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UNITE reports that around 1,000 local government craftworkers carrying out housing maintenance and repair work for local authorities across the UK have been on strike this month in a dispute over pay and attacks on their working conditions. The workers have had enough. After more than a decade of pay freezes and below-inflation wage increases, their employer has offered only a 3.2 per cent pay rise.

BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson and Global Gender and Projects Coordinator Anna Andreeva, on 1-2 July 2026, conducted a mission to Armenia to strengthen relations with the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia (CTUA) and sectoral trade unions representing forestry and construction workers. Meetings focused on organising strategies, social dialogue, collective bargaining, and opportunities to expand BWI's presence in the country.

Green infrastructure, or the strategic planning of spaces combining natural and semi-natural areas, is the new panacea to solve urban, environmental, and climate challenges. Governments have added it to their policy and agenda as a low-carbon way of urban planning that supports biodiversity and does climate adaptation Most discussions and plans, however, are happening without the workers’ perspective.

The planet is clearly reaching desperate tipping points. Human-induced climate change is shifting baseline temperature, making heatwaves, one of the very pronounced impacts, hotter, longer, and more frequent. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, climate breakdown will worsen. Europe is gripped by another record-breaking heatwave, with temperatures reaching above 40°C in several countries in early summer.

On 22–23 June 2028, the Regional Organizing Academy for Pan-Europe took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, bringing together 20 trade union leaders and activists from Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan. The event provided a platform for participants to develop regional organising strategies, exchange experiences, and strengthen a network of organizers across the region.

Trade union leaders from the “BWI Country Group 10” met on 17 June 2026 to share key developments affecting workers across Southeast Europe and to prepare for the 6th BWI World Congress in São Paulo, Brazil. Union leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Serbia discussed common challenges facing workers in the construction, building materials, forestry, and wood industries. The growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the world of work was widely discussed.

The Trade Union of Civil Engineering, Industry and Planning of North Macedonia (SGIP) held its 7th Congress on 20 June in Skopje. The event brought together shop stewards, workplace activists, and guests from sister unions in Croatia and Serbia, as well as representatives of the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM).

On 12 June 2026, the BWI-affiliated Uganda Building Construction Civil Engineering Cement and Allied Workers Union (UBCCECAWU) achieved a major milestone by signing a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with Zhongmei Engineering Group, which is working on the World Bank-funded Koboko-Yumbe-Moyo road project in Uganda.

The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) is pleased to launch its Global Youth Survey 2026, following a decision of the International Youth Committee (IYC) and building on the successful initiative first introduced by the Asia-Pacific Youth Committee. The survey aims to assess how BWI affiliates are addressing young workers’ issues, implementing youth policies, and strengthening the representation of young workers within union structures.

At a time when workers’ rights, democracy and social justice are increasingly under attack across the world, the 114th International Labour Conference (ILC) once again demonstrated the importance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as a global arena where workers can expose injustice, challenge repression and fight for stronger international labour standards and accountability.