Domestic workers fighting for rights and recognition through binding international standards won a crucial first round victory at the this year's International Labour Conference at the ILO in Geneva. On June 4, 61 governments voted in favour of a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation, against 14 voting for a Recommendation only.

Malin Klingzell-Brulin and Gunnar Brulin, journalists for the Swedish Food Workers' monthly Mål & Medel, have written a book we can recommend gladly, not only to trade unionists and workers within the global food system, but to all concerned with the most fundamental of human rights, namely the right to food. Food for Thought: on food, power and human rights, tackles a theme - power in the world food system, that has been written about from many points of view.

Over three hundred workers at the highly profitable Mott's plant in Williamson, New York are on strike against deep cuts in pay and benefits, and the employer’s refusal to bargain a fair contract. Mott's is produced by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), the North American beverages division spun off by Cadbury Schweppes in 2008.

Global union federations including the IUF, the ITUC and TUAC have agreed on a common set of principles to guide union action to tackle the employment consequences and impact on unions resulting from the expansion of temporary employment agencies.

Since 2008 workers at three Accor hotels in Canada, have been organizing to win union recognition and collective bargaining rights in the face of fierce opposition from management.

Speaking at a June 3 side meeting at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, the United Nations' Special Representative on business and human rights (SRSG), John Ruggie, called on the ILO for guidance in elucidating the human rights implications of precarious work.

At the June 1 meeting of the Nestlé European Works Council in Geneva, Switzerland, representatives of twenty Nestlé unions from across Europe collectively called on the company to immediately halt all attempts to weaken the IUF's affiliate at the Nescafé factory in Panjang, Indonesia. The unions insisted that Nestlé enter into the wage bargaining talks the union has been demanding for 3 years.

Workers from a West Bengal tea plantation who participated in a protest last year against the abusive treatment of a pregnant 22 year-old tea garden worker could face prison sentences of up to 7 years, if India's powerful Tata Group has its way. Mrs. Arti Oraon,  who collapsed after being forced to work while 8 months pregnant on a Tata-owned estate, now faces criminal charges.