German rail workers staged “warning strikes”—limited work stoppages—July 2-4, bringing Germany’s massive rail network virtually to a halt. . . .

It’s not often that a union successfully blocks the impact of an anti-union National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling. But our union, the Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT (HPAE), recently did just that through a combination of legal research, membership education and involvement, savvy public outreach, and coordinated bargaining among our local unions. . . .

Union members from all over Russia flocked to a picket line outside the entrance to the city of Kaliningrad’s port on June 20. They gathered to support independent union leader Mikhail Chesalin, who was brutally attacked and stabbed outside his office a few weeks earlier. . . .

At the end of June, workers at General Electric (GE) ratified a new four-year contract. Despite a determined push by the company for deep concessions on retirement benefits of future hires, a rollback of early retirement opportunities, and drastically increased medical cost shifting, the unions made gains on wages, health care coverage, paid time off, and pensions—including an increase in current retirees’ pensions. . . .

Korean metal workers are on the front lines in the fight against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the South Korean and U.S. governments. Protesting the agreement, which was signed on June 30, about 110,000 Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) members in 157 locals across the county organized a five-day strike starting on June 25.

Most unions still do not fully exploit the Internet. The vast majority of U.S. union members have never received an email from their union. Chances are though that most union members are online in a big way—and they expect anyone or anything that lays claim to their interest or loyalty to be online. If your union isn’t, that could be a problem. . . .

Most unions still do not fully exploit the Internet. The vast majority of U.S. union members have never received an email from their union.

Chances are though that most union members are online in a big way—and they expect anyone or anything that lays claim to their interest or loyalty to be online. If your union isn’t, that could be a problem.

The website LabourStart is one activist resource that can help. Indeed, that’s one of the reasons LabourStart exists: to encourage unions to use the Internet and spread the word about labor’s online innovations and successes.

On the evening of May 1, Sarta bin Sarim, a packing worker and chairman of the local union at a furniture plant in Indonesia, was arrested. Police charged him with organizing the May Day rally that was held earlier that day in Jakarta.

The rally was organized by a coalition of local unions that did not include Sarta’s local. Sarta participated in the demonstration, which was conducted peacefully, returned to his workplace, and then went home where police was waiting for him.

At the police station he was beaten, forced to sign a false confession, and detained. The police arrested nine other workers on the same night and intimidated them into signing reports stating that Sarta organized the rally. After they complied, these other workers were released.

Since they began organizing for better wages and union recognition, workers at two factories in Rosario, Argentina owned by Lavadero Virasoro S.A. are confronting abuse and unjustified firings from the company. Lavadero Virasoro is a garment manufacturing factory where the workers, a majority between 20-30 years old launder jeans for large name brands such as Levi’s and Lee.

The workers at Lavadero Virasoro have joined the Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores Quimicos y Petroquimicos de Fray Luis Beltran, a union for workers in the chemical industry. The workers democratically elected and voted on an internal commission of delegates to present the workers’ demands to the company. Their demands include an end to the persecution and firings of unionists, immediate re-hiring of the fired workers, a basic monthly salary of 1,800 pesos ($580 U.S.), a five-day workweek, and recognition of the internal commission. Company owner Jorge Guidetti refuses, however, to negotiate.