Human rights and labor activists protested outside the Washington DC offices of Public Strategies, Inc., claiming that the public relations firm helps the Bridgestone / Firestone Tire Company "deflect attention away from the company's long history of exploiting workers and the environment on its rubber plantation in Liberia." The protest comes shortly after the publication of a report from a Liberian-based organization that all

Three thousand workers of the coal mine situated in the municipalities of La Loma and Puerto de Ciénaga, located in the Colombian departments of Cesar and Magdalena respectively, began a work-stoppage at 5:50 PM on Wednesday, July 16, 2008. This is the second largest coal mine in Colombia and is run by the U.S.-based Drummond mining company. Drummond has also been granted a lease to extract natural gas deposits discovered in the same area and to operate the 55,000-acre El Descanso mine, in the municipalities of Becerril and Codazzi, considered the largest coal mine in the world.

By Brian Latham

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called for tougher sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his senior lieutenants.

ZCTU, the main umbrella body representing organized labor, made the call after the African Union said it will provide a "reference group" of African and United Nations diplomats to assist South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate talks.

Workers at U.S. coal company Drummond's Pribbenow mine located in northern Colombia have gone on strike after a breakdown in contract talks, a union official said on Thursday.

The open-pit mine produces about 2 million tonnes of coal per month, according to privately owned Drummond, which confirmed that operations have been shut down by the work stoppage.

"The mine is paralyzed," said Joaquin Romero, president of the Funtraenergetica labor organization which represents Pribbenow's 3,500 workers.