In the News

Trade Unions in more than 100 Countries to mobilise to transform the world economy, on October 7, World Day for Decent Work

ITUC Online
10/06/2008

Trade unions in more than 100 countries, from Fiji across the globe to Alaska, are mobilising today to demand change in the world economy, as the financial crisis threatens the livelihoods of millions upon millions of people worldwide.

Wal-Mart boycotts Uzbek cotton

Financial Times
09/30/2008

By Jonathan Birchall in New York

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said on Tuesday it was asking its suppliers to stop using cotton from Uzbekistan, joining a boycott by global brands over its use of forced child labour during the cotton harvest.

It is the first time the retailer has taken such sweeping action over sourcing issues, reflecting its push over the past three years to improve its record on social and environmental sustainability under Lee Scott, its chief executive.

Wal-Mart Wins Round Three Against Chinese Union Federation

Talking Union
09/27/2008

On 29 September from 7:00 to 8:30 PM the International Labor Forum and the National Labor College are co-hosting a discussion about Wal-Mart workers unions in China at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md. Announcement and Details . Both speakers Anita Chan and Jeff Fiedler know a great deal about Wal-Mart in China, and their different perspectives should lead to a vigorous debate and informative discussion... 

Click here for full article>>

Schoolchildren sent to pick cotton in Samarkand Region

Uznews.net
09/26/2008

Schoolchildren aged 13 and over have been sent to pick cotton in all districts in Samarkand Region despite government pledges not to use child labour in this cotton harvest.

Children were sent to cotton fields on 22 September.

An official from the Pastdargom District education department said this order had taken him and his colleagues by surprise because only few days before they were ordered to ensure 100% attendances at schools.

Schoolchildren sent to pick cotton in Jizak Region

Uznews.net
09/23/2008

Eighth-form pupils from secondary schools were sent to pick cotton in Jizak Region today, while high-school pupils went to cotton fields two days earlier.

Local residents said that schoolchildren had been sent to cotton fields despite government pledges not to force children to pick cotton this year and the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

Colombian Trade Unions Fight On

Al Jazeera
09/22/2008

By Rhodri Davies

For Luis Mayusa Prada, death was unceremonious.

While walking to his clothes shop at 8 am on August 8 this year in the heavily militarised Colombian town of Saravena, two men shot him 17 times.

As the men fled on a motorcycle, they left behind a widow and five fatherless children.

Prada became the third member of his family to be assassinated.

Despite Political Pact, Zimbabwe Police Arrest Union Leader, Students

VOA News
09/18/2008

By Patience Rusere

Days after the signing of a power-sharing accord between Zimbabwe's former ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, police Thursday arrested the president of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Takavafira Zhou, for allegedly engaging in “riotous behavior.”

PTUZ National Coordinator Munyaradzi Chauke told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Zhou was involved in an altercation in a Masvingo bank queue with a man who said he worked in the president’s office.

Chocolate leaves a bitter taste

TVNZ
09/17/2008

...The CEO of The Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia (CMA), Trish Hyde, said the CMA was a part of a global initiative to eliminate child slavery and forced labour in the industry.

She said the CMA and other chocolate companies from around the world were working with the governments of the Ivory Coast and Ghana to help eliminate child slavery and forced labour.

Uzbekistan: Children Continue to Work on Cotton Fields despite Official Ban

Ferghana
09/16/2008

Just recently the Uzbek government vowed to combat the use of child labour on cotton fields. However, latest reports from Uzbekistan appear at odds with government’s intentions.

In September Uzbek government has finally admitted child labour is used on cotton fields and promised to eradicate flagrant practices. However, Ferghana.ru correspondents from Uzbekistan say lots of children could be seen on the fields as harvesting has started.

Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney On Increase of Violence Against Colombian Trade Unionists

AFL-CIO
09/10/2008

On August 26th, Alexander Blanco Rodriguez, a member of the Colombian oil workers’ union, USO, was brutally murdered in front of his co-workers by a group of armed men as he was finishing his shift at the state oil company, ECOPETROL, located in Canatgallo. This murder marked the 41st this year in Colombia. The total number of union murders for the first eight months of 2008 now surpasses the figure for the entire previous year. According to ENS, a well-respected Colombian NGO that tracks this information, 39 trade unionists were murdered in all of 2007.

Pages