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IDM - Bumper edition of the monthly newsletter reporting international development matters and issues affecting trade unionists around the world. Including reports, statements, interviews and events. Featuring news on jailed Iranian teacher trade unionist Esmail Abdi; unions who #StandWithLula; five years after Rana Plaza; Somalia government being called to account at the European Parliament; the death of mine workers in South Africa and Pakistan; World Bank and IMF still misbehaving in developing countries; FIFA Iran & women rights to watch football; and interviews with Commonwealth Group trade union leaders. 
International Matters E-Bulletin
 
International Development Matters
 

Issue number 174 April/May 2018

 
IDM - Bumper edition of the monthly newsletter reporting international development matters and issues affecting trade unionists around the world. Including reports, statements, interviews and events. Featuring news on jailed Iranian teacher trade unionist Esmail Abdi, unions who #StandWithLula, five years after Rana Plaza, Somalia government being called to account at the European Parliament, the death of mine workers in South Africa and Pakistan, World Bank and IMF still behaving badly in developing countries, FIFA Iran & women rights to watch football, and interviews with Commonwealth Group trade union leaders. 

TUC NEWS

TUC calls for immediate release of Iranian trade unionist Mr Esmail Abdi

TUC and affiliates #StandWithLula

TUC condemns threats made against senior Argentinian trade unionist Roberto Baradel

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ITUC May Day Statement 2018

TUC Blog: Five years on from the Rana Plaza tragedy. Has anything changed?

European Parliament hears calls for urgent protection of journalists and trade unions in Somalia

Mozambique: Union shocked by appalling conditions at plastics factory

Mine workers died in South Africa and Pakistan

IFI NEWS

Global Unions Statement to the 2018 Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Washington, 20-22 April 2018

Ghana’s Labour Laws Are Not Friendly, Review Them – Ghana Trade Union Congress

Tunisia’s Teachers Strike Against IMF Imposed Austerity Policies

Public-private partnerships don't work. It's time for the World Bank to take action

CALLS TO ACTION

Iran: FIFA Called on to Enforce Human Rights and non-Discrimination Policy

ACT NOW! Turkey: Smart suits, shabby treatment: Sponsor of Bundesliga teams fires union members

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

RadioLabour interview with Mamadou Diallo, ITUC Deputy General Secretary

Equal Times interview with Toni Moore, General Secretary, Barbados Workers’ Union

RadioLabour interview with Ernest Nadome, 1st Assistant General Secretary, COTU- Kenya, and General Secretary, KETAWU

EVENTS

In Conversation with...Professor Steven Haines

Tolpuddle Martyrs and the lessons today

TUC NEWS

TUC calls for immediate release of Iranian trade unionist Mr Esmail Abdi

TUC General Secretary writes to the Ambassador of Iran to request the immediate release of Mr Esmail Abdi, General Secretary of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association.

Read the blog by Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT Deputy General Secretary about the issues.

TUC and affiliates #StandWithLula

The TUC, affiliates and global unions took part in an international day of action on 23 April outside the London Brazilian Embassy in support of Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva, who has been given to a 12-year sentence for alleged corruption charges.

Read more here

TUC condemns threats made against senior Argentinian trade unionist Roberto Baradel

The TUC wrote to the Argentinian ambassador to the UK in January, expressing our concern and demanding immediate action to protect Roberto Baradel, deputy general secretary of CTERA and international secretary of CTA de los Trabajadores (CTA-T) and his family over the renewal of serious threats.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ITUC May Day Statement 2018

“One hundred and fifty years ago, workers in Britain came together to create the world’s first national trade union centre, the TUC, in the city of Manchester. They, and working people in many other places at that time, laid the first foundations for the global trade union movement of today, more than 200 million strong. Ever since those early steps, men and women organising together have built and grown their unions and changed the course of history”.

Read the full ITUC’s May Day statement here

TUC Blog: Five years on from the Rana Plaza tragedy. Has anything changed?

Five years on from the Rana Plaza tragedy that claimed over 1,100 lives, Bangladesh is still caught between a safer future and dangerous old habits. Read the blog by TUC’s Stephen Russell who was part of a delegation with the ETI and met with Bangladesh garment factory unions to assess progress on working conditions since the Rana Plaza disaster. 

European Parliament hears calls for urgent protection of journalists and trade unions in Somalia

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the ITUC teamed up on 20 March with the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) to testify at the European Parliament about the riskier and more difficult environment in which journalists and trade unions are operating in Somalia. Hosted by Ms Alex Mayer MEP, the event focus on human rights situation in Somalia to shed light on onslaught of harassment, intimidation, smear campaigns, ill-treatment, and unlawful actions to curtail freedom of expression and freedom of association. The TUC was also in attendance for solidarity with Somalia trade unionists.

Read more here

Mozambique: Union shocked by appalling conditions at plastics factory

Workers at a Chinese-owned plastics factory in Mozambique are being forced to work in shocking conditions according to IndustriALL Global Union trade union affiliate, SINTIQUIAF, which organises more than 15,000 workers in the chemical and allied industries.

Mine workers died in South Africa and Pakistan

In South Africa, four workers have died and three are trapped underground as rescue efforts continue at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane Shaft in Westonaria, Johannesburg, which has been closed. This follows seismic incident causing a fall ground on 3 May that saw 13 mineworkers trapped underground. Six have since been rescued and are recovering in hospital.

In Pakistan, in separate incidents on the same day, a staggering total of 23 mine workers were killed and 11 injured in horrific mine accidents in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on 5 May.

IFI NEWS

Global Unions Statement to the 2018 Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Washington, 20-22 April 2018

Despite the IMF’s forecast in April 2018 that the present phase of stronger economic growth will continue into 2019, but perhaps not beyond, the ITUC has deep concerns about current developments in the global economy. The ITUC and its Global Unions partner organisations express these concerns in a statement released in advance of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank which begin on 20 April in Washington.

Ghana’s Labour Laws Are Not Friendly, Review Them – Ghana Trade Union Congress

General Secretary of the Ghana Trade Union Congress is calling for an urgent review of Ghana’s labour laws in order to address issues of bad work ethics in the country.

Read more here

Tunisia’s Teachers Strike Against IMF Imposed Austerity Policies

Since December last year, thousands of teachers in Tunisia have been mobilising against government policies stemming from IMF programmes, which threaten the public education system and the rights of the educational workers. Various workers and teacher unions’ around the world have expressed their solidarity with movement in Tunisia.

Read more here

Public-private partnerships don't work. It's time for the World Bank to take action

Last month (April) executive directors of the World Bank were handed a letter signed by more than 80 civil society organisations and trade unions including the GMB (and the ITUC)  from around the world, urging a change in the bank’s approach to public-private partnerships.

CALLS TO ACTION

Iran: FIFA Called on to Enforce Human Rights and non-Discrimination Policy

The International Trade Union Confederation, along with several union and civil society organisations, is calling on FIFA to ensure that its human rights policy is fully respected and ensure that Iran ends its ban on women attending men’s football matches. We must tell FIFA Iran must play by the rules and end the ban on women in stadiums before the World Cup’s opening ceremony.

Sign the petition in support of all female Iranian football fans!

ACT NOW! Turkey: Smart suits, shabby treatment: Sponsor of Bundesliga teams fires union members

German clothing company Roy Robson has fired eleven union members from its factory in Izmir, Turkey. The company is a major sponsor of Bundesliga football teams Werder Bremen and VfL Wolfsburg. The Izmir plant employs 600 people, and textile union Teksif has tried to organize it for some time.

Take action here

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

RadioLabour interview with Mamadou Diallo, ITUC Deputy General Secretary

More than 5,000 people from 53 countries are participating in the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting being held in London April 16 to 20, 2018.

Listen to the Radio Labour interview with Mamadou Diallo, ITUC Deputy General Secretary who attended the conference.
 

Equal Times interview with Toni Moore, General Secretary, Barbados Workers’ Union

The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting was held in London on 19-20 April. Toni Moore, general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union, says that despite their varied national contexts, the members of the Commonwealth Trade Union Group are all singing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to workers’ rights.

Read her interview here

RadioLabour interview with Ernest Nadome, 1st Assistant General Secretary, COTU- Kenya, and General Secretary, KETAWU

Listen to the RadioLabour interview with Ernest Nadome, 1st Assistant General Secretary (COTU- Kenya) and General Secretary of the Kenyan Electrical Trades and Allied Workers Union (KETAWU). Discussing how climate change is affecting energy workers in Kenya.

EVENTS

In Conversation with...Professor Steven Haines 

Thursday 17 May, 6.15 pm (6.00 pm arrivals) to 7.30 pm, NEU – NUT Section HQ, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London, WC1H 9BD

(Cost: Free)

The 2018 Send My Friend to School Campaign focuses on making schools safe across the globe by asking the UK Government to sign the Safe Schools Declaration. This event will be an opportunity for audience members to learn the importance of the Declaration from Professor Steven Haines, the author of the International Guidelines for Protecting Schools from Military Use during Armed Conflict. Participants will also hear more about the Send My Friend to School Campaign, including how they can get involved.

Click here to secure your free place at the event. 

Tolpuddle Martyrs and the lessons today

Wednesday 30 May, 19:00 to 21:00, Congress House, London, WC1B 3LS

(Cost: Free)

The story of the six farm workers, transported into slavery in Australia for forming a union in 1834 and freed after a massive outcry, is one of the most significant episodes in the early days of trade unionism. Graham Moore singer songwriter, Gill Redmond on cello and Nigel Costley South West TUC Regional Secretary and Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival Organiser will present the story in their entertaining style.

Registration and full details here

The person responsible for the e-bulletin is:
Tanya Warlock
Tel 0207 467 1307
E: twarlock@tuc.org.uk

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