Trade union membership is growing during these tough times and it’s thanks to women. That’s the headline that leaps out at me from the latest government stats on trade union membership. Union membership has grown by 59,000 since 2011 to 6.455 million. Women make up 40,000 of that growth. This is part of a longer…
Imagine that after Saturday’s rally you were picked up by the security forces, beaten with a hose pipe, thrown into solidarity confinement for six weeks, forced to sign a confession under torture, denied medical treatment and then sentenced for a decade on trumped up charges. That’s exactly what happened to Mahdi Abu Dheeb, the head…
After nearly three years, and several rounds of mediation, the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) have finally struck a deal with Compass over a serious labour dispute with its Algerian subsidiary, Eurest. While it’s good news for Eurest’s workers, it’s also significant because it’s yet another deal inked in London, with the help of the…
On the desert-battered outskirts of Cairo, in a kitsch marble convention centre, the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) has just announced to Egypt and the world that it has come of age. EFITU was born in the inspiration and chaos of Tahrir square, exactly 12 months to the day. Since then they have…
Burma has seen many dramatic moves toward democracy and respect for human rights over the past six months. Most political prisoners have been released, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy are about to contest by-elections, and there’s been some progress in ending the government’s bloody repression of ethnic groups. But has…
The use of “non-union consultation” mechanisms is rising, both here in the UK and in the global supply chains that UK business sources from, as two recent reports show. Should we denounce these mechanisms as toothless alternatives to undermine trade unionism? Or should we work with them, to complement our work, or convert them into…
Air-traffic controllers, bus drivers, journalists, academics, and nurses, among thousands of others have been back on the streets of Egypt this week demanding that the interim military government deliver on the demands of their revolution. Help add your voice to theirs by signing the global petition calling on the Egyptian government to enact a labour…