In the News

AFL-CIO Honors Rubber Plantation

United Steelworkers
06/24/2008

The AFL-CIO this Wednesday, June 25, will present its annual human rights award to thousands of Firestone rubber plantation workers in war-torn Liberia who, with strategic help from the United Steelworkers, are building a union movement against great odds.

The George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award recognizes the 4,000-member Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) for its “extraordinary courage, strength and solidarity” in representing oppressed workers at one of the world’s largest rubber plantations.

Cosatu demand democracy in Zimbabwe

COSATU
06/24/2008

The Congress of South African Trade Unions fully sympathises with the decision of the Movement for Democratic Change to withdraw from what was clearly going to be a totally unfree and unfair election on 27 June 2008. The federation is appalled at the levels of violence and intimidation being inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe by the illegitimate Mugabe regime, and endorses the view of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), that:

* Political violence in the country has reached alarming if not catastrophic proportions;

Dutch fail to get issue of child labour on G8 agenda

DPA
06/24/2008

An item will not certainly appear on the global political agenda of the eight most powerful nations at their upcoming meeting in Japan is child labour. Attempts by the Netherlands, a country with a strong reputation of pro-child activism, to put the issue on the international agenda have failed.

On May 22, Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders told parliament the European Union had rejected his request for trade sanctions against governments that refuse to act against child labour.

Colombia: Two More Trade Unionists Assassinated

ITUC Press
06/24/2008

Less than one week after the latest ITUC protest to President Uribe about the violence and repression against trade unions in Colombia, two more trade unionists have been murdered. The ITUC, together with its Colombian affiliates, CUT CGT and CTC, categorically denounce those latest atrocities. Twenty-eight trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia since the start of the year.

ZCTU General Council Communique on elections

ZCTU
06/21/2008

Communiqué of the General Council of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) held on 21 June 2008 at Quality International Hotel, Harare

WE, the General Council members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), meeting at the Quality International Hotel in Harare today 21 June 2008 to, among other things, discuss the 27 June 2008 Presidential Election Run-off ;

Having Discussed,

* the violent environment prior to the holding the Presidential Election Run Off of 27 June 2008;

Primark shows the hidden price of cheap fashion

The Times (UK)
06/20/2008

As inspectors are shown ‘five-star' factories, abuses continue at ‘shadow' plants down the road

Book a flight on British Airways and the airline will calculate the carbon emissions of your journey. Pick up a chicken for dinner, and its label will tell you the amount of living space that the bird enjoyed before it landed in your supermarket.

But buy a T-shirt at many high street retailers, and you will learn nothing about the person who produced it. We now know more about the living conditions of the animals that we eat than the humans who clothe us.

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