6 May, 2010Fellesforbundet secures an estimated three per cent rise for metal workers in its new two year sector collective agreement with Norsk Industri.

5 May, 2010Africa: The political economy of Africa has taken another dark turn staggering under the three crises of economy, food and climate. These three crises are interdependent and find their origin in the current system of accumulation and plundering of resources by large transnational corporations. Developing a response to any of these crises can not be done in isolation to the others and hoping to be rescued by the Global North is a strategy that has historically delivered little more than empty promises. Industrialisation, decent work and strong trade unions ensuring fair production and fair trade are prerequisites to addressing poverty in Africa and averting a deepening humanitarian disaster.

3 May, 2010Revision of Social Security laws was the central demand of the Indonesian labour movement during a massive 2010 Labour Day march and demonstration.

2 May, 2010Workers and unions celebrate May Day in Taksim Square for the first time in more than 30 years; global unions, including the IMF, show support and pledge to coordinate continued solidarity actions to defend workers' rights in Turkey.

30 April, 2010Trade unionists from around the world agreed to strengthen their cooperation and create a trade union network at Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment.

14 May, 2010IMF mourns the death of the Iranian trade unionist, Farzad Kamangar, who together with another four people was secretly executed in Iran on May 9.

19 May, 2010Organizing the electronics industry has long proven to be a difficult challenge for trade unions. Unionization rates remain extremely low in an industry where precarious employment is rife and labour abuses abound. To make matters worse, the electronics industry has been one of the hardest hit by the economic crisis, bringing job losses and additional downward pressure on pay and conditions. But at IMF's recent conference for the ICT, Electrical and Electronics industries on 'Organizing, Trade Union Rights and Sustainability', IMF affiliates reasserted their commitment to organizing electronics workers and improving their working conditions.

19 May, 2010

19 May, 2010According to official data, in Russia, a country with a population of over 140 million, in 2009 there was a grand total of one strike. Of course, this reflects not the actual situation, but rather the unjustifiably strict legal requirements for holding strikes. The unconvincing figures from the Russian Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) conceal the real story of labour conflicts: hundreds of collective disputes, a multitude of clashes with management and government, which both are often prepared to go to any lengths to destroy active and combative unions.

19 May, 2010Indonesian workers win unprecedented legal battle to secure lost wages and termination compensation.