Issue Number 128 December 2013
Monthly newsletter reporting international development matters and issues affecting trade unionists around the world. Including reports, statements, interviews and events.
As we mark yet another World AIDS Day on 1st December we reflect on the continuous work the international trade union movement has done to consistently highlight; the effectiveness of the role of the workplace in the fight against HIV-AIDS; the adoption of the ILO Recommendation on the HIV-AIDS and the World of Work and in the lobbying and advocacy efforts in favour of its implementation across the globe. The need for the introduction of Social Protection Floors (SPFs) in line with national policies and practices as part of an effective and efficient strategy against the disease cannot be overemphasized in this regard.
Read more here
The TUC announced a Saturday 23 November day of action at Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Peacocks stores two days before the action. Despite months of campaigning, EWM had been refusing to join nearly all their competitors and take action to fix dangerous factories in Bangladesh. Then they signed the union-backed agreement! However, they have yet to pay compensation to victims of the Tazreen fire.
TUC protests against suspension of union official in Zimbabwe
In a letter to the Chief Executive of the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, the TUC has protested against the suspension of the President of the Bank and Allied Workers’ Union over union activity.
300 women trade union delegates from 100 countries gathered in Dakar, Senegal, earlier in November to analyse the impacts of the global jobs crisis on women, find ways to organise more women and map out international trade union action to improve women’s job security, pay and conditions as the global economy remains highly unstable. Read more here
Read the union calls for ILO Standard on gender-based violence at work on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November.
With climate change talks finally concluded after a massive civil society walkout during the Climate Change Conference in Warsaw and a 36-hour long negotiation over an almost meaningless text, the trade union movement calls on working people to increase public pressure on governments.
Read the first, second, third, four and fifth diary entry blogs from the TUC about the conference.
Listen to the RadioLabour interviews with ITUC, PSI and TUC on the issues of climate change.
Over the last eight months, violence against workers has been escalating in Cambodia. Recently police shot and beat workers demonstrating to improve working conditions in the garment industry.
Read more here.
Hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers are taking strike action and holding mass rallies to demand a fair minimum wage and protection for workers from phony employment arrangements which remove employer obligations through ’outsourcing’ arrangements.
Hassan Juma’a, the leader of the Iraqi General Union of Oil Employees, the powerful oil workers union in the Southern Oil Company, which produces billions of dollars in oil for the beleaguered Iraqi economy, has been freed again and has had the charges of ‘disrupting oil production by holding violent demonstrations and calling illegal strikes’ thrown out.
Read more here
International unions are calling on the Qatar authorities to give an immediate response to the request for urgent reforms for migrant workers following a ten-day UN investigation in the country.
NSC’s new bi-annual magazine ‘Nicaragua Now’ will provide coverage of UK-Nicaragua solidarity and features and interviews with Nicaraguan organisations that have links in the UK through NSC, Wales NSC, twin towns, trade unions and other organisations with projects and volunteering programmes in Nicaragua.
The international trade union movement urged the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which held their annual meetings in Washington on 11-13 October, to reverse the harmful austerity and deregulatory policies that have contributed to a new global downturn and continued high joblessness. Read the European Network on Debt and Development’s (Eurodad) critical assessment of the results of the meetings.
Read a TUAC press release on how Austerity contributes to unemployment and worsens inequality
A new World Bank Group strategy was signed off at the 2013 annual meetings. It prioritises greater use of the private sector and “transformational engagements”, but criticisms continue over the Bank’s desire to tell countries what to do.
The Robin Hood Tax known formally as the financial transactions tax or FTT is being implemented by 11 European governments. Unions, along with anti-poverty campaigners, development NGOs, green activists and faith groups have been supporting the tax because it will rebalance the finance sector to concentrate on long-term productive investment instead of short-term gambling on the markets.
Read more here
A number of Mexico’s community activists and trade unionists, members of the mine workers union have been arrested and, in one case, beaten, by security forces. The arrests are connected to the local community’s struggle against Excellon, a Canadian company. The union is demanding that any charges be dropped, and that the safety of the union members and community activists be guaranteed.
Please send your message of protest here
Today in Iraq, the 1987 Saddam Hussein-era laws remain in effect and are actively enforced. They prevent unions from carrying out normal union activity. ACT NOW! Write to the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour and Social Affairs and register your urgent support for a new labour law that respects workers’ fundamental rights in Iraq.
The NUJ has joined international and Turkish unions to deplore the lack of fair treatment of journalists in trials overseen by special courts. Please support the urgent appeal against the life sentences given to four Turkish journalists Füsun Erdoğan, Ziya Ulusoy, Bayram Namaz , Ibrahim Cicek on 2 November. They were all accused of being members of the Marxist organisation (MLKP) that is considered illegal by the Turkish government.
The people who make our clothes in factories in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Cambodia and more, live in poverty, usually earning just half of what they need to meet their basic needs and care for their families. Labour Behind the Label believes that all garment workers should be paid a wage they can live on; because having a job should mean being able to support yourself and your family.
Find out what a living wage means and take action here
Read the ‘Still Waiting’ report examining what progress has been made on delivering compensation to the families and workers affected by the tragedy.
A new International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) was launched during a congress in Montevideo (Uruguay) from 26th to 28th October 2013. On this occasion, Unions leaders explained here to the ILO, their views about the next challenges for unions in relation to the ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 189 on Domestic Workers.
In Brazil more than 1,400 delegates met in October 2013 to discuss the plight of the world's 168 million child labourers. About 120 of the delegates were trade unionists. Listen to the RadioLabour interview with Sue Longley, policy officer for agriculture and plantations at the International Union of Food workers (IUF).
Saturday 7 December 2013, 9.15am-5pm
Congress House, 23-28 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS
Tickets: £10 waged / £8 unwaged (£12 / £10 on the door)
Latin America 2013 brings together political leaders, trade unionists, NGOs, academics & progressive movements from Latin America and the UK to explore recent developments across the region. The conference will be followed by Fiesta with live Cuban and Latin American music from Omar Puente and friends from 5.30pm at Bolivar Hall, Grafton Way, London.
For more information and to book tickets, click here. Follow on Facebook here, join on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LatinAmerica13
Wednesday 18 December 2013 - 10:30 to 13:00
Unite the Union, Tony Benn House, Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6AY
The issues of immigration and population are hotly debated and effect how people are treated at work and in our communities. This seminar will help arm trade union representatives with the facts on population and migration. It will discuss common beliefs and scare stories around migrants.
Full details and to register, click here
There are a number of websites with useful information for trade unionists, policy makers and campaigners. Details here: Useful websites
The person responsible for the e-bulletin is:
Tanya Warlock
Tel 0207 467 1357
Email twarlock@tuc.org.uk
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