International Development Matters - Issue number 151 March 2016

TUC NEWS

TUC supports global solidarity call from CUT Brazil 

TUC supports global union campaign to ensure fair labour laws in Cambodia

NASUWT International Solidarity Award for Turkish teachers’ union

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Honduras: Environmental and Rights Activist Berta Cáceres Assassinated

Women in the Philippines call for 120 days’ maternity leave

Pakistan Supreme Court confirms workers’ rights to form unions and carry out protest action

South Africa: the long campaign for justice for silicosis sufferers

IFI NEWS

Asian infrastructure bank (AIIB) adopts social, environmental policy

Development banks must do more to remedy harm caused by the activities they finance

CALLS TO ACTION

ACT NOW! Colombia: Free academic and unionist Miguel Ángel Beltrán

ACT NOW! Morocco: Reinstate Said Elhairech, stop attacking union rights

ACT NOW! Gambia: Justice for Sheriff Diba

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

ILO interview with Frances Atwoli, General Secretary, Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-Kenya)

ILO interview with Bheki Ntshalintshali, General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions

RadioLabour World Report: Friday March 18, 2016

EVENTS

International Workers Memorial Day, 28 April - Get involved

LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference, Toronto

Massive – Open – Online: A new form of learning and connecting for trade unionists

TUC NEWS

TUC supports global solidarity call from CUT Brazil 

The elite in Brazil are attempting to drive the Workers’ Party from office and prevent former President Lula from returning to that position once Dilma’s term is up. The CUT, the main trade union confederation in Brazil, is seeking global solidarity for their struggle to retain democracy in Brazil. TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady has signed up to the statement from the CUT.

TUC supports global union campaign to ensure fair labour laws in Cambodia

As members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) the TUC, along with worker rights NGOs and the various UK and western brands sourcing from Cambodia’s garment industry, has backed a campaign calling for fair labour laws in Cambodia. The global union campaign has won the support of multinational brands and NGOs. IndustriALL and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are supporting Cambodian unions who are seeking urgent changes to the labour law currently being finalised.

NASUWT International Solidarity Award for Turkish teachers’ union

NASUWT, one of the TUC’s teachers unions has recently presented its International Solidarity Award to Egitim Sen, the Turkish teachers’ trade union, at its Annual Conference in Birmingham.

Read how NASUWT continues to show solidarity with Turkish teacher unions here

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Honduras: Environmental and Rights Activist Berta Cáceres Assassinated

The ITUC has condemned the brutal murder of environmental and land-rights activist Berta Cáceres and demanded that the authorities allow an international investigation into her death. Cáceres was killed just four days after she denounced the murder of four community leaders.

Read more here

Women in the Philippines call for 120 days’ maternity leave

Fourteen IndustriALL Global union affiliates in the Philippines marked International Women’s Day with a unified call for improved maternity protection. Through the IndustriALL Philippines Women’s Committee, 95 women leaders across industriALL sectors validated the 2016 workplan and vowed to push for the passage of the Maternity Protection Bill and the Ratification of ILO Convention 183.

Read more here

Pakistan Supreme Court confirms workers’ rights to form unions and carry out protest action

Following a ruling by the Pakistan Supreme Court on 8 February 2016, government workers in Pakistan can now form unions and carry out protest actions without fear of punitive action by the government.

Read more here

South Africa: the long campaign for justice for silicosis sufferers

The announcement of a settlement for 4,365 former gold miners in South Africa suffering from silicosis is welcome news. Anglo American South Africa and AngloGold Ashanti have agreed to put up to 464m Rand (approx £21m) into a trust fund to provide compensation for those medically diagnosed with silicosis who worked in a gold mine for either company for at least two years.

Read more here

IFI NEWS

Asian infrastructure bank (AIIB) adopts social, environmental policy

The new Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has adopted its Social and Environmental Framework. The very short section on "Treatment of Labor" (pages 4-5) does not include any binding labour standards safeguard that AIIB projects must comply with, contrary to the social and environmental policies adopted by some longer-established multilateral development banks such as AfDB, EBRD and IFC.

Development banks must do more to remedy harm caused by the activities they finance

Bretton Woods Project report finds development banks' accountability systems unable to consistently provide remedy to those harmed and calls for strengthening of accountability mechanisms, human rights based model of development.

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. Education International (EI) calls on you to urge 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! 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.

ACT NOW! Gambia: Justice for Sheriff Diba

Transport workers in Gambia asked their government to lower fuel retail prices in line with the fall in wholesale prices. The result? The president banned union activities and arrested three union leaders. Shockingly, one of them, Sheriff Diba, of the GNTCA (Gambian National Transport Control Association) died in prison - reportedly after receiving brutal treatment at the hands of the National Intelligence Agency. Take action and demand justice for Sheriff and for his Gambian and Senegalese colleagues

FOCUS ON TRADE UNIONISTS

ILO interview with Frances Atwoli, General Secretary, Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-Kenya)

Francis Atwoli, General Secretary of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-Kenya) explains the impact of Global Supply Chains in Kenya and how Trade Unions can implement decent work in global supply chains.

Watch the interview here

ILO interview with Bheki Ntshalintshali, General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions

Bheki Ntshalintshali, General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) discusses possible ways to overcome the technological advancement in the world of work and how trade unions can influence the discussion around the ILO Centenary initiative on the Future of Work.

RadioLabour World Report: Friday March 18, 2016

RadioLabour’s 18 March World Report includes; Union activists fight for women’s rights at UN conference; 60 million domestic workers lack social protection benefits and another country adopts an international law against slavery.

Listen to the report here

EVENTS

International Workers Memorial Day, 28 April - Get involved

International Workers Memorial Day is held on 28 April every year. It is the day we remember those that have been killed, maimed, injured and made ill by work and the day we renew our pledge to fight for the living, by raising safety concerns in the workplace and raising public awareness of the importance of health and safety.

Find out more and get involved in local events here

LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference, Toronto

6-8 May 2016, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

LabourStart’s Global Solidarity Conference will be held on 6-8 May in Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. The draft agenda is available here.  Contact details for the conference organisers are here with information about travelling to Canada. To sign up to attend the conference, click here.

Massive – Open – Online: A new form of learning and connecting for trade unionists

Now – until 12th of May 2016

The Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) in cooperation with the Global Labour University has launched the second round of its “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) on Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy. Over 2300 participants from over 60 countries are participating in the course which is offered in a cost free and in a certificate version.