Graphics and photos

On 20 May Silicon Valley janitors, mostly migrant workers from Central America and Mexico, struck against their employers. The workers make less than half of what is required to meet basic needs in the San Francisco Bay area (photo: D. Bacon)

Section 22 of the Mexican Teachers Union in Oaxaca started a 21 day series of strikes and occupations last Tuesday.

Oaxaca was the site of a protracted struggle led by teachers against the right wing government of Mexico and its neo-liberal policies in 2006.The main demands of the present actions are the freeing of political prisoners, an end to the political repression of the movement, the handing over of all Oaxacan schools which are presently controlled by the government to the people and new elections within SNTE which has a history of corruption.

10,000 textile workers from Ghazl el-Mahalla took to the streets demanding raising the national minimum (monthly) wage to LE1200. Mubarak's Central Security Forces were out in full gear, and tried to prevent the workers from marching, but the workers managed to storm the company gates, chanting:
"Down Down Hosni Mubarak!"… "You, who's ruling us from (the Presidential Place in) Abdeen, your rule is shit!"… "They (the elite) are eating chicken and pigeons, while we are sick of eating beans"… "Gamal (Mubarak), tell your dad, the Gharbeia province (where Mahalla is located) hates him!"

Independent union wins vote at Vaqueros Navarra
November 27, 2007

Mike Treen from Unite demands union rights for New Zealand's fast food workers

Unite campaigns for fast food workers to get organised in Supersize My Pay campaign

New Zealand union unite organises camapign to unionise fast food workers

In Uzbekistan, the second-largest cotton exporter in the world, it's an annual ritual. Come September, many schools are shut down for several months. Schoolchildren and their teachers are sent to the cotton fields to harvest what is dubbed "white gold."

In a series of disturbing incidents, following the imposition of emergency rule, Pakistan's military rulers are seeking to quell all democratic dissent by giving the army wide ranging powers to bring people before military courts and threatening the death penalty against activists. Liaquat Ali Shah, one of the leaders of the solidarity campaign for the Karachi Pearl Continental Hotel Trade Union, and a trade union leader in his own right at the State Bank of Pakistan, has been charged with treason, an offence which carries the death penalty.

Workers producing Levi's jeans, Free Trade Zone, Haiti

Workers producing Levi's jeans, Haiti.

Workers producing Levi jeans, free Trade Zone, Haiti

Strike rages on at world's tallest tower in Dubai
1 day ago
DUBAI (AFP) — Thousands of migrant builders in Dubai remained on strike on Wednesday, including many at the world's tallest tower, the emirate's construction giant Arabtec acknowledged.
"The situation has not changed and the workers are still on strike," Arabtec spokesman Ammar Tuqan told AFP when asked about the status of the firm's 34,000 staff.

Amnesty International is running an e-protest in support of the jailed Iranian trade union leader Mansour Ossanlu.

Workers at the Mahalla plant have won an important victory

From Clean Clothes

Graphic of cost breakdown on a $40 sweatshirt

The TUC organised a protest outside Zimbabwe's London embassy in solidarity with the ZCTU

APPO confronts the police, 2

APPO confronts the riot police, 1

Calderon/Oaxaca protest outside the Foreign Office, Whitehall, London, Sunday 28 February

Following the victory of the Kuk Dong workers' fight for an independent union, other maquila factory workers in central Mexico fought their own struggles for union recognition.
This factory, Matamoros, produced sportswear for companies including Puma. Workers were paid as little as the equivalent of £2.50 per day. In 2004 the workers fought back, getting massive support from unions and anti-sweatshop initiatives in north America, Australia and Europe. In the UK, No Sweat organised high-profile protests outside the Puma flagship store in central London.

The Kuk Dong factory in central Mexico was the scene of a major battle for independent trade unionism in 2001. The factory made garments for brands including Nike. The Kuk Dong workers fought off the police, a yellow union, a corrupt state and their own bosses to win a great victory.
In 2002 representatives from the workers' organisation in the factory and the local union organising centre (CAT) toured the UK - an initiative organised by No Sweat and the Central American Women's Network (CAWN).

US-British policy in Iraq (Guardian 2003). With thanks to Martin Rowson.

Batay Ouvryie (Workers' Struggle) union activists, Haiti. Batay Ouvryie's Yannick Ettiene visited the UK in 2004 for a solidarity tour organised by No Sweat and the Haiti Support Group.