As tens of thousands return to the streets for the first national Palestine march of 2026, this movement refuses to be sidelined or silenced, says PETER LEARY
NURSES’ unions worldwide want to end curbs on distributing anti-coronavirus vaccines around the globe. So does the US Democratic Biden administration. But big pharma doesn’t. And neither does a set of other rich countries: Britain, Switzerland, Singapore, Norway and the European Union.
The conflict came to a head when nurses unions from 28 nations, including National Nurses United (NNU) in the US, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, its Quebec counterpart, and Brazil’s big nurses’ union, all demanded an end to what they call “vaccine apartheid.”
In plain language, their formal complaint to the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on November 28, just before the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO) met in Geneva, Switzerland, demands a waiver of international “intellectual property” trade rules so more vaccines can be shipped and/or produced, worldwide.
The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a registered nurse and union member, has sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls from National Nurses United to dismantle Ice and related agencies, says MARK GRUENBERG
Organised workers at the notoriously anti-union global giant are scoring victory after victory, and now international bodies are pitching in to finally force this figurehead of corporate capitalism to give in to unionisation, writes EMILIO AVELAR



