IUF-affiliated Indian sugar workers demanding justice for murdered Philippines sugar activist Rolando Pango followed up solidarity actions on December 10 with more demonstrations at two sugar mills in the Indian state of Maharashtra on December 15. Hundreds of workers at two major cooperative sugar factories in the Ahmednagar district stopped work to demand that the killers be brought to justice.

Representatives from the Akbayan party in the Philippines House of Representatives have introduced a Congress Resolution  calling on the government to launch a formal investigation into trade union rights violations at the Citra Mina group of tuna companies, where workers are fighting for union recognition and the reinstatement of workers sacked last year after forming a union.

On International Migrants Day, December 18, the IUF and Amnesty International Korean organizations capped their two-month joint campaign with a declaration and joint press conference calling on the government to protect the right of migrant agricultural workers in the country to live and work in safe conditions.

India's new right wing government has lost no time in proving its 'business-friendly' credentials by attacking the world's biggest employment program, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a vital support for the country's rural poor. Unions have begun organizing the fight back.

Joint action by Belgian unions effectively shut production and services across the country on December 15 as unions continued their drive to roll back the government's austerity program. The same day, an IMF mission to Belgium expressed official support for the program, praising the extended retirement age and other measures but urging the government to "go still further" in cutting labour costs, public spending and social welfare programs.

Workers and small farmers must build collective bargaining power in the face of growing corporate control of agriculture or risk falling into debt and dependency. Organizing to build that power was the theme of the recent 'Beware of Contract Farming' training workshops for members of the IUF-affiliated Agriculture and Farmers Federation of Myanmar (AFFM-IUF).

IUF members at sugar cooperatives in Kolhapur, Maharashtra demonstrated on December 10 to condemn the murder of Rolando Pango, the Philippine labour activist assassinated on November 29 in Negros Occidental. Hundreds of workers joined the protest despite the busy crushing season.

Japan Tobacco plans to end manufacturing in Northern Ireland and Belgium and close production lines in Germany, leading to the elimination of some 1,100 jobs.

Thousands of hotel workers in dozens of cities around the world took part in the IUF  Global Week of Action December 3-10 to highlight the abusive, unacceptable working conditions of housekeeping staff and to demand a safe, secure working environment from a global industry which rests on their efforts. Hotel unions are determined to change the situation, and highlighted the urgent need for industry-wide change with a variety of actions over the course of the week, including workplace and public demonstrations, media events and educational activities.

The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) continues to push for legislation to establish collective bargaining rights for Hong Kong workers. There is currently no law or regulation which obliges Hong Kong employers to enter into collective bargaining. The HKCTU held a march and rally on December 7 to reiterate their demand for collective bargaining legislation and a 7% pay raise for Hong Kong workers, whose wages have remained stagnant over the past 15 years - boom years for the elite which dominates Hong Kong politics.

Supported by the IUF, the PepsiCo (Frito-Lays) Workers Action Committee continues to hold actions in defense of their members' rights. The Action Committee was formed last year in response to mass dismissals after workers formed a union at PepsiCo snack foods warehouses in West Bengal. Under pressure from an international campaign, workers were told they could return to their jobs if they renounced forever their right to form or join a union.