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The Building and Wood Workers’ International is backing its Swiss affiliate UNIA in their call for broad mobilisation across Switzerland as part of the "Pas d'étés à 50°C!" ("No 50-degree summers!") alliance. Over 70 organisations have joined the alliance to demand an emergency plan to combat the impacts of climate change. This comes after a new survey by UNIA showed that heat-protection rules on Swiss worksites are being widely ignored.

Last April, the BWI Global Young Workers’ Forum assembled at the historic Utøya, which served as a crucial platform for young workers to discuss democratic resilience and the future of labour rights. The Forum was conducted in accordance with the youth action call for “Fists Up for Democracy,” and we are pleased to launch the Forum’s newsletter to celebrate the success of this prominent event, bringing together 32 young unionists from 24 unions across 5 continents.

The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) Africa and Middle East, in collaboration with Union-to-Union (UtoU) and the Swedish Building Workers’ Union (Byggnads/SBTF), convened a three-day workshop from 27 to 29 August 2026 in Accra, Ghana. The workshop was attended by 24 union representatives, including 12 women.

Joint social audits at Faber-Castell’s operations in Indonesia have driven tangible improvements in occupational safety and health, collective bargaining, and workers’ participation. As Faber-Castell, IG Metall, and the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) marked the 25th anniversary of their International Framework Agreement (IFA) last year, Indonesian unions are calling for this effective monitoring mechanism to be maintained.

Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) is deeply saddened by the devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border on 26 August 2026, which have caused tragic loss of life, left many people missing or displaced, and severely damaged homes, workplaces, roads, and essential services. Our hearts go out to the victims and affected communities.

In the past month, BWI and its Pakistani affiliate, the Pakistan Federation of Building and Wood Workers (PFBWW), have held two Workers’ Assemblies at Trabela Dam in Pakistan, bringing workers together to strengthen occupational safety and health and support the implementation of the country’s new construction safety framework.

Affiliates of the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), representatives of the CGTP, CATP and CUT Peru, forestry workers, indigenous groups and specialists from ILO-ACTRAV and FSC Peru came together on 20-21 August 2026 to respond to job insecurity, deforestation and the climate crisis. The central message was unequivocal: there can be no forest conservation or just transition without decent work, union organising, and community participation.

An 11-member delegation from the Telangana State Non-Resident Indian Advisory Committee (NRIAC) toured the Philippines from 17 to 21 August 2026 to study the country's migration and labour policies for overseas workers. The delegation included two members of the Telangana state legislature, Government Whip Adi Srinivas and Nizamabad Rural MLA R. Bhupathi Reddy, as well as M. Bheem (B.M.) Reddy, NRIAC Vice-Chairman and representative of the trade union Pravasi Mitra Labour Union (PMLU).

Why Social Audits Matter and Why the Faber-Castell IFA Must Continue In November 2010, a fire gutted the Faber-Castell production unit in Goa, India, putting workers and their families at risk of losing their livelihoods when the company decided to close the facility. The Goa Trade and Commercial Workers Union (GT&CWU) approached BWI, which took up the matter with Faber-Castell management in Germany through the International Framework Agreement (IFA).

With the participation of its national leadership, the Ecuadorian Federation of Heavy Equipment Operators and Mechanics (FEDESOMEC) celebrated 65 years of organizing, struggle, and defense of workers’ rights.