Reza Rakhshan, communications officer for the Haft Tapeh independent sugarworkers union in southern Iran, was arrested by security agents at his workplace on January 4 and was only released from Shush prison on January 20 after being charged with "endangering national security" for his union activity.

Negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement at Inalca's largest slaughterhouse in Castelvetro (Modena), Italy, broke down on 22 December 2009. On 14 January 2010, an overwhelming majority of Inalca workers – represented byIUF Italian affiliates FLAI-CGIL and UILA-UIL, voted in favour of a 16-hour strike that will start in the following weeks.

Barring any last-minute surprises, Kraft, the world's second-largest food company, will swallow UK-based Cadbury. Barely a month after deriding Kraft as an "unfocused" conglomerate and declaring "There is no strategic, managerial operational or financial merit in combining with Kraft", Cadbury Chairman Roger Carr announced that the price was right. He praised Kraft for its commitment to "our heritage, values and people throughout the world"…and acknowledged the inevitability of job cuts.

Following two days of strike action, 200 UNISON members working for Sodexo in North Devon NHS Trust, have won their bid for better pay and improved terms, in line with a national agreement set out in October 2006.

Workers in Colombia are once again victims of armed violence for trying to exercise their right to join and be represented by a trade union.

On January 5 the union at Nestlé Pantnagar, the company's largest and newest (2006) plant in the country, signed a first collective agreement on wages and benefits, joining its 3 sister unions in the IUF-affiliated Federation of All India Nestle Employees in finally winning the right to negotiate terms of employment previously declared "secret" by management.