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20250106 : Starbucks workers in the USA, members of IUF-affiliate Workers United/SEIU, came out on strike on Friday, December 20 after pay negotiations with the company stalled. The strike escalated in the following days affecting three of Starbucks’ most important markets, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago. (Photo: IUF) Click here to see more labour news from the USA.
20250113 : On 24 December Remzi Çalışkan, President of Genel-İş and Vice-President of DİSK, was released from prison in Turkey. He had been unlawfully detained since 26 November following dawn raids targeting trade unionists, journalists, and human rights defenders. He was released after a global campaign by PSI, EPSU and his own union. Kemal Göksoy, President of the Mersin Branch of Genel-İş, remains in prison, along with other detained trade unionists. (Photo: EPSU) Click here to see more labour news from Turkey.
20250120 : After a sexual harassment complaint was lodged against him a manager at a Seara JBS facility in Brazil then attacked and badly injured union official Maurício Francisco da Silva. In response the Union of Workers of the Food Industry and Region (SINTIACR) has been mounting daily protests at the company's HQ. (Photo: Rel UITA ) Click here to see more labour news from Brazil.
20250127 : Unions and progressive organizations in Iceland have declared 2025 to be The Year of Women. The labour movement, led by ASI, the Icelandic Confederation of Labour, is taking the lead on employment issues and raising awareness of workplace inequality with, among other things, marches like this one on 20 January. (Photo: ASI) Click here to see more labour news from Iceland.
2025016. :
20250203 : The Union of Civil Servants in Mozambique (SINAFP), a PSI member union, declared a national strike on 29 January. The workers' demands go beyond just compensation. A key issue has been the government's refusal to establish proper channels for social dialogue, with major decisions affecting workers and services being announced through media conferences without any prior consultation with staff or their representatives. (Photo: PSI) Click here to see more labour news from Mozambique.
20250210 : Last month domestic workers' unions in 80 countries sent delegates to the 5th global conference of the International Domestic Workers Federation in San Diego USA. (Photo: IDWF) Click here to see more labour news about women workers.
20250217 : Food workers unions in Milei-era Argentina are campaigning for food security. A million Argentinian children go to bed without having had any milk during the day while millions of litres of milk are destroyed and diary workers are laid-off. As a result of government policies, 58% of the population have reduced their food intake and 28% are experiencing severe food insecurity. (Photo: Rel UITA) Click here to see more labour news from Argentina.
20250224 : Community health worker (CHW) union leaders from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have launched a new initiative to strengthen the CHW movement across South Asia at a meeting hosted by Government Midwifery Service Association (GMSA), Sri Lanka’s largest women’s healthcare union, in Colombo. Backed by UNI Global Union and the SAGE Fund, the project aims to help CHWs improve working conditions, formalize employment and secure their rights as workers. (Photo: UNI) Click here to see more labour news from across Asia.
20250303 : Last Friday hundreds of thousands of Greek workers joined in a general strike organized by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE). The strike marked the second anniversary of the Tempi rail disaster which killed 57 people as a concequence of 'austerity' policies which has left Greek infrastructure in desperate need of renewal. On Thursday it was revealed that the causes of the disaster have not been addressed. (Photo: S. Pennella) Click here to see more labour news from Greece.
20250310 : As they do every year, garment workers unions in Bangladesh were out in front during celebrations marking International Women's Day. A large majority of garment workers there are women. (Photo: NGWF) Click here to see more news of union actions on IWD.
20250317 : On 12 March, thousands of Argentinian pensioners peacefully gathered to protest cuts to pensions and public services under the Milei regime. Security forces responded brutally. The far-right government continues to legally and violently repress all forms of dissent. (Photo: CTA-A) Click here to see more union news from Argentina.
20250324 : Journalists remain at risk around the world, and not just in war zones like Gaza. And impunity for their murderers remains something unions struggle to deal with. Ahmed Suale was a Ghanaian investigative journalist who was shot dead by unidentified individuals riding a motorbike in Accra in January 2019. His union, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has worked tirelessly to keep the police investigation active and last week celebrated when a suspect was finally charged with his murder. (Photo: GJA/My Joy) Click here to see more union news from Ghana.
20250331 : The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is organizing a one-day general strike each week until President Yoon Suk Yeol is removed from office. A far-right politician, Yoon faces impeachment for having attempted to impose martial law on South Korea. (Photo: KCTU) Click here to see more union news from South Korea.
20250407 : On 1 April all the major union confederations in France held a national day of action to protest austerity policies in the socal and healthcare sectors. The coalition is demanding the reversal of 30 years of neoliberal social policy, wage increases and the filling of thousands of positions that have been left vacant for years due to budget cuts. (Photo: FO) Click here to see more union news from France.
20250414 : In Tunisia, French call centre operator Armatis has blocked the newly-elected leadership of the workplace union committee, affiliated with Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) from entering their workplace, effectively sacking them. Call centre workers global union federation UNI is assisting the UGTT. (Photo: Anon/UNI) Click here to see more union news from Tunisia.
20250421 : Last week leaders of the European Public Service Union held an anti-fascist action in Brussels, during an Executive Committee meeting, on the 80th year of the defeat of fascism. Delegates visited and cleaned the memorial stone (Stolperstein) of Richard Lipper, a young Belgian resistance fighter executed by the Nazis in 1944. Francoise Geng, EPSU President spoke at the ceremony: "Richard Lipper stood against fascism with courage and conviction. Today, as trade unionists, we remember that resistance is not just history – it's a responsibility. Our message is simple: no to fascism, not then, not now."(Photo: EPSU) Click here to see more union news from Belgium.
20250428 : Unions representing a broad spectrum of workers in all sectors have joined in the struggle to resist the 'chainsaw reforms' of the far-right Milei regime in Argentina. These are actors, members of Asociación Argentina de Actores y Actrices, at a protest of 25 April. (Photo: AAAA) Click here to see more union news from Argentina.
20250505 : The Nepal Teachers Federation recently intensified its campaign to push the Nepali government into implementing the long-delayed School Education Act. (Photo: NTF) Click here to see more union news from Nepal.
20250512 : The right-wing government of New Zealand has introduced legislation to roll back pay equity rights for women. Unions are calling it a 'declaration of war on women workers'. Protesters, like these healthcare workers, were marching in towns across the country all of last week. (Photo: MUNZ) Click here to see more union news from New Zealand.
20250519 : On May Day in Baghdad the Preparatory Committee of the General Union of Platform Workers was officially formed within the Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions (FITU). (Photo: FITU) Click here to see more union news from Iraq.
20250526 : Thousands of people marched in Panama on Friday to protest the arrest of two trade-union leaders who have spearheaded demonstrations against the right-wing government of President José Raúl Mulino. Another has requested asylum in the Bolivian embassy. The 3 were leading mass protests against a plan to privatise social security and an agreement to allow US troops to be stationed along the Panama Canal. (Photo: UITA) Click here to see more union news from Panama.
20250602 : Members of SEWA (the Self-Employed Women's Association) in New Delhi took to the streets demanding immediate action against police officers and the employer of Bindu, a Dalit (formerly known as 'untouchables') domestic worker who was illegally detained on a false charge of stealing a gold necklace from her employer’s home. (Photo: SEWA) Click here to see more union news from India.
20250609 : On 7 June unions marched through London (UK) to demand an end to government austerity policies. Their demands are: welfare not warfare; ensuring no cuts to vital benefits and investing in health, education and all other public services. (Photo: Bristol TUC) Click here to see more union news from the UK.
20250616 : On 6 June 9,500 Iberdrola employees across Spain walked off their jobs in first-ever strike in 126 years. Workers affiliated with UGT, CCOO and ELA participated. Iberdrola, the second-largest company on the Spanish stock market, had record profits of €5.6 billion in 2024, while rejecting all proposals from the unions. (Photo: ELA) Click here to see more union news from Spain.
20250623 : President Mulino of Panama has declared a state of emergency in the country's banana-producing region in an effort to suppress protest by plantation workers after 'reforms' of labour rights including an attack on workers' pensions. Police have rounded-up hundreds of members of SITRAIBANA. When he was Minister of Labour Mulino oversaw a prior attack on the union which resulted in the deaths of 2 workers, life-changing injuries for 78 and serious gunshot wounds for over 700. (Photo: UITA) Click here to see more union news from Panama.
20250630 : After decades of organizing, in June Canadian workers celebrated a ban on scabs in federally regulated sectors. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to see more union news from Canada.
20250707 : In June, in a historic step for the defence of labour rights in the early childhood sector and as a result of training provided by PSI with the National Trade Union School (ENS), the workers at the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) formed a union, the "Redhogares Infantiles".(Photo: PSI) Click here to see more union news from Colombia.
20250714 : More than 250 million workers across various states and sectors, including construction, forestry, coal mining, banking, insurance, postal services, and public transport—joined a nationwide general strike in India on 9 July to oppose central government policies that were labelled as "anti-worker, anti-farmer, and pro-corporate." (Photo: BWI) Click here to see more union news from India.
20250721 : Beverage workers union activists in El Salvador, members of Sitraconsta, met last week and among other things sent their solidarity to the workers of Panama in their struggle against attacks on their pensions and labour rights. (Photo: Rel Uita) Click here to see more union news from El Salvador.
20250728 : Guatemala's Union of Workers and Education Workers (STEG) mobilized more than two months ago in support of its members' wage demands and improvements in working conditions. To date the government has refused to meet with the union. (Photo: Rel Uita) Click here to see more union news from Guatemala.
20250804 : A delegation from the Building Workers International (BWI), the global union federation for construction, wood and related unions, recently visited Panama to help document the ongoing attacks on labour rights there and to show their solidarity with BWI's affiliate, construction workers union SUNTRACS. (Photo: BWI) Click here to see more union news from Panama.
20250811 : Last week health care workers unions, including the National Federation of Barangay Health Workers, the Unified Filipino Service Workers and the Ugnayang Nagkakaisang Manggagawa, protested the country's President's silence on the subject of health care in his recent State of the Nation address. (Photo: UNI) Click here to see more union news from the Philippines.
20250818 : 12 hours into a walkout over unpaid work at Air Canada the Canadian government ordered striking flight attendants to return to work. Mark Hancock, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, tore up the order and spoke to a huge crowd of CUPE members saying “I’m expected to direct you to go back to work. I’m expected to end this strike. That ain’t happening. This strike will end when we get a Collective Agreement that works for our members.” (Photo: Unifor) Click here to see more union news from Canada.
20250825 : Carol Ng Man-yee, former chairperson of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and the British Airways Hong Kong Cabin Crew Association, was released from prison on 28 July after serving four years and five months. Like other defendants from the 2020 pro-democracy primary election case, she was quietly arrested and taken away in a private vehicle early in the morning. (Photo: HKLRM) Click here to see more union news from Hong Kong.
20250901 : On 27 August members of the Federação Nacional dos Jornalistas (FENAJ) in Sao Paulo Brazil demonstrated their solidarity with Palestinian journalists after a targetted attack in Gaza that killed several members of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. Also last week, Unifor, a Canadian union representing media workers awarded the PJS its Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award. Around the world media workers at 200 outlets took part in a protest against the attack. (Photo: CUT) Click here to see more union news from Palestine.
20250908 : Their pensions cut in a period of high inflation, pensioners in Argentina continue to protest the anti-worker policies of the far-right Milei regime. (Photo: UITA) Click here to see more union news from Argentina.
20250915 : As a result of the sustained and creative advocacy efforts led by the Domestic Services Workers Union (DSWU) in Ghana, domestic workers there will soon have access to social protections, a crucial first step towards formalization and decent work for Ghanaian domestic workers. (Photo: IDWF) Click here to see more union news from Ghana.
20250922 : On 18 September French unions organized a national general strike and protest over the Macron regime's commitment to neoliberal austerity budgeting, cuts to public services and its refusal to raise taxes on the rich and corporations. In Paris 500,000 joined a protest march. Similar marches were held across the country. (Photo: FO) Click here to see more union news from France.
LabourStart's Photo of the Day Archive - 2025
20250106 : Starbucks workers in the USA, members of IUF-affiliate Workers United/SEIU, came out on strike on Friday, December 20 after pay negotiations with the company stalled. The strike escalated in the following days affecting three of Starbucks’ most important markets, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago. (Photo: IUF) Click here to see more labour news from the USA.
20250113 : On 24 December Remzi Çalışkan, President of Genel-İş and Vice-President of DİSK, was released from prison in Turkey. He had been unlawfully detained since 26 November following dawn raids targeting trade unionists, journalists, and human rights defenders. He was released after a global campaign by PSI, EPSU and his own union. Kemal Göksoy, President of the Mersin Branch of Genel-İş, remains in prison, along with other detained trade unionists. (Photo: EPSU) Click here to see more labour news from Turkey.
20250120 : After a sexual harassment complaint was lodged against him a manager at a Seara JBS facility in Brazil then attacked and badly injured union official Maurício Francisco da Silva. In response the Union of Workers of the Food Industry and Region (SINTIACR) has been mounting daily protests at the company's HQ. (Photo: Rel UITA ) Click here to see more labour news from Brazil.
20250127 : Unions and progressive organizations in Iceland have declared 2025 to be The Year of Women. The labour movement, led by ASI, the Icelandic Confederation of Labour, is taking the lead on employment issues and raising awareness of workplace inequality with, among other things, marches like this one on 20 January. (Photo: ASI) Click here to see more labour news from Iceland.
2025016. :
20250203 : The Union of Civil Servants in Mozambique (SINAFP), a PSI member union, declared a national strike on 29 January. The workers' demands go beyond just compensation. A key issue has been the government's refusal to establish proper channels for social dialogue, with major decisions affecting workers and services being announced through media conferences without any prior consultation with staff or their representatives. (Photo: PSI) Click here to see more labour news from Mozambique.
20250210 : Last month domestic workers' unions in 80 countries sent delegates to the 5th global conference of the International Domestic Workers Federation in San Diego USA. (Photo: IDWF) Click here to see more labour news about women workers.
20250217 : Food workers unions in Milei-era Argentina are campaigning for food security. A million Argentinian children go to bed without having had any milk during the day while millions of litres of milk are destroyed and diary workers are laid-off. As a result of government policies, 58% of the population have reduced their food intake and 28% are experiencing severe food insecurity. (Photo: Rel UITA) Click here to see more labour news from Argentina.
20250224 : Community health worker (CHW) union leaders from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have launched a new initiative to strengthen the CHW movement across South Asia at a meeting hosted by Government Midwifery Service Association (GMSA), Sri Lanka’s largest women’s healthcare union, in Colombo. Backed by UNI Global Union and the SAGE Fund, the project aims to help CHWs improve working conditions, formalize employment and secure their rights as workers. (Photo: UNI) Click here to see more labour news from across Asia.
20250303 : Last Friday hundreds of thousands of Greek workers joined in a general strike organized by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE). The strike marked the second anniversary of the Tempi rail disaster which killed 57 people as a concequence of 'austerity' policies which has left Greek infrastructure in desperate need of renewal. On Thursday it was revealed that the causes of the disaster have not been addressed. (Photo: S. Pennella) Click here to see more labour news from Greece.
20250310 : As they do every year, garment workers unions in Bangladesh were out in front during celebrations marking International Women's Day. A large majority of garment workers there are women. (Photo: NGWF) Click here to see more news of union actions on IWD.
20250317 : On 12 March, thousands of Argentinian pensioners peacefully gathered to protest cuts to pensions and public services under the Milei regime. Security forces responded brutally. The far-right government continues to legally and violently repress all forms of dissent. (Photo: CTA-A) Click here to see more union news from Argentina.
20250324 : Journalists remain at risk around the world, and not just in war zones like Gaza. And impunity for their murderers remains something unions struggle to deal with. Ahmed Suale was a Ghanaian investigative journalist who was shot dead by unidentified individuals riding a motorbike in Accra in January 2019. His union, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has worked tirelessly to keep the police investigation active and last week celebrated when a suspect was finally charged with his murder. (Photo: GJA/My Joy) Click here to see more union news from Ghana.
20250331 : The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is organizing a one-day general strike each week until President Yoon Suk Yeol is removed from office. A far-right politician, Yoon faces impeachment for having attempted to impose martial law on South Korea. (Photo: KCTU) Click here to see more union news from South Korea.
20250407 : On 1 April all the major union confederations in France held a national day of action to protest austerity policies in the socal and healthcare sectors. The coalition is demanding the reversal of 30 years of neoliberal social policy, wage increases and the filling of thousands of positions that have been left vacant for years due to budget cuts. (Photo: FO) Click here to see more union news from France.
20250414 : In Tunisia, French call centre operator Armatis has blocked the newly-elected leadership of the workplace union committee, affiliated with Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) from entering their workplace, effectively sacking them. Call centre workers global union federation UNI is assisting the UGTT. (Photo: Anon/UNI) Click here to see more union news from Tunisia.
20250421 : Last week leaders of the European Public Service Union held an anti-fascist action in Brussels, during an Executive Committee meeting, on the 80th year of the defeat of fascism. Delegates visited and cleaned the memorial stone (Stolperstein) of Richard Lipper, a young Belgian resistance fighter executed by the Nazis in 1944. Francoise Geng, EPSU President spoke at the ceremony: "Richard Lipper stood against fascism with courage and conviction. Today, as trade unionists, we remember that resistance is not just history – it's a responsibility. Our message is simple: no to fascism, not then, not now."(Photo: EPSU) Click here to see more union news from Belgium.
20250428 : Unions representing a broad spectrum of workers in all sectors have joined in the struggle to resist the 'chainsaw reforms' of the far-right Milei regime in Argentina. These are actors, members of Asociación Argentina de Actores y Actrices, at a protest of 25 April. (Photo: AAAA) Click here to see more union news from Argentina.
20250505 : The Nepal Teachers Federation recently intensified its campaign to push the Nepali government into implementing the long-delayed School Education Act. (Photo: NTF) Click here to see more union news from Nepal.
20250512 : The right-wing government of New Zealand has introduced legislation to roll back pay equity rights for women. Unions are calling it a 'declaration of war on women workers'. Protesters, like these healthcare workers, were marching in towns across the country all of last week. (Photo: MUNZ) Click here to see more union news from New Zealand.
20250519 : On May Day in Baghdad the Preparatory Committee of the General Union of Platform Workers was officially formed within the Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions (FITU). (Photo: FITU) Click here to see more union news from Iraq.
20250526 : Thousands of people marched in Panama on Friday to protest the arrest of two trade-union leaders who have spearheaded demonstrations against the right-wing government of President José Raúl Mulino. Another has requested asylum in the Bolivian embassy. The 3 were leading mass protests against a plan to privatise social security and an agreement to allow US troops to be stationed along the Panama Canal. (Photo: UITA) Click here to see more union news from Panama.
20250602 : Members of SEWA (the Self-Employed Women's Association) in New Delhi took to the streets demanding immediate action against police officers and the employer of Bindu, a Dalit (formerly known as 'untouchables') domestic worker who was illegally detained on a false charge of stealing a gold necklace from her employer’s home. (Photo: SEWA) Click here to see more union news from India.
20250609 : On 7 June unions marched through London (UK) to demand an end to government austerity policies. Their demands are: welfare not warfare; ensuring no cuts to vital benefits and investing in health, education and all other public services. (Photo: Bristol TUC) Click here to see more union news from the UK.
20250616 : On 6 June 9,500 Iberdrola employees across Spain walked off their jobs in first-ever strike in 126 years. Workers affiliated with UGT, CCOO and ELA participated. Iberdrola, the second-largest company on the Spanish stock market, had record profits of €5.6 billion in 2024, while rejecting all proposals from the unions. (Photo: ELA) Click here to see more union news from Spain.
20250623 : President Mulino of Panama has declared a state of emergency in the country's banana-producing region in an effort to suppress protest by plantation workers after 'reforms' of labour rights including an attack on workers' pensions. Police have rounded-up hundreds of members of SITRAIBANA. When he was Minister of Labour Mulino oversaw a prior attack on the union which resulted in the deaths of 2 workers, life-changing injuries for 78 and serious gunshot wounds for over 700. (Photo: UITA) Click here to see more union news from Panama.
20250630 : After decades of organizing, in June Canadian workers celebrated a ban on scabs in federally regulated sectors. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to see more union news from Canada.
20250707 : In June, in a historic step for the defence of labour rights in the early childhood sector and as a result of training provided by PSI with the National Trade Union School (ENS), the workers at the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) formed a union, the "Redhogares Infantiles".(Photo: PSI) Click here to see more union news from Colombia.
20250714 : More than 250 million workers across various states and sectors, including construction, forestry, coal mining, banking, insurance, postal services, and public transport—joined a nationwide general strike in India on 9 July to oppose central government policies that were labelled as "anti-worker, anti-farmer, and pro-corporate." (Photo: BWI) Click here to see more union news from India.
20250721 : Beverage workers union activists in El Salvador, members of Sitraconsta, met last week and among other things sent their solidarity to the workers of Panama in their struggle against attacks on their pensions and labour rights. (Photo: Rel Uita) Click here to see more union news from El Salvador.
20250728 : Guatemala's Union of Workers and Education Workers (STEG) mobilized more than two months ago in support of its members' wage demands and improvements in working conditions. To date the government has refused to meet with the union. (Photo: Rel Uita) Click here to see more union news from Guatemala.
20250804 : A delegation from the Building Workers International (BWI), the global union federation for construction, wood and related unions, recently visited Panama to help document the ongoing attacks on labour rights there and to show their solidarity with BWI's affiliate, construction workers union SUNTRACS. (Photo: BWI) Click here to see more union news from Panama.
20250811 : Last week health care workers unions, including the National Federation of Barangay Health Workers, the Unified Filipino Service Workers and the Ugnayang Nagkakaisang Manggagawa, protested the country's President's silence on the subject of health care in his recent State of the Nation address. (Photo: UNI) Click here to see more union news from the Philippines.
20250818 : 12 hours into a walkout over unpaid work at Air Canada the Canadian government ordered striking flight attendants to return to work. Mark Hancock, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, tore up the order and spoke to a huge crowd of CUPE members saying “I’m expected to direct you to go back to work. I’m expected to end this strike. That ain’t happening. This strike will end when we get a Collective Agreement that works for our members.” (Photo: Unifor) Click here to see more union news from Canada.
20250825 : Carol Ng Man-yee, former chairperson of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and the British Airways Hong Kong Cabin Crew Association, was released from prison on 28 July after serving four years and five months. Like other defendants from the 2020 pro-democracy primary election case, she was quietly arrested and taken away in a private vehicle early in the morning. (Photo: HKLRM) Click here to see more union news from Hong Kong.
20250901 : On 27 August members of the Federação Nacional dos Jornalistas (FENAJ) in Sao Paulo Brazil demonstrated their solidarity with Palestinian journalists after a targetted attack in Gaza that killed several members of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. Also last week, Unifor, a Canadian union representing media workers awarded the PJS its Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award. Around the world media workers at 200 outlets took part in a protest against the attack. (Photo: CUT) Click here to see more union news from Palestine.
20250908 : Their pensions cut in a period of high inflation, pensioners in Argentina continue to protest the anti-worker policies of the far-right Milei regime. (Photo: UITA) Click here to see more union news from Argentina.
20250915 : As a result of the sustained and creative advocacy efforts led by the Domestic Services Workers Union (DSWU) in Ghana, domestic workers there will soon have access to social protections, a crucial first step towards formalization and decent work for Ghanaian domestic workers. (Photo: IDWF) Click here to see more union news from Ghana.
20250922 : On 18 September French unions organized a national general strike and protest over the Macron regime's commitment to neoliberal austerity budgeting, cuts to public services and its refusal to raise taxes on the rich and corporations. In Paris 500,000 joined a protest march. Similar marches were held across the country. (Photo: FO) Click here to see more union news from France.