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Tell Debenhams and GAP to back Bangladesh safety plan
20 May 2013
TUC Protest re continued assassinations of trade unionists in Guatemala
17 May 2013
Doubling the wages of a Bangladeshi textile worker would add just 2p to the cost of a t-shirt, says TUC
10 May 2013
PDF version available for download (PDF help)
International Development Matters
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Articles for inclusion in International Development Matters should be sent to at twarlock@tuc.org.uk |
In this issue:
TUC News
Other News
IFI News
Global Calls to Action
TUC NEWS
Swaziland: Independence doesn't mean freedom
Independence Day in Swaziland fell on 6 September. The TUC published a statement by TUCOSWA in solidarity with the people of Swaziland.
Read the joint letter by the TUC and Action for Southern Africa urging the Commonwealth Secretary-General to suspend Swaziland from the Commonwealth unless or until it complies with international human rights standards.
Read about the various international actions and solidarity taken around the world in support of Swaziland as part of a Global Week of Action that took place in September.
TUC Aid supporting farmers in Gaza
TUC Aid is supporting the development of a nursery in the Gaza strip to help some of the poorest families secure enough food and improve their incomes.
TUC expresses sorrow on the tragic deaths of factory workers in Pakistan
Read a letter of condolences from the TUC to the General Secretary of the Pakistan Workers' Federation (PWF), expressing shock and sorrow at the deaths of factory workers in Pakistan and joins the international trade union movement in demanding an independent and impartial inquiry and justice for victims.
Fiji slams the door in ILO's face
Fiji's military regime expelled an ILO mission sent to explore breaches of fundamental workers' rights earlier this month. Fiji's economy has crashed under the dictatorship, and unions calling for democracy face harassment and worse. In a joint statement just adopted, Fairtrade International and union groups reiterated the call for full restoration of workers' and farmers' rights to exercise the right of freedom of association and collective bargaining, as a key part of the process of democratic reform in Fiji.
OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Wage deal at Lonmin but labour unrest continues in SA's mining sector
After a six week strike and bloody unrest at Lonmin's Marikana mine that left 45 people dead, workers have returned to work.
ITUC Calls for Release of Swedish Journalist from Eritrean Prison
The ITUC has written to Eritrean President Issayas Afewerki calling for the release of Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak, who has been held in prison in the capital Asmara for 11 years. Despite the fact that Eritrean law allows for detention without trial for a maximum of 30 days, Isaak has never been charged with any offence.
Chad: Trade union leaders given 18-month suspended prison sentence
The ITUC has firmly condemned the sentences handed to three trade union leaders in Chad on Tuesday 18 September. Their only offence has been to denounce the situation in their country, which the Chadian justice system deems sufficient grounds for condemning them to 18-month suspended jail terms for "defamation" and "incitement to hatred".
The Triangular Trap: unions take action against agency work
IndustriALL Global Union have recently released a report focusing on the massive worldwide growth of agency work and other forms of triangular employment relationship and how it is undermining international labour standards. The report exposes how private employment agencies are organising globally to lobby governments to remove legislative barriers to their operation.
Employment Support Programme for Workers with a Disability in Uganda
The Ugandan Employment Support programme for Disabled Workers started in Kampala in August. Over 60 members of the National Organization of Trade Unions of Uganda [NOTU] attended a 3 day training course in disability equality awareness in the workplace. The project is sponsored by Irish and international trade unions and follows on from a similar and very successful project run in Tanzania.
Bahrain Bans Entry of Trade Union and ILO Observers
The ITUC has condemned the Bahrain government's refusal to allow at least seven representatives of the ITUC, national trade union organisations and the United Nations' ILO to enter the country to take part in the Congress of the country's trade union centre GFBTU.
Unions are best way to prevent further disasters in Pakistan
IndustriALL Global Union argues that freedom of association and trade unions are the best way to prevent further workplace tragedies, after it was revealed that certification of the Ali Enterprise factory in Pakistan by a prominent monitoring group issued just weeks earlier did not prevent the fire that killed nearly 300 workers, many of them trapped behind locked exit doors.
New iPhone - Old Abuses
New report on working conditions at Apple's Foxconn supplier in China
As Apple's new iPhone 5 went on sale around the world on 24 September, War on Want's partners, Students Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM), have released a new report exposing the appalling working conditions at a Foxconn factory making the new iPhones in China.
Unions are taking action to STOP Precarious Work
Globally unions are mobilizing to STOP Precarious work. In Indonesia, Mauritius, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Germany, Thailand, Philippines, Colombia, South Africa and many other countries, unions are telling IndustriALL Global Union how they plan to mobilize their members against this tide.
IFI NEWS
Global Unions call for jobs stimulus as OECD assessment points to widening
Trade unions have called for a jobs stimulus by governments as the OECD publishes an Economic Assessment that shows a weakening global economy and spreading recession in Europe.
World Bank report on financial systems
The World Bank issued its first Global Financial Development Report on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse (15 September 2008), which escalated into the near-meltdown of the US financial system and had repercussions around the world. The report examines the state of countries' financial systems in the lead-up to the 2008 crisis and how they have fared since.
The World Bank and the development delusion
The World Bank can be an effective tool in the fight against poverty with fundamental changes in its power structure.
GLOBAL CALLS TO ACTION
ACT NOW! Guatemala: End union-busting at Ternium
At the Ternium factory in Guatemala, the employer has been busy busting up attempts by the workers to form a union. LabourStart have been asked to flood them with messages of protest. Please send off your message and spread the word now!
Emergency appeal for garment workers homeless after fire
Anti-poverty campaigners War on Want have launched an appeal to help many poor garment workers made homeless after a fire destroyed their slum housing in Bangladesh. About 5000 people, mainly those employed in garment factories, lost not only their shelter, but all their belongings through the blaze in the Begun Bari district of Tejgaon, Dhaka.
Click here to make a donation to the appeal
Outlaw caste discrimination in the UK
Despite the inclusion of caste as a factor of discrimination in the 2010 Equality Act, the lack of Ministerial activation of Clause 9(5)(a) has prevented access to recourse and justice to those who have faced this 'hidden apartheid'.
Sign the petition to indicate your support for Home Secretary (Rt. Hon) Theresa May to activate the aforementioned clause in the Equality Act, and ensure that caste discrimination is outlawed in the UK.
Sign up to World Cup campaign for Workers' Rights
"More people will die building Qatar's World Cup stadiums than will play in the World Cup"
94% of working people in Qatar are migrant workers, with no rights at work. Whilst nearly 200 Nepali workers die each year in Qatar, authorities in Qatar refuse to publicly count the number of workers who die or are injured on the job. Send a message to Qatar that there will be no World Cup in 2022 without workers' rights.
FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS
RadioLabour: 27 September Bulletin
Listen to Radio Labour's 27 September's bulletin with stories on; Bangladesh rejects US call to end child and forced labour; Young workers forced to work in black market economy and Mauritius third country to ratify domestic worker law.
RadioLabour: New Music Video Service
RadioLabour has started a new music video service: The Get UP show. The show will be presented every Friday on YouTube and feature Union songs. Protest songs.
Click here to watch the first music video
EVENTS
World Teachers Day 2012: Take a stand for teachers!
Held annually on 5 October, World Teachers' Day (WTD) is an important date in the calendar of the entire educational community. Celebrated since 1994 across the globe, it is an opportunity to honour the teaching profession and support teachers in their efforts empowering people to build a better world.
Saturday 20 October, 11am, Central London (Embankment to Hyde Park)
On 20 October hundreds of thousands of people will gather in central London to march for a future that works. Join the TUC to make your voice heard at the 20 October national march.
World AIDS Day Seminar - Monday, 3 December 2012
The TUC will be holding a seminar on the occasion of the World AIDS Day on Monday 3 December 2012 from 2pm to 4.30pm in Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS.
The Seminar to be chaired by Sue Ferns, General Council member and TUC Aid Trustee, will bring together government officials, trade unionists, interested NGOs and diplomats. The event will provide an opportunity to look at the workplace response to the pandemic and share experience, expertise and lessons from a three-year HIV-AIDS workplace initiative successfully completed in partnership with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in June this year. Further details will follow in the next IDM.
Useful websites
There are a number of websites with useful information for trade unionists, policy makers and campaigners. Details here: Useful websites
Newsletter (1,600 words) issued 4 Oct 2012
This page http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-21497-f0.cfm
printed 23 May 2013 at 16:44 hrs by 54.234.67.55