Following the recent ruling of the Labor Relations Board in Ontario, Canada, that Accor management consistently engaged in illegal activity to combat union organizing at the Novotel Mississauga, the company has now admitted to violating the law at a second hotel - the Novotel Ottawa.

Italian union members employed by Compass,the UK based catering, cleaning and facilities management company participated in a successful strike on Friday 1 December to protest the Company plans to lay off 824 workers in Italy. Italian federations CGIL, CISL and UIL are cooperating in their campaign to have Compass withdraw their notice of dismissals and report high levels of participation in Friday's action.

November 29 saw workers at a Manhattan McDonald’s go on strike asking for higher pay and the right to form a union. Other workers joined the protest during the day. To read more click here

In an open letter to CEO Irene Rosenfeld, IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald calls on Mondelez to reinstate union leaders dismissed in Tunisia and Egypt as a result of their activities in support of union members. The dismissals are human rights violations in breach of the OECD guidelines on multinational enterprises and the UN Guiding principles on Business and Human Rights.

Unite, Britain's biggest union, is demanding assurances over jobs as a condition for any new buyer, following Vion's announcement to sell off its UK food operations.

The Ontario Federation of Labor has alerted the French ambassador of Canada to serious violations of labour law in the province by the French-based hotel chain Accor. The message was delivered by members of UNITE HERE, who paid simultaneous visits to the French Embassy in Ottawa and the French Consulate in Ontario to deliver a letter from OFL President Sid Ryan on November 15.

Unions held strikes and demonstrations across Europe on November 14 in response to the call by the ETUC for a day of action to highlight rejection of the EU's devastating austerity regime and demands for a radical change of course.

While the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF wrangle over precisely how many more Greek workers must lose their jobs and how much more public spending must be slashed in order to placate investors, some of Greece's largest companies are fleeing the country for tax havens abroad, compounding the squeeze on public revenue.