Press Releases

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World Cup Soccer Balls Missed the Goal Set 13 Years Ago: Child Labor, Poverty Wages, Temporary Workers

06/07/10

Washington, DC – As excitement grows for the upcoming FIFA World Cup beginning shortly in South Africa, there is a part of the World Cup that many sports fans will not see.  The workers stitching soccer balls in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand continue to experience alarming labor rights violations even 13 years after the soccer ball industry signed the “Atlanta Agreement” committing to clean up the industry.

World Cup Soccer Balls: Exploitation Still the Norm

06/07/10

Report reveals Child Labour, Poverty Wages, Temporary Workers

7 June 2010: As the frenzy grows over the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa, there is a part of the World Cup that won’t be broadcast on TV. The Play Fair Alliance today asked FIFA to respond to the report “Missed the Goal for Workers: the Reality of Soccer Ball Stitchers”, released by US-based NGO International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) on 7 June.

Colombia: 195 Teachers Killed, No One Guilty

12/08/09

The ITUC has denounced and strongly condemned the murders of art teacher Zorayda Cortés López, who worked at the Higher Technical Institute of Pereira, the capital of Risaralda, and Leny Yanube Rengifo Gómez, a teacher and active member of the Cauca education workers’ union, Asociación de Institutores y Trabajadores de la Educación del Cauca – ASOINCA.

It is unacceptable and a cause for grave concern in the trade union movement that 195 teachers have been assassinated in Colombia, without a single arrest being made, and that 35 trade unionists have been killed this year alone.

Stop Violence Against Women Day: Governments to Take Decisive Action to End Violence Against Women

11/25/09

On the occasion of the UN International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the ITUC and affiliates in a range of countries are organizing activities to say “no to violence against women and girls” and to mobilize against the impunity of that violence around the world. These activities are taking place in the context of the UN Secretary-General’s campaign ‘UNiTE to End Violence against Women’ and the Global Unions Campaign ‘Decent Work, Decent Life for Women’.

Turkey: 22 Public Sector Union Members and Leaders Freed After Six Months of Unlawful Detention

11/23/09

On Thursday 19 and Friday 20 November, in Izmir, Turkey, the ITUC attended, together with over a dozen representatives from trade unions and Global Union Federations from eight different European countries, the trial against 31 leaders and members of Turkish public sector union KESK. Being tried on charges of having established a terrorist organisation, 22 of them had already spent nearly six months in prison without access to due trial.
 

ITUC Mourns the Passing of Global Trade Union Leader Neil Kearney

11/19/09

It is with profound sadness that the ITUC has learned of the passing of global trade union leader Neil Kearney in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 18 November. Born in 1950 in Donegal, Ireland, Neil Kearney served as General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation since 1988, following 16 years as a national trade union official in the UK.

Bangladesh: Three Workers Killed During a Peaceful Protest

11/12/09

The ITUC has strongly denounced the killing of three workers on 21 October in Tongi near Dhaka airport. According to the information received by the ITUC, workers of the Nippon garments factory have been dismissed without receiving their salary and other benefits for the last month of work.

The police opened fire against the workers, while they were protesting against the dismissal at the gate of the factory. The last information received by the ITUC numbered three workers killed, Tajul Islam, Babul Sheikh and Shafiqul Islam, and 50 others wounded.

Zimbabwe: Trade Unionists Freed, Charges Thrown Out

11/12/09

Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, and four other unionists, Michael Kandukutu, Percy Mncijo, Dumisani Ncube and Nhawu Ndlovu, have been released on the order of a Zimbabwean Magistrate and the charges against them thrown out by the Court in Victoria Falls. The five were detained by police on Sunday, and charged under the notorious Public Order and Security Act (POSA), which has been used against the ZCTU and its affiliates on several occasions over a number of years by the Mugabe regime.

Schakowsky Testimony on International Violence Against Women

10/21/09

WASHINGTON, DC (October 21, 2009) – Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, delivered the following testimony before the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations and Oversight during the hearing, "International Violence Against Women: Stories and Solutions.”

Prepared Statement of Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky

Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight

Hearing on “International Violence Against Women: Stories and Solutions”

Teachers, Students, Labor Rights Watchdogs, Religious Leaders, Call on Uzbekistan to End Forced Child Labor in Cotton Fields

10/14/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Ira Arlook, 202-822-5200, ira[at]neweconomy.org
Leslie Getzinger, American Federation of Teachers, 202 321 4034, lgetzing[at]aft.org

Major Human Rights Abuses Complicate U.S. Trade Relations with Central Asian Republic

Teachers, Students, Labor Rights Watchdogs, Religious Leaders, Call on Uzbekistan to End Forced Child Labor in Cotton Fields

Demonstration at Embassy of Uzbekistan Delivers Petitions Demanding That Millions of Children be Sent Out of the Fields and Back to School this Fall

No Let Up in the Onslaught against Colombian Trade Unionists

10/06/09

On 1 October at 8.30 p.m., hired assassins seriously injured Mario Montes de Oca Anaya and killed Alberto Luis Pastrana Soto, who was with him at the time, as they approached the main entrance of Hospital San Jerónimo in the city of Montería, Córdoba. These crimes are yet another illustration of the failure to improve the lot of trade unionists in Colombia, where there is a systematic policy of violence against the trade union movement.

Guinea: Commission of Inquiry Must Be Set Up to Investigate Brutal Repression of Demonstrators

10/01/09

The ITUC has strongly condemned the brutal repression of demonstrators in Conakry and has reiterated the call for maximum sanctions against the perpetrators and instigators of the barbaric acts perpetrated on Monday 28 September in Guinea, when over 150 people were killed, 1200 injured and numerous women were raped in the middle of the street "The trade union movement is in a state of shock," said Guy Ryder, general secretary of the ITUC.

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