This is a cross-post by Ben Moxham of Stronger Unions, the blog from the United Kingdom’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) on the new Egyptian trade union movement that has its roots in last year’s incredible uprising that toppled the Mubarak government.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council today praised the role workers and independent trade unions are playing in the popular mobilizations against corrupt, oppressive regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

International  solidarity travels both ways. Workers under attack in the United States have received strong support from workers around the world and they have come to the aid of their brothers and sisters when they needed help and support.

With 10,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) on the line, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis earlier this week pledged her support for public employees struggling to save their right to bargain for good middle class jobs.

Kamal Abbas, general coordinator of the independent Egyptian Centre for Trade Unions and Workers Services (CTUWS), has sent an amazing message of solidarity to U.S. workers under assault by CEO-backed governors and state legislators.

The global union movement is demanding that authorities in Bahrain immediately cease their violent repression of peaceful demonstrations and start talks with the trade union movement and other groups on the concrete demands they and the demonstrators have expressed.

Inspired by the  popular protests in Egypt, around the world and in states like Wisconsin, National Nurses United (NNU) today launched a news line designed to help coordinate and encourage grassroots protests in the United States.

The resignation of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak comes one day after huge numbers of workers went on strike to protest working conditions, adding a new and powerful emphasis to the massive ongoing protests throughout the country.

The international trade union movement has sent a strong message of support to tens of thousands of striking Egyptian workers as they continue to fight for democracy, social justice and trade union rights.

As Egyptian flags snapped in the frigid wind, nearly 100 Egyptian American and other activists—including more than 50 union members—rallied last night in front of the White House to support the Egyptian people’s ongoing struggle for freedom and democracy.