McDonald's workers at two restaurants in Southeast London, UK, walked off the job in support of their demands on September 4, IUF International Fast Food Workers' Day - the first ever strike by UK McDonald's workers. Organized by the IUF-affiliated Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), McDonald's workers are demanding GBP 10 (USD 13) hourly wage, an end to zero-hour contracts and union rights and recognition.

The 27th IUF Congress, held in Geneva from August 29 to September 1, 2017, was the largest, most representative, and most participatory Congress in our history. Of the 518 participants from around the world, 339 official delegates took part in the work of the Congress - an increase of nearly 29% over 2012. All regions and sectors were strongly represented in a Congress marked by a high degree of enthusiasm, militancy and solidarity.
 

The Citra Mina Workers Union, with the support of their national center SENTRO and the IUF, is stepping up its push for the government to implement a regulation enforcing the rights of workers on fishing vessels which it has promulgated but never implemented.

IUF members across the Asia/Pacific region held education seminars, mass meetings and rallies on International Youth Day (August 12) to highlight the issues facing young workers, including insecure jobs, unstable incomes, wage theft, unsafe work, and youth unemployment.

IUF affiliate FIRST union was astounded to discover that workers employed in kiwi fruit orchards in the north of New Zealand had been denied access to clean drinking water. When workers requested drinking water they were told they could drink the irrigation water which is unfit for human consumption, from a tap situated next to toilets not connected to a sanitation system.

The IUF-affiliated KCTWU OB Union Chapter and OB Labor Union organized at Oriental Brewery owned by AB InBev in Korea held a warning strike today to protest against the failure of the company to engage in good faith bargaining and company violations of the existing collective bargaining agreement.

Members of the IUF-affiliated National Union of Hotel, Bar and Restaurant Workers Peninsular Malaysia (NUHBRW) at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa have won back their collective agreement and restored collective bargaining rights after a 13-year fight.

On July 26, the Tunisian Parliament unanimously adopted a comprehensive law addressing all forms of violence against women, psychological and economic violence as well as physical.

Unite has signed a 5-year training agreement for apprenticeships at the UK operations of pladis, the transnational biscuit, chocolate and confectionery company owned by Turkish conglomerate Yildiz Holding.

The German Food and Allied Workers Union (NGG) has signed a national agreement with the fast food employers' association following months of nation-wide strikes and national and local protest actions in response to the employers' refusal to pay a living wage.

Against a background of rising xenophobia and closing borders in Europe, the Italian and Tunisian agrofood unions FLAI-CGIL and FGTA-UGTT are expanding their joint efforts to protect the rights of Tunisians working in Italy's agricultural and related sectors.

Members of UFCW Local 400 approved a first collective agreement on July 24 which brings significant gains for workers at Unilever's Lipton tea factory in Suffolk, Virginia. Member ratification of the agreement brings to fruition an organizing and bargaining effort which began last year.

When the government introduced a new minimum wage law in 2012, the hotel employers' association reacted by attempting to withdraw the distribution of service charge to workers and instead use service charge revenue to meet the new minimum wage requirements.

The government of Spain continues its attack on the right to strike, a fundamental human right. On June 17, two UGT union representatives were convicted by a Madrid criminal court of taking part in a peaceful informational picket in Madrid during the March 29, 2012 general strike.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) returned to leaflet customers of US Phillips Seafood restaurants in support of IUF members at the Phillips Seafood processing plant in Lampung, Indonesia where the union is fighting for permanent jobs for workers who have been employed up to 15 years without a permanent contract.