Global solidarity was a central theme at IndustriALL’s Executive Committee in Brussels on 21–22 May.  As workers’ rights are under attack, trade unions organize and build union power.

At least eight workers have been killed, and 35 injured this year in accidents in Bangladeshi shipbreaking yards. The number of fatalities since 2017 is around 47.

In a significant victory for IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), a judge has ruled that a new union vote must take place at Kumho Tire in Georgia, USA, after it found the company violated workers’ rights.

IndustriALL Global Union backs the call by its UK affiliates for a long term solution to save British Steel.

Trade unions affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union in the Philippines resolved to execute new ways to organize unions and increase membership, during a three-day workshop in Tanay, Rizal, from 21-23 May.

Unions are being excluded from negotiations on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) because of a fast-track approach being used by governments. The unions are demanding that the AfCFTA should respect workers’ rights and labour standards as found in national laws and International Labour Organization conventions. The agreement should also embrace the decent work agenda and respect human rights spelt out in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

When Torrent Pharmaceutical workers in Himachal Pradesh became members of the Association of Chemical Workers Union in October 2018, management unleashed a series of vindictive actions aimed at union busting.

The National Coordination of Unions for BHP Billiton in Chile will work with IndustriALL to strengthen the global network of BHP unions, aiming to protect workers’ rights in all countries where the company operates.

Members of IndustriALL affiliate the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 13-1 have been locked out of a chemical plant owned by Dow in Deer Park, near Houston, Texas, for more than a month.

IndustriALL Global Union, together with trade union affiliates from Nigeria and the Netherlands, called on Shell to address workers’ rights violations in its supply chain at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in The Hague on 21 May.

IndustriALL organized the first workshop in Thailand on organizing in the supply chain for textile, garment, shoes and leather (TGSL) sector affiliate, Textile Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation of Thailand (TWFT) on 3-4 May in Bangkok.

On International Women’s Day this year, IndustriALL affiliates demonstrated their determination to advance gender equality at work. They called for women’s voices to be heard in unions, and more women in leadership positions. 

On 7 March, thousands of textile and garment workers went on strike at Ethiopia’s biggest industrial park, Hawassa, demanding better wages, safe working conditions and an end to sexual harassment. The workers were not represented by a trade union, because for the past two years, management at the industrial park has refused to allow unions to organize. 

The All India Cement Employees Federation (AICEF) and Unions United both affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union in November 2018. While defending the rights of precarious workers and women, both industrial federations have led struggles, built union structures and overcome challenges posed by employers.

The Constitution of the International Labour Organization (ILO), adopted in the aftermath of World War I with the idea that there cannot be lasting world peace without social justice, has been described as the most ambitious social contract ever written. This year, 2019, will be the centenary of the ILO Constitution and to mark this event, on 22 January 2019 the ILO released the report of the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work, entitled “Work for a brighter future”.

Natalia Marynyuk started her career in 1996 as an economist at the blast furnace shop No. 1 of the state-owned Kryvorizhstal Steel Works. The plant is named after the city where it is located, Kryvyi Rih, one of the ten biggest industrial cities in Ukraine.

This issue of Global Worker is published at a time when the global political and economic climate continues to deteriorate. 

Brexit, climate change and decarbonization, Industry 4.0, labour migration, political instability, trade wars supplemented with violations of trade union rights – all of these challenges inside and outside Europe require new answers from workers and their unions who have no other option but to work together.

A world in crisis needs a pathway to a better future. Unions can provide it.

Despite labour regulations and the efforts of unions, mining accidents take the lives of thousands of workers every year around the world and seriously damage the environment. Why is mining still so dangerous?