Protection contracts are “agreements negotiated between a company and a union that doesn’t legitimately represent workers.” 
This is because they’re negotiated with no input from workers at all. It’s all about the union and the company cutting a deal with each other. Often, these arrangements are made before a shop is even open for business – as is the case with a Mexican BMW plant and the country’s largest union confederation, Trabajadores de Mexico. When the shop opens next year, there’s a good chance most workers won’t even know they belong to a union. Protection contracts are illegal in the U.S. Child labor
is much worse in Turkey than the government’s official data would like people to believe. Last year, the government put the number at 709,000 children under the age of 18 working in various industries. However, a recent report from the Turkish union workers puts that number at nearly 2 million. Much of this labor is happening in the country’s Kurdish southeast. 56 child workers died at workplaces in Kurdish cities last year. 
American labor unions aren’t the only ones struggling to keep their pension funds solvent. Public pensions for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are scheduled to run out of money as early as July, leading the municipality to file the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The pension fund will owe retirees and creditors approximately $123 billion. It appears Puerto Rico is prioritizing payment to bondholders over the workers. Venezuelans have been protesting
the government for 50 days as of this last Monday. The day was marked with demonstrations, violence, and a rising death toll. More than 950 people have been injured since the protests began. For an interesting take on how unions are tied to this movement in Venezuela, and in Cuba, check out this article.
