This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center.

In Colombia’s coal mines, troubling health and safety risks combined with serious environmental and social justice issues create conditions reminiscent of mining in the early 20th century in the United States. The dangers mine workers—and local communities—face are real and frightening, say four mining safety and health experts from the Mine Workers (UMWA).

The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has agreed to get tougher with factories in China.

Pressure by unions, advocacy groups and workers themselves has resulted in new protections for workers making badges and mascots for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

There are lots of new features and information on our revamped website, just click around. But we’ve refreshed some old favorites, including the popular and frequently visited Your Rights at Work. It is also available in Spanish here.

All trade unions in India united around a common agenda and staged a general strike Tuesday demanding workers’ rights and economic justice.The Indian newspaper The Hindu reports that the solidarity of the more than 5,000 unions representing millions of members affiliated to India’s trade confederations centers around demands, which seek:

Nearly 47 years ago, civil rights activists of different races, ages and walks of life were attacked by armed officers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., as they marched for racial justice. This day became known as Bloody Sunday. This Sunday, AFL-CIO union members, civil rights, community and faith activists will begin a five-day re-enactment of the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march. The march will focus attention on new attacks on voting rights, immigrants, workers’ rights and education.

"Immigration policy is work policy,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) conference in Los Angeles this morning.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the fight for free speech in San Diego after the city—in response to an organizing drive by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)—banned public speaking in a popular downtown area. In this cross-post from the California Labor Federation’s Labor’s Edge blog, Lorena Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer and CEO for the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, looks at the 100-year-old fight for workers’ rights and today’s struggle for worker justice.

The AFL-CIO is joining with civil rights, community and labor partners in the re-enactment of the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march that will focus attention on new attacks on voting rights, immigrants, workers’ rights and education.

Elizabeth Boomer of the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department sends us this report.

Food service giant Sodexo, with 391,000 employees worldwide—including some 18,000 in the United States—and International Union of Food Workers (IUF), have signed an agreement confirming Sodexo’s commitment to respect fundamental rights at work, namely freedom of association and collective bargaining. The IUF includes 336 unions with 12 million members in 120 countries.

With the state legislative season set to get under way next month, Virginia offers us a preview of what working family activists are up against. A story  in today’s The Washington Post explores some of the more than 50 bills “ghostwritten” for Republican state legislators by the extreme conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).