Cuba’s draconian economic reforms are highlighting the true role of the country’s official labor unions as well as causing anxiety and social unrest.

The government’s plan to cut over a million jobs from public sector payrolls has failed to …

Chinese workers may soon be allowed to elect their own trade union representatives – a dramatic shift in the country’s labor relations with potentially significant political implications.

New guidelines that could allow workers to choose their own representatives were “almost …

The role of labor unions is one of the most striking aspects of the dramatic wave of protests in Tunisia, writes Christopher Alexander, author of Tunisia: Stability and Reform in the Modern Maghreb.

“The government worked very hard, …

A young unemployed man whose self-immolation sparked the “most dramatic wave of social unrest in Tunisia since the 1980s” was buried today.

Mohamed Bouazizi (left), an unemployed college graduate, started a fruit and vegetable stand to earn a …

The Cuban government’s proposed economic reforms don’t mean “renouncing even the smallest portion of the construction of socialism”.

Or so President Raul Castro told the Cuban Workers Federation – the regime’s official labor front. (Genuine trade unions are forced to …

China’s democracy movement suffered a double blow this week with the loss of two leading advocates.

Crowds of well-wishers today gathered to pay their respects to veteran Chinese democracy activist Szeto Wah, a prominent campaigner for the victims of the …

With the result predetermined, analysts suggest the most interesting question about Egypt’s parliamentary election will be the U.S. response.

Democracy advocates have urged the Obama administration to be more forceful and consistent in supporting political reform or risk provoking …

The outcome of this week’s parliamentary elections in Egypt is a foregone conclusion, analysts suggest.

The ruling National Democratic Party has engineered the results in advance, conceding just enough seats to opposition parties to create a semblance of …

Human rights groups are calling on the Vietnamese government to release a prominent legal activist and end its latest crackdown on independent lawyers and other dissident voices.

Democracy advocate Cu Huy Ha Vu, 53, (left) was detained last week on …

Several hundred Vietnamese workers at two firms in Ho Chi Minh City are taking strike action to demand higher wages. Workers are complaining that wages are not keeping pace with inflation.

Four hundred workers at a Taiwan-owned footwear firm downed …