March 25 is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City, which killed 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the 10-story factory to escape the fire because they were locked inside.

The freedom to bargain for a better life through a union is recognized as a basic human right around the world. With politicians in the United States trying to take away that basic freedom from public employees, working people around the globe are responding with strong expressions of solidarity.

While governors and state lawmakers across the country are attacking the right of public employees to bargain, the Postal Workers (APWU) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) today showed that public employees and government can work together to solve financial problems and provide good service. The two sides have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, which APWU President Cliff Guffey says is “a win-win proposition” for both parties.

After nearly three weeks of negotiations with NFL team owners and the assistance of a federal mediator failed to result in a fair, new collective bargaining agreement, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) this afternoon renounced its status as a union in order to block a lockout by the owners. The NFL left the players no choice.

Teresa Casertano in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department sends us this report.

As tens of thousands of Wisconsin residents rally and march across the state tomorrow for the fourth weekend in a row, they will receive support from union members in Berlin who are holding a solidarity rally. Members of the German telecommunications union, ver.di, will turn out to to support bargaining rights for workers in the United States. They know that collective bargaining is not possible unless workers are able to join unions and participate in their own organizations free from the fear of reprisals by their employers.

Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United (NNU), writes at the  Huffington Post about how the struggles in the Midwest and around the country have exposed the fact that there are two Americas: one where the rich get bailouts and bonuses and the rest of us get our benefits slashed and gutted.

In one of the biggest union elections in recent years, more than 40,000 transportation security officers (TSOs) at 450 of the nation’s airports began voting Wednesday on whether to join a union. After 10 years, the TSOs finally gained the right to bargain and working people around the country are now urging the officers to vote for AFGE.

The problems facing working women extend across national boundaries, and today, International Women’s Day, women organizers on opposite sides of the world shared ideas and inspiration. In a live teleconference, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and four young women organizers in the United States talked with a roomful of women organizers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Shuler began by saying:

With the global jobs crisis increasing unemployment…young workers, young women workers entering the workforce struggle to find decent work. Given the challenges facing young women workers around the world, the AFL-CIO, ITUC [International Trade Union Confederation] and [the South African trade union federations] hope to use International Women’s Day as a way to shine a spotlight on the important role unions can play in the lives of young women workers.

In recognition of International Women’s Day, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and unions around the world are standing in solidarity with the women of T-Mobile USA. As part of  the global campaign, CWA is collecting messages of strength and support on its website and Facebook page—messages to encourage them as they go to work each day under harsh and unfair conditions.

Members of the UAW ratified a new six-year contract with Caterpillar Inc. covering 9,500 workers at plants in Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.