Fourteen IndustriALL Global union affiliates in the Philippines marked International Women’s Day with a unified call for improved maternity protection. 

ArcelorMittal has closed down its steel plant in Trinidad and Tobago after adopting a policy of temporary lay-offs during the last four months. More than 600 workers have lost their jobs and are working hard to find a solution.

As part of the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) signed with IndustriALL Global Union and IG Metall in March 2015, the German metal and engineering multinational, Thyssenkrupp, has launched a new system allowing labour-related violations and abuses to be reported online.

IndustriALL Global Union, the ITUC and the US trade union congress, AFL-CIO, met in Washington DC from 23-24 March to discuss how the global labour movement will tackle policy pressures resulting from the Paris Agreement reached at the COP21 climate summit last December. 

Domestic appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has signed a framework agreement covering 24,000 workers.

A new publication on “Safety and health for sandstone mine workers” has been released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and IndustriALL Global Union. It aims to strengthen the capacity of informal sandstone mine workers to understand and improve workplace safety and prevent child labour.

IndustriALL affiliates in Morocco are in shock as a Moroccan court has ordered the SAMIR oil refinery into liquidation, jeopardizing the jobs of more than 1,000 workers as well as the livelihoods of around 5,000 people dependent on the country’s only refinery.

IndustriALL Global Union has written to the Cambodian Prime Minister expressing its deep concern over a proposed trade union law that is set to pass through parliament. 

On a visit to Argentina, IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina warned the new government not to weaken labour laws and social protection, as a sustained economic crisis threatens jobs in the country.

Around 2000 contract workers at ArcelorMittal Temirtau in Kazakhstan have not been getting their wages because of the company’s extensive debts to its contractors.

On 15-16 March, the Labour Institute in Chisinau, Moldova, hosted the final workshop of the Training of Trainers project organized by IndustriALL Global Union and its French affiliate FO Metaux.

Testimonies of textile and electronics workers show that precarious workers in the Cavite region in the Philippines are merely surviving and have a high risk of falling into poverty.

In a major union victory against precarious work, on 10 March 2016 the New Zealand parliament unanimously passed a law banning zero-hour contracts.

Rules are needed for global trade, but they must include high labour norms and guarantee benefits for all, instead of weakening democratic control and favouring multinational corporations.

After 62 days of difficult negotiations, the Colombian coal workers’ union SIntracarbón has reached an agreement at Cerrejón that recognizes the contribution made day in and day out by the 13,000 workers employed at the mine.

American multinational packaging company, Crown Holding Inc, has ordered the eviction of workers from its plant in Agadir, Morocco.

Around 500 coal miners from all over Ukraine gathered in Kiev on 17 March and picketed the parliament building demanding it adopt two draft laws to settle some pressing socio-economical issues of the Ukrainian coal mining industry. 

Women from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Morocco have come together for the first time to seek ways to influence a draft law which will set up a new institution for equality.

Last week was a busy time for mining unions gathered in Bogotá to attend a series of meetings in the Colombian capital aimed at addressing the major challenges facing the sector.

Three workers are confirmed dead and four remain missing at the Katanga mining company’s copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.