Trade unionists from nearly 60 countries have signed up to attend the LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference, which opens in Tbilisi, Georgia on Friday, 28th April 2023.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Trade Union Internationalism Today”. There will be around 25 workshops and plenary sessions, and a radical history walking tour of downtown Tbilisi.  Participants can march together with the Georgian trade unions on Monday, 1st May.  

Workshops include sessions on trade union rights in Belarus, Ukraine, Qatar, Iran and Turkey and on themes such as healthcare, climate change, the far right, citizen journalism and online campaigning.

Speakers include some senior figures in the international trade union movement, from both national trade union centres and global union federations.  Unions that are facing life-and-death situations are sending delegations and individuals — from Belarus, Myanmar, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and elsewhere.

Speakers confirmed so far include Irakli Petriashvili, Georgian Trade Union Confederation President; Eric Lee, LabourStart Editor; Ambet Yuson, Building and Woodworkers International Global Union General Secretary; Khaing Zar Aung, Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM) Treasurer; Kirill Buketov, International Union of Foodworkers (IUF).

LabourStart has been running Global Solidarity Conferences since 2008. The previous conferences took place in London, Washington, Hamilton (Ontario), Istanbul, Sydney, Berlin and Toronto. The largest of these had 450 participants in Berlin in 2014.

The conference is a unique opportunity to meet trade unionists from around the world, with participants ranging from union presidents to rank-and-file workplace activists. Register for free here.

Image: May Day March in Melbourne. Source: May Day – Workers of the World Unite. Author: Johan Fantenberg, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.