Union activists joined with members of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) to rally in front of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and British consulates in nine cities. The marchers called on British American Tobacco (BAT), the largest stockholder in U.S. tobacco giant Reynolds American, to use its influence to stop “widespread and egregious” human rights abuses against U.S. tobacco field workers.

The 67 workers who provide technical hookups for broadcasts and conferencing services at the United Nations are waging a battle for justice and respect.

The workers, members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1212, say they are being pressured by a contractor and the United Nations to accept drastic staff reductions that could pit union members against each other and endanger the economic security of employees nearing retirement. Ironically, the International Labor Organization (ILO), an arm of the United Nations, establishes international labor standards to protect workers’ rights.

The Berger-Marks Foundation will honor a young woman leader with its Edna Award. The $10,000 award recognizes a young woman whose leadership in the social justice movement has already fueled social change.

Fourteen airline unions from the United States and seven other countries have formed a cooperative global organization to give workers a stronger voice in dealing with the world’s major airlines.

In this cross post from the Solidarity Center website, Tim Ryan, the center’s director for Asia and Europe, gives a rare glimpse of the Belarus workers’ continuing struggles.

It’s been a bad decade for the workers of Belarus. This former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991 and, for a time, new unions independent of government or company control grew significantly. But under continuing political repression by President Alexander Lukashenko over the past 10 years, recently formed workers’ organizations face extinction in what is often called the last dictatorship of Europe.

In one of the biggest union elections in recent years, nearly 85 percent of the transportation security officers (TSOs) voted to join a union. AFGE led the voting and will face a runoff with another union to determine who will represent the 43,000 TSOs at 450 of the nation’s airports.

A complaint issued today by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Boeing Co. is a victory for all American workers—particularly aerospace workers in both Puget Sound and South Carolina, officials with the Machinists (IAM) said.

With workers under attack across the nation, all the major theaters in the Seattle area affirmed their support for workers everywhere to organize and bargain collectively. In a statement, 24 theatrical, sound and stagecraft employers, who all have contracts with the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 15, said:

We are proud to be a union employer. We are committed to bargain fairly and in good faith with our employees, and to maintaining our history of respect for, and cooperation with, the labor community.

After a decade of struggle, workers at cookie maker Consolidated Biscuit Company (CBC), now Hearthside Food Solutions (HFS), in McComb, Ohio, are a big step closer to joining a union. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced the 825 workers will vote May 5–6 on whether to join a union.

A year ago today–as workers were being pushed to finish drilling faster than some thought was safe, according to news reports–the BP Deepwater/Horizon drilling platform, 72 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. Eleven workers were killed, the rest were rescued.