News and Updates

The impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic have been unprecedented, wrecking the world of work almost instantly when the first wave of outbreak happened in 2020. Nearly two years have passed since the first case of COVID-19 was detected and yet, the working people are still reeling from the multiple and intersecting crises that the pandemic has exacerbated.

In the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 (COP26), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) set out its demands and climate priorities in its Frontlines Briefing titled ‘Social justice enables climate ambition: unions set course for COP 26’.

The International Trade Union Confederation has published a new report about governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific and whether these are in line with the SDGs.

“Nuclear weapons have no place in a world that we aim to build back better.” This is the key message of Shoya Yoshida, Genera Secretary of the ITUC-Asia Pacific, in his statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September 2021.

The trade union movement in Hong Kong has been a constant target of attacks, threats, and intimidation by the government since the adoption of the National Security Law in 2020. Along with other pro-democratic activists, Lee Cheuk-Yan, General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) was arrested and imprisoned for organising and participating in peaceful demonstrations, a right that has been guaranteed by international laws as well as Hong Kong’s Basic Law.