Domestic workers are organizing globally to challenge their public invisibility and slave-like working conditions, and have now transformed their international network IDWN into a worldwide federation. The transformation was decided by representatives of 48 domestic workers' organizations from 42 countries at the founding congress of the International Domestic Workers' Federation (IDWF) held in Montevideo, Uruguay October 26-28

Italian restaurant and catering workers went on strike on October 31 to protest the employer associations' plans to withdraw from the national collective agreement in the tourism industry, which includes restaurants and catering. Thousands of workers joined demonstrations in Rome and Milan and then held a picket line in front of the employer associations' headquarters.

The New York City Hotel Trades Council has reached an agreement that brings enormous gains for the 1,400 employees of the Resorts World New York casino. The contract provides for an immediate near-doubling of wages, with substantial increases in the second and third years. Wages in 2016 will be nearly triple what the workers were earning before they had a union.

Mondelez has refused a US government offer of mediation to resolve disputes with the IUF over anti-union practices in Egypt and Tunisia which the IUF claims violate the OECD’s Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.

Transnational cereal maker Kellogg's has locked out 220 members of the IUF-affiliated BCTGM since October 22 at its factory in Memphis, Tennessee to force union acceptance of a plan to radically increase the use of casual workers.

Mondelez can't seem to catch abusive human rights practices in its own operations but is preparing to photograph shoppers on their way to the checkout counter  to deliver targeted advertising to stimulate impulse buying. "Smart shelf" technology will stream massive quantities of data back to Mondelez headquarters but the company is not equipped to gather and evaluate relevant information based on international human rights standards.

The past decade, over which private equity buyouts went from mega-boom to bust, brought about a dramatic change in the ownership structure of the hospitality industry.

Where trade union rights are concerned, the election of Hassan Rouhani as President of Iran has brought no changes.

The food workers union of the Histadrut has negotiated a new collective agreement for some 1,000 workers in Israel's flour milling industry. The agreement provides for a wage increase of NIS 186 (approximately US$53), which, for workers earning the minimum wage, amounts to an almost 5% increase in monthly wages.

In March 2013 we reported the launch of a research project on all-Inclusive holidays (click here for more) to assess the impact of this model on local economies and employees' working conditions. While the research in still on-going, workers are experiencing the worst part of it: in El Salvador recently a receptionist who wanted to create a union with co-workers from different hotels has been intimidated and dismissed.

A report compiled by New Zealand’s Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) found that at least 30% of New Zealand’s workers – over 635,000 people – are in insecure work. 95,000 workers have no usual work time, 61,000 workers have no written employment agreement, 573,000 workers earn less than the living wage and almost a quarter of a million Kiwi workers say they have experienced discrimination, harassment or bullying at work.

As broad opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement grows (read more about the TPPA here) IUF affiliates representing dairy workers in Australia, New Zealand and North America have jointly voiced serious concerns about dangers posed by the pending trade deal.

Workers at Accor's Novotel Mississauga in Ontario, Canada are determined to have the collective agreement they thought would be theirs after the Ontario Labor Relations Board in September 2012 ordered Accor to immediately recognize UNITE HERE Local 75 and start contract negotiations.