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LabourStart's podcast this week is - unfortunately - about Belarus, which is probably the worst place in Europe to be a trade unionist. We are now coming up on the 3rd anniversary of the mass arrests of Belarusian trade union leaders and the crushing of the country's independent and democratic unions. Liza tells us why this happened, the role of the Ukraine war and Putin, and what we can do to help free the jailed union leaders and force the regime in Belarus to respect workers' rights -- and human rights in general.

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This week's LabourStart interview is with Kıvanç Eliaçık from DISK, one of Turkey's national trade union centres. We talked about workers' rights in Turkey, the role played by LabourStart and global unions, what individuals can do to help -- and about the central role that workers in struggle are playing in all this. We also discussed a new LabourStart campaign being launched this week in support of striking workers at Telus, in Izmir. A must-listen podcast this week, in our view.

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This week's LabourStart podcast is a short interview with Daniel Blackburn, who runs the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), based in London. Daniel spoke with us about ICTUR's history, the journal it produces (International Union Rights), the incredible reference book they publish on trade unions of the world, and even their wall map of workers' rights around the globe. ICTUR is not well-known enough in the trade union movement but we think that after you hear what Daniel has to say you'll want to know more -- visit the ICTUR website here.

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The LabourStart Podcast this week -- our first in 2025 -- is an interview with two Canadian writers who've written an important new book about one of the country's largest trade unions.

Stephanie Ross is an associate professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., and founding president of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies. Larry Savage is a professor in the Department of Labour Studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.

LabourStart’s Pat Bulmer interviewed them about their book, Shifting Gears, which examines the evolution of one of Canada’s largest unions. Today, it’s known as Unifor, but it started out as the Canadian wing of the United Auto Workers before breaking away to become the Canadian Auto Workers.

The authors particularly examine the union’s evolving - and controversial - role in Canadian politics.

Ross and Savage are also co-authors of Building a Better World: An Introduction to the Labour Movement in Canada and co-editors of Public Sector Unions in the Age of Austerity, Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada, and Labour under Attack: Anti-Unionism in Canada.

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This week we interviewed Tamar Ansiani, who in addition to being a striker (one of over 4,000) at the Swedish-owned Evolution Gaming in Georgia, is also a vice president of LABOR, a Georgian trade union. Tamar spoke about the reasons for the strike, the importance of international solidarity and much more in this short interview.

To learn more about the struggle at Evolution Gaming -- and to show your solidarity with the workers -- click here.

To donate money to the strikers (via UNI Global Union), click here.

To follow all the latest labour news from Georgia, including latest developments with the Evolution strike, click here.

To help build support for the striking workers, please share this podcast widely in your union. Thank you!

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"We were dying," says Sultana Hossain, describing the conditions that led thousands of Amazon employees in New York City to begin organising into a trade union. Initially, their union was independent and had no backing from anyone else -- and yet the workers were able to force an election in the workplace, win a majority and inspire millions of workers with their story. Click here to learn more about that union and its amazing story.

For full coverage of workers' struggles at Amazon around the world, check out LabourStart's Amazon stories.

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China Steel Express (CSE), the most profitable subsidiary of Taiwan's largest state-owned enterprise, China Steel Corporation (CSC), has long exploited Taiwanese seafarers through illegal fixed-term contracts. Recently, CSE replaced Taiwanese seafarers with Chinese crew. As a result, more than 300 seafarers lost their jobs. In July, CSE abruptly cut the insurance of over 100 seafarers to force more of the workers out of jobs. To defend their labour rights, the CSE Union held a strike vote. Out of 487 members, 371 (76%) supported the strike. This strong support shows their determination to protect their right to work and marks the first strike in Taiwan's maritime history.

We interviewed Carlos Ching-Hung Wang, the president of the CSE Union, who explained to us why the workers are on strike -- and what you can do to help. The interview is in Chinese and English and is very short.

To support the campaign, click here.

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An interview with Judith Kirton-Darling, general secretary of IndustriAll Europe, about the ongoing fight of Liberty Steel workers in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in the face of catastrophic job losses. Judith talks about the background to the struggle, including latest developments, including a walk out this morning by Liberty Steel workers in Hungary, and the importance of solidarity messages sent through the LabourStart online campaign.