Mine workers from 56 unions in Peru started an indefinite, nationwide strike yesterday to protest the government’s proposed labor reforms, says Ricardo Juarez, secretary-general of the National Federation of Mining, Metallurgical and Steel Workers of Peru (FNTMMSP). Miners voted to approve the strike in May. Juarez told Reuters that miners want President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski… [READ MORE]
Like many women in Mombasa, Kenya, Alice Mwadzi says for years she barely eked out a living. A lack of jobs in the port city for many means a constant struggle to survive—selling fruit on busy highways or hauling carts stacked with heavy water containers through congested streets—involving long hours of often back-breaking work for… [READ MORE]
Brazil workers and their unions are outraged and vowing further protests over a draconian labor law reform the Senate passed yesterday that will weaken labor regulations as well as restrict financing for unions. The law, which President Michel Temer supports and is expected to sign, will remove all restrictions on outsourcing, dismantle labor rights, including… [READ MORE]
Lack of job protections, combined with the invisibility of their work, means many domestic workers toil long hours in unsafe conditions without a minimum wage or access to health care, sick leave or pensions. In Cambodia, domestic workers, who are not recognized as workers under national labor law or protected by Association of Southeast Asian… [READ MORE]
Two Kazak union leaders who were arrested and imprisoned in January after leading a hunger strike, have been convicted and fined exorbitant amounts for their protest against the government’s liquidation of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (KNPRK) in favor of a government-aligned federation. Amin Yeleusinov, chairman of the Oil Construction Company union, was… [READ MORE]
The president of a local branch of Colombia’s National Union of Agricultural Workers (SINTRAINAGRO) was fatally shot by gunmen on a motorcycle on July 1 while watching his son play soccer. Alberto Román Acosta González led the Guacarí SINTRAINAGRO branch in Colombia’s Valle del Cauca. The Guacarí branch, along with other SINTRAINAGRO branches that represent… [READ MORE]
At least 13 workers were killed and dozens injured when a boiler exploded at a garment factory in Bangladesh on Monday, ripping through the six-story building and causing a portion of it to collapse. Officials have now called off the search for survivors. The death toll was not higher because most of the factory’s 5,000… [READ MORE]
Hundreds of garment workers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, staged a peaceful demonstration this week to protest the firing of some 45 union leaders from the Haitian garment workers’ federation, GOSTTRA, and to push for a badly-needed minimum wage increase. According to GOSTTRA, the union leaders were fired to intimidate workers and discourage further demonstrations. A series… [READ MORE]
In Cambodia’s booming construction industry, where up to 250,000 workers toil on building projects during peak season, laborers wear sandals or flip-flops and cloth gloves, if they have gloves at all, their heads covered only with towels or soft hats they bring to work. One-third are women, who receive lower wages and are limited to… [READ MORE]
The Colombia Port Workers’ union is calling on the Ministry of Labor to follow up on promises it made during a congressional hearing this week and resume discussions with the union and the Buenaventura Port Society over formalizing 3,500 illegally outsourced workers in Buenaventura, Colombia’s largest port. Solidarity Center union partners, organized within the Mesa… [READ MORE]