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Category: Updates from the Field
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Sign the Petition: BEAT THE HEAT!
Extreme heat is deadly and it’s only getting worse. Climate change is fueling longer, hotter summers, and low and moderate income people are being left to suffer the consequences.
Tenants are baking in unsafe apartments.
Delivery workers are being forced to work in 45°C heat.
Governments and corporations are doing too little, too late. OSHA heat protections rolled back for outdoor workers.We demand urgent action from governments, landlords, and corporations to protect the people most at risk — not someday, NOW.
✊ We Call For:
🔹 Cooling as a right: Max temperature bylaws and retrofits with tenant protections.
🔹 Worker protections: Heat breaks, hazard pay, and rest zones for gig and informal workers.
🔹 No heat profiteering: Stop evictions and rent hikes tied to “green” upgrades.
🔹 Public investment: Fund energy poverty programs and safe, sustainable housing for all.
🔹 Reinstate and expand OSHA heat protections for all US workers -
Beat The Heat
July 15th Global Day of Action
Deadly heat is rising.
Tenants, workers, and vulnerable communities are paying the price.
This July 15th, join ACORN members around the world to demand climate justice that protects people.
✅ Protests, petitions & public pressure
✅ Tenant demands for cooling and retrofit justice
✅ Workers fighting for heat safety and rights.📢 It’s time to put the freeze on rising heat. Join your local action or organize your own today!
Because if we don’t fight back together… we’ll get cooked.
Extreme Heat
Extreme heat is the deadliest weather event, killing 489,000 people globally each year. Nearly 19,000 of these deaths are workers exposed to extreme temperatures. Due to the climate crisis, the problem is rapidly escalating: over 4 billion people experienced 30+ days of extreme heat last year alone.
Who Is Most Affected?
Low and moderate income people face the worst impacts, whether through unsafe housing or heat-exposed jobs. Vulnerable populations include seniors, infants, pregnant people, warehouse laborers, farmworkers, street vendors, and gig-workers .
What We are Seeing Across the Globe
🇮🇳 India – Janpahal & GiG Workers Association (GiGWA)
India is at the epicenter of the global heat crisis, with 95 of the world’s 100 hottest cities and rising temperatures creating dangerous conditions for millions of workers.
Street vendors and gig workers face extreme heat with little protection, falling incomes, growing health risks, and increasing debt. Despite making up a large share of the workforce, they are often excluded from Heat Action Plans and climate resilience policies.
Demands:
- Access to free drinking water, shaded rest areas, and public toilets
- Heat resilient vending zones with cooling, storage, and shelter
- Recognition of extreme heat as a labor rights and occupational safety issue
- Protection from eviction and harassment for informal workers
- Meaningful participation of workers in city climate planning and Heat Action Plans
Victory:
- India’s Meteorological Department now issues public heat warnings following years of organizing and advocacy by ACORN affiliates and allies.
🇨🇦 Canada – ACORN Canada
As the climate crisis continues to heat up cities across Canada, low and moderate income tenants are being left in dangerously hot homes. ACORN Canada’s 2025 report, Crumbling Apartments in a Warming World, surveyed 700 tenants and found that nearly 65% live in older apartment buildings built before the 1980s, where poor maintenance and energy inefficiency make extreme temperatures even harder to endure.
The report reveals a growing climate justice crisis. Tenants across the country are experiencing poor sleep, fatigue, headaches, and worsening health conditions due to extreme heat. 44% lack access to air conditioning, while others face rising energy costs, drafty windows, poor ventilation, outdated appliances, and an inability to control indoor temperatures. Despite widespread concern about climate change, few tenants have access to government programs that could help make their homes safer, cooler, and more energy efficient.
Tenants should not bear the financial burden of adapting to a climate crisis they did little to create. Governments, financial institutions, and landlords must ensure that climate resilience measures protect both housing affordability and tenant health.
Demands:
- Affordability and anti-eviction protections in all publicly financed retrofit projects
- Energy efficiency upgrades and mechanical cooling measures for rental housing
- Coverage for all rental housing types, from townhomes to high-rises
- Tenant participation in climate planning and retrofit decision making
- Transparent agreements and Community Benefit Agreements involving tenants, landlords, and financing entities
- Maximum indoor temperature protections for tenants during extreme heat events
Victories:
- New Westminster ACORN won a rule preventing landlords from banning air conditioners and pushed the city toward Canada’s first maximum indoor temperature bylaw.
- Toronto ACORN secured a commitment for a draft maximum heat bylaw to return to City Council by May 2026.
- Ottawa ACORN helped win $100,000 in the city budget for a pilot program providing air conditioning to low income tenants.
- Hamilton ACORN won a rule requiring landlords that provide cooling to keep apartments below 26°C.
- New Brunswick ACORN launched the AC for All campaign to secure affordable air conditioning and mini-split access for low income tenants.
Across the country, ACORN chapters continue organizing for cooling justice, healthier homes, and stronger protections for tenants facing extreme heat.
🇫🇷 France – Locataires Ensemble
Across France, thousands of tenants are trapped in “Logements Bouilloires” homes that become dangerously hot during summer heatwaves. Poor insulation, lack of exterior shutters, inadequate ventilation, and urban heat island effects can push indoor temperatures above 40°C, creating serious health risks including exhaustion, sleep deprivation, stress, and heat related illness. According to the Fondation pour le Logement, nearly one in three homes in France may be considered a “Logement Bouilloire.”
Locataires Ensemble is organizing tenants in Lyon, Villeurbanne, Paris, and beyond to expose the scale of the crisis and win protections for renters. Working alongside Territoire Zéro Logement Malade, tenants are mapping overheating homes, conducting heat diagnostics, and building collective power to hold landlords and public officials accountable. As heatwaves become more frequent and intense, tenants are demanding homes that protect health instead of putting lives at risk.
Demands:
- Mandatory installation of shutters, ventilation, and other cooling measures in overheating homes
- Recognition of overheating housing as a public health issue
- Heat resilience standards for rental housing
- Support for tenant led heat diagnostics and legal enforcement
- Stronger protections for tenants seeking climate related building improvements
Victories:
- More than 14,700 people signed a petition demanding action on overheating housing in Lyon.
- Tenant organizing secured heat audits and commitments for improvements from major landlords, including the Compagnie Foncière Lyonnaise.
- A citywide housing compliance framework addressing overheating homes is being developed in Lyon and is expected to serve as a model for other French cities.
The Logements Bouilloires campaign has helped elevate overheating housing as a national issue, contributing to legislative proposals and broader climate justice advocacy across France.
🏴 Scotland – Living Rent
Scotland may not experience the extreme temperatures seen elsewhere, but even modest increases in heat can rapidly dry out landscapes, increasing the risk of wildfires that threaten homes, communities, wildlife, and public infrastructure. Recent wildfire incidents have prompted warnings from emergency officials, who cautioned that warm, dry conditions can quickly create dangerous fire risks. As climate change brings more frequent periods of hot, dry weather, resilient and well-resourced emergency services are becoming increasingly essential.
Living Rent is organizing alongside the Fire Brigades Union, community groups, and elected officials to oppose the closure of Marionville Fire Station in Edinburgh. Campaigners argue that closure plans fail to account for thousands of new homes being built in the area and come at a time when fire services are already stretched. Freedom of Information requests revealed that backup fire engines at nearby stations were unavailable more than 1,100 times in a single year, raising serious concerns about emergency response capacity during wildfires, heat-related emergencies, and other climate-driven events.
Demands:
- Keep Marionville Fire Station open
- Protect and expand frontline fire and emergency services
- Ensure climate resilience planning accounts for population growth
- Invest in emergency response capacity for wildfires and extreme weather
- Guarantee communities have rapid access to fire protection services
Victory:
- Fire chiefs forced to abandon closure plans and conduct further analysis of fire coverage in Edinburgh
- Growing public recognition of the link between extreme heat, wildfire risk, and the need for well-funded emergency services
- Campaign now pushing for long-term investment to rebuild or refurbish the station and protect communities from future climate-related emergencies
🇨🇲 Cameroon – Syndicat des Travailleurs Saisonniers de la Filière Canne à Sucre (SOSUCAM)
Across Cameroon’s sugar cane plantations, seasonal workers face extreme heat, dangerous working conditions, and a lack of basic protections while performing physically demanding labor outdoors. In January 2025, around 4,000 workers went on strike demanding better pay and safer conditions. After two weeks of peaceful protest, the response was severe, with armed forces deployed against striking workers, resulting in the death of union member Gaston Djora and injuries to others. Despite limited wage concessions, workers continue to face unsafe conditions and a lack of formal recognition for their union.
Workers are organizing for dignity, safety, and the right to collective bargaining in conditions where extreme heat and workplace hazards directly threaten their lives and health. They are demanding an end to repression and real protections that ensure agricultural labor can be carried out safely and sustainably.
Demands:
- Decent work and fair wages for all seasonal agricultural workers
- Safe working conditions that reduce workplace injuries and deaths
- Formal recognition of the workers’ union and inclusive collective bargaining rights
- An end to union repression and retaliation against organizing
- Access to adequate onsite medical care and improved workplace health services
- Clear systems to protect injured workers, including safe return-to-work pathways and appropriate sick leave protections
- Public environmental and social risk management plans that address workplace hazards and accident prevention
Victory:
- Following the 2025 strike, SOSUCAM made limited wage concessions, but workers continue organizing for full recognition, safety protections, and the right to collective bargaining in the face of ongoing repression.
🇺🇸 United States – A Community Voice & Local 100 Arkansas
Across the United States, workers are increasingly exposed to dangerous heat as temperatures rise and extreme weather becomes more common. Outdoor workers, sanitation crews, public works employees, and other frontline workers often face long hours in extreme conditions, putting them at risk of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, lost income, and long-term health impacts. While some cities and states have adopted heat safety protections, enforcement remains inconsistent and many workers are still left vulnerable.
ACORN affiliates and allies are organizing to ensure that heat protections are not only adopted but enforced. In New Orleans, A Community Voice successfully won mandatory heat protections for city and contracted workers, while Local 100 Arkansas is fighting to ensure existing worker safety standards are properly implemented and monitored. Together, these campaigns are building stronger protections for workers on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Demands:
- Mandatory enforcement of worker heat safety protections
- Guaranteed access to water, rest, and shade during extreme heat
- Strong oversight and accountability for employers and public agencies
- Heat illness prevention training and acclimatization programs
- Utility shut-off bans during heat emergencies
- Expanded community cooling resources, heat alerts, and resilience planning
Victory:
- A Community Voice won a New Orleans ordinance requiring paid heat breaks and access to shaded or air-conditioned rest areas for city and contracted workers. The ordinance requires 10-minute paid breaks every two hours when the heat index reaches 80°F–89°F and 15-minute paid breaks every two hours when the heat index reaches 90°F or higher.
Organizers continue working with the City of New Orleans to strengthen Heat Action Plans, expand cooling protections, and build community resilience to extreme heat.
Local 100 Arkansas continues organizing to ensure existing worker protections are enforced and that public employees have the resources and oversight needed to stay safe during extreme heat events.
What We Need to See:
- Recognition of extreme heat as the new normal
- Inclusive, equitable retrofits
- Tenant involvement in all housing/climate policies
- Protections for informal and gig workers
- Heat protections for outdoor workers
Join the Movement: Across the globe, ACORN affiliates are organizing to Beat the Heat. We are demanding action from landlords, employers, and governments to protect the people most at risk.
Join your local campaign. Organize.
Take Action. Demand Change.
Email Us to Join the Global Action
Send email
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Join the 2025 Organizers’ Forum in Romania and Bulgaria
Connect with local and international organizers for a deep dive into the most effective strategies in community organizing today. From cutting-edge grassroots mobilization tactics to communication skills and electoral campaigning, the Organizers’ Forum is a unique space to share experiences, sharpen tools, and build collective power across borders.
This year, the Forum heads to Romania and Bulgaria, where participants will meet with local organizations and activists fighting for women’s rights, environmental justice, fair housing, and more. Join organizers from across the ACORN network and beyond for a powerful week of learning, solidarity, and action.
🛫 Spots are limited
Email wade@chieforganizer.org or rachel@chieforganizer.org to reserve your spot.to reserve your spot. Planning is underway, so stay tuned for updates!
Looking Back: Highlights from the 2024 Organizers’ Forum in Taiwan
Last year, the Organizers’ Forum traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, meeting with some of the most inspiring grassroots groups in the region.
📌 New Bloom Magazine
Our visit to New Bloom offered a compelling glimpse into the intersection of media, activism, and community in Taiwan. Not just an online newspaper, New Bloom also serves as a vibrant social space for political and cultural discussion. We learned from founder Brian Hioe about the challenges of independent media and its vital role in shaping public discourse.
📌 Migrant Workers Organizing: TIWA & SPA
The Forum delegation also met with the Taiwan International Workers Association (TIWA) and the Serve the People Association (SPA) to better understand the struggles of Taiwan’s 800,000 migrant workers. These essential workers, especially in long-term care, often face exploitative broker contracts, high fees, and legal barriers to equality.
TIWA is leading campaigns to regulate these exploitative practices, while SPA provides direct support, shelter, and policy advocacy for migrant workers. Both groups are doing critical work to defend rights and restore dignity to those whose labor is too often invisible.
Read more about our Taiwan trip here:
👉 Migrant Workers in Taiwan: Critical but Oppressed📌 Green Citizens Action Alliance & Taiwan Climate Action Network
We also met with Green Citizens’ Action Alliance (GCAA) and the Taiwan Climate Action Network to discuss pressing climate challenges in Taiwan — from the nuclear power debate to the intensifying effects of typhoons and earthquakes. These groups are leading efforts for environmental justice through grassroots advocacy and research-driven campaigns.
We left Taiwan inspired by these movements and deeply committed to continuing our international solidarity work.
Why It Matters
The Organizers’ Forum is more than a trip — it is a global exchange of strategy, solidarity, and struggle. From Taiwan to Romania, our mission is to connect organizers, build relationships, and strengthen movements that fight for justice everywhere.
If you are an organizer ready to grow your skills, deepen your international perspective, and build long-term solidarity with movements around the world, this is your chance. Join us in Romania and be part of a powerful delegation committed to learning, sharing, and taking action together.
Email wade@chieforganizer.org or rachel@chieforganizer.org to reserve your spot.
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GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST THE ADANI GROUP
ACORN’s 55th Anniversary Goes Global
On June 18th, ACORN affiliates around the world marked our 55th anniversary not with cake, but with coordinated actions across four continents to confront the corruption, displacement, and environmental destruction of the Adani Group.
The Adani Group, controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, is currently evicting hundreds of thousands of people in Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest informal settlement, to make way for luxury towers and malls. Families are being relocated to one of the world’s most toxic landfills. This is just one example of a pattern that spans the globe: corporate greed, land grabs, environmental degradation, and political favoritism.
Across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Kenya, and France, ACORN members delivered demand letters, held rallies, and protested the institutions profiting from Adani’s abuses.
ACTION HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD:
- London, UK: ACORN members delivered symbolic eviction notices at the Science Museum, calling out its sponsorship by Adani Green Energy.
- Edinburgh, Scotland: Members delivered a letter to BlackRock, comparing Adani’s eviction scale to displacing the entire population of Edinburgh.
- Nairobi, Kenya: A community meeting explored how Adani is trying to enter local markets through airport development and trade deals.
- Hamilton, ON: Members marched to MP Aslam Rana’s new office, posting a demand letter on the door and rallying for global housing justice.
- Vancouver, BC: Members delivered a petition to MP Randeep Sarai’s office and secured a follow-up meeting.
- Calgary, AB: Members delivered a demand letter to MP Corey Hogan’s office urging action against Adani investments.
- Ottawa, ON: ACORN visited MP Mona Fortier’s office and flyered the community about Dharavi and Adani’s corporate abuses.
- London, ON: A demand letter was delivered to MP Arielle Kayabaga, calling for divestment from Canadian pension plans tied to Adani.
- Toronto, ON: Members protested outside BlackRock’s headquarters, demanding divestment from Adani enterprises.
- New Orleans, LA: A Community Voice protested at the Port Commission office, linking Adani’s evictions to local displacement struggles in Louisiana.
- Dallas, TX: Members protested at Adani North America’s supposed headquarters — a residential home listed in Texas filings — to expose the company’s lack of transparency.
- Little Rock, AR: Letters were delivered to both of Arkansas’s U.S. Senators urging continued investigation and no deals with Adani.
- Paris, France: Protesters gathered at a Synergy gas station to denounce the company’s ties to Adani Energy and the environmental damage caused by its oil extraction operations.
IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO GET INVOLVED!
The fight isn’t over. You can still:
- ✍️ Sign our petition to the U.S. Attorney General calling for full prosecution of Adani under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- 📣 Share this campaign with your network
- 🚫 Demand institutions cut ties with Adani now
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ACORN’s 55th Anniversary Press Release: Global Action Opposes Adani
Global Day of Action Targets Adani’s Land Grab in Dharavi, Mumbai
ACORN International and Affiliates Around the World Stand in Solidarity with Residents Facing Mass Eviction
June 12, 2025 – On June 18, people across the globe will rise in coordinated action to demand justice for Dharavi residents and accountability from the Adani Group, as ACORN International marks its 55th anniversary by confronting one of the most egregious cases of corporate corruption, land grabbing, and environmental injustice in the world today.
Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest informal settlements and home to up to one million people in Mumbai, India, is facing forced redevelopment under a project led by the Adani Group, the multinational corporation controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest men. The plan threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of residents with little to no consultation or guaranteed right to return. Many are planned to be relocated to the Deonar landfill, one of Mumbai’s most toxic sites, instead of being housed safely within the community they have helped build.
This is not development. It is a scam disguised as progress. People will be pushed out of their homes to make way for luxury towers and shopping malls, while billionaire Adani and his political allies profit.
Adani holds an 80% stake in the Dharavi redevelopment and with the current ‘master plan’ has carved out half of Dharavi’s landmass for himself. The plan has moved forward with little transparency or democratic input from the community. Meanwhile, the Deonar landfill, the proposed relocation site for a potential 500,000 residents, contains over 18 million metric tons of legacy waste, emits over 6,000 kilograms of methane per hour, and leaks toxic chemicals posing massive health and environmental risks.
This pattern of corporate impunity extends far beyond Mumbai. Adani’s record is under scrutiny not only in India but globally. The U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted Adani Group for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including a reported $250 million bribery scheme involving Indian officials and misleading statements to American investors, where he is facing charges from the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). A separate incident involving U.S. sanctions violations by an Adani-linked oil shipping entity has further triggered investigations by the US Justice Department and fueled calls for accountability. Adani’s business practices have been described as “the largest con in corporate history”.
In response, ACORN International and its affiliates are calling on governments, institutions, and corporations to cut ties with Adani, refuse to support or legitimize displacement and environmental destruction, and urge the U.S. Department of Justice to aggressively pursue its indictment into Adani Group’s alleged corruption under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This call to action is part of our growing international movement demanding accountability.
On June 18, protests, petitions, and digital actions will take place across Canada, the United States, France, Kenya, and the United Kingdom. Cities taking part include Toronto, London, Edinburgh, New Orleans, Little Rock, Dallas, Baltimore, and Paris. These actions will denounce Adani’s abuses and call for an end to mass evictions in Dharavi.
Together, we stand in solidarity with the people of Dharavi and all communities resisting exploitation. We encourage anyone ready to speak out against Adani to join their local affiliate branch in action and sign our petition.
ACORN International is a federated organization with 300,000 members of low and moderate income families and lower waged workers organized in more than fifteen countries around the world, working to empower people, communities, and workers for the last 55 years.
To learn more or to join an action, visit:
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Petition to Hold Adani Accountable
Why Sign?
- Communities Displaced: Adani’s projects have displaced thousands, including residents of Dharavi in Mumbai, who are being pushed out to a landfill to make way for luxury development.
- Environmental Harm: His companies are major contributors to the climate crisis through coal expansion, destructive infrastructure, and deceptive greenwashing.
- Corruption & Fraud: Adani Group is under investigation for serious allegations including bribery, fraud, and sanctions violations.
- Institutional Complicity: Many institutions invest in or partner with Adani — they must divest now or be held accountable.
- New Deals in Progress: Governments and companies are still considering business with Adani. The message must be clear: Do not start.
To: Attorney General Pamela Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice
We respectfully urge the Department of Justice to continue its investigation into the Adani Group under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
According to credible allegations, executives at Adani Enterprises planned a $250 million bribery scheme involving Indian officials and made misleading statements to U.S. investors, while using U.S. financial institutions to conduct business. These facts bring the matter clearly within the jurisdiction of U.S. law.
The recent incident involving U.S. sanctions violations by an Adani-linked entity further underscores the urgent need for renewed scrutiny and legal accountability.
The question at hand is not about foreign policy. It is about integrity. If exceptions to U.S. anti-corruption laws are made based on perceived diplomatic risk, it undermines the rule of law that protects both free markets and strong international partnerships.
The relationship between the United States and India is important and will only be strengthened when both countries uphold a shared commitment to transparency, accountability, and legal due process. Dropping this case could erode investor confidence and send the wrong message to corporations that seek to operate above the law.
This is not about politics or personalities. It is about protecting the credibility of U.S. enforcement mechanisms. No company should be shielded from legal scrutiny because of wealth, influence, or geopolitical considerations.
We ask that the Department of Justice uphold its responsibility to pursue justice fairly and independently.
The rule of law must apply equally to all.
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Celebrating 55 Years of Organizing with a Global Stand Against Adani
WHO
Gautam Adani is one of the richest men in the world and the oligarch behind India’s most powerful corporate empire. His companies span fossil fuels, infrastructure, media, to defense and have grown through a pattern of land grabs, environmental destruction, and political favoritism.
Adani’s destructive empire is propped up by a global web of investors, partners, and silent beneficiaries. These include corporations investing in his companies, institutions accepting donations, and entities facilitating his expansion. Governments, pension funds, and infrastructure authorities must make a choice: Will they support an empire built on displacement, exploitation, and environmental destruction?
Grassroots groups across Canada, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom Have all decided to raise their voices. From Dallas and New Orleans to Paris, London, and beyond, communities are taking action to demand accountability and resist further expansion.
WHAT
A wave of grassroots actions for ACORN’S 55th Anniversary led by communities around the world to mark one year since explosive allegations reignited global scrutiny of the Adani Group’s record of financial misconduct, climate destruction, and human rights abuse.
We are sending a clear message:
Cut ties with the Adani empire now – don’t invest, don’t build, and don’t legitimize.
Even if Adani is not currently doing business in your region:
Don’t Let Adani In. Stop the Harm Before It Starts.
WHY
- Adani’s growth has displaced communities and threatened livelihoods, most notably in Dharavi, one of India’s largest informal settlements, where residents are being pushed out, to a literal landfill, to make way for a real estate project. This pattern continues across rural and Indigenous lands in Australia and around the world.
- His companies are driving the climate crisis by expanding coal operations, building destructive infrastructure, and using greenwashing to mask the damage.
- Ongoing corruption, fraud allegations, and legal investigations reveal that Adani is not a trustworthy partner for any institution.
- Many organizations have quietly profited from his empire through investments, partnerships, or donations, and must divest now or be held accountable.
- Others are considering new relationships — including governments exploring infrastructure deals. The message is simple: Do not start doing business with Adani!
Want to Get Involved?
- Join a local action in your city or country
- Call on institutions near you to cut ties with Adani
- Share the campaign and amplify the demand for divestment
- Sign the petition to demand investigation
The resistance to Adani’s global empire is only growing stronger — and it’s not stopping now. Around the world, people are standing up to say: Our communities will not be ruled by oligarchs — starting with Gautam Adani.
Confirmed Affiliate Participation
Communities across the globe are organizing coordinated actions. Here are the confirmed locations where affiliate organizations are planning events:
🇨🇦CanadaToronto London Hamilton Vancouver Ottawa Calgary Fredericton🏴EnglandLondon🏴ScotlandEdinburgh🇺🇸USANew Orleans Dallas Houston Little Rock Baltimore🇫🇷FranceParis🇰🇪KenyaNairobi -
STRASCAS marches for workers’ rights in Cameroon
?? STRASCAS marches for workers’ rights in Cameroon ??
On this year’s 139th International Workers’ Rights Day, ACORN International affiliate STRASCAS led a powerful protest parade in Douala with 190 members demanding decent work, safety, union rights, and social dialogue. Their slogans were clear:
✊ Decent work = Decent pay
✊ More protection = Fewer deaths
✊ Yes to inclusive collective bargaining
✊ Stop union repression!This important day also marked a major step forward: STRASCAS officially became an affiliate of the Confédération Entente Nationale des Travailleurs du Cameroun.
?? STRASCAS défile pour les droits des travailleurs au Cameroun ??
À l’occasion de la 139e Journée Internationale des Droits des Travailleurs, notre affilié STRASCAS a organisé une parade revendicative puissante à Douala, rassemblant 190 membres autour de slogans forts :✊ Travail décent = Salaire décent
✊ Plus de protection = Moins de décès
✊ Oui au dialogue social collectif et inclusif
✊ Stop à la répression syndicale !Cette journée fut aussi marquée par une avancée importante : STRASCAS est désormais affilié à la Confédération Entente Nationale des Travailleurs du Cameroun.
Travailleurs saisonniers filière canne à sucre
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ACORN is featured in Jack Shenker’s review of Against Landlords
ACORN is featured in Jack Shenker’s review of Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis by Nick Bano, published in the latest issue of the London Review of Books. The article doesn’t just name-check ACORN, it highlights the heart of our work: turning frustration, fear, and isolation into collective action and power.
Shenker writes about Ruby, a tenant trapped in the UK’s cruel private rental system, living with chronic illness in a mold-infested HMO owned by a retired doctor profiting from public housing benefit. After falling from the security of a corporate London job and grappling with the trauma of housing instability in her early adulthood, Ruby found herself once again on the brink of eviction. Stripped of income, health, and options, what little recourse did she have in the face of a system stacked against her? Organizing with ACORN. From role-playing landlord confrontations at a workshop, to speaking at our TSB bank occupation in Tottenham, Ruby found her voice and a community that fights back.
The review also acknowledges the legacy we’re building on: from Red Clydeside to the Stepney Tenants’ Defence League, ACORN, the London Renters Union, and Living Rent are organizing in a much harsher landscape, where rent strikes are criminalized and tenant protections are eroded. But as the review rightly points out, our confrontational actions, occupying banks, storming letting agents, and naming and shaming exploitative landlords shine a necessary light on the power imbalance at the heart of the housing crisis. For renters like Ruby, community unions like ACORN offer resistance need to combat the housing crisis’s in our communities .
Bano’s book and Shenker’s review both make one thing clear: landlordism in Britain has become a national industry, bolstered by MPs, corporations, even charities. But the fight is far from over. As Bano says, “The solutions are already in our neighborhoods.”
? Read the article: “Renters v. Rentiers” in the London Review of Books
? Read the book: Against Landlords by Nick Bano
? Join the fight: Your Local ACORN Branch -
Dundee in Scotland: A full pause on rent payments & £1,000 in compensation
Congratulations to our affiliate, Living Rent Dundee in Scotland, for their victory securing both compensation and critical repairs for union member Charlie.
Charlie endured unacceptable living conditions in their Dundee tenement flat, suffering from severe roof damage that caused water to leak into walls and ceilings. This led to serious mold and dampness issues throughout the home. The situation was made worse by an outdated heating system and a non-functioning window. Despite reporting these issues, the agency failed to complete any repairs for over a year.
After joining Living Rent Dundee, Charlie worked alongside union representatives to negotiate with both the current letting agents, DJ Alexander, and the landlord. We’re thrilled for their success in securing:
A full pause on rent payments until all necessary repairs are completed and the property meets proper standards
£1,000 in compensation for the distress and uninhabitable conditions
This victory demonstrates the power of community organizing and tenant solidarity.