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International Matters E-Bulletin
 
International Development Matters
 
Issue 142 June 2015 
 

IDM - Monthly newsletter reporting international development matters and issues affecting trade unionists around the world. Including reports, statements, interviews and events.

TUC NEWS

TUC welcomes Rana Plaza compensation fund finally reaching target $30 million

TUC continues to support the fight against union repression in Swaziland

OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ITUC Global Rights Index names world’s ten worst countries for workers

Colombia: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Guatemala: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Qatar: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Swaziland: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

IFI NEWS

TTIP, CETA, TISA: We need to call time on zombie trade deals

BRICS bank to open on 7 July 2015

Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects

CALLS TO ACTION

Malaysia: Stop union busting in SFI

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS 

ILO interview with Myrtle Witbooi – General Secretary of South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union

ILO Director-General Guy Ryder calls for stronger health and safety measures

EVENTS

Screening of Aleida Guevara's Hugo Chavez, Venezuela & the New Latin America

2015 Chainmakers Festival

Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival 2015

TUC NEWS

TUC welcomes Rana Plaza compensation fund finally reaching target $30 million

The TUC welcomes the announcement that the Rana Plaza Donors’ Trust Fund has finally met its target of $30 million. The announcement means that full compensation can be paid to the victims of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in 2013, which killed almost 1200 workers. 

Read more here

TUC continues to support the fight against union repression in Swaziland

Members of the European Parliament have condemned Swaziland for its repression of trade union and human rights. TUC, Unison and Unite along with Action on Southern Africa and human rights organisations have been helping Swaziland’s main union confederation, TUCOSWA, and have been demanding that the Commonwealth heads of government take action against Swaziland.

Read more here

OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ITUC Global Rights Index names world’s ten worst countries for workers

The International Trade Union Confederation has been collecting data on the abuse of trade union rights around the world for more than 30 years. This is the second year the ITUC has presented its findings through the Global Rights Index, offering a snapshot for government and business to see how their laws and supply chains have deteriorated or improved in the last 12 months.

Colombia: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Colombia is the world’s capital for murders of unionists. Despite fitful progress in the ongoing peace process between the government and the FARC guerrillas, Colombia’s trade unionists are still in the line of fire, with 22 killed in the past 12 months alone.

Read more here

Guatemala: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Murder, armed attacks and a lack of due process is the reality for Guatemalan unionists and their leaders. Throughout the last 12 months, leaders of the country’s various transport, municipal and market workers have been gunned down.

Read more here

Qatar: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Qatar has made the ITUC’s list of the ten worst countries for workers’ rights abuses, and it’s not hard to see why when you look at the plight of the country’s army of migrant workers.

Read more here

Swaziland: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights

Swaziland makes the top ten worst places for workers because of its repressive regime of intimidation, police violence and imprisonment. Trade unions are also banned and authorities have used anti-terrorism laws to crack down on union leaders under the guise of national security.

Read more here

IFI NEWS

TTIP, CETA, TISA: We need to call time on zombie trade deals

Trade affects everyone’s lives. It affects the job you can get, the pay you receive and of course the goods you can buy. But trade policy and negotiations like those being conducted for TTIP, CETA and TiSA affect a lot more than that.

Read more here

BRICS bank to open on 7 July 2015

The New Development Bank (NDB) , created last year by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), will begin operations on 7 July, coinciding with the next BRICS Summit to take place in Ufa, Russia on 7-8 July. The NDB will provide a financing alternative to the World Bank, where the five large emerging markets have sought more clout.

Read more here

Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects

Human Rights Watch has just issued a 150-page report detailing reprisals against critics of World Bank Group projects in several countries, including Cambodia, India, Uganda and Kyrgyzstan.

Read more here

CALLS TO ACTION

Malaysia: Stop union busting in SFI

The Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) is defying an order of the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources and is in clear breach of the ILO conventions with its refusal to recognise the Sabah Timber Industry Employees Union (STIEU). Instead, the company is insisting it will only recognize an in-house union it controls. Sign the LabourStart petition calling for SFI to allow workers to exercise their right to form and join a trade union of their own choosing in Malaysia. 

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

ILO interview with Myrtle Witbooi – General Secretary of South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union

Read the ILO interview with Myrtle Witbooi – General Secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) and President of the International domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) as she continues to campaign for greater protection for domestic workers in South Africa and highlights the challenges faced by all vulnerable workers.

ILO Director-General Guy Ryder calls for stronger health and safety measures

Guy Ryder the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation expresses great sadness over last month’s Philippines shoe factory deaths and calls for stronger health and safety measures. Read more here

EVENTS

Screening of Aleida Guevara's Hugo Chavez, Venezuela & the New Latin America

Thursday 2 July, 7.00pm (Doors 6.30)

Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London, W1T 5DL

This unique film by Aleida Guevara, daughter of Che, gives an amazing insight into the progressive change that has taken place in Venezuela and other Latin American countries in recent years. This showing will mark Venezuela's national Independence Day and be followed by a Q&A on Venezuela's role in at the forefront of the new Latin America.

Tickets and info here

2015 Chainmakers Festival

Sunday 12 July 11.00 – 18.00

Cradley Heath High Street, Cradley Heath, B64 5HJ

The Festival celebrating an historic strike by Women Chainmakers will return to Cradley Heath in July 2015. The Chainmakers festival will be held on Cradley Heath High Street - the iconic heart of the famous struggle where the Chainmakers worked and lived - and fought their successful ten week dispute to secure a minimum wage for their sector.

Full event info is here

Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival 2015

Friday 17 - Sunday 19 July, Dorchester, Dorset

Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival remembers the six farmworkers who, in 1834, were transported to Australia after forming a trade union to campaign for a pay rise. Speakers on the Sunday include TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady, TUC president Leslie Manasseh, Angela Eagle MP and Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner. Tickets and full programme are here

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