IndustriALL affiliates and other automotive unions from Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune regions came together at the workshop of Automotive and Rubber Unions in India on 13-15 September 2016 at Pune and resolved to strengthen union power.

Participants at a youth workshop in Gaberone, Botswana brought new energy and a fresh outlook to challenges facing affiliates to build strong unions.

15,000 members from the Curitiba Metalworkers’ Union (SMC) in Brazil demonstrated at Volvo, CNH, Bosch, WHB Correo and Renault factories on 5 September, launching a national campaign to defend their rights and call for more jobs and economic recovery.

IndustriALL Philippine affiliates commit to monitoring compliance by factories on labour laws and occupational safety and health standards.

Trade union representatives from IndustriALL Global Union, IndustriAll Europe, USW, UNITE and Community called for a global strategy to combat steel dumping at the 81th session of the OECD’s Steel Committee in Paris last week.

On 8 September 2016, unions from the United States and Canada representing workers in the rapidly changing cement sector met in Washington D.C. to discuss future cooperation.

An explosion in the Tempako Packaging Factory in an industrial area near Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 10 September has left up to 24 people dead and injured at least 50.

After four years of campaigning and months of negotiations, an agreement has been reached to pay compensation in excess of US$5 million to the survivors and families of workers killed in Pakistan’s worst industrial accident.

Expressing their opposition to dismissals and huge price rises during three days of protests, 200,000 workers took to the streets in a nationwide march on 2 September.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in the oil and gas sectors from Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore met in Taipei on 26-27 August 2016 to create a regional union network in Asia Pacific region.

Garment and footwear unions in Cambodia have agreed to demand US$179.60 as the monthly minimum wage for 2017, during a weekend of talks organized by IndustriALL Global Union, FES and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity.

In order to build strength and coordination, the IndustriALL pulp, paper and packaging unions of South East Asia have established a new trade union network with an ambitious action plan. Two multinationals have specifically been identified for action, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Kimberly Clark (KC).

IndustriALL Global Union condemns the coup against democracy in Brazil on 31 August, when the Brazilian Senate removed President Dilma Rousseff from office without presenting evidence that she has committed a crime and ignored people’s support for her.

The call by ten trade union centres for a general strike on 2 September 2016 received massive support from workers across India.

Meeting in Amman, affiliates from Jordan and Iraq came together on 29-30 August to discuss how unions can best confront the problem of low wages in their industries.

Caterpillar announced this morning that it will close its Belgian headquarters at Gosselies, Charleroi, in April 2017, and make all 2,200 workers redundant.

Trade unions in India will take part in a nationwide general strike on 2 September against the government’s anti-worker policies.

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on the Habib Fashions garment factory in Bangladesh to reopen, after it tried to block the registration of a trade union at the factory and subsequently shut down.

The electric power industry in Asia is undergoing a number of rapid changes that impact workers. IndustriALL affiliates from Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea recently met in Seoul to discuss challenges and solutions.

The labour court of Yemen has found in favour of the union after 200 staff were sacked by text message.