) in debt. To reduce debts, the management has sold the company's agricultural land, its animal feed factory, and plans to lay off 2,000 of its 5,000 employees. (There are about 3,000 contract workers. but many have 15 years' experience at Haft Tapeh.

The workers say that a "sugar mafia" is operating in the country and has influenced the government into adopting the wrong policies regarding the sugar industry. As a result of the cut in customs duty on imported sugar from 140 to 4 percent, many sugar companies are facing bankruptcy. Both the private sector and the government are making huge profits from importing sugar.

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