Mexico
Mexico: Peña Nieto sends a message, jails union boss
The government arrests famously corrupt union boss and power broker Elba Esther Gordillo. Is the new president trying to clean house–or show who's the boss?
Tag: labor
Europe
Spain: demand justice in 1976 Vitória massacre
Survivors of the 1976 massacre in Vitória, Spain, marked the anniversary by demanding official recognition of the incident, excised from the history of the post-Franco transition.
Greater Middle East
Islamists, labor protest in Jordan
Hundreds of Islamists demonstrated in Jordan to demand faster political reform after an election weeks earlier that produced a mostly pro-government parliament.
The Andes
Colombia: rebels attack coal mine amid strike
Colombia’s largest coal miner, Cerrejon, under force majeure due to a work stoppage, was targted in a guerilla attack that left four of the company’s trucks destroyed by fire.
Southern Cone
Chile: Pinochet was planning new coup in 1988
Declassified US documents show that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was planning to carry out another coup if he lost a 1988 plebiscite on his military regime.
Mexico
Mexico: Finnish maquila signs with company union
The Finnish-based auto parts multinational PKC Group fired independent unionists and signed a contract with a protection union at three assembly plants near the Texas border.
The Caribbean
Haiti: unionist is beaten up at Gildan supplier
An assembly plant worker was assaulted and fired when he demanded that he be paid the legal minimum wage; activists ask for calls to Gildan, which buys from the plant.
The Andes
Colombia: mine contractor convicted in killings
A contractor gets 38 years for the murder of two leaders of the union at a Drummond mine; the judge asks for an investigation of the company’s managers back in Alabama.
North Africa
General strike rocks Tunisia
Thousands massed in Tunis for the funeral of slain opposition leader Chokri Belaid, with the city shut down in a general strike called by the main union federation, the UGTT.
Mexico
Mexico: high court rules against electrical workers
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled against thousands of laid-off electrical workers who want to be hired by a state enterprise after the government shut down their former employer.
Iran
Iran impeaches labor minister over repression
The Iranian Parliament voted to impeach Labor Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, because he appointed an official who was implicated in the deaths of prisoners in 2010.
The Caribbean
Dominican Republic: Haitians end labor protest—were they tricked?
A group of Haitian immigrants agreed to end an encampment they and family members held for more than a month in front of the Labor Ministry in Santo Domingo.