Send us a text Today we spoke with Amalie Hilde Tofte from the trade union Styrke in Norway. They're the sponsors of the annual Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights. (LabourStart was a recipient a few years back.). Amalie told us about the background to the prize, some of the winners in recent years, and how one applies. We even learned who Arthur Svensson was. Details about the prize, including the nominations form, are here. Support the show
Send us a text This week, we talked with two leaders of the Sindikat kontrole letenja (SKL), the union representing Serbian air traffic controllers, who have been dismissed after their security clearances were revoked based on a vague "negative opinion from the security services." Both played key roles in this year’s lawful and successful strike. In this interview we discussed how the Serbian government launched a coordinated attack on the two union leaders and why, and how trade unioni...
Send us a text Solong is the general secretary of the United Textile Employees Union in Lesotho -- a union currently involved in a major struggle for workers' rights and dignity at Quantum Apparel. In this interview, he tells us about a whole series of abusive (and illegal) practices at the company, including forced over-time, short-term contracts and union-busting. To learn more, and to show your support for the workers, check out the LabourStart campaign. Support the show
Send us a text Chris, who's based in Washington, D.C., is the founder of the Labor Radio and Podcasting Network. With around 200 members, the network shows the very widespread adoption of podcasting by activists in the trade union movement. We asked Chris about audience size, impact, and how unions and activists can start their own shows. Listeners are encouraged to visit the network's website and to consider coming to one of its regular weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 13:0...
Send us a text This week we talked with Paul Finch at a particularly interesting moment. His union, the largest in the Canadian province of British Columbia, is on strike. The employer in this case, the provincial government, is a social democratic party -- the NDP. Paul explains why the union is on strike and their strategy to win. He even broke the news to us that just a few minutes before the interview began, the union had shut down large numbers of public liquor an...
Send us a text Shawna Bader-Blau heads up the Solidarity Center in Washington DC which has for many years been one of the great sources of support for workers around the world trying create and sustain independent, democratic trade unions. But with the inauguration of Donald Trump earlier this year, all that has come under threat. In our interview, Shawna discusses what the Solidarity Center does, the new threats it has to face, and how it intends to fight back. Learn more a...
Send us a text The Alberta Federation of Labour and some 25 Alberta unions, representing more than 300,000 workers, recently unveiled the Solidarity Pact, a commitment to collective defence against any attack on workers by public- or private-sector employers. The Solidarity Pact is intended to remain in force indefinitely. "The purpose of the Solidarity Pact is to let employers know that an attack on one union will be viewed as an attack on all unions and that Alberta unions will fight togeth...
Send us a text Dr Debbie Goldman worked for 28 years at the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and is an expert on the subject of call centre workers. In this short interview we discussed her new book, Disconnected: Call Center Workers Fight for Good Jobs in the Digital Age. We talked about issues like surveillance in the workplace, how the CWA won impressive victories in defence of call centre workers' rights, and how employers export call centre jobs abroad only to run-up ag...
Send us a text Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), was LabourStart's guest this week on our podcast. The ITUC represents around 200 million workers in 169 countries and territories and has 340 national affiliates. LabourStart's Eric Lee interviewed Luc about the vicious attacks by the Lukashenko dictatorship in Belarus against trade unionists -- and what the international trade union movement is doing to fight this. Luc spoke abo...
Send us a text Nilufar Mammadrzayeva is an activist in İşçi Masası (Labor Desk), an alternative Confederation of Trade Unions operating in Azerbaijan. As she explained to us, "Right now, four of our comrades are facing dire conditions in prison due to their labor rights activism. One of them has already been sentenced to eight years, and the situation is only getting worse." In this interview, we discuss the situation faced by workers and independent trade unions in her country and what...
Send us a text This week, LabourStart's Pat Bulmer interviews Mark Hancock, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees -- the largest union in the country. Mark was asked to speak about the union's recently-adopted "Montreal Declaration" which was drafted in response to US President Donald Trump's threats against Canada. “The declaration acknowledges the formidable contribution that the labour movement has made to building what makes us proudest to be Canadian: our pub...
Send us a text LabourStart's podcast this week is - unfortunately - about Belarus, which is probably the worst place in Europe to be a trade unionist. We are now coming up on the 3rd anniversary of the mass arrests of Belarusian trade union leaders and the crushing of the country's independent and democratic unions. Liza tells us why this happened, the role of the Ukraine war and Putin, and what we can do to help free the jailed union leaders and force the regime in Belarus to res...
Send us a text This week's LabourStart interview is with Kıvanç Eliaçık from DISK, one of Turkey's national trade union centres. We talked about workers' rights in Turkey, the role played by LabourStart and global unions, what individuals can do to help -- and about the central role that workers in struggle are playing in all this. We also discussed a new LabourStart campaign being launched this week in support of striking workers at Telus, in Izmir. A must-listen podcast th...
Send us a text This week's LabourStart podcast is a short interview with Daniel Blackburn, who runs the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), based in London. Daniel spoke with us about ICTUR's history, the journal it produces (International Union Rights), the incredible reference book they publish on trade unions of the world, and even their wall map of workers' rights around the globe. ICTUR is not well-known enough in the trade union movement but we think that af...
Send us a text The LabourStart Podcast this week -- our first in 2025 -- is an interview with two Canadian writers who've written an important new book about one of the country's largest trade unions. Stephanie Ross is an associate professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., and founding president of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies. Larry Savage is a professor in the Department of Labour Studies at Brock University in St. Catharine...
Send us a text This week we interviewed Tamar Ansiani, who in addition to being a striker (one of over 4,000) at the Swedish-owned Evolution Gaming in Georgia, is also a vice president of LABOR, a Georgian trade union. Tamar spoke about the reasons for the strike, the importance of international solidarity and much more in this short interview. To learn more about the struggle at Evolution Gaming -- and to show your solidarity with the workers -- click here. To donate money to ...
Send us a text "We were dying," says Sultana Hossain, describing the conditions that led thousands of Amazon employees in New York City to begin organising into a trade union. Initially, their union was independent and had no backing from anyone else -- and yet the workers were able to force an election in the workplace, win a majority and inspire millions of workers with their story. Click here to learn more about that union and its amazing story. For full coverage of workers' s...
Send us a text China Steel Express (CSE), the most profitable subsidiary of Taiwan's largest state-owned enterprise, China Steel Corporation (CSC), has long exploited Taiwanese seafarers through illegal fixed-term contracts. Recently, CSE replaced Taiwanese seafarers with Chinese crew. As a result, more than 300 seafarers lost their jobs. In July, CSE abruptly cut the insurance of over 100 seafarers to force more of the workers out of jobs. To defend their labour rights, the CSE Union held a ...
Send us a text An interview with Judith Kirton-Darling, general secretary of IndustriAll Europe, about the ongoing fight of Liberty Steel workers in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in the face of catastrophic job losses. Judith talks about the background to the struggle, including latest developments, including a walk out this morning by Liberty Steel workers in Hungary, and the importance of solidarity messages sent through the LabourStart online campaign. Support the show
Send us a text This week we interviewed Srđan from Radnicki Glas (Workers Voice) in Serbia. The group is very involved with the ongoing campaign at the Yura factories in Serbia -- which is the subject of a LabourStart ActNOW campaign. (Click here to learn more.) We talked about unions and workers in general in Serbia and the specific issues faced by workers at the South Korean-owned Yura factories, which are suppliers to major European auto companies. Srđan explained t...