International Development Matters - Issue number 149 January 2016
| International Development Matters |
| Issue number 149 January 2016 |
|
IDM - Monthly newsletter reporting international development matters and issues affecting trade unionists around the world. Including reports, statements, interviews and events. |
TUC successfully campaigns to get 2014 ILO Forced Labour Protocol ratified
TUC Aid: Improving employment prospects of disabled people in Ethiopia
TUC Aid update: British trade unions supporting Guatemalan banana workers union
Global unions criticize Bangladesh Government over EU compact
New ITUC report exposes hidden workforce of 116 million in global supply chains of fifty companies
Women affiliates trained in Myanmar
Global trade union movement condemn the assassination attempt on FESTU General Secretary’s Life
IMF reduces global growth forecasts
Inaugural meeting of Asian infrastructure bank
ACT NOW! China: Free jailed labour activists, stop suppressing labour organizations!
ACT NOW! Workers taste bitter repression at International Flavors & Fragrances in Turkey!
Radio Labour interview: Colombia's mistreatment of trade unionists
Cuba Solidarity Campaign: A Year of Freedom – Interview with the Cuban Five
VSC Documentary Screening & Q&A: Hip Hop Revolución
¡VIVA NICARAGUA – Celebrating young volunteers in Nicaragua!
GLU Online course on “Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy”
TUC NEWS
TUC successfully campaigns to get 2014 ILO Forced Labour Protocol ratified
On 9 December 2015, Owen Tudor of the TUC and Neil Carberry of the CBI wrote to DWP Minister Priti Patel urging the government to ratify the ILO Forced Labour Protocol agreed at the ILO Conference in 2014. On 22 January 2016, the UK Government became only the third government globally to ratify the Protocol, which will come into effect in November, when Home Office Minister Karen Bradley MP took part in a signing ceremony with ILO Director General Guy Ryder, and CBI and TUC representatives.
TUC Aid: Improving employment prospects of disabled people in Ethiopia
TUC Aid, the development arm of the British trade movement, is continuing its support for the promotion of human and employment rights of disabled people in East Africa.
Read more here
TUC Aid update: British trade unions supporting Guatemalan banana workers union
In late November, Noé Ramirez, General Secretary of the Guatemalan banana workers’ union SITRABI, visited the UK with the support of unions and TUC Aid.
Read more about his visit here
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Global unions criticize Bangladesh Government over EU compact
Three global unions have made a critical assessment of the Government of Bangladesh saying it is failing to comply with a compact made with the European Union in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster.
Read more here
New ITUC report exposes hidden workforce of 116 million in global supply chains of fifty companies
As leaders of the world’s richest corporations meet in Davos Switzerland this month (January) the International Trade Union Confederation has released a report outlining how those corporations are using, and abusing, millions of workers.
Read more here
Women affiliates trained in Myanmar
Some 68 women leaders and members of IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliates in the textile, garment and mining industries in Myanmar have been trained in team-building and leadership skills.
Read more here
Global trade union movement condemn the assassination attempt on FESTU General Secretary’s Life
An important leader in Somalia’s independent trade union movement, Omar Faruk, closely escaped gunshots from three hit men outside the FESTU union office in Mogadishu on 29 December. The ITUC and IndustriAll both strongly condemn the murder attempt and express their solidarity with Omar Faruk and FESTU members.
Read more here
IFI NEWS
IMF reduces global growth forecasts
Following the example of the World Bank two weeks ago, the IMF has revised downwards its previous global economic growth forecasts for 2016 and 2017 but nonetheless expects that the rate of increase will be higher than in 2015, which was the lowest rate of annual growth since the crisis year 2009.
Read the IMF’s January 2016 World Economic Outlook Update here
TUAC message for the world’s leaders at Davos: Mind deflation, (re)build stronger collective bargaining systems
Read the economic analysis prepared by TUAC, coinciding with the World Economic Forum taking place at Davos (20-23 January 2016). The analysis refers to updated economic forecasts issued by the IMF.
Read more here
Inaugural meeting of Asian infrastructure bank
The board of directors of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held its inaugural meeting on 17 January 2016. An AIIB communiqué on the meeting announced that the bank would adopt its environmental and social policy framework in late February.
Read more here
CALLS TO ACTION
ACT NOW! China: Free jailed labour activists, stop suppressing labour organizations!
Since 3 December, the authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have carried out a coordinated and wide-ranging crackdown on labour rights activists and labour organizations in the province. Take action and call on the Chinese government to immediately release the activists, stop suppressing labour organisations and civil society organisations and respect and protect the development and freedom of civil society as prescribed by China's Constitution.
ACT NOW! Workers taste bitter repression at International Flavors & Fragrances in Turkey!
International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), a leading supplier of specialty ingredients to the global processed food industry, has responded to the organization of a union at its factory in Gebze, Turkey with mass dismissals. The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) has launched an online campaign demanding their reinstatement and a recognition of union rights.
Please take a minute and sign the petition here
FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS
IndustriAll interview: Hashmeya Alsaadawe, President of the General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians in Basra
Read the interview with Hashmeya Alsaadawe, president of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians in Basra (GUEWT), and a member of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee representing workers in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2003, she became the first woman in Iraq to be voted leader of a national union, and is believed to be the first woman to lead a union anywhere in the Arabic-speaking world.
Read the interview here
Radio Labour interview: Colombia's mistreatment of trade unionists
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for labour unionists. RadioLabour interviewed Nick Crook, the head of the international department of UNISON on his recent visit to the country.
Listen to the interview here
Cuba Solidarity Campaign: A Year of Freedom – Interview with the Cuban Five
A year has passed since the Miami Five returned home and were reunited with their families and friends. They spoke to a Cuban newspaper about what the last year has meant.
Read the interview with all of the five here
EVENTS
VSC Documentary Screening & Q&A: Hip Hop Revolución
Thursday 28 January 2016, 6.00pm-8.30pm
Bolivar Hall, 54-56 Grafton Way, W1T 5DL
British activist Jody McIntyre travels to Venezuela with UK-Iraqi rapper Lowkey to spend time with ‘Hip Hop Revolución’, a dynamic collective of musical revolutionaries. They witness their inspiring grassroots work and share music and ideas, exploring the cultural and political changes taking place in the country. At its heart, this film is about the power of music, community and the spirit of rebellion.
Tickets and full details here
¡VIVA NICARAGUA – Celebrating young volunteers in Nicaragua!
Thursday, 11 February, 6.30 – 8.30pm
The Calthorpe Arms, 252 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8JR
Tube: Russell Square, Kings Cross, Chancery Lane
Free Entry
Join the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign group for an evening of talks, discussion, food and live music…and a chance to meet other people with an enthusiasm for all things Nicaraguan! Live Nicaraguan and Chilean music with Paul Baker Hernandez, singer, songwriter and political activist.
Full details of the event, here
GLU Online course on “Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy”
3-March – 27 April 2016
Starting on 3 March 2016, The Global Labour University will be offering a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on “Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy”. This online course connects union members and labour activists from around the world on the interactive platform iversity to learn and to exchange about the challenges and strategies for implementing workers´ rights worldwide.
Full details of the course and programmes are here
The person responsible for the e-bulletin is:
Tanya Warlock
Tel 0207 467 1357
E: twarlock@tuc.org.uk
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