International Development Matters - Issue 153 May 2016
| International Development Matters |
| Issue number 153 May 2016 |
| IDM - Monthly newsletter reporting international development matters and issues affecting trade unionists around the world. Including reports, statements, interviews and events. |
No to the legislative coup in Brazil
NUT: Importance of International solidarity work
UNISON: Making international policy
Colombia: Peace deals nears, but journalists and activists still live in fear
MENA oil and gas unions strengthen solidarity
Training future women leaders in South East Asia
Changing the face of the global textile and garment industry
Second G20 Employment Working Group meeting – Main L20 Take-Aways
Call for BRICS bank to adopt social and environmental safeguards
The IMF has not lived up to its own hype on social protection
World Bank’s country engagement approach
ACT NOW! Colombia: Free academic and unionist Miguel Ángel Beltrán
ACT NOW! Call for the reinstatement of Liberian union leaders
ACT NOW! Morocco: Reinstate Said Elhairech, stop attacking union rights
How the ILO is improving workers' protection through dialogue
RadioLabour daily news cast: 23 May 2016
Radio Labour news: Unemployment stalling eradication of global poverty
Cuban Futures: Roundtable discussion on what's happening in Cuba today
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign AGM & public meeting
TUC NEWS
No to the legislative coup in Brazil
As part of a global trade union day of action against the legislative coup underway in Brazil through the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, on 10 May TUC International Spokesperson Sally Hunt met with the Brazilian Ambassador to the UK to hand in a letter from the TUC.
See here for more information on how the TUC is backing our colleagues in the Brazilian trade union movement in their defence of the democratically elected government.
NUT: Importance of International solidarity work
Our affiliate, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) continues to engage in international development solidarity work with teacher unions and partners from around the world. Watch a video of what members say about the importance of the NUT’s work on international solidarity.
UNISON: Making international policy
Public service union UNISON continues to determine its international policy by their national delegate conference (NDC) and considers motions from branches, regions and the national executive council (NEC).
Read here to find out the current international policy areas the union has agreed on.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Colombia: Peace deals nears, but journalists and activists still live in fear
Even for a continent where silencing journalists, human rights defenders, trade unionists, politicians and ordinary citizens is not uncommon, Colombia’s five decade-long state of war stands out as a breeding ground for crimes against anyone who dares to speak out.
Read more here
MENA oil and gas unions strengthen solidarity
Oil and gas unions from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) met in Beirut, Lebanon from 21 to 22 April, as the drop in global oil prices continues to impose new challenges on oil workers and unions in the region.
Read more here
Training future women leaders in South East Asia
Ninety women workers in Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia have been trained in gender equality and leadership skills as part of IndustriALL Global Union’s gender-maternity protection project in South East Asia.
Read more here
Changing the face of the global textile and garment industry
The textile, garment, shoe and leather industries employ 60 million people globally. On 22 – 23 May, 135 representatives from over 60 textile and garment unions from 35 countries came together for the first world conference on the sector to discuss organizing workers, living wages and industry-wide collective bargaining.
Read more here
IFI NEWS
Second G20 Employment Working Group meeting – Main L20 Take-Aways
On April 28 and 29, delegates from G20 member governments, G20 guest countries, the ILO, OECD, World Bank, IMF and the L20 and B20 took part in the Second G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting, held in Shanghai. Other “Consultation Groups”, the W20, T20 and Y20 also attended.
Read more here
Call for BRICS bank to adopt social and environmental safeguards
An article posted recently by Devex, an online international development newsletter, describes concerns from civil society groups in the BRICS countries about the lack of transparency regarding the social and environmental standards, commonly known as safeguards, with which projects financed by the new BRICS bank are supposed to comply.
The IMF has not lived up to its own hype on social protection
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) seeks to promote growth and reduce poverty, but the social consequences of its reforms in the developing world have drawn much criticism.
Read more here
World Bank’s country engagement approach
This ‘Inside the Institutions’ looks at the World Bank's new country engagement model, including the systematic country diagnostic and country partnership framework.
Read more here
CALLS TO ACTION
ACT NOW! Colombia: Free academic and unionist Miguel Ángel Beltrán
Dr Miguel Ángel Beltrán, a Colombian academic and member of the higher education union ASPU, was arrested on charges of rebellion in July 2015 and unjustly sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment in a high security prison in Bogota. Sign the LabourStart petition calling on the government and judicial authorities of the Republic of Colombia to urgently review the judicial case against Dr Miguel Ángel Beltrán, professor at the National University of Colombia, and to authorise his immediate release.
ACT NOW! Call for the reinstatement of Liberian union leaders
PSI calls for global solidarity to support the reinstatement of two Liberian union leaders dismissed in February 2014 with 22 other workers, following a nationwide strike in protest of working conditions and the lack of protective equipment and medication. Although twenty were later reinstated, NAHWAL President, Joseph S. Tamba and Secretary General George Poe Williams have not yet been reinstated.
Take action and send a letter of protest to the authorities of Liberia.
ACT NOW! Morocco: Reinstate Said Elhairech, stop attacking union rights
Said Elhairech General Secretary of Union des Syndicats UMT des Transports spent over three months in jail in 2012 because of his activism in Morocco. He was freed after a global campaign and went back to work at Somaport in Casablanca. Now Said - who has continued to lead his union, has been dismissed from his job by Somaport, the CMA-CGM owned port operator. Take action and tell CMA-CGM to give Said back his job and to stop attacking trade union rights in Morocco.
FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS
ILO Interview: How the ILO is improving workers' protection through dialogue
Read the interview with the President of the ILO’s Workers’ Group on the achievements of the governing body meeting held in March. Luc Cortebeeck explains how the protection of workers ‘rights in Qatar, Venezuela, Fiji and Guatemala was a major focus of the discussions as well as the protection of migrant workers and the application of international labour standards by multinational enterprises.
RadioLabour daily news cast: 23 May 2016
Listen to RadioLabour’s special report on fighting global modern day slavery. 21 million people in the world are in forced labour.
Listen here
Radio Labour news: Unemployment stalling eradication of global poverty
The UN is working on eradicating global poverty by 2030, but the ILO says it can't be done without major jobs initiatives. Listen to a special report by C. Marie Ainsborough here
EVENTS
Cuban Futures: Roundtable discussion on what's happening in Cuba today
Saturday, 11 June 2016, 2.30-4.30pm
Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD
Free entry
What's really going on in Cuba and with US-Cuba relations? Hear first-hand from the Cuban ambassador and a panel of British Cuba-experts on 11 June, immediately following the CSC AGM (10.30am - 1.30pm).
Full details here
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign AGM & public meeting
Saturday 18 June 2016, 11.00am & 2.00pm
Unite, 128 Theobalds Road, London WC1
Free entry, all welcome
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign (NSC) and NSC Action Group AGMs will take place on 18 June, followed at 2pm by a public meeting with speakers Domingo Perez, General Secretary of the Nicaraguan public sector union UNE, Maria Nela Gaitan, General Secretary of the Roberto Herrera Health Centre branch of the health union FETSALUD, and Guisell Morales, Nicaraguan Ambassador to the UK.
To register, please email nsc@nicaraguasc.org.uk with your name and organisation (if applicable).
The person responsible for the e-bulletin is:
Tanya Warlock
Tel 0207 467 1357
E: twarlock@tuc.org.uk
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