School food service workers joined a second strike by precarious school workers on November 29 in a long-running fight for wage equality with regular workers and an end to discrimination in working conditions.

Following the spirited action by IUF affiliates at the New York headquarters of Turkish Airlines, unions in Germany and Canada have organized active public support for the reinstatement of the 305 union members fired in 2012 for exercising their right to strike.

The IUF and its members around the world mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela, whose unbending struggle for freedom inspired millions around the world as well as in his own South Africa. To celebrate his life and achievements, and the achievements of those who fought with him and in solidarity with South Africa’s liberation struggle, we remember Mandela as the great unifier, a role in which he was unmatched, but also as a great fighter, unbowed during 27 years of confinement. We recall the crucial importance of the struggle for independent trade unions in South Africa and their transformative role in the fight for the freedom of an entire nation, as well as the role of the international labour movement in giving support to that struggle over many years, a struggle which we made our own.

Workers held a rally in front of the SOTUBI-Mondelez factory in Ben Arous, just south of Tunis, on 5 December 2013.

Three of the five trade union leaders abusively dismissed by Mondelez in Egypt were in Switzerland during the week of 18 November for a series of solidarity events.

After months of uncertainty and escalating protest actions members of the IUF-affiliated FSPM finally secured an agreement with Bali Hyatt that guarantees jobs during and after the hotel’s closure for renovation.

Women members of the Pakistan Food Workers Federation organized a public show of support in Lahore on November 24 for the struggle for permanent jobs at the Mondelez Cadbury factory and have planned further public rallies by women workers. The Federation has pledged its full solidarity with the Mondelez workers and will step up its program of rolling national rallies in all big cities.

Pennsylvania Congressmen Brendan Boyle and Kevin Boyle have publicly called on Mondelez to meet with them together with workers and community representatives to discuss the future of the threatened Philadelphia biscuit factory. Workers at the factory were called to a surprise meeting on November 6 and essentially told to prepare for closure, with the loss of up to 375 jobs.

The iconic Empire State Building was the scene of a strong and vocal protest against Turkish Airlines rights abuses held in New York November 8. The action was in support of 305 Turkish Airlines workers dismissed in 2012 for exercising their right to strike.

The union at Mondelez Pakistan's Cadbury factory continues its mobilization in support of demands for collective bargaining negotiations on the status of the growing number of casual workers by holding two protests a week. Management adamantly refuses to address the abusive status of these workers, which it calls "outsiders", through negotiation and bargaining.

The branch union of the FGAT-UGTT at the Mondelez SOTUBI joint-venture biscuit factory in Tunis, reaffirmed their commitment to struggle for the rights of all Mondelez/SOTUBI workers at an extraordinary congress on October 27 convened at the request of the workers. Congress elected a 7-member leadership team which includes 4 members of the executive which was dissolved under management pressure in 2012 following the suspension of a workplace representative and the Assistant General Secretary and the dismissal of General Secretary Zied Naloufi.

An important recent study by the UK's Stirling University suggests that women working in particular industries run double or more the risk of developing breast cancer. In the IUF sectors, women working in agriculture, food packaging, canning, bars and the gaming industry, were identified as being at heightened risk.