GUATEMALA: Population Growth Impacts Migration

Marco Tulio Guerra went to work as usual that morning at the meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. But his life was turned upside down when immigration agents swept into his workplace and arrested him along with another 388 foreign workers. Their crime: using false Social Security numbers.

LAOS: The New Silk Road

At the age of 13, Kommaly Chantavong, now 64, walked over 600 kms to Vientiane from her home in Lao’s northern province of Huaphan. She walked through the buzzing war with the French in bare feet. All she took were heirloom pieces of woven silk, legacies from her grandmothers.

PERU: Three Days of Anti-Government Protests

Wednesday was the second day of a three-day strike declared by trade unions and social movements in Peru to protest the economic policies of President Alan García.

Q&A: “The Truth Is We’re Not Going to Stop Immigration”

In Janice Fine's most recent project, eight workers centres have joined with the Centre for Community Change, where she is a senior fellow for organising and policy, to provide inexpensive financial services to low-wage immigrant workers. The services also provide an income stream and membership base for the centres.

GHANA: Tomato Queens Short-Change Farmers

When you meet Naomi Aframea, 60, in the streets of Accra, you could take her for any other Ghanaian woman going about her business. But step into her stall at Agbobloshie Market, one of the capital’s satellite markets, and amidst stacks of the wooden crates used to ship tomatoes, you sense her power.

RIGHTS-US: Ex-Prisoners Face Bleak Job Market

"You write about human rights. Why don't you write about this man?" asked Agha Saleh, an old acquaintance of this writer who runs an internet café in Jackson Heights, a Queens neighbourhood heavily populated by immigrants from South Asia and Latin America.

BRAZIL: Seasonal Widows

Maria Vieira dos Santos has raised her six children practically on her own. For more than a decade, her husband would be away from home nearly eight months out of the year, travelling 1,500 kilometres down south to cut sugarcane in the state of São Paulo.

LABOUR-URUGUAY: Stitching a Future Together

The group of women cross this Uruguayan town every morning, some on bike and some on foot, on their way to CODEMUR, a women’s cooperative that resurrected a garment factory abandoned by its owners.

ECONOMY: Migrant Miseries Will Trickle Down Worldwide, U.N. Warns

At least 150 million migrant workers - out of an estimated total of 200 million in the world today - fit the "demographic characteristics of workers who are the most vulnerable" during the current global financial crisis, the U.N. says.

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: An Uphill Battle Against Abuse And Torture

Domestic helper Siti Hajar, 33, from Garut district, Indonesia is a picture of calm as she leans against the wall at a shelter for abused maids and dreams of returning to her village.

INDIA: Reverse Migration Casts Shadow on Kerala Economy

Recession in petroleum-rich Middle Eastern countries is causing thousands of workers to return to their homes in southern Kerala triggering fears of a negative impact on the local economy.

LABOUR-US: Senate Divided Over Bill to Boost Unions

Since its initial proposal in 2007, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has been a divisive bill, passing in the House but not in the Senate. Now, the bill's original author, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, is working on a compromise that he hopes will pass.

US-COLOMBIA: Uribe Presses FTA in First Encounter with Obama

Long-stalled efforts to consummate a free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and Colombia may be gaining some momentum, despite persistent questions about Bogota's human rights record.

CARIBBEAN: Deportation Row Takes Centre-Stage at Caricom

Caribbean leaders are due to meet for a full working week starting Thursday to discuss issues ranging from climate change to the global economic crisis.

ZIMBABWE: 'Money Comes First, Health Second'

With half her body immersed in a muddy red pond, Esther Nyarambi closely inspects the contents of her wooden panning dish, locally known as zamba. Having spent the entire day pounding gold-bearing rock, she hopes her efforts will be rewarded with even the smallest nugget of gold.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Remittance Crunch, But Women Migrants Keep Sending

Among the colourful houses in the neighbourhood called Vietnam in East Santo Domingo, many families have at least one family member among the 1.5 million Dominicans living abroad.

POVERTY-MAURITIUS: Labouring Through a Class Four Cyclone

Thousands of workers in the textile and manufacturing industry in Mauritius have been forced into unemployment and poverty within the last few months, as factories announced multiple rounds of job cuts due to the global financial crisis.

WOMEN-MEDIA: Who Is the Editor?

For the first time in 15 years, an organisation, the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), is attempting to measure the progress, or lack of progress, of women in media organisations globally.

MALAYSIA: Blacklisted For Not Enforcing Trafficking Laws

After years of lobbying by rights activists and the international community, Malaysia passed an effective and comprehensive law in 2007 against human trafficking with provisions for protection, shelter and return of trafficked person to their home countries.

NICARAGUA: Women Bear the Brunt of the Crisis

"Don’t worry, your job will be here when you come back," Lorena Castillo’s supervisor reassured her when she asked to take a day off for a gynaecologist appointment. She had been working at the textile factory for the past six months and it was the first time she asked for a day off. It turned out to be her last.

Q&A: “Migrant Workers Bring Vibrancy to the Labour Movement”

Day labourers looking for casual work are familiar fixtures on corners outside home improvement and garden stores across the United States. Less visible are the workers centres that have grown up in many locales to serve and organise these mainly immigrant and undocumented workers.