IndustriALL Global Union has written to the government of Iran to condemn to the arrest of more than 40 striking workers at the Ahvaz Steel complex, in brutal raids at their homes on 17 and 18 December.

Thirty-two young trade union leaders from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Tunisia and Morocco became the first to graduate from a training programme set up to build capacity among young leaders and potential leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 

An Argentine court has sentenced two former Ford executives at the company’s plant in Argentina for their role in the human rights crimes committed against Ford workers during the country's last dictatorship.

Nineteen representatives of independent trade unions and social movements in Mexico related to wind power and hydroelectric industries met on 3 December and agreed to create an exchange energy platform.

Six prominent trade union leaders in Cambodia have been given suspended jail sentences following a trial riddled with irregularities and lacking in evidence. IndustriALL Global Union demands that the sentencing be immediately overturned.  

IndustriALL Global Union trade unions from the pharmaceutical and chemical industries pushed for better worker protections at an International Labour Organization (ILO) global forum on digitalization and the future of work, from 10 to 12 December. 

IndustriALL Global Union’s German affiliate, IG BCE, has signed a joint declaration with Bayer in Germany, providing protection for workers against dismissal until the end of 2025. The pharmaceutical giant is set to cut around 12,000 jobs worldwide. 

Around 80 participants from 20 Sub-Saharan African countries attended IndustriALL Global Union’s Conference on Industrialization in Africa, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 7 December 2018, to explore union strategies on sustainable industrialization of the continent.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates from the mechanical engineering sector met in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 9 and 10 December 2018 to explore organizing in the rapidly growing renewables sector.

Unions from three countries agreed to cooperate on organizing and collective bargaining in Austrian-owned leather companies in Croatia and Slovenia, at a seminar in Zagreb, Croatia, on 3-4 December 2018.

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on German car manufacturer Volkswagen to immediately enter into bargaining negotiation with workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee represented by the UAW

10,000 workers demonstrated in Hungary’s capital Budapest on 8 December, to protest against proposed changes to the labour law, by some critics dubbed a “slavery law”.

The Bangladesh Government is using proceedings before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh to prevent the Accord from operating, thereby putting workers’ safety at risk.

A wave of strike action across the province of Khuzestan has led to the arrest and torture of leading activists.

One in six adults in Lesotho are living with HIV and AIDS according to UNAIDS. These include young women workers from the textile and garment sector, and unions are taking this up as part of their organizing.

Peru is a bastion of orthodox neoliberalism, where institutions are weak and economic growth is all that matters. But IndustriALL Global Union affiliates (FENAIP, FETRIMAP and FNTTP) are fighting back. They recently agreed to form a national council in order to work closely together, and have planned a series of joint activities as part of a project funded by Union to Union. The two unions in the manufacturing industry are making gains for workers’ rights.

Oscar Tamuno*, a driver for major Shell contractor, Plantgeria, has not had a wage increase in eight years. After paying taxes, pension contributions and union dues, he takes home 94,000 naira a month (US$258) working a 12-hour day, six days a week. And yet, Oscar is better off than many of his co-workers.

* Not his real name.

More than 200 trade union leaders from all corners of the world showed unanimous support for the Bangladesh Accord at IndustriALL Global Union’s Executive Committee meeting in Mexico on 29 and 30 November. 

Swiss-based pharmaceutical multinational Novartis plans to cut 2,550 jobs in Switzerland and the UK.

At its meeting in Mexico City on 29 and 30 November, IndustriALL Global Union's Executive Committee called for an end to protection contracts in Mexico, took steps to protect union democracy against the growing number of neoliberal governments around the world, and undertook to continue to combat gender-based violence.