One hundred and twenty-five years ago, on June 16, 1901, 82 metal workers, guests, and allies gathered in the city of Livorno to found the Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici (Federation of Metalworkers), Italy’s militant metalworkers’ union, which, over the past eleven years, has become one of UE’s closest international allies.
Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union and a close UE ally, joined 27 other Canadian unions and faith and civil-society organizations in calling for peace, sovereignty and solidarity with the people of Cuba. The joint statement, released on Monday, calls on the Canadian government to oppose threats of military intervention by the U.S. and to speak out […]
UE General President Scott Slawson sent a letter today to members of the Metal Workers Union of the Argentine Republic (UOM), expressing UE’s solidarity with UOM members after the government removed their democratically-elected leaders. In May, the National Labor Appeals Court ordered a 180-day judicial intervention in UOM, annulling the re-election of General Secretary Abel Furlán. Slawson writes, […]
In November, UE’s close Italian ally FIOM secured a major victory after four days of continuous and intense negotiations. The new national agreement, negotiated by FIOM and two other metalworkers’ unions with national employers’ federations, covers more than 1.5 million workers across the country and guarantees a €205 (US $237.17) increase on minimum contractual salaries […]
UE Local 506 Business Agent John Miles reports on his solidarity trip to Japan: “On July 31, 2025 my wife and I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Japan for the International Trade Union Forum for Peaceful and Just World without Nuclear Weapons. At this International Solidarity conference, we met with several different trade unions from around the globe.”
On Tuesday afternoon of UE’s 79th Convention, held in Chicago in August 2025, delegates heard remarks from several international guests, representatives of close UE allies in Mexico, Japan, Quebec, Canada, and Italy. Eladio Abundiz Guadian, National Coordinator of the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo, an independent union federation in Mexico, said, “It is an honor for […]
On the evening of December 3, South Korea’s right-wing president Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, citing threats from “anti-state forces.” Following the announcement, hundreds of Korean citizens, including many members of the 1.2 million member Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, defied the ban on political activity, gathering at the parliament building where 190 lawmakers were able to enter the building and pass a unanimous motion rejecting Yoon’s imposition of martial law. Several hours later, Yoon rescinded his order.
In June, Mexico held federal, state and local elections. Claudia Sheinbaum, who had been the mayor of Mexico City, was elected the country’s first woman president. Sheinbaum has pledged to continue the progressive reforms that the current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, has put into place. These include improved rights in the workplace, requirements for democratic union elections, and strengthening social safety nets, like reforming the pension system to better support lower income workers when they retire.
In July, both the United Kingdom and France held national elections. In both countries, parties representing “labour” or working class perspectives did better than expected. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, from the Conservative Party, lacked credibility with the public and faced growing public discontent. Much of this was fueled by extremely high prices, […]
A UE delegation traveled to Mexico for a week in May to meet with our allies at the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) for the first time since 2017. The trip was an important opportunity to ground UE members in the union’s international solidarity work, which prioritizes supporting workers in their struggles with their bosses. […]
