The adoption of an International Convention (C190) and its Recommendation (R206) on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work represents a victory for workers worldwide, regardless of their sector of employment or status. The IUF has created a logo as well as a leaflet explaining C190 and R206 in layman's terms.

Hotel housekeepers around the world showed their determination to claim their rights in the course of the IUF 6th Global Week of Action held from October 21 to 27.

On November 13 in Medellín, Banacol, Colombia's largest banana producer, the IUF-affiliated agricultural workers union SINTRAINAGRO and IUF Latin America signed a Letter of Commitment pledging to employ an additional 400 women workers on Banacol's plantations by 2020, boosting women's participation in the company's employment from the current 10.7 percent to 19.90 percent.

For years, the union has called for action by management to curb violence and sexual harassment. Management has responded that customers may respond aggressively when they lose at gambling and nothing can be done; workers must apologize to guests who assault and abuse them, and get on with the job.

The IUF-affiliated Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation (BAFLF) and  National Women Farmers and Workers' Association (NWFA) jointly organized a public meeting at the National Press Club in Dhaka on 17 October 2019 to demand the government rescind its decision to authorize the commercial release of genetically-engineered 'Golden Rice'.

Talks on 'E-commerce' are currently being fast-tracked at the WTO as part of a cluster of 'new issues'. The misleadingly titled 'E-commerce' agenda is not about online shopping. It proposes to transform all productive activity, including work in agriculture, into a bundle of outsourced, offshored services over which workers, and governments, would have no control.

In May this year, the ILO undertook a high-level mission to Algeria in response to systematic violations of basic trade union rights by the government over many years, violations repeatedly highlighted by the ILO's governing bodies. Since then, attacks on the independent trade union movement have intensified as the authorities crack down on the democracy movement, in which the independent unions have played a prominent role.

Mass union protests continue outside Accor's 'chic, stylish and modern' 5-star Pullman Jakarta in Indonesia's capital city, where members of the IUF-affiliated independent national hotel and restaurant workers' federation FSPM rallied on October 9 to demand the reinstatement of their federation president, Husni Mubarok.

The UFCW, which represents 30,000 workers in US pork processing plants, has filed a federal lawsuit to block a new rule by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which eliminates all restrictions on pork processing line speeds while reducing the number of government food safety inspectors on those lines and transferring key inspection roles to the companies.

The IUF and the dairy transnational Arla Foods have concluded an agreement on measures to protect workers against sexual harassment in the workplace.

Child labourers come and go at Perfetti van Melle's (PvM) factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. They disappear during inspections, only to reappear once the inspections have ended. PvM continues to contract with the company supplying these children - Rahat Corporation.

Click here to learn more about how you can help stop child labour at PvM in Bangladesh.