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Last year the AFL-CIO, America's labour federation, split as members anguished over its flagging power.
ECONOMIST: The shrinking power of America's unions
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Participants from Thailand include policy makers, administrators, educators and representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and other leading industry clusters.
UNESCO: Detailview | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
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And the British Columbia Federation of Labour (representing 450, 000 unionised workers in the province) began a huge campaign of publicity and rallies to persuade the government to change course.
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And police officers gave Home Secretary Jack Straw a slow handclap during his speech to the Police Federation conference where he claimed Labour had maintained standards.
BBC: Voter mars Labour launch
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Home office minister Baroness Browning came under fire as she refused to say, in answer to Labour's Lord Morris of Manchester, whether the coalition had consulted the Police Federation on cuts to police forces.
BBC: Eviction of rioters could be extended
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The second was a show of deference to Hiroshi Okuda, Toyota's chairman, who heads the Keidanren, a powerful business federation, which stands for company management and is a vocal advocate of both lower labour costs and wage-bargaining reform.
ECONOMIST: Deflation is transforming Japan's annual pay rituals
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In other reaction, The Federation of Small Businesses said the plan would encourage more women to return to work and boost labour market "flexibility", while the Twins and Multiple Birth Association called it a "step in the right direction".
BBC: Childcare costs scheme 'better for parents'
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But economic and labour-market policy would be co-ordinated, and foreign and defence policy would be ceded to the federation.
ECONOMIST: Nordic countries revisit an old idea: union