Today, the UN’s workplace agency, the tripartite International Labour Organisation (ILO) voted to send a high level mission to Qatar to make an assessment of the real conditions faced by…Read more…
Teachers form new Arab trade union bloc
Seventeen education unions and associations representing sixteen Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa met on 7-8 October in Beirut in Lebanon to establish a new Arab teachers’ trade…Read more…
European Parliament latest to slam Thailand for harassing Andy Hall
Andy Hall, the British-born, Thailand-based migrant and trade union rights advocate, is back in court on Monday, 19 October. The latest court hearing is to decide whether to indict him for criminal…Read more…
Workers’ rights: no longer safe anywhere?
I’ve just come back from the annual meeting of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) general council, held ahead of the CUT Brazilian trade union movement’s congress in Sao…Read more…
The award of the Nobel Peace Prize shows the power of social dialogue
In a very dangerous and uncertain world the awarding of the Nobel Peace prize to the Tunisian National Dialogue quartet underlines the power and resolve to settle differences by working together in a…Read more…
Take action to free imprisoned garment union activists in Burma
On 8 November Burma will hold crucial general elections, which makes this is an important time to hold the government to account for the increasing crack down on trade union rights and repression…Read more…
World Day for Decent Work: end corporate greed!
For the eighth year running, today, 7 October has been designated World Day for Decent Work by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the global trade union confederation to which the…Read more…
European unions back TUC call on EU referendum
Last week in Paris, the four-yearly Comgress of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) adopted unanimously an emergency resolution from the TUC about the British government’s EU…Read more…
SDGs – the new MDGs
Today (25 September) world leaders from 193 countries will assemble at the United Nations annual General Assembly in New York to adopt 17 Global Goals to end extreme poverty and build a better world…Read more…
Swaziland Ministers come to Brussels
A ministerial delegation from Swaziland travelled to Brussels this week to respond to demands made by the European Parliament to improve the human and workers’ rights situation in the country….Read more…
Unions face increasing harassment in Iran
Despite the recent thaw in relations between the Iranian regime and western countries, the situation facing trade unionists in the country has worsened alarmingly this month. While we were in…Read more…
Guatemala: joker in the pack holds cards in election run-off
Guatemala has dodged the bullet of a ‘gangster President’, but will those remaining in the contest be willing and able to heal a country tearing itself apart? Guatemala has been gripped by protests…Read more…
Say #refugeeswelcome – march on Saturday
The vivid stories of human suffering that have dominated the media coverage of the refugee crisis have provoked reactions of shock and, importantly, solidarity by the public. As organisations founded…Read more…
US fast food workers get a legal boost
A ruling this week in the USA by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has given a boost to unions, and the ‘alt.unions’ who are trying to build union organisation in the US fast food…Read more…
Cambodia’s minimum wage: employers plead poverty despite global brand pledges to pay
Cambodia is one of the main sources of textiles for Europe and North America, and it’s on the front line of the campaign for a living wage in global supply chains. So the forthcoming review of…Read more…
Thailand needs to stop the harassment of workers’ rights advocates
The British-born worker and migrant rights defender Andy Hall is due back in court on Monday 24 August, facing criminal defamation charges for exposing the truth about exploitation of migrant Burmese…Read more…
Taking the fight for workers’ European rights to top bosses
Prime Minister David Cameron has revamped his Business Advisory Group, and their first task will be to advise him on his EU renegotiation strategy ahead of the referendum on Britain’s…Read more…
Amnesty makes jailed Iranian teacher union leader a prisoner of conscience
I blogged about the arrest of Iranian teacher union leader Ismail Abdi a month ago, and the bad news is that he’s still in jail (although no longer in solitary confinement for interrogation)….Read more…
Global teacher unions oppose neo-liberal trade & investment agreements
At this week’s Education International (EI) World Congress in Canada, education unions around the globe voted to oppose the new wave of trade and investment agreements that are being negotiated…Read more…
Defending workers’ rights defenders: Andy Hall in Thailand
I’ve blogged several times over the years about the harassment of British workers’ rights advocate Andy Hall, who faces a number of charges – some with terrifying jail terms or…Read more…