The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has joined a growing chorus of condemnation against the military coup in Honduras that took place on Sunday, June 28.  U.S. NGOs and faith-based groups, including USLEAP, have also issued a statement opposing the coup, as has the AFL-CIO.  Coup leaders are increasingly isolated by the international community.

After a 13-day strike and a strenuous negotiation process, seventeen thousand workers in Colombia are returning to the banana plantations of Urabá. 

With the Obama Administration’s near-term trade agenda looking distressingly similar to that of the Bush Administration’s, worker rights advocates are gearing up for a fight against the Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that could be brought to a vote in Congress this summer. 

Seventeen thousand workers from the banana plantations on the Northern coast of Colombia, represented by SINTRAINAGRO, the National Agricultural Industry Workers Union, went on strike on May 8.

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Dole Food Co. on behalf of 73 people, victims of murdered trade unionists and farmers in the banana-growing region of north Colombia, accusing the company of funding paramilitaries to carry out assassinations and terror tactics in order to protect its banana operations.

On the May 6th, 2009, workers from the newly formed union SINTRAFLORES, who are employed by two flower companies, Camino Real and Degaflores, went on strike because their employers had not paid their salaries or benefits.