International unions

Trade union struggles outside the UK

Qatar, the ILO and the unions

Six months ago, news broke that Belgian police had arrested the newly-elected general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) as part of the “Qatargate” scandal. The government of Qatar was accused of paying bribes to several members of the European Parliament — and to Luca Visentini, the ITUC leader, in exchange for softening criticism of the Gulf state’s record on labour rights. Visentini’s predecessor, Sharan Burrow, had increasingly expressed support for “reforms” carried out by the Qatari regime, though she was not implicated in the scandal. In the months that...

Tbilisi: Meeting at a time of crises

I’ve just come back from an international conference that could not have happened thirty years ago. And it’s a conference that might also prove impossible to hold in just a few short years. LabourStart’s Global Solidarity Conference on the theme of “trade union internationalism today” was held on the weekend before May Day in Tbilisi, Georgia. The vast majority of the nearly 300 participants came from countries which within living memory had no legal independent trade unions. The post-Soviet world was represented not only by a large number of Georgian trade unionists, but also by...

Iran strikers: “We are not slaves”

A strike wave is building in Iran. It began in the oil industry, and now includes workers in mines, power plants, and in chemical and steel companies is building in Iran. Workers are demanding large pay increases. Over 100,000 workers are reportedly involved, so far. The strike movement began on Saturday 22 April. Workers in more than 100 enterprises have joined the industrial action. Most of these workers are working on temporary contracts for sub-contractors. Permanent staff in the oil companies are a relatively privileged group and are wary of risking their jobs by striking. The Council for...

Nick Wright, Qatar and "mal-information"

The so-called Qatargate scandal, involving corruption and influence-buying by Qatar and Morocco in the European Parliament has led to the arrest of several MEPs, an NGO secretary general and a union bureaucrat on charges of corruption, money-laundering and “participation in a criminal organisation”. The Morning Star has carried two lengthy reports by Communist Party of Britain member Nick Wright (who, being based in Italy, seems to be the paper’s de facto Europe correspondent), going into often fascinating detail about the inner workings of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the group to...

French workers show how to fight

In 1995 the French working class defeated pension changes proposed by a right-wing government with a strong majority and a newly-elected right-wing president behind it. It was a wave of strikes greater than the French general strike of 1936, and excelled only by the bigger general strike of 1968. The victory led to some years of renewed buoyancy for the revolutionary socialist left in France. France’s pension schemes are not as generous as they seem at first sight, but they are better than Britain’s. They are set in law. The ruling class still wants to change the law to cheapen the cost. The...

Strikes multiply against pension changes

After a period of relative calm, French workers have renewed their fight against President Macron’s pension reforms at a higher level. Since January this year, French workers have been staging a series of major strikes and protests against pensions reforms being brought by President Macron and his Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. These changes would raise the minimum retirement age for most workers from 62 to 64 and increase the amount of time someone has to work in order to qualify for a pension. The protests began on 19 January with a day of strikes and demonstrations which brought over a...

The dark side of Ikea

As a company based in Sweden, which is home to some of the world’s most powerful unions, you would think that IKEA would be an employer that understood the importance of workers’ rights. And if you read what the company says about itself, it sounds wonderful. On their website, IKEA says that it takes into consideration “at a minimum” the following: “the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.” That...

New York nurses win

Seven thousand nurses in two major New York City hospitals struck in January for three days, and won significant improvements to their contracts. For many strikers the key issues related to unsafe workloads and low pay. The promised deal will provide nursing staff a 19% pay rise (spread over three years), and — in a bid to tackle chronic under-staffing of hospitals — the introduction of 170 new nursing jobs across the two sites and guaranteed patient staffing ratios. Their short, sharp action won the day, and is inspiring others. Earlier this month, 800 nurses nearby on Long Island voted 99%...

French unions call for ongoing strikes after 7 March

The Solidaires trade union confederation and sectors of the larger CGT confederation (France has eight “TUC”s) are calling for ongoing strikes after 7 March, the next-but-one day of action on pensions. The appeal is for “renewable” strikes, where strikers at a workplace meet each day to decide whether and how to continue. In 1995, a great wave of such strikes, by some measures even more widespread than the 1968 mass strike, stopped pension cuts proposed by the right-wing government of the time. President Macron is intent on raising the minimum age to get a full pension from 62 to 64 by 2030...

Online meeting, 16 February, 3pm: Earthquake relief and international workers' solidarity, with UID-DER, Turkey (Uluslararası Işçi Dayanışması Derneği, Association of International Workers Solidarity)

Thursday 16 February, 15:00-17:00

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89802934171?pwd=NEh5MzJzTWp0eWptSE9WaDA1NlhOdz09

Facebook event here.


Tens of thousands of people have been killed following a massive earthquake on the Turkey-Syria border. In the wake of this tragedy and unfolding...

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