At a time of economic turmoil and austerity measures in many countries, Brazil is getting deserved recognition for its successes in lifting nearly 40 million of its citizens out of extreme poverty over the past 10 years while fostering economic expansion for the nation.

A well-attended brown bag discussion at the AFL-CIO this week provided background on Brazil’s transformation, insights about the work needed to continue improving conditions for Brazilian workers and unions and food for thought about the examples Brazil has set for the United States and the world.

Every year, 60 percent of the fresh-cut flowers sold in the United States come from Colombia, where most flower workers are women. This Mother's Day, May 13, USLEAP is again urging all of us to take action to help these women win economic justice by showing your solidarity with working mothers everywhere by making a $35 donation to USLEAP's campaign to support flower workers.

One of the lesser known facts about free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and other nations is that they open the door for foreign corporations and manufacturers to bid on big government projects and services. A Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)—an FTA with the U.S. and eight Pacific Rim nations that is being negotiated now—could throw those doors open even further.

Nine years since U.S. troops entered Iraq to oust the regime of Saddam Hussein, work and life in Iraq are—to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes—nasty, brutish and hard.

Iraq is a resource-rich country, yet workers hardly earn enough to feed their families. Economic revival has been slow and sporadic, and working Iraqis are seeing little in the way of progress after the long occupation and withdrawal.

Guatemalan workers received support from an unexpected quarter this week. A group of global clothing brands (including the Gap, Liz Claiborne, Nike, Under Armour, American Eagle, Adidas, PVH and PF) and an association to which they are affiliated with, the Fair Labor Association, wrote to the Government of Guatemala to urge it to move swiftly to reach a satisfactory resolution to a complaint filed four years ago by the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan unions under DR-CAFTA (the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement). 

May Day—International Workers' Day—is a day when there should be no borders or barriers between workers around the world, said Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, at a special May Day forum at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., today. The forum focused on the challenges and conditions of Latina and immigrant workers in the United States and women workers around the globe.

Today, working people around the world are celebrating May Day, International Workers’ Day. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the message around the globe is:

Workers’ rights should be universal and every person—no matter what nationality, ethnicity or gender—must have equal rights and the opportunity to achieve a better life.

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

Asia is facing an onslaught of work-related deaths and diseases. Of the 2.2 million people who die each year all over the world as a result of work-related accidents or illness, 1.1 million are Asian. Yet the problem of workplace health and safety and its victims remain invisible, according to a new report released today in commemoration of Workers Memorial Day by the Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC), a Solidarity Center partner.

Four years ago today, the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan trade unions filed a complaint under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement about suppression of workers' basic rights in Guatemala. Although the case was accepted in 2009 and advanced to the dispute resolution phase in 2011, the government of Guatemala's "continuing recalcitrance to support and defend workers’ rights to free association, collective bargaining and even the simple right to be paid for work performed is shameful, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today in a statement.

A new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Bank examines countries’ jobs-related policy responses to the recent global financial and economic crisis. The report, "Inventory of Policy Responses to the Financial and Economic Crisis," demonstrates how governments across the globe and of all income levels used labor market interventions to limit the economic and social impacts of the crisis and spur employment, household income and economic growth and reduce poverty.