International Development Matters - Issue 166 July 2017

Issue date

04 Jul 2017

International Development Matters

Issue number 166 July 2017

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

TUC Aid Project Update: Improving the Conditions of Women Textiles Workers in South India

TUC Aid funds granted to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) are being used to fund a trade union coordinator for the ETI programme to improve the condition of women in the textile sector in Tamil Nadu, South India. This programme has brought trade unions, NGOs, local employers and ETI member companies together to better understand the kind of problems women workers face and develop activities to address them.

Read more here

Cuban trade union general secretaries attend UNISON Conference 2017

Santiago Badía González, SNTS General Secretary (Cuban Health Workers' Union) and Dulce María Iglesias Suárez, SNTAP General Secretary (Cuban Public Administration Workers' Union) were invited by TUC affiliate, UNISON to attend their annual local government and National Delegate Conference in Brighton, where both the Cuban trade unionists spoke at the International Rally and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign fringe meeting.

Read more here

The benefits of decent work in global supply chains

The ILO commissioned the Inclusive Labour Markets, Labour Relations and Working Conditions branch (INWORK) to conduct a Global Survey on purchasing practices and working conditions, in collaboration with the joint Ethical Trading Initiatives (ETI), of which the TUC is a member.

Read more here

OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ITUC Global Rights Index 2017: Violence and repression of workers on the rise

The number of countries experiencing physical violence and threats against workers has risen by 10 percent in just one year, according to the annual ITUC Global Rights Index. Attacks on union members have been documented in fifty-nine countries, fuelling growing anxiety about jobs and wages.

Fashion brands join unions to sign new Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety

Global unions and textiles brands have announced a new version of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Safety to continue the original Accord’s work when its remit ends next year.

Read more here

India: 168 Stranded Migrant Workers Return Home from Qatar

The Indian National Building and Wood Workers Federation (INBCWWF), a BWI affiliate facilitated the return of 168 migrant construction workers from Doha, Qatar to their home State – Odisha State, India. Meanwhile, there are concerns mounting over the conditions of migrant workers in Qatar as the blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries continues.

IUF, international support for independent unions in Algeria fighting for rights and challenging repression

The IUF organised a demonstration and press conference in Geneva on June 13 to highlight ongoing, brutal violations of fundamental worker rights by the government of Algeria calling for an end to the systematic government repression of workers seeking to organise independent trade unions.

Read more here

IFI NEWS

The truth behind IMF’s claims to promote social protection in low-income countries

Academics from Oxford & Cambridge universities have taken a close look at an IMF policy paper on social safeguards, and conclude that it is methodologically flawed, unduly optimistic and potentially misleading. Indeed, they are surprised by the IMF’s steadfast endorsement of targeted social assistance, despite a global tide turn towards universal social provision. The SDGs do not receive a single mention in the report, and 21 out of the 22 references are studies authored by the IMF itself.

Deepening World Bank and AIIB cooperation: Locking in a failed development model?

Co-financing arrangements and increased World Bank- AIIB cooperation on mega-infrastructure projects represent a dangerous global trend that threatens human rights and locks in a failed development model.

Read more here

Pushing the boundaries of official development assistance: challenges and opportunities

The report of an event co-organised by the TUDCN during the Financing for Development Forum is now available. It featured the participation of institutional and civil society actors on the issue of ODA modernisation. Adapting ODA principles and criteria to blended finance was a focus of the discussion.

CALLS TO ACTION

ACT NOW! Thousands of Indonesian workers have been fired for going on strike

US company Freeport-McMoRan fired over 4,220 workers over the last month at the massive Grasberg copper and gold mine in West Papua. The firing violates the workers fundamental rights, the collective bargaining agreement and Indonesian law.

Take action and show your support here

ACT NOW! Morocco: Fish canner sacks over 500 workers for striking

Over 500 workers in the Moroccan city of Agadir -- the vast majority of them women have been on strike since March 2015 at DOHA, which produces tinned fish and other products for worldwide export. The company, with the help of compliant legal and political authorities, has sought to dissolve the union, dismiss its members, criminalize and punish the strikers and confiscate the union leader's home.

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

Ugandan domestic workers stuck between poverty wages at home and extreme exploitation abroad

Many young Ugandan women who try to escape unemployment and poverty at home end up as domestic workers in the Middle East where they face serious exploitation and abuse. Read the story of a woman worker running a grocery shop in Jinja, when a local man working for a Kenyan recruitment agency said he could get her a job in Oman.

ILO Interview: President of Uruguay at the ILO Conference: Social dialogue and collective bargaining are essential for progress

The President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, has defended social dialogue and collective bargaining as an essential component of the development of countries, speaking on the opening day of the 106th International Labour Conference at the ILO back in June.

Read the interview here

ILO interviews on Labour migration: Peter Ozo-Eson, NLC General Secretary and Laxman Basnet, SARTUC General Secretary

Peter Ozo-Eson, General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), explains in this video and Laxman Basnet, General Secretary, of South Asian Regional Trade Union Council (SARTUC) speaks here on how unions in their respective countries are addressing the challenges of fair recruitment, protection of migrant workers and labour market integration.

EVENTS / COURSES

Emergency Solidarity Event - Trump and Latin America, Resisting the US Empire

4 July, 6.30 pm (registration from 6pm)

ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR

Nicaragua's historic social progress is under threat from vicious US sanctions designed to topple the elected government of Daniel Ortega. At the same time, the US has promised a 'steady drumbeat' of sanctions against Venezuela. Come along and hear the latest eyewitness accounts and updates from the region. It is vital that we take action and stand with progressive Latin American governments against US efforts to destabilize the region and bring about regime change.

Tickets and information here

Global Labour University Online Academy: New course available – October 2017

The new Global Labour University Online Academy website is now online at: https://glu.iversity.org/ The GLU Academy website shows all available GLU Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at one glance, including the new course on “Fair Wage Strategies in a Global Economy” which will start in October 2017.

Click here for more details

The person responsible for the e-bulletin is:
Tanya Warlock
Tel 0207 467 1357
E: twarlock@tuc.org.uk

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