G8: globalisation and sweatshops

No Sweat, 24 pages, paperback, £1.50 from No Sweat, PO Box 36707, London SW9 8YA - www.nosweat.org.uk

This pamphlet, sponsored by general union GMB, looks at why campaigners need to go beyond calls for trade justice, debt cancellation and more and better aid.

Taking Africa as an example, it points out that in 2003, 25 African trade unionists were killed, 218 injured, beaten or tortured, 903 arrested and 6,556 dismissed from their jobs. In almost every African country trade union activity is impeded.

But African workers continue to demonstrate their courage and militancy. There are over 12 million trade unionists in Africa. Workers on the continent have been at the forefront of struggles for decent jobs and for wider questions of democracy, against apartheid and military dictatorships.

In contrast to governments and the media who ignore the voices of African workers, this booklet argues that the key to change in Africa is the labour movement.