International Development Matters - Issue number 178 September / October 2018

TUC NEWS

TUC Congress in solidarity with Brazilian trade union movement

TUC writes to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang calling for release of trade unionists

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Nigeria: General Strike as Government Fails to Meet Minimum Wage Pledge

eSwatini: Police Brutally Attack Defenseless Members of TUCOSWA Ahead of Sham Elections

Palestine: IndustriALL affiliates build solidarity through capacity building

IFI NEWS

Argentina's Unions Stage Nationwide Strike to Protest Crisis and oppose IMF

Migrant workers need fair recruitment, access to justice, decent work

UN General Assembly and UN Global Compact Summit call for a new social contract

CALLS TO ACTION

ACT NOW! IRAN APPEAL: Free teacher unionist Mohammed Habibi!

ACT NOW! No rights for workers at Marriott's Bali ‘trouble in’ paradise hotel

ACT NOW! Terrible Tetley denying tea workers their human right to safe drinking water

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

Migrant workers in Qatar can now leave employer

RadioLabour interview with John Odah, Executive Secretary, OTUWA

RadioLabour interview with Bernard Adjei, Deputy General-Secretary, Public Services Workers' Union Ghana

EVENTS & COURSES

EVENT: TUC London, East and South East (LESE) Celebrates Amigo Month

EVENT: ACTSA Conference 2018 - Zimbabwe: More of the same?

COURSE: GLU’s ENGAGE PROGRAMME 2019: South Africa

TUC NEWS

TUC Congress in solidarity with Brazilian trade union movement

On 11 September the TUC’s 150th Congress (held in Manchester) stood in solidarity with Brazilian trade unionists, and trade unionists around the world, in calling for the release of jailed former Brazilian President Lula.

Read more here

TUC writes to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang calling for release of trade unionists

The TUC General Secretary wrote to Li Keqiang, the current Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, calling for the immediate release and charges to be dropped for all the arrested Shenzhen Jasic Technology Co. Ltd factory workers for establishing a trade union to defend their labour rights in a lawful manner.

Read the letter here

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Mexican: Union leader sworn in as senator and Senate ratifies ILO Convention No. 98

Historic moment as Mexican union leader, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, returned to his country after 12 years in exile to be sworn in as senator, in a ceremony in Mexico City on 29 August. Later, on 20 September, the Mexican Senate unanimously ratified International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 98, which guarantees the right to organise and collective bargaining.

Watch the video message from IndustriAll General Secretary,  Valter Sanches here

Nigeria: General Strike as Government Fails to Meet Minimum Wage Pledge

Despite a promise to conclude negotiations by the end of this month, the government has made no serious move to hold discussions with the unions. In response, the ITUC-affiliated Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria launched a general strike on 28 September in order to bring the government to the negotiating table.

Read the latest here as the unions give conditions for ending the strike.

eSwatini: Police Brutally Attack Defenseless Members of TUCOSWA Ahead of Sham Elections

The ITUC has condemned the actions of the government of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) as dozens of police in riot gear have attacked workers during a peaceful demonstration calling for pay rises over the past two days.

Read more here

Palestine: IndustriALL affiliates build solidarity through capacity building

IndustriALL Global Union and its Turkish affiliate Petrol-İş jointly organised a programme of capacity building in Istanbul for affiliated trade unions in Palestine with activities to strengthen cooperation, support and solidarity.

Read more here

IFI NEWS

Argentina's Unions Stage Nationwide Strike to Protest Crisis and oppose IMF

Unions in Argentina called a nationwide strike on 25 September to protest the country's economic crisis. Walkouts grounded airline flights, paralyzed bus and train lines and forced the closure of the main agricultural port. Many also oppose the government's decision to strike a $50 billion financing deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Migrant workers need fair recruitment, access to justice, decent work

Migrant rights campaigners and trade union leaders on 24 September called for addressing the key issues of fair and ethical recruitment, consular support in crisis, access to justice, support service and welfare protection as well as decent work when the UN Global Forum on Migration and Development adopts the global compact for migration.

Read more here

UN General Assembly and UN Global Compact Summit call for a new social contract

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) opened in New York this week (24 September) with Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés saying, “The world needs a social contract based on shared responsibility, and the only forum that we have to achieve this global compact is the United Nations.” Read the ITUC’s comment at the summit here and read their full statement here

CALLS TO ACTION

ACT NOW! IRAN APPEAL: Free teacher unionist Mohammed Habibi!

Please take part in this LabourStart campaign action calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Iranian teacher trade unionist Mohammed Habibi, who was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison on 4 August 2018. The sentence by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court also included prohibition of social and political activities for two years, a travel ban of two years, and 74 lashes.

ACT NOW! No rights for workers at Marriott's Bali ‘trouble in’ paradise hotel

Union members immediately came under pressure from management of the Global hotel giant Marriott's 5-star W hotel in Bali-Seminyak, (Indonesia) to resign their union membership after they legally registered their organisation on January 31. And on March 2, union chairman Augus Sarwatama was suspended in an absurd procedure which elevated a purely internal union matter into a case of allegedly harming the business.

Take action and call on Marriott to respect human and trade union rights at their branded hotels and act to secure the reinstatement of union chairman Augus Sarwatama at the W Hotel in Bali-Seminyak.

ACT NOW! Terrible Tetley denying tea workers their human right to safe drinking water

Please continue to support and forward this action. For the past two years, women workers on plantations in the states of Assam and West Bengal which supply tea to UK-based Tetley have been organising to demand decent water and sanitation - a fundamental human right. For years, workers complained to management; their complaints were ignored. With the support of the IUF, the workers, mainly women, formed water and sanitation committees on 6 plantations to document the abominable conditions and to propose concrete improvements.

Take action now and send a message to Tetley insisting they address human rights violations now!

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

Migrant workers in Qatar can now leave employer

Listen to RadioLabour’s news report on how Qatari migrant workers, in a major blow against the "kafala" system in Qatar, will now be allowed to leave the country without getting permission from their employer.

(Duration: 4:37)

RadioLabour interview with John Odah, Executive Secretary, OTUWA

Listen to the RadioLabour interview with John Odah, Executive Secretary, Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) earlier this year on revitalising OTUWA in order to represent labour’s voice at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

(Duration 5:32)

RadioLabour interview with Bernard Adjei, Deputy General-Secretary, Public Services Workers' Union Ghana

Listen to the RadioLabour interview with Bernard Adjei, Deputy General-Secretary, Public Services Workers' Union Ghana discussing how water, sanitation and healthcare can be improved in Ghana.

(Duration 5:00)

EVENTS & COURSES

EVENT: TUC London, East and South East (LESE) Celebrates Amigo Month 

Friday 5 October 2018, 19:00 – 20:30, TUC Congress House, WC1B 3LS

Amigo Month is a 5-week period of hundreds of events celebrating the history, culture and contribution of the UK’s three million Spanish/Portuguese speakers. Amigo Month commemorates friendship and promotes cultural, artistic, social, economic and tourist links amongst the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world and Latin America with Britain and remembers the history and heritage of the “amigo” communities that have lived in Britain and London for thousands of years.

Please register: 020 7467 1218 / lese@tuc.org.uk

EVENT: ACTSA Conference 2018 - Zimbabwe: More of the Same?

Saturday 27 October, 2-4pm, Unite the Unite, 128 Theobalds Rd, London, WC1X 8TN 

Following Zimbabwe’s highly controversial national elections and the post-election repression, Action for Southern Africa (who work closely with our sister trade unions in Southern African countries) will be hosting a conference asking: what does the future look like for human rights, equality and sustainable development in the country? This is a free event but please register by emailing info@actsa.org to confirm your places.  

COURSE: GLU’s ENGAGE PROGRAMME 2019: South Africa

Please find details for the Global Labour University 2019 ENGAGE programme offered by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, S.A. Deadline for applications is 31 October 2018.

More information about the programme can be found here