Despite repression, a joint general strike by workers and farmers has shut down India. Over 250 million workers took part in the 26 November strike.

Domestic violence includes all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners. Domestic violence is a pattern of behaviour used by one person to control or dominate another with whom they have, or have had, an intimate or family-type relationship.

IndustriALL supports its Italian affiliates FIOM-CGIL, FIM-CISL and UILM-UIL and joins their demands calling on ArcelorMittal and the Italian Government to decide urgently on the future of the group to secure the rights and interests of workers’ Group in Italy.

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on members of WTO to support the TRIPS corona waiver proposal and ensure affordable access to medicines.

IndustriALL North American affiliates organizing workers at multinational companies in the cement industry met online to discuss challenges in the industry.

After almost two months of lockout workers of Demix Béton, a Canadian subsidiary of cement multinational CRH represented by IndustriALL affiliate FIM-CSN union signed an agreement with their employer.

In a joint statement the global unions in Asia Pacific, including IndustriALL, categorically condemn the decision to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), underlining that RCEP is threatening to deepen inequalities and increase the economic and political power of capital at the expense of workers and society at large.

Argentina is one step closer to becoming the third country in the world after Uruguay and Fiji to adopt ILO Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, after the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill for ratification.

On 18 November, Kyrgyz unions protested against a draft law on trade unions that, if adopted, would deprive workers of the freedom of association.

Union responses to the Covid-19 pandemic was on the agenda when the Executive Committee met online on 19 November. The corona crisis is again showing how vulnerable global supply chains are; consequences for workers, especially at the bottom of the supply chain, are dire and dramatic. But unions around the world are showing they can fight back and win.

Battery production will be one of the fastest growing industrial activities in the years to come. Due diligence and opportunities for organizing along the complex supply chain were discussed at a webinar bringing together unions, experts as well as industrial directors.

Union federations CUT and Força Sindical have joined forces to create IndustriALL Brazil, bringing together 10 million workers from different manufacturing sectors.

Some of the strategies to boost manufacturing that will push Africa’s industrialization efforts is to develop and implement sustainable economic development policies, concluded IndustriALL Global Union affiliates at a conference on African industrialization in Accra.

Domestic violence has increased during the pandemic, exacerbated by lockdowns and economic pressure. The new ILO Convention 190 is a key instrument, stressing that “governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations and labour market institutions can help, as part of other measures, to recognize, respond to and address the impacts of domestic violence”.

IndustriALL Global Union’s French energy sector affiliates will come together for a day of action on 26 November 2020 to oppose policies that threaten the future of their sector, and the restructuring plans of the multinational companies EDF and ENGIE. 

We have lived with Covid-19 since the beginning of this year. Variations of global lockdowns in the first and now second wave have been tough, and workers around the world have been severely affected. The world totals 56 million infected and 1.3 million deaths, bringing us all the challenge of a lifetime

After the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in the US in May this year, a wave of protest swept across the world. People took to the streets to voice what should be obvious: Black Lives Matter. From Detroit to London, from Paris to Geneva, people came together to denounce structural racism. 

In the factories where textiles, garments, shoes, leather and accessories are produced, millions of people toil in insecure, low wage jobs, in unsafe conditions. Workers are exposed to chemicals used for bleaching and dyeing. Disasters like the Rana Plaza collapse and the Ali Enterprises fire kill thousands. Union campaigns on workers’ rights have shone a light on union busting, imprisonment, assault and occasionally murder. 

There are numerous reports on projected ever-higher growth rates of battery demand and production volumes over the next decades. Most studies expect a growth of between 15 and 20 per cent until 2030, but growth will be big, regardless of the exact figure. This will have a deep impact on all industrial sectors along the battery supply chain organized by IndustriALL Global Union affiliates: mining, chemicals, energy, electronics, automotive, as well as others.

In the last three months, Belarus has become known for the protests that started when the former president of the country, Alexandre Lukashenko, awarded himself 80 per cent of the votes in a widely contested election. Unprovoked police violence followed the rigged elections, triggering the protests.