Trade unionists in many countries continue to face imprisonment, dismissal and discrimination, while legal obstacles to trade union organizing and collective bargaining are being used to deny millions of workers their rights.
Once again Colombia was the deadliest country for trade unionists, with 99 murders, and hundreds of death threats. In the Middle East, where trade unions are totally banned in some countries. Government interference in trade union affairs was a feature in several countries, including in former Soviet states. On the African continent, the Cameroon government continued efforts to divide the union movement by favouring workers' organizations which it saw as being easier to control whilst refusing to register trade unions which it saw as too independent.
Globalization has encouraged employers to disregard fundamental workers' rights and to use brutal force making the international trade union action never more relevant.
BWI is frequently requested to address protest messages to anti-democratic governments or anti-union companies. Information Technology (IT) will facilitate affiliates' solidarity tasks in the next weeks by creating solidarity online campaigns. If you join our solidarity chain, international trade union solidarity will make a difference for arrested workers, on strike or sacked!