Setting a strong standard for other workers in the Sri Lankan free trade zones, workers at industrial gloves manufacturer ATG voted to establish their union on 7 February.

A union election in the US South is seen as a test case for labour’s ability to organize under Trump.

Police in Colombia have evicted 47 workers, all trade union members, from the Gerdau Diaco plant, where they had been protesting peacefully since November last year.

Some 45 young union leaders representing 23 national unions from 10 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) met in Marrakesh, Morocco on 20-21 December 2016 for the IndustriALL Global Union youth conference.

Since December 2016 at least 26 trade unionists and garment workers have been jailed for trade union activity in Bangladesh, following demands to increase the minimum wage. Join IndustriALL Global Union in calling on the Bangladeshi government for their immediate release.

Workers protesting against their illegal dismissals at the fertilizer plant Rustavi Azot in Georgia suffered broken ribs and other injuries after they were violently removed from the company building by police.

The first Middle East and North Africa regional aerospace conference was held in Casablanca, Morocco, on 28-29 November 2016.

IndustriALL Global Union and Solvay have renewed their global framework agreement (GFA) for five years, reinforcing and adding commitments that provide the same basic labour and social rights to all Solvay employees at operations worldwide.

Management at Global Star Logistics in Seeduwa, Sri Lanka, arbitrarily dismissed workers for forming a union.

Global trade unions represented by IndustriALL Global Union and Building and Wood Worker's International (BWI) met with representatives of LafargeHolcim on 23 January 2017 to launch the process for developing a Global Framework Agreement.

The latest crackdown on Bangladesh’s garment workers for demanding relief from poverty wages and hazardous working conditions must call into question the country’s continuing eligibility for trade preferences under the EU’s GSP regime, write Valter Sanches IndustriALL General Secretary, Philip Jennings UNI Global Union General Secretary and Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on the Algerian government to drop charges against a union leader sentenced to six months in jail after revealing corruption at the state-owned energy company Sonelgaz. 

Workers at the Richard Fritz car window factory in Aszód, Hungary, braved management threats of dismissal to take part in a demonstration demanding the reinstatement of sacked union leader Edit Kovács.  

Strike action by over 2,000 workers in Turkey has paid off as IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Birleşik Metal İş, wins a major victory in securing a better deal for metalworkers. 

Demonstrating the power of dialogue, a strong trade union and enabling legislation, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa has successfully averted the loss of 849 jobs.

Trade union rights are rapidly deteriorating in Kazakhstan. On 21 January, police in Aktau arrested two union leaders from the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan (CNTUK). The CNTUK was recently dissolved by authorities.

The founding conference of the IndustriALL Japan Liaison Council (IndustriALL-JLC) was held on 8 December 2016.

The Donglian Fashion Sommilito Sramik Union has signed a collective agreement with the company, ending years of union oppression.

IndustriALL affiliates in Mexico are protesting against rising petrol prices, announced on 1 January. Action started the following day around the country, and unions say they will continue until the government backtracks.

By Valter Sanches, General Secretary, IndustriALL Global Union