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20200109 : An estimated 250 million workers took part in the national general strike on 8 January against the neoliberal labour policies of the Indian government. The strike was organized by central unions across the political spectrum. (Photo: IndustriALL). Click here for more news from India.
20200113 : Migrant workers in Taiwan, most from the Philippines, have a long history of organizing against human rights abuses. And Taiwanese trade unionists have a long history of working in solidarity for migrant rights. (Photo: L. Wong). Click here for more news from Taiwan.
20200120 : Trade unions have been organizing in support of popular protests in Hong Kong. In turn workers have been joining unions in huge numbers since the protests began. (Photo: HKCTU). Click here for more news from Hong Kong.
20200127 : A lockout at a Canadian oil refinery has resulted in arrests and renewed unity in the Canadian labour movement. (Photo: Unifor). Click here for more news from Canada.
20200203 : The mass protests that saw the Chilean government agree to a constitutional reform process have also created the momentum needed for new and improved social services and benefits. Unions are leading the push for, among other things, an improved and public healthcare system and equality for women. (Photo: CTA-A). Click here for more news from Chile.
20200210 : "Environmentally and economically sustainable mineral economies in an era of climate change catastrophe" was the theme of the civil society-organized Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) last week in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: IndustriALL). Click here to go to the ITUC's Just Transition Centre's website.
20200217 : Trade unions are leading the defence of Brazilian social services in the face of attacks by the Bolsonaro regime. Here workers surround a office of INSS, the country's social benefits and pensions agency. The agency is being dismantled. (Photo: CUT. Click here to read more trade union news from Brazil.
20200224 : Last week in Colombia trade union leaders were the targets of assination attempts and unions helped organize a national general strike and protest in an effort to save the peace process in that country. (Photo: CUT). Click here to read more trade union news from Colombia.
20200302 : Portguese workers continue to face hardline employers as they make up for more than a decade of wage rollbacks and government austerity policies that undermine wages and social benefits and increase precarity. These metal workers are battling for job security and a wage increase of more than the .3% their employer is offering (Photo: FIEQUIMETAL). Click here to read more trade union news from Portugal.
20200309 : IWD, Santiago Chile. (Photo: CUT). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200310 : Australian dockers celebrate IWD. (Photo: MUA). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200311 : Women workers in Toronto Canada celebrate IWD. (Photo: rabble). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200312 : IWD in Barrancabermeja, Colombia. These women workers are fighting to have their employer recognize their union. (Photo: AIL). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200315 : Qatar, the very first-ever union-organized IWD. (Photo: BWI). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200323 : Around the world people are spontaneously showing their appreciation for retail food workers, cleaners, postal workers, healthcare workers and others who are remaining at work to provide essential services while much of the rest of the world goes into isolation. This roadside sign is in the small Canadian town of Truro, Nova Scotia. (Photo: Our Times). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
20200330 : deemed 'essential' in most countries, jornalists like these masked Uruguayans, remain at work during the COVID-19 crisis. (Photo: PIT-CNT). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
20200406 : When the Indian government declared a 'lockdown' in response to the COVID-19 crisis millions of workers were left without an income and left large towns and cities to return to their family homes. Most are forced to walk hundreds or thousands of kilometres as public transport has come to a stop. Once 'home' they have no income, no food and no other support as the crisis continues. (Photo: CITU). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
20200420 : Chilean trade union leader Barbara Figueora has been awarded the prestigious Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights, in recognition of her commitment as the leader of CUT Chile in fighting for social justice. (Photo: ITUC). Click here to read more about this remarkable trade unionist..
20200427 : With 85% of Hong Kong workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the HK Confederation of Trade Unions is demanding an emergency economic support programme. (Photo: HKTUC). Click here to read more labour news from Hong Kong..
20200501 : Early the morning of May Day Istanbul police arrested the entire leadership of DISK and tore down May Day decorations on the union's offices, just the latest in a long series of attempts to stop May Day celebrations in Turkey. (Photo: Anon.). Click here to read more labour news from Turkey..
20200504 : Graffiti like this in Toronto Canada is appearing all around the world as the COVID-19 crisis highlights gross income inequalities. (Photo: A. Healy). Click here to read more COVID-19-related labour news..
20200511 : In big ways and small unions have adapted to the COVID-19 crisis, sometimes by providing new services to their members. In Argentina, the Central de los Trabajadores Argentinos distributes food packages from its headquarters in Buenos Aires. (Photo: CTA). Click here to read more labour news from Argentina.
20200518 : CCOO, UGT, CNT and CGT all called for a warning strike last week at a facility providing parts to Nissan's huge Barcelona car factory in an effort to force the company to commit to continuing production there. The unions believe that Nissan is planning on closing the plant under cover of the pandemic. Picket lines in the era of COVID-19 can be lonely but in this case as the strike had 100% support they were almost unnecessary (Photo: [email protected]). Click here to read more labour news from Spain.
20200525 : On 22 May millions of Indian workers, organized by most of the country's union centres, struck, protested, marched and started hunger strikes against the gutting of India's labour laws under cover of COVID-19. (Photo: CITU). Click here to read more labour news from India.
20200601 : Around the world, air transport workers have been hit hard by layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korean aviation workers and supporters held a 'bicycle march' this week to safely demand income supports for workers laid-off by the country's airlines. (Photo: KCTU) Click here to read more labour news from South Korea.
20200608 : Garment union activist Soy Sros was released from prison in Cambodia after a LabourStart campaign. She was arrested after a Facebook post criticizing an employer for its COVID-19 response. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to read more labour news from Cambodia.
20200615 : The lack of pandemic action by the Bolsanaro regime in Brazil is intensifying the trade union-led organizing for the president's removal from office. Marches like this one last week are becoming both common and larger and larger. (Photo: CTB) Click here to read more labour news from Brazil.
20200622 : Around the world workers are adapting to the pandemic and their unions are returning to 'normal' activities, including strikes like this by by CUT members in Chile. (Photo: CUT) Click here to read more labour news from Chile.
20200629 : Despite the pandemic unions around the world are continuing the push for ratification of Convention 190 (violence and harassment at work). African union activists like those pictured here, have been especially active. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to read more labour news from Africa.
20200706 : Migrant workers from Nepal can be found across the Middle East and Asia, many of them stranded and without an income since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has a longstanding commitment to organizing migrant workers. In partnership with the Malaysia Trades Union Congress GEFONT is distributing emergency food supplies to Nepalese workers in Malaysia. Similar programmes are in operation elsewhere. (Photo: GEFONT) Click here to read more labour news from Nepal.
20200713 : Unions have been both targets of the current Philippines government and leaders in the stuggle against the repression of free speech and of dissent. A favourite tactic of the regime is to label the opposition as 'terrorist'. Trade unions continue to protest new 'anti-terror' laws which will further restrict legitmate dissent. (Photo: SENTRO) Click here to read more labour news from the Philippines.
20200720 : The pandemic has meant that even simple union actions have a new look. Here CTA-A members march, 2 metres apart, in a large protest over union-busting attacks by the governor of an Argentine province. (Photo: CTA-A) Click here to read more labour news from Argentina.
20200727 : As the pandemic comes under control in some countries, workers face the rollback of 'pandemic bonuses' intended to keep 'essential' workers on the job. Others, like healthcare workers in the Canadian province of Ontario, are being subjected to rollbacks of their fundamental union rights under cover of the COVID-19 crisis. (Photo: K. Kwok) Click here to read more COVID-19 labour news from around the world.
20200803 : On 23 July Costa Rican trade unions and their allies organized a huge vehicle parade and rally to protest the neoliberal policies of the new government. In concert with the OECD, the World Bank and the IMF, the government under cover of COVID-19 is attacking workers rights and underming Costa Rican democracy. (Photo: ANDE) Click here to read more labour news from Costa Rica.
20200810 : Indian unions declared 9 August as 'Save India Day' and organized strikes and protests across the country in reaction to government policies including the COVID-19 crisis. The date chosen for this protest has symbolic value. On the same date in 1942, a mass civil disobedience movement - the Quit India movement - was launched, demanding the end to colonial rule. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to read more labour news from India.
20200817 : Independent trade unions and workers who are defecting from the official, state-aligned 'unions', like these Minsk tractor factory workers who struck on Thursday, are playing an important role in the protests in Belarus. (Photo: Anon) Click here to read more labour news from Belarus.
20200824 : Hospitality workers around the world, like these CGTP members in Portugal, have been amongst the hardest-hit by the pandemic crisis. (Photo: CGTP) Click here to read more COVID-19-related union news.
20200831 : Thanks to the work of the International Transport Workers Federation and its affiliates, the Kenyan port of Mombassa recently joined the list of crew change hubs. The hubs allow seafarers, many who have not been able to leave their ships for months because of pandemic restrictions, to sign-off their ships and head for their homes. (Photo: ITF) Click here to read more COVID-19-related union news.
20200907 : Uruguay's central labour body, the PIT-CNT, is organizing to fight the country's neoliberal government as it moves to privatize the country's education system. Rallies like this one last week are growing and becoming almost weekly events. (Photo: PIT-CNT) Click here to read more union news from Uruguay.
20200914 : A court decision last week means that Uber Eats drivers are considered employees of the platform. This victory comes after a long campaign by Unia, the largest trade union in Switzerland. (Photo: Unia)) Click here to read more union news from Switzerland.
20200921 : Brazilian 'petroleiros' (oil workers) won a victory last week when a court found that Petrobras, the national oil company, could not be privatized by the Bolsanero regime without the approval of the national Congress. (Photo: CUT)) Click here to read more union news from Brazil.
20200928 : Navid Afkari was an Iranian wrestler who was, despite the best efforts of the World Players Association and UNI Global Union, executed this month after he confessed to a crime while being tortured. (Photo: Anon.) Click here to read more about his case.
20201005 : Under cover of the pandemic the Indonesian government has introduced an omnibus bill which will drastically undercut labour and other rights. This in a country where COVID-19 has already been used to reduce wages by as much as 95%. Forestry union SERBUK has alllied with other unions and with farmers in the fight to stop the bill from becoming law. The trade unions have called for a national general strike 6-8 October. (Photo: BWI) Click here to read more labour news from Indonesia.
20201013 : Labour Against the Arms Trade is a coalition of Canadian unions and workers that seeks an end to Canada's significant arms exports and a just trasnsition for the workers employed by that country's weapons manufacturers. (Photo: LAAT) Click here to read more labour news from Canada.
20201019 : The first ever picket in Mongolia’s energy sector gathered more than 20 workers at the state-owned Thermal Power Plant 2 SSH Co. (TPP2) on 12 October, with protestors raising their voices over violence against women union leaders and rampant nepotism in the company. (Photo: LAAT) Click here to read more labour news from Mongolia.
2020615. :
LabourStart's Photo of the Day Archive - 2020
20200109 : An estimated 250 million workers took part in the national general strike on 8 January against the neoliberal labour policies of the Indian government. The strike was organized by central unions across the political spectrum. (Photo: IndustriALL). Click here for more news from India.
20200113 : Migrant workers in Taiwan, most from the Philippines, have a long history of organizing against human rights abuses. And Taiwanese trade unionists have a long history of working in solidarity for migrant rights. (Photo: L. Wong). Click here for more news from Taiwan.
20200120 : Trade unions have been organizing in support of popular protests in Hong Kong. In turn workers have been joining unions in huge numbers since the protests began. (Photo: HKCTU). Click here for more news from Hong Kong.
20200127 : A lockout at a Canadian oil refinery has resulted in arrests and renewed unity in the Canadian labour movement. (Photo: Unifor). Click here for more news from Canada.
20200203 : The mass protests that saw the Chilean government agree to a constitutional reform process have also created the momentum needed for new and improved social services and benefits. Unions are leading the push for, among other things, an improved and public healthcare system and equality for women. (Photo: CTA-A). Click here for more news from Chile.
20200210 : "Environmentally and economically sustainable mineral economies in an era of climate change catastrophe" was the theme of the civil society-organized Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) last week in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: IndustriALL). Click here to go to the ITUC's Just Transition Centre's website.
20200217 : Trade unions are leading the defence of Brazilian social services in the face of attacks by the Bolsonaro regime. Here workers surround a office of INSS, the country's social benefits and pensions agency. The agency is being dismantled. (Photo: CUT. Click here to read more trade union news from Brazil.
20200224 : Last week in Colombia trade union leaders were the targets of assination attempts and unions helped organize a national general strike and protest in an effort to save the peace process in that country. (Photo: CUT). Click here to read more trade union news from Colombia.
20200302 : Portguese workers continue to face hardline employers as they make up for more than a decade of wage rollbacks and government austerity policies that undermine wages and social benefits and increase precarity. These metal workers are battling for job security and a wage increase of more than the .3% their employer is offering (Photo: FIEQUIMETAL). Click here to read more trade union news from Portugal.
20200309 : IWD, Santiago Chile. (Photo: CUT). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200310 : Australian dockers celebrate IWD. (Photo: MUA). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200311 : Women workers in Toronto Canada celebrate IWD. (Photo: rabble). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200312 : IWD in Barrancabermeja, Colombia. These women workers are fighting to have their employer recognize their union. (Photo: AIL). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200315 : Qatar, the very first-ever union-organized IWD. (Photo: BWI). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union IWD events around the world.
20200323 : Around the world people are spontaneously showing their appreciation for retail food workers, cleaners, postal workers, healthcare workers and others who are remaining at work to provide essential services while much of the rest of the world goes into isolation. This roadside sign is in the small Canadian town of Truro, Nova Scotia. (Photo: Our Times). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
20200330 : deemed 'essential' in most countries, jornalists like these masked Uruguayans, remain at work during the COVID-19 crisis. (Photo: PIT-CNT). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
20200406 : When the Indian government declared a 'lockdown' in response to the COVID-19 crisis millions of workers were left without an income and left large towns and cities to return to their family homes. Most are forced to walk hundreds or thousands of kilometres as public transport has come to a stop. Once 'home' they have no income, no food and no other support as the crisis continues. (Photo: CITU). Click here to read more multi-lingual coverage of union responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
20200420 : Chilean trade union leader Barbara Figueora has been awarded the prestigious Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights, in recognition of her commitment as the leader of CUT Chile in fighting for social justice. (Photo: ITUC). Click here to read more about this remarkable trade unionist..
20200427 : With 85% of Hong Kong workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the HK Confederation of Trade Unions is demanding an emergency economic support programme. (Photo: HKTUC). Click here to read more labour news from Hong Kong..
20200501 : Early the morning of May Day Istanbul police arrested the entire leadership of DISK and tore down May Day decorations on the union's offices, just the latest in a long series of attempts to stop May Day celebrations in Turkey. (Photo: Anon.). Click here to read more labour news from Turkey..
20200504 : Graffiti like this in Toronto Canada is appearing all around the world as the COVID-19 crisis highlights gross income inequalities. (Photo: A. Healy). Click here to read more COVID-19-related labour news..
20200511 : In big ways and small unions have adapted to the COVID-19 crisis, sometimes by providing new services to their members. In Argentina, the Central de los Trabajadores Argentinos distributes food packages from its headquarters in Buenos Aires. (Photo: CTA). Click here to read more labour news from Argentina.
20200518 : CCOO, UGT, CNT and CGT all called for a warning strike last week at a facility providing parts to Nissan's huge Barcelona car factory in an effort to force the company to commit to continuing production there. The unions believe that Nissan is planning on closing the plant under cover of the pandemic. Picket lines in the era of COVID-19 can be lonely but in this case as the strike had 100% support they were almost unnecessary (Photo: [email protected]). Click here to read more labour news from Spain.
20200525 : On 22 May millions of Indian workers, organized by most of the country's union centres, struck, protested, marched and started hunger strikes against the gutting of India's labour laws under cover of COVID-19. (Photo: CITU). Click here to read more labour news from India.
20200601 : Around the world, air transport workers have been hit hard by layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korean aviation workers and supporters held a 'bicycle march' this week to safely demand income supports for workers laid-off by the country's airlines. (Photo: KCTU) Click here to read more labour news from South Korea.
20200608 : Garment union activist Soy Sros was released from prison in Cambodia after a LabourStart campaign. She was arrested after a Facebook post criticizing an employer for its COVID-19 response. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to read more labour news from Cambodia.
20200615 : The lack of pandemic action by the Bolsanaro regime in Brazil is intensifying the trade union-led organizing for the president's removal from office. Marches like this one last week are becoming both common and larger and larger. (Photo: CTB) Click here to read more labour news from Brazil.
20200622 : Around the world workers are adapting to the pandemic and their unions are returning to 'normal' activities, including strikes like this by by CUT members in Chile. (Photo: CUT) Click here to read more labour news from Chile.
20200629 : Despite the pandemic unions around the world are continuing the push for ratification of Convention 190 (violence and harassment at work). African union activists like those pictured here, have been especially active. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to read more labour news from Africa.
20200706 : Migrant workers from Nepal can be found across the Middle East and Asia, many of them stranded and without an income since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has a longstanding commitment to organizing migrant workers. In partnership with the Malaysia Trades Union Congress GEFONT is distributing emergency food supplies to Nepalese workers in Malaysia. Similar programmes are in operation elsewhere. (Photo: GEFONT) Click here to read more labour news from Nepal.
20200713 : Unions have been both targets of the current Philippines government and leaders in the stuggle against the repression of free speech and of dissent. A favourite tactic of the regime is to label the opposition as 'terrorist'. Trade unions continue to protest new 'anti-terror' laws which will further restrict legitmate dissent. (Photo: SENTRO) Click here to read more labour news from the Philippines.
20200720 : The pandemic has meant that even simple union actions have a new look. Here CTA-A members march, 2 metres apart, in a large protest over union-busting attacks by the governor of an Argentine province. (Photo: CTA-A) Click here to read more labour news from Argentina.
20200727 : As the pandemic comes under control in some countries, workers face the rollback of 'pandemic bonuses' intended to keep 'essential' workers on the job. Others, like healthcare workers in the Canadian province of Ontario, are being subjected to rollbacks of their fundamental union rights under cover of the COVID-19 crisis. (Photo: K. Kwok) Click here to read more COVID-19 labour news from around the world.
20200803 : On 23 July Costa Rican trade unions and their allies organized a huge vehicle parade and rally to protest the neoliberal policies of the new government. In concert with the OECD, the World Bank and the IMF, the government under cover of COVID-19 is attacking workers rights and underming Costa Rican democracy. (Photo: ANDE) Click here to read more labour news from Costa Rica.
20200810 : Indian unions declared 9 August as 'Save India Day' and organized strikes and protests across the country in reaction to government policies including the COVID-19 crisis. The date chosen for this protest has symbolic value. On the same date in 1942, a mass civil disobedience movement - the Quit India movement - was launched, demanding the end to colonial rule. (Photo: IndustriALL) Click here to read more labour news from India.
20200817 : Independent trade unions and workers who are defecting from the official, state-aligned 'unions', like these Minsk tractor factory workers who struck on Thursday, are playing an important role in the protests in Belarus. (Photo: Anon) Click here to read more labour news from Belarus.
20200824 : Hospitality workers around the world, like these CGTP members in Portugal, have been amongst the hardest-hit by the pandemic crisis. (Photo: CGTP) Click here to read more COVID-19-related union news.
20200831 : Thanks to the work of the International Transport Workers Federation and its affiliates, the Kenyan port of Mombassa recently joined the list of crew change hubs. The hubs allow seafarers, many who have not been able to leave their ships for months because of pandemic restrictions, to sign-off their ships and head for their homes. (Photo: ITF) Click here to read more COVID-19-related union news.
20200907 : Uruguay's central labour body, the PIT-CNT, is organizing to fight the country's neoliberal government as it moves to privatize the country's education system. Rallies like this one last week are growing and becoming almost weekly events. (Photo: PIT-CNT) Click here to read more union news from Uruguay.
20200914 : A court decision last week means that Uber Eats drivers are considered employees of the platform. This victory comes after a long campaign by Unia, the largest trade union in Switzerland. (Photo: Unia)) Click here to read more union news from Switzerland.
20200921 : Brazilian 'petroleiros' (oil workers) won a victory last week when a court found that Petrobras, the national oil company, could not be privatized by the Bolsanero regime without the approval of the national Congress. (Photo: CUT)) Click here to read more union news from Brazil.
20200928 : Navid Afkari was an Iranian wrestler who was, despite the best efforts of the World Players Association and UNI Global Union, executed this month after he confessed to a crime while being tortured. (Photo: Anon.) Click here to read more about his case.
20201005 : Under cover of the pandemic the Indonesian government has introduced an omnibus bill which will drastically undercut labour and other rights. This in a country where COVID-19 has already been used to reduce wages by as much as 95%. Forestry union SERBUK has alllied with other unions and with farmers in the fight to stop the bill from becoming law. The trade unions have called for a national general strike 6-8 October. (Photo: BWI) Click here to read more labour news from Indonesia.
20201013 : Labour Against the Arms Trade is a coalition of Canadian unions and workers that seeks an end to Canada's significant arms exports and a just trasnsition for the workers employed by that country's weapons manufacturers. (Photo: LAAT) Click here to read more labour news from Canada.
20201019 : The first ever picket in Mongolia’s energy sector gathered more than 20 workers at the state-owned Thermal Power Plant 2 SSH Co. (TPP2) on 12 October, with protestors raising their voices over violence against women union leaders and rampant nepotism in the company. (Photo: LAAT) Click here to read more labour news from Mongolia.
2020615. :