Workers Rights are Human Rights
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The murder of Victor Galvez at the end of last month was yet another tragic example of the appalling situation facing trade unionists in Guatemala. Sr. Galvez was not just a trade union leader, he was a community leader and a member of...
On 31 October, the Bangladesh Police shot dead three workers from the Nippon Garments Factory in Ershad Nagar in the Tongi Industrial Belt in Bangladesh during a protest over the non-payment of the salaries and other benefits due to...
Six Iranian trade unionists representing sugar workers at the Haft Tapeh company have been jailed for their trade union activities. Worldwide food workers' union the IUF say “the regime is clearly determined to crush the union by...
The murder of Alberto Luis Pastrana and the attempted murder of teachers union leader Mario Montes de Oca Anaya outside the San Jeroimo hospital in Monteria, Cordoba province, Colombia on 1 October, following closely on the killings of...
Anyone who still thinks that Iran is a progressive country whose only crime is to oppose western imperialism should look at the way it treats its workers. On 5 October, teachers all over the world celebrated World Teachers' Day, and...
The General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) heard this afternoon from an incredibly brave trade unionist from Guinea, where last week the army brutally broke up a peaceful demonstration for democracy which...
Striking miners at Shabanie Mines near Bulawayo have been demonstrating since 7 September to get back pay dating as far back as January. On Friday 25 September, police opened fire on the strikers and hit several people. Three were...
The EU is negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. Signing that deal would hand the Colombian Government a propaganda coup, suggesting that its human rights...
Two Iranian trade unionists from the sugar industry are still facing jail, although three of their colleagues have had their sentences overturned on appeal after an international solidarity campaign. The IUF – the global union for food...
The right to life is of course at the heart of human rights, so today, on International Day of Peace , the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is highlighting the importance of real action for the abolition of nuclear...
Our Director, Kate Allen, has just delivered a stirring call for human and labour rights solidarity at the TUC Congress here in Liverpool, and received a rousing response from the trade union delegates. As readers will know, this is...
I've blogged before about the campaign to free the leaders of the Gambia Press Union – their NUJ – and on Friday we got the good news that they had been freed by Presidential pardon. This was the result of a worldwide campaign in...
I'm just returning from a three day TUC delegation to Zimbabwe where we found a mixture of optimism and caution. Ben, the editor of The Worker, paper of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, told us he was recently arrested when he...
The Colombian Government hasn't changed one jot. It is still picking on trade unionists who oppose its policies and the activities of its friends in business and in the paramilitaries. The latest example is the arrest – on trumped up...
Strikes are about more than train delays. As two on-going factory occupations show, they can be courageous acts pointing the way towards a better society. They deserve our support, and their fundamental human rights.In Korea, 800...
It's usually developing countries where union rights violations take place. But one of the worst records around the world for ratifying the core conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is held by the USA. In...
Criticise Gordon Brown and you get lost in the crush. Criticise Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, President of the Gambia, and you, your colleagues and your union leadership get charged with sedition and slung in jail. That's what's...
Angelino Garzon, Colombian Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, wrote to the Financial Times on 16 June to defend the Colombian Government’s record on violence against trade unionists (“ Colombia protects trade unionists ”). It was an...
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has strongly protested against the continuing detention of Juvénal Rududura, vice president of the union of non-judicial staff of the justice ministry, SPMJB, affiliated to the...
Everyone is watching what's going on in Iran, and trade unionists have a special concern. We'd already called a Global Solidarity Action Day for justice for Iranian workers before the Presidential election, and the day has special...
About this blog
The right to join a trade union and bargain collectively, including taking strike action, are fundamental human rights, recognised as such by Amnesty International, the UN and the International Labour Organisation. Key human rights for trade unionists include not only freedom of association, but freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, equality, freedom from forced labour/slavery and dignity at work. The TUC is a formal partner with Amnesty International UK, and this blog reports on many trade union campaigns around the world for human and trade union rights. It is predominantly written by staff at the TUC European Union and International Relations Department as well as members of the AI UK Trade Union Network and AI UK trade union liaison officer Shane Enright (that's him in the profile image with a placard - he's also often seen with a megaphone!)