At noon today the 240,000 member strong Turkish Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) began a two day strike in response to “state terror implemented against mass protests across the country” in what may prove to be a significant development for the brave and burgeoning protest movement triggered by #occupygezi.
Trade Union membership rose by 59,000 to 6.5 million last year, according to a report by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills report published today.
The image of union activist George Tapp lying on a Manchester road with two broken legs and blood pouring from his head following a vicious hit and run during an anti-blacklist demonstration last week has shocked many.
Western brands must contribute to freedom of association in the garment industry and stop government and employer resistance to union organisation.
Fundamental labour rights and protections should not be optional, applicable only to the rich but must be a central part of our labour markets, for compromises create cracks and cracks lead to catastrophe.
Since 2005, more than 1,000 textile workers in Bangladesh have died in fires and building collapses. Thousands of people, many of them young women work in appalling and unsafe conditions in factories which supply western countries and High Street stores with cheap clothing.
This weekend sees the launch rally of the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom on March 23rd. Formed in December 2012 by a merger between Liasion Commmittee for the Defence Of Trade Union and the Campaign for the Repeal of the Anti Trade Union Laws, the rally takes place at Friends House, London at 1:30 pm.
Just days after it was announced that the USA and the European Union were to open discussions on a free trade agreement worth trillions of dollars, trade unions on both sides of the Atlantic said that employment rights had to be a key issue on the agenda.
A public meeting has been called in London this week to support of Mexican trade unionists, whose activities are being threatened by restrictive new laws.
Tentative GDP figures draws our attention to the fall in wages and its impact upon union rights, writes Tony Burke.
