30% increase in trade unionists killed world-wide

One hundred and one trade unionists were killed last year while trying to make a difference in the lives of working people around the world.

The 2009 killings represent a 30 percent increase in the number of trade unionists who were killed for their activism is 2008, according to a jarring new set of statistics that were recently published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) as part of its Annual Survey.

Of the 101 murdered trade unionists, 48 were killed in Colombia, 16 in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six in Mexico, six in Bangladesh, four in Brazil, three in the Dominican Republic, three in the Philippines, one in India, one in Iraq and one in Nigeria.

For more on the killings and the ITUC Annual Survey, click here.

Vol. X No. 24 • June 21, 2010