FirstEnergy and Penelec persist with lockout6 January, 2014Despite severe winter storm and potential outages in U.S. the electric company Penelec and its parent company FirstEnergy remain reluctant to consider union proposals and concerns and proceed with lockout of utility workers.
Violent response to strike for increased minimum wage6 January, 2014A nationwide strike in Cambodia to increase the minimum wage from USD 80 to USD 160 started on 24 December and ended nearly two weeks later in violence and killings.
Apple’s labour rights monitor finds little progress at Foxconn30 December, 2013After three years of engagement at three Foxconn factories in China, the FLA has released its third and final verification assessment. Despite big promises to deliver labour rights improvements, the Fair Labor Association (FLA), tasked by Apple to remedy rights violations at its supplier Foxconn, has achieved little.
“Time to consign old Iraqi labour laws to the dustbin of history”9 December, 2013IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina delivered this message to the Iraqi Ambassador to the UN in Geneva today. It is the latest stage of on-going dialogue with the Iraqi authorities to ensure an urgent passing of ILO-compliant labour and trade union legislation in the country.
IndustriALL launches second issue of “Global Worker”5 December, 2013The second issue of IndustriALL Global Union’s journal, “Global Worker”, was launched this week at the 4-5 December IndustriALL Executive Committee meeting in Geneva. Sign up to receive copies of the journal or view online.
Persecution of Indian Holcim cement workers continues, 7 jailed16 January, 2014The case of Indian cement workers in the facilities of Swiss based multinational giant Holcim in Chhattisgarh has come to represent the worst trend of worker exploitation in the global supply chain. Permanent employees were shifted to contract status, paid poverty wages in a deadly environment and stripped of union rights. Now, on 8 January the leaders of the contract worker trade union PCSS, otherwise ignored by Holcim, were imprisoned on sham charges pressed by former company security officers.
JUST GROUP – “Just sign it”19 December, 2013Some Australian companies are yet to sign the Bangladesh Accord and continue to profit from workers’ misery and hide behind sham commitments. Join the Australian unions’ online campaign for Just Group to sign the Accord here and write to CEO Mark McInnes.
Agreement ends SL Garment strike in Cambodia19 December, 2013IndustriALL affiliate C.CAWDU and SL Garment Processing sign an agreement to end a three-month long strike in Cambodia, including the re-hiring of 19 dismissed union representatives, payment of half of the lost wages and the removal of a newly appointed manager.
India: workers’ massive march to Parliament19 December, 2013On 12 December, 200 000 workers rallied in Delhi, demanding, among other things, ratification of ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
Final call before Christmas for Swiss supermarkets to sign Accord16 December, 2013Global labour leaders have come together in Switzerland to demand that supermarket chains Migros and Coop sign the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety before Christmas.
