Uruguay was the first country in the world to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 190 to end violence and harassment in the world of work. IndustriALL affiliated unions played a leading role in bringing about the ratification.

Türk Metal is negotiating their first collective bargaining agreement with Bodo Bode Doğrusan and the union has fought hard to get to this stage. Pickets, rallies, actions, but especially national and international solidarity, has brought the auto parts company to the negotiating table. 

With the exception of the Boeing 737 Max crisis, only a few months ago there was nothing but blue skies for the global commercial aerospace industry. Pure growth was on the horizon, but instead, Covid-19 has brought one of the most severe crises in decades.

This issue is published in the midst of a pandemic. The economic shutdown caused by Covid-19 lockdowns has thrown the world into turmoil and put unprecedented pressure on workers all around the world. Workers have shown resistance and courage in protecting the health & safety of their members and, as production has slowed down, in fighting to defend jobs and income during the crisis.

How can trade unions trigger/initiate and support the creation of decent jobs based on sustainable industrial structures in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Over 20,000 workers in Philipines’ textile, garment and leather goods have been laid-off due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the absence of industry recovery plan, many more workers fear further job losses in the coming three to six months.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Industrial Federation of Textile Leather Garment Workers Trade Union (IFTLGWTU) is carrying out Covid-19 awareness campaigns aimed at its members in garment and textile factories. Posters on prevention, sanitizers provided by IndustriALL Global Union and Mondiaal FNV, and soap have been distributed to 28 factories.

IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates observe a concerning trend against workers in the operations of US-based tire-maker Goodyear worldwide. This includes unilateral decisions on plant closures, bad faith bargaining practices, dismissal of workers without justified reasons, violation of fundamental rights and disrespect of industrial relations.

Around 600 IAM members stand to lose their jobs by the end of July as Alcoa, the owner of the aluminium plant in Ferndale, Washington, US, has announced its closure. 

Management of the large pulp and paper company PT Tanjungenim Lestari is facing international outcry for allowing union busting of its workforce. The unionized handlers have worked for up to 20 years loading pulp and paper at different stages along the production line.

Striking in demand of a monthly wage increase of 85 euros, workers at the International Paper (IP) Kwidzyn paper mill in Northern Poland started indefinite industrial action on 9 June.

Thousands of mine workers quarantined at Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine in Democratic Republic of the Congo for two-months as part of prevention strategies for Covid-19, held a successful strike on 23 May for payment of a special allowance.

While the world cries out in the midst of a pandemic around the black lives matter movement, trade unions stand in solidarity in demanding justice, accountability and reform in the United States and also around the world.

With a mass dismissal and threat of continuing to sack more trade union supporters, MTN Plastik is attacking its employees for joining IndustriALL affiliate Lastik-Is, a member of DISK national center.

When Mazava Productions and fabrics East Africa announced that it is closing for three months and cutting wages by 50 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic, over 2,000 workers picketed at the garment factory.

Citing Covid-19 measures as an excuse, mining giant BHP Billiton has unilaterally changed the shift system at an Australian coal mine.

Indian unions are intensifying their struggle against Modi government’s failure to protect workers’ interests during the Covid-19 lockdown and its aggressive attacks on workers’ rights. A day of non-cooperation is announced for 3 July.

Women workers at Euro Clothing Company ECC-2, India, supplier to global fashion brands like H&M, staged an overnight sit-in at the factory, protesting against the illegal lay-offs of 1,200 workers.

The worldwide spread of COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on workers in textile, garment, shoes and leather (TGSL) industries.

268 workers were killed and 748 workers suffered serious injuries in India’s mines between 2016 to 2019. A series of accidents in May suggest that 11 coal miners were killed and many more injured.