On 17 September 2017 two contract workers were killed in a horrific accident at the Ambuja cement plant of the LafargeHolcim group at Bhatapara in the state of Chhattisgarh, India.

Kick-starting a new four-year period, leading trade unions in the rubber sector held a world conference this week and resolved to take joint and coordinated actions to tackle common challenges in the sector.

The Metallurgical Workers' Union Zhaktau and Miners’ Union Korgau at ArcelorMittal Temirtau in Kazakhstan initiated a lawsuit against the company for failure to conclude a new collective agreement and for not respecting social benefits and guarantees of employees.

At a press conference in Bogotá́, Colombia, today, IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates launched a world-wide campaign against Glencore’s violations of labour rights. 

Fed up with precarious working conditions of short-term contracts, low wages and no benefits, workers at Mpact Plastics and Flexible Plastics and Packaging in Pinetown, about 22km from Durban, South Africa went on strike on 13 September. Organized by IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the strikers were demanding permanent jobs and equal pay for work of equal value for contract workers, better wages, overtime pay, and benefits such as medical aid and pension.

IndustriALL Global Union has lodged an OECD complaint against multinational steel producer Ternium for refusing to recognize and negotiate with a trade union at its operations in Guatemala.

The mine safety crisis in Pakistan continues, as at least four workers have been killed due to accumulation of poisonous gas in a coalmine in Quetta's Sanjdi area on 8 September 2017. According to reports today, another three workers have died under similar circumstances in a coalmine in the Harnai area.

IndustriALL affiliates in the Dominican Republic have reached an agreement with employers in the free trade zones, establishing a minimum wage increase of 20.33 per cent.

On the fifth anniversary of the Ali Enterprises factory fire in Baldia, Pakistan, survivors, victim’s families and others paid tribute to the 257 workers killed on 11 September 2012.

IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union are reaching out to global garment brands to be part of the 2018 Bangladesh Accord on fire and building safety. The 2018 agreement was announced by the global unions and brand representatives at the OECD in Paris this June. 

A Brazilian miners’ union is campaigning against opening the Amazon rainforest to mining operations.

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on its affiliates to take action to support an ILO Convention on gender-based violence at work. 

An IndustriALL affiliate, Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA), and the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) met in Manzini, Swaziland on 29 August and agreed to support Swaziland’s readmission to the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). 

IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), organized a women’s march to the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg on 26 August, to protest the slow pace of transformation and empowerment for women working in the mines.

With just a month to go before 7 October, when IndustriALL Global Union takes a stand against precarious work, we take a look at the epic battle fought by IndustriALL affiliate, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) at Hyundai Motor Company.

IndustriALL Global Union has written to the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, demanding an end to the repression of trade unionists, and calling for the release of Reza Shahabi and Esmail Abdi.

French President Emmanuel Macron faces a tough fight with unions as he introduces “reforms” to labour law.

Three workers were killed and another three seriously injured on 31 August at JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s Kazakhstanskaya mine in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan. 

The bodies of the last two miners trapped underground at Harmony Gold’s deepest mine, Kusasalethu, in Carletonville, South Africa were recovered today (Thursday 31 August). It brings the total number of fatalities to five. 

With 13 accidents in one month, including five in one day, IndustriALL affiliate Sintracarbón is calling for improved health and safety at the El Cerrejón mine in Colombia. Although no fatalities, some workers suffered disabling injuries.