Following the elections in April this year, conservative leader Petteri Orpo has formed a new right-wing coalition government, including the far-right populist True Finns party. The new government has outlined a plan that runs completely counter to the objectives of the trade union movement. If implemented, it will take Finland further away from the consensus-based social policies of the other Nordic countries.

A group of gunmen murdered thirteen people in Honduras, including four union leaders and several workers from the Gildan plant in San Miguel. IndustriALL has strongly condemned the killings and has called for justice to be done without delay.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana, a federation to which 23 unions are affiliated is calling for a national strike on 10 July to protest union bashing after three union leaders were unfairly dismissed at Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited in March. 

To reinforce the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union’s (SACTWU) endless campaign for improving workers’ lives, the union’s leather negotiating team recently won above inflation wage increases in the general goods and handbags and footwear sectors.

An 18-day industrial action in Georgia's mining sector in the town of Chiatura has ended with important achievements as the employer agreed to the workers’ key demands, one of which was a twelve per cent salary increase in line with inflation in the country.

The IndustriALL Bangladesh Council held a protest at the Gazipur district commissioner's office on Monday 26 June, to demanding justice for the murder of Shahidul Islam Shahid, president of the Gazipur unit of Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), who was killed a day earlier.

A colourful background displaying building blocks to close the growing inequality gap set the scene for discussions on current and future challenges and strategic priorities when 600 representatives from 179 unions in 64 countries met for the IndustriALL Mid-Term Policy Conference on 20-22 June.

IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing of trade union leader Shahidul Islam Shahid on 25 June in Gazipur, Bangladesh.

IndustriALL's affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), is planning to picket at the Anglo American offices in Johannesburg on 14 July to protest proposals to avoid stricter health and safety laws at some of the mining multinational's South African operations.

A combination of unconstitutional legislation signed by the Tunisian President and administrative orders pushed by the Speaker of the Parliament and the judicial authorities are severely restricting the right of the Tunisian people to be informed, to monitor the work of public officials and to hold them to account.  

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (Hong Kong Convention) will enter into force in June 2025, after Bangladesh and Liberia became contracting states to the Convention on 26 June 2023.

This year’s International Labour Conference in Geneva gathered 5,000 delegates representing governments, workers and employers from the ILO’s 187 member states. The ILC passed resolutions on a just transition and labour protection, as well as adopting a new recommendation on quality apprenticeships and a resolution on Belarus.

Delegates at IndustriALL’s global youth conference call for inclusive union structure, guaranteeing young unionists a voice in the future.

IndustriALL affiliates’ response to the global crises of war, inequality, poverty, mass starvation, climate disasters, epidemics, and the increasing violations of workers’ and trade union rights were some of the agenda items discussed at IndustriALL’s executive meeting which was held on 19 June in Cape Town. 200 delegates from 60 countries participated in this meeting just ahead of the Mid-Term Policy Conference which also takes place in Cape Town from 20-22 June. 

A gender-responsive approach to growing inequalities, strategies in multinational companies, building strong unions, just transition and how feminism can change trade unions were some of the topics raised at IndustriALL’s global women’s committee. 

Union leaders and workers from Hop Lun production facilities in Bangladesh and Indonesia met in Semarang city, Indonesia on 10 June, committing to building solidarity and improving industrial relations throughout the supply chain.

Social protection is something that everyone should have and includes sick pay, unemployment benefits and injury insurance. Maternity and paternity leave, funds for retraining and properly funded pensions also fall under social protection. The Covid pandemic showed the need for stronger social protection systems. Unions play a huge role in fighting for these rights for workers. 

On 14 June, IndustriALL Global Union, ITUC and BWI met with Myo Min, union minister for the Ministry of Human Rights for the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar and vowed to continue to support the fight for a return of democracy in the country. The NUG is the democratically elected government that was overthrown in the military coup of February 2021.

Today global unions, trade union activists and delegates in attendance at the 111th International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva gathered at the Broken Chair to call for the immediate release of imprisoned Belarusian trade unionists and an end to the repression of workers’ rights.

Military crackdown on striking workers and subsequent arrests at a factory producing for Spanish fashion giant Zara yet again make it blatantly clear that freedom of association is impossible in Myanmar.