SENTRO, the trade union center affiliated to the IUF through its food, beverage and HRCT membership, has denounced new legislation which grants the government sweeping new police powers and vowed to continue fighting to defend democratic rights.

Collective protests and a work stoppage have restored respect for union rights at AB InBev's Cervecería Hondureña plant in San Pedro Sula, which also bottles products for Coca-Cola.

As Indonesia moved into lock-down in late March, Coca-Cola management secretly signed a new national collective agreement with the pro-management national union structure created decades ago during the Suharto military dictatorship to suppress workers' rights. This agreement effectively imposes new terms and conditions on more than 6,000 Coca-Cola workers without any of them being able to obtain a copy of the actual agreement and read it.

Sustained organizing and engagement by our Italian agro-food affiliate FLAI-CGIL has won landmark government action to protect the rights, health and safety of migrant workers in agriculture and other sectors.

Omid Asadbeigi, owner of the giant Haft Tapeh agro-industrial sugar complex in Shush, is currently on trial in Tehran along with twenty other defendants charged with currency smuggling, illegal transactions and bribery totaling some USD 1.4 billion, a huge sum of money in cash-strapped Iran. The dollars for Haft Tapeh were ostensibly to finance investment in new machinery for the country's leading sugar producer, but Haft Tapeh workers have not been paid their wages since mid-March.

An alarming increase in violence, discrimination and harassment against LGBTI people has accompanied the COVID-19 emergency, and the IUF and its members are committed to keeping workplaces safe for all workers and free of discrimination. At a virtual May 18 meeting of the IUF LGBTI Workers & Allies' Committee to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, guest speakers and union representatives reported an increase in violence and threats in countries including Brazil, Hungary, Turkey and the USA. 

The IUF and our regional European organization EFFAT-IUF have joined with the IUF-affiliated SEIU in the USA and Canada and the Brazilian national trade union center UGT to demand action to address sexual harassment at McDonald's restaurants around the world.

A group of UN human rights experts have called on governments "to ensure preventative and precautionary measures are in place to protect every worker" as restrictions are eased and work resumes. "Every worker is essential", they declare in a statement published on May 18, "no matter what category is applied to them by States or businesses. Every worker has the right to be protected from exposure to hazards in the workplace, including the coronavirus."

The North American meat industry, with its giant plants concentrating thousands of workers and intense line speeds, has generated particular scrutiny in the current public health emergency, but the susceptibility of meat and poultry processing facilities to the rapid spread of viral infection is a global phenomenon. Significant outbreaks have occurred at meatpacking facilities in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland and Spain, and continue to spread.

In connection with the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) on May 17, the IUF will hold a special virtual meeting of its LGBTI and allies committee to gather information about the impacts of COVID-19 and develop responses.

On May 4, police entered the Bagley biscuit factory in Arroyito, Córdoba and attempted to arrest workers and union representatives preparing a meeting on safety measures to deal with the coronavirus hazard. According to the union, Bagley has not been paying the obligatory bonuses and premiums and refuses to pay wages to workers legally entitled to stay home to care for their children during the pandemic.

In India, the attack on fundamental rights at the workplace is accelerating under cover of promoting economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 emergency.

Video evidence and media reports detailing gross abuses aboard a Chinese fishing vessel operating with migrant seafarers have again shone a spotlight on the violence and human trafficking proliferating in the global fishing industry.