TUC Guest bloggers

Today the TUC, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Journalists took part in a global day of action in favour of press freedom in the Gambia, and to call for the Gambian authorities to release journalist Ebrima...

For years, we’ve been pressing the Government to be more helpful to people seeking asylum because their sexual orientation or gender identity have put their lives or liberty in danger. A couple of weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled...

As well as the latest Urgent Action for Iranian bus workers union leaders Saeed Torabian and Reza Shahabi, global teacher union Education International reports on a death penalty, arrests and prison beatings. Iranian trade unions are...

The Geneva-based UN body the International Labour Organisation has decided to send a High Level Tripartite Mission to Colombia to investigate why the death rate amongst trade unionists hasn't fallen. This week the TUC has protested...

Colombia goes to the polls in the final round of its Presidential elections on 20 June, and the retirement of President Uribe means that there will inevitably be a new President elected. But one thing doesn't change, despite the claims...

Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist, but the Colombian Government denies this. The European Union has been negotiating a trade deal with Colombia for several months, in a move which will be seen...

In the bad old days of apartheid South Africa, protestors would often "commit suicide" or suffer "accidental death" in police custody. Steve Biko was probably the most famous victim. Now it seems those days are back, just across the...

Farzad Kamangar was, like me, a trade unionist. He was also a teacher and a political activist. And on Sunday, the Iranian Government executed him for those so-called 'crimes' (although they called it 'enmity against God'). He was a 35...

Imagine that no one in your workplace has been paid overtime since 2007, and that all new jobs coming up are being filled by your boss’s family. You present a collective complaint to management. You show up at work the next day to...

Teacher trade unionists are being murdered in Colombia – the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist – every fortnight this year. Despite Colombian Government claims that the situation is improving, the latest murder...

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has written to the Turkish Ambassador calling for an urgent appeal hearing for Seher Tümer, a member of the executive board of KESK's Health and Social Service Workers Union (SES) in Ankara. Seher...

The Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has just finished its Spring meeting with a call to further action on forced labour in Burma, and for the release of those jailed for drawing attention to forced labour...

The first ever ILO Commission of Inquiry resulting from complaints by both worker and employer organisations has found evidence of systematic – and indeed systemic – violations of trade union rights in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. The...

UPDATE on the blog below. Sometimes good things happen. Just a day after he was sentenced, Mr Olyaiefard has been released. The revolutionary court has accepted that Olyaiefard had not been given a chance to appeal his original...

South African President Jacob Zuma flew into London tonight (Tuesday) with media reports suggesting that he would press Gordon Brown to relax EU sanctions on the thugs in ZANU-PF who ran, and continue to run parts of, Zimbabwe. It is...

The Iraqi Government and Iraqi political parties are interfering in the free and independent Iraqi Teachers Union (ITU). Ibrahim al-Battat , the leader of the ITU in Basra, has been arrested and an arrest warrant for Jasim Hussein...

This week, Iran is before the UN human rights review, and trade union rights are one of the abuses that will be investigated. Iranian trade unionists have released the following statement. Owen Tudor February 10, 2010 To: Human Rights...

Whilst trade unionists across Central America in countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala continue to pay the ultimate price for their struggles for basic rights and social justice in Costa Rica there are also serious issues...

Tragically this month has seen the killing of a fourth trade union leader in Guatemala in three months. Following the murders of Victor Galvez in November and Miguel Chacaj Jax and Pedro Ramirez de la Cruz in December, Evelinda Ramirez...

El Salvador remains a highly dangerous place to be a trade unionist. Following pressure to bring its national laws into line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards so that it could benefit from preferential...