This edition of the TUC’s Global Solidarity Update bulletin contains the latest international solidarity news and issues affecting trade unionists around the world, including reports, statements, blogs, interviews and events from a wide range of reputable sources. 

In this issue:

TUC NEWS 

TUC General Secretary May Day 2021 message and video  

Labour unions, TUAC and ITUC launch priorities for the G7  

TUC/Labour7 International Conference 

Labour7 Summit: Build Back Better with Workers 

International Workers' Memorial Day 28 April 

UK Shadow Ministers meet with TUC and Turkish unions  

OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

Colombia: National Strike 28 April  

ILO urges Belarus to stop repression and respect workers’ rights 

Myanmar: National unity government must be recognised  

New ITUC report on Palestinian workers in Israel and the settlements 

ETUC urges Turkey to reconsider pulling out of Convention on violence against women

  

IFI NEWS 

Trade unions set out demands for UN Financing for Development Forum 

IMF, G20, World Bank: call to focus on jobs 

CALLS TO ACTION 

ACT NOW! Pakistan: Metro - stop union busting now 

ACT NOW! Israel: 10bis must stop union-busting now 

ACT NOW! FedEx-TNT: Stop the job cuts 

ACT NOW! Kazakhstan: Threat against fuel and energy workers union 

ACT NOW! Jordan: New government crackdown on teachers’ rights 

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS 

PRESS STATEMENT: Peter Mutasa ZCTU President - Zimbabwe now a failed state 

EQUAL TIMES: Leaving no one behind in the city: ensuring just transitions for public transport workers 

PODCAST: The Solidarity Center - Defending Democracy—Workers on the Front Lines 

VIDEO: LabourStart May Day solidarity event – session recording 

EVENTS  

Global Unions Webinar on the Trade Unions’ Fight for Democracy in Myanmar  

Unions working to end sexual harassment at work: Join this webinar for reps.  

TUC NEWS

TUC General Secretary May Day 2021 message and video

“May Day is a moment to remind ourselves that when workers come together across borders, no-one can keep us down.” Read this year’s May Day international solidarity message from TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady and watch the accompanying international May Day solidarity video here.

Labour unions, TUAC and ITUC launch priorities for the G7

The UK holds the G7 Presidency for this year (2021) and comes at a time of acute global crisis, and we are keen to explore urgent actions and bold ideas that can help us truly “build back better.”  Labour unions, led by the TUC along with TUAC and the ITUC launched these L7 priorities on 02 March and heard directly from Jonathan Black, the UK’s Cabinet Office G7 Sherpa as part of this year’s UK’s presidency of the G7.

TUC/Labour7 International Conference

The G7 will meet in the UK this year (2021), at the greatest emergency of the post- war age. Watch this recording of the international discussion hosted by the TUC on Tuesday 13 April, about global economic priorities, as part of lobbying around the process and the parallel ‘L7’ Labour Ministers’ gathering. Watch a distinguished line up of speakers from across the world discuss what a labour internationalism would look like, how new global rules can deliver better for workers, and what we need to do to make that happen. 

Labour7 Summit: Build Back Better with Workers 

The L7 summit took place on 26-27 April and assembled a distinguished line up of voices from the global labour movement and our allies to set out a vision of how to repair our democracies, confront the climate crisis with a just transition, revolutionise access to health care and vaccines, and to build a labour market and economy fit for all. 

Read the letter signed by TUC, ETUC, ITUC and union leaders within the Labour7 nations stating that the British Government must “use its presidency role at the G7 to ensure equitable and free access of Global South countries to Covid-19 vaccines”. 

International Workers' Memorial Day 28 April

To mark International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April, the TUC, Unite and Unison held a one-minute silence event at the Covid Memorial Wall in London with representatives from the Covid Bereaved Families For Justice Campaign. 

Watch this TUC #IWMD2021 video here. 

UK Shadow Ministers meet with TUC and Turkish unions 

On 10 March, the TUC facilitated an online meeting between our progressive sister trade unions in Turkey and Labour shadow ministers Fabian Hamilton MP and Catherine West MP to create bilateral dialogue and discuss the latest human and trade union rights abuses in Turkey. 

Read this article about how Istanbul police detained over 200 people, including trade unionists, defying a May Day protest ban.

OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Colombia: National Strike 28 April 

Colombian human rights organisations are reporting numerous human rights abuses committed by security forces during National Strike mobilisations across the country on Wednesday 28 April. The day of action was the latest nationwide mobilisation to oppose the government’s economic and tax reforms, as well as to demand implementation of the 2016 peace agreement and end to killings of social activists and FARC former combatants.

Trade unions in Britain and Ireland wrote to the FCDO to express in our profound condemnation of the terrible state violence. The ITUC is expressing its support for the people of Colombia as they face a brutal crackdown by the government of President Iván Duque. 
 

ILO urges Belarus to stop repression and respect workers’ rights 

On 31 March, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) approved the report of the Committee on Freedom of Association and its recommendations to the Government of Belarus, urging the government to take measures to release all trade unionists in detention and drop all charges related to participation in peaceful protests and industrial actions. 

Read more here. 
 

Myanmar: National unity government must be recognised 

The ITUC has welcomed the formation of a national unity government in Myanmar and called for it to be formally recognized by the United Nations, governments and inter-governmental bodies as the legitimate government of Myanmar. Union members have been at the forefront of pro-democracy rallies in Myanmar. The total number of union leaders arrested since the February 1 military coup is at least 20, according to union leaders. 

Read the report of two women union leaders arrested in Myanmar here. 
 

New ITUC report on Palestinian workers in Israel and the settlements 

A new report released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has revealed the scandalous exploitation of Palestinian workers who work inside Israel and in the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. 

Read more here. 
 

ETUC urges Turkey to reconsider pulling out of Convention on violence against women 

The European Trade Union Confederation is seriously concerned that the decision of the President of Turkey to pull his Government country out of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence is a very retrograde step and urges the Government to reconsider this action and reaffirm its international commitment to protect the human rights of women and girls and all their citizens. 

Read the press statement here. 
 

IFI NEWS 

Trade unions set out demands for UN Financing for Development Forum 

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) published its demands in April for the 2021 United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Financing for Development (FfD) Forum to build recovery and resilience in the future economy. 

Read more here. 
 

IMF, G20, World Bank: call to focus on jobs 

The Spring 2021 meetings of the IMF and the World Bank must prioritise tackling the world’s employment crisis to put the global economy on a pathway to recovery and resilience. 

Read the statement to the meetings released by the ITUC and Global Unions. 

Read the ILO’s statement to the World Bank/IMF calling for COVID-19 strategies to invest in human-centred recovery.
 

CALLS TO ACTION

ACT NOW! Pakistan: Metro - stop union busting now 

UNI Commerce invites trade unions, workers, and labour and human rights activists worldwide to urge Metro A.G. to re-instate Tahir Mehmood, the General Secretary of Metro Habib Employees Union in Pakistan. Metro Pakistan management has waged a union-busting campaign through intimidating and targeting union leaders by warnings, notices, change of workplace and employment status, and dismissals. 

ACT NOW! Israel: 10bis must stop union-busting now 

10bis, the Israeli branch of the Dutch global food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com, is denying its workers their right to unionise. Join LabourStart and tell Just Eat Takeaway.com to stop the 10bis union-busting attempt, recognize the workers' council, begin good-faith negotiations and cancel the efforts to dismiss worker representatives.

Sign the LabourStart petition here
 

ACT NOW! FedEx-TNT: Stop the job cuts 

Sign this LabourStart petition to tell FedEx-TNT to respect their frontline workers instead of massacring them to their unbridled corporate greed. FedEx-TNT - stop the job cuts immediately and respect the proper process with unions and the European Works Council. 
 

ACT NOW! Kazakhstan: Threat against fuel and energy workers union 

Kazakh authorities continue to put pressure on independent trade unions. In 2017, Kazakhstan dissolved the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan and a number of its affiliates, and trade union leaders were prosecuted and imprisoned. Now the Trade Union of the Fuel and Energy Industry Workers is under threat. 

Send a message to the Kazakh authorities, urging them to stop pressuring unions and to respect workers' rights. 
 

ACT NOW! Jordan: New government crackdown on teachers’ rights 

The Jordanian authorities must refrain from harassing the leaders of the Jordanian Teacher Association. Education International condemns the dissolution of teachers’ union and detention of leaders. 

Take action here to request the full exercise of fundamental rights of teachers and education workers in Jordan now!
 

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

Peter Mutasa ZCTU President - Zimbabwe now a failed state: PRESS STATEMENT

Listen to this brief but poignant press statement by Peter Mutasa, President of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions on the constant decline of human rights violations and economic destruction in Zimbabwe. 
 

EQUAL TIMES: Leaving no one behind in the city: ensuring just transitions for public transport workers 

Read this blog by International Transport Federation (ITF) colleagues around ‘urban opportunity’, which speaks about a general consensus that cities and public transport will play a central role in the recovery from Covid-19. 
 

PODCAST: The Solidarity Center - Defending Democracy—Workers on the Front Lines 

Listen to this March 2021 edition of the Solidarity Center’s Podcast, featuring two worker advocates from countries where democracy is under threat—Belarus and Brazil—discuss how workers are pushing back against repression and are building a better future for their countries, one that recognises worker rights are a foundation of true democracy. 

For future episodes each Wednesday download the podcast at iTunes,  Spotify,  Amazon, Stitcher

VIDEO: LabourStart May Day solidarity event – session recording

LabourStart held a May Day online global solidarity event with international speakers calling for freedom for all jailed trade unionists in Myanmar, Iran, Turkey, Belarus and Hong Kong. 

Watch the session recording here.
 

EVENTS 

Global Unions Webinar on the Trade Unions’ Fight for Democracy in Myanmar 

Wednesday 12 May 2021, 12:00-13:30 (13:00-14:30 CEST) 

Following the conclusions of the Global Unions Webinar on the Trade Unions’ Fight for Democracy in Myanmar, the ITUC is hosting a follow-up meeting to allow trade unionists and policy makers to stay informed about the most recent developments in the country and to keep up the pressure on the military regime. Interpretation in English, Spanish, French and Burmese will be provided. 

Register here.
 

Unions working to end sexual harassment at work: Join this webinar for reps 

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 - 14:00 to 15:00 

1 in 2 women and 2 in 3 LGBT+ workers experience sexual harassment in the workplace.

In this webinar we will be joined by Deeba Syed, Rights of Women and Nikki Pound, TUC Women's Officer to talk about how union reps can stand against sexual harassment in their workplace. The TUC and more than 30 other organisations are calling on the government to take immediate action on sexual harassment in the workplace. 

Register here