Earlier this year, workers at Electrolux’ factory in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, tried to engage the company in dialogue when management insisted on keeping operations running despite an emergency decree allowing only essential work, despite Covid infections among staff and a lack of personal protection equipment. When that failed, protests were launched on 7 April and the Swedish multinational responded by dismissing nearly 100 people.

Besides a raging Covid-19 pandemic that has seen Indonesia produce the second highest confirmed death toll in Asia after India, widespread opposition to President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s recent Omnibus Law has dominated public discourse in Indonesia for months.

After unions announced strike action, the company made an offer which the unions accepted.

In response to ABB Power Grids’ unilateral decision to close the Fulda plant in Germany, 350 workers went on strike on 3 December.

IndustriALL interviews April Sims, Secretary Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

The Sintracarbón union and Colombian company Cerrejón have signed a new collective employment agreement, ensuring that workers get to keep their benefits. The agreement brought an end to the longest strike in the mine’s history.

A recently completed union office building, next to remote diamond mines, will fast-track recruitment and organizing for IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL).

24 out of the 56 workers dismissed in February at Tunisian garment factory Gartex have been reinstated, following IndustriALL’s intervention which led to dialogue between the employer and the union Fédération Générale du Textile, de l'Habillement, Chaussure et Cuir - FGTHCC-UGTT.

On 30 November, over 80,000 metalworkers downed tools at hundreds of workplaces across Korea in a national warning strike against the government’s proposed labour law revisions, now in parliament.

IndustriALL affiliate Unite the Union has condemned a plan by Caterpillar to cut 700 jobs at its site in Larne, Northern Ireland, and is calling on the government to develop an industrial strategy for the manufacturing sector.

Spanish affiliates of IndustriALL, UGT FICA, CCOO de Industria and USO, have announced strike action in response to the energy company’s plan to close 16 office centres in Repsol Butano.

For two years, unions in Kyrgyzstan have been under threat and authorities are now increasing pressure. Global unions have launched a LabourStart campaign to support Kyrgyz unions.

During a two-day online meeting on 26-27 November on Ukraine’s energy vision and future prospects, organized by IndustriALL and FES, Ukrainian coal mining unions adopted a joint resolution demanding urgent measures in response to the severe crisis in the industry.

On 26-27 November, unions from the nuclear, oil and gas, energy, electrotechnical and coal mining industries met online in a two-day meeting organized by IndustriALL and FES to discuss Ukraine’s energy vision and future prospects.

Council of Global Unions statement on the day of action on the Philippines

IndustriALL affiliates in South East Asia pledge to negotiate collective agreements and to campaign for the ratification of C190 in every country, take actions against domestic violence, initiate programmes to eliminate violence against women and develop structures for advocating the ratification.

Over 60 trade unionists who represent electricity workers around the world came together online on 25 November to share their experiences of keeping the lights on during the pandemic, to discuss trends in their sector, and to support each other in action.

On Sunday, Swiss citizens will vote in the Responsible Business Initiative referendum. If adopted, the initiative will mean that companies headquartered in Switzerland will be legally responsible for what happens in throughout their global operations including their value chains. It is an important step to hold multinationals accountable for violations, regardless of in which country they occur; there will be nowhere hide.

The pandemic has exposed how Amazon places profits ahead of workers, society, and our planet. Amazon takes too much and gives back too little; it is time to Make Amazon Pay. On Black Friday, 27 November, the biggest retail sales day in the United States, as well as in other parts of the world, workers, unions, global unions and activists are taking action. Let’s make this a Bad Friday for Amazon’s bosses.

IndustriALL Global Union’s African affiliates intensify their campaign for African industrialization on 20 November, the day designated by the United Nations. A webinar attended by 60 participants from 16 countries was the latest step after a series of actions taken throughout the year, notably recent national industrialization conferences in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda.