Bangladesh’s garment wage board, set up by the government on Sunday, agreed to raise workers’ pay, without specifying the size of the increase. Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka (about $240), a 140 percent increase on the current 12,500 taka, citing rising food, housing, transport and healthcare costs in a country with eight percent inflation. Babul Akter, the workers’ representative on the board, said the board will conclude its work by December so that revised salaries can be paid in January, and that the factory owners’ representative agreed on this point. Protests continued on Wednesday morning in industrial hubs including Gazipur, Mirpur, Narayanganj and Savar, with reports of factories being vandalized. According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the unrest has forced 529 garment factories to shut down and left 987,190 workers out of work.
Paramilitary forces were deployed to Gazipur and Narayanganj, where garment workers demanding a 30,000-taka minimum wage are staying on the streets for a fourth day, with 58 police officers injured, according to police and to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a text republished by The Hindu. The protests continue despite the government's announcement of a board to review the minimum wage.
German auto supplier Schaeffler will cut 3,460 jobs and close five sites in Europe, the company said on Tuesday, citing weakening demand for combustion-engine vehicles, slower-than-expected electric-vehicle adoption and intense competition. The cuts affect 16 sites, including four plants in Germany and one in Belgium, with about 2,660 jobs eliminated in Germany by 2028, roughly 9% of the company's core German workforce. Schaeffler expects annual savings of about 300 million euros by 2030, with one-off costs of roughly 480 million euros, most of which will be booked in 2026.
Bangladesh’s garment factories reopened on Monday, November 2, 2026, after widespread closures and production disruptions a day earlier, and manufacturers remain concerned about further unrest over workers’ demands for higher wages. Workers are asking for a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($243), up from 12,500 taka, according to Reuters, in a text republished by WHTC.
Bangladesh formed a new board on Sunday, November 1, 2026, to review the minimum wage for garment workers as authorities sought to quell protests that have disrupted key industrial hubs around Dhaka, according to The Hindu. Despite the announcement, thousands of workers demanding higher wages continued protesting around the capital, Dhaka, and clashes were reported with police, who fired tear gas and sound grenades, according to Al Jazeera.
Garment factory workers in Dhaka and Gazipur protested on Sunday for better wages and blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway to demand a monthly minimum wage of 30,000 takas, according to the Hindustan Times.
In Dhaka’s Mirpur area, protesters torched a police vehicle after a clash with police, and at least 80 factories were shut in the two cities during the unrest, according to Prothom Alo, cited by the Hindustan Times. Nineteen people were detained in Dhaka in connection with the violence, according to the Daily Star, also cited by the Indian newspaper.
Tens of thousands of people protested in more than 50 cities across Italy on Friday, October 30, 2026, against soaring living costs and the poor state of public services such as healthcare and education, CNN reported. The nationwide general strike, called by the anti-capitalist union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), brought together teachers and workers from the agricultural and healthcare sectors, among others, and farmers dumped manure on the streets of Turin. The largest rallies took place in Milan, Turin and Rome, where young and old criticized Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing government.
Bangladesh will set up a wage board on Sunday to review garment workers’ pay after protests shut dozens of factories and triggered clashes with police, Reuters reported. Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($245), more than double the current 12,500 taka.
China’s State Council ruled that artificial intelligence application projects in the area of market access with a possible significant impact on employment must undergo an employment risk assessment during review, according to the text published by the Chinese government.
The guidelines also urge employers to notify employees affected by automation in advance and provide support for training, redeployment and other employment transitions, according to IBTimes.
The country created 10.52 million new urban jobs in the first nine months of 2026, 87.7 percent of the annual target, and the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.2 percent in the first eight months, according to figures released at Saturday’s press conference.
IG Metall, Germany's largest industrial union, announced on Saturday nationwide warning strikes in the metal and electrical sectors after rejecting the employers' wage offer, a move affecting about 3.7 million workers, according to TRT World. The first work stoppages are scheduled to begin overnight into Sunday. The employers' proposal includes a permanent 1.3 percent increase starting in July 2028 under a 26-month agreement, according to the outlet.
Dockworkers in 22 countries went on strike on Friday against the war and the use of ports for arms exports, an action organizers say could disrupt more than 40% of Mediterranean cargo and over $2 billion worth of freight, according to Reuters. The strike was originally called by unions in Italy, France, Greece, Spain's Basque Country, Turkey and Morocco and now has the backing of more than 25 unions in 113 ports. Protesters at more than 100 ports in 22 countries called on dock workers to disrupt arms shipments to Israel, according to Middle East Eye.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly students and workers, took to the streets across Italy on Friday to demand higher wages and stronger public services, protest against the rising cost of living and oppose increased military spending, according to Reuters, in an article republished by U.S. News. In Genoa, around 15,000 port workers, students and other demonstrators entered the port, joining similar protests in Europe and elsewhere against the use of ports for arms shipments.
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) voted in support of a resolution calling on workers to refuse to handle weapons and military equipment destined for Israel, the union said. The union also calls on the Government of Canada to end all direct and indirect transfers of arms and military equipment to Israel. Canada’s central labor union says workers will not handle military cargo going to Israel, according to the Middle East Eye.
Thousands of students and workers took to the streets across Italy on Friday to demand more school funding and relief from the cost of living, with a heavy police presence to avert possible clashes, according to the Times of Israel. Marches were held in dozens of cities, including Bologna, Genoa, Naples and Turin, where a few minor skirmishes between protesters and riot police occurred at the start of the protest.
More than 25 dockworkers’ unions across at least 110 ports in 22 countries went on strike on Friday (October 30), according to Al Jazeera. The stoppage is part of an international campaign against arms shipments and for better working conditions, the unions said. Unions in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey and Morocco issued a joint call for an end to the wars in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza.
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, the company said on Monday, as it seeks to cut costs while pouring money into artificial intelligence, according to AFP. Staff on select teams in the United States, Canada, India and Britain at vice president level and below are eligible, a Microsoft spokesperson said, while some groups of employees, including some working on data centers, sales and marketing, are excluded.
The Israeli army said Palestinians with work permits will be barred from settlements in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and Monday, except industrial zones and other approved areas, according to the Middle East Eye.
Senegal’s labour unions have called a 72-hour general strike, from October 21 to 23, 2026, according to AllAfrica. The two texts behind the stoppage were promulgated on September 3, 2026, under laws no. 2026-18 and no. 2026-19, before their publication in the Official Journal on September 18.
Earlier this month, the United States announced it would suspend eight technology firms, including Microsoft and India’s Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies, from hiring skilled international workers on a permanent basis through a widely used visa pathway, according to the BBC. New and pending applications under the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM) have been frozen — a big blow to Indians, who hold a majority of H-1B visas.
France is set for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, after weeks of student protests, France 24 reported. The Yellow Vest movement, which eight years ago staged street protests against President Emmanuel Macron, has appealed to teachers, workers, pensioners, farmers and students to join.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led a massive rally on Sunday on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, calling for more days off for workers ahead of a runoff against Flavio Bolsonaro, according to AFP, in a text republished by The Hindu. Polls show Flavio, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is favoured to win the October 25 runoff.
The US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released on October 8, downgraded Hong Kong to Tier 3 from the Tier 2 Watch List, according to the Times of India. Hong Kong rejected the assessment, calling it “entirely unfounded” and accusing Washington of double standards. According to the report, Hong Kong authorities investigated 11 human trafficking cases in 2025, all involving forced labour, compared with seven in 2024.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said it will hire 15,000 people in the US and will not be impacted by the new green card curbs, according to the Hindustan Times. The crackdown on green card sponsorship by technology firms drew praise from Trump allies and fury from Democrats, according to the same outlet.
A bill introduced by Representative Beth Van Duyne proposes raising the maximum fine for serious H-1B violations from $35,000 to $250,000 and extending the minimum ban on employers found responsible from three years to 10 years, according to The Times of India. The bill, the H-1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act, has been introduced in the House and sent to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
The United States (US) suspended some of the world’s largest IT outsourcing firms — Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini — from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, per an announcement by Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling, alongside Vice-President J.D. Vance. The Department of Labour is also suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the programme.
United States immigration agents fanned out across southwest Kansas this week, a region with a large concentration of feedlots and slaughterhouses, and the effect on the meat industry was immediate, according to Reuters, in a text republished by MarketScreener. The prospect of arrest kept much of the largely immigrant workforce away, forcing beef processing plants to slow down and backing up cattle. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that 90,000 cattle were slaughtered on Thursday, down 16% from a week earlier. Cattlemen’s associations say the immigration operations are having a chilling effect on documented workers and will push up the price of beef.
The trial opened Monday in Oakland in the case in which California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) accuses Tesla of racial discrimination against Black workers at its Fremont plant, according to Reuters and Electrek. The suit was filed in 2022, covers more than 6,000 workers and alleges years of racial slurs, racist graffiti and job segregation, plus lower pay for Black employees; California law, unlike federal law, puts no ceiling on the damages a court can award. Judge Peter Borkon of Alameda County Superior Court decides the case alone, with no jury, and the trial is scheduled to run through Oct. 30. Tesla denies wrongdoing and says it does not tolerate discrimination; it also faces a racial harassment suit from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), now in mediation.