After the Arab Spring: Meany-Kirkland Award Honors Tunisian, Bahrain Labor Movements
The Tunisian General Union of Labor (UGTT) and the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU)ātwo unions whose struggles are emblematic of laborās role in the Arab uprisingsāreceived the 2012 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award in a ceremony last night at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.
UGTT General Secretary Hassine Abassi and GFBTU General Secretary S. Salman Jaddar Al Mahfoodh received the awards for their respective labor movements.
Workers' issues, such as high unemployment and lack of opportunity, declining living standards and the arrogant abuse of political and economic power by the corrupt few, spurred the Arab uprisings; and unions and workersā rights activists were engaged in some of the most important union organizing in the regionās history.


