21 febrero, 2012February 19 saw the start of a week of action in defence of freedom of association in Mexico. A ceremony in the main square of Mexico City commemorated the 65 miners who died in the collapse of the Pasta de Conchos mine on that date.

16 febrero, 2012The Australian High Court last week refused to hear an appeal by Rio Tinto over the company's illegal non-union collective agreements imposed on iron ore miners in West Australia.

15 febrero, 2012IMF South Asia Office organized a workshop on EU India Free Trade Agreement on February 14 and 15 in New Delhi. Representatives of Indian national trade union centres and Indian affiliates of IMF, BWI, ITGLWF, UNI, ICEM exchanged views on trade policies and implications for development and employment with IMF affiliates from France, Italy, Canada, Argentina and Japan.

14 febrero, 2012On February 12 Histadrut (Israel Federation of Trade Unions) ended its national strike having gained considerable improvements in conditions of employment for precarious workers in Israel. Many temporary workers will be regularized and get higher wages and better conditions.

21 abril, 2011April 12 marks the day that Swaziland declared a state of emergency in 1973, which is still ongoing 38 years later, making it one of the world's longest running state of emergencies. It has been used to suspend the human rights and political freedom of the Swazi people and includes a ban on political parties. April 12, 2011 was chosen by pro-democracy campaigners for mass protests. Yet the protests planned for three days from the April 12 faced brutal crackdown by Swaziland security forces on anti-government protestors.

21 abril, 2011The international labour movement marked the 5th anniversary of the deaths of Mario Alberto Castillo Rodríguez and Héctor Álvarez Gómez with a march in Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico and the submission of new evidence to the ILO highlighting the issue of violence against members of the SNTMMSRM. The murders of Rodríguez and Gómez, named in the ILO complaint (no. 2478), remain unsolved.

20 abril, 2011To assist the two unions organizing metalworkers in Angola and strengthen their closer cooperation and mutual support, the IMF held a workshop in Luanda in April 2011, that was attended by union leadership and shop stewards drawn from 12 companies in the metal, chemical, electricity, energy and light industries.

19 abril, 2011During a mission to Conackry, Guinea early in April 2011, a representative of IMF Africa met with union leadership and shop stewards of Forum intersyndical des societes minieres et industrielles de Guinée (FISMIG) and visited some of the organized plants in order to better understand the labour movement in Guinea and challenges facing workers and the union.

18 abril, 2011Peta Thomson and Stephanie Eastcott attended their first national union conference in February 2011 following a decision by the AWU's national executive to encourage women's participation.

18 abril, 2011One of the IMF's goals is to ensure an equal playing field for workers that goes beyond minimum standards. That is why the IMF stresses the importance of creating networks in transnational companies to promote solidarity and cooperation between trade unions representing workers in these companies.