Public sector unions seek to incorporate and disseminate young workers’ claims in their action programmes, by using means such as IT training and networking, strategic planning, gender awareness, setting up youth committees and implementing a national affiliation campaign under the banner of Quality Public Services.

Five workshops to train young workers seek to identify specific claims relating to young workers with gender perspective into their national platforms and develop recruitment and retention strategies. It is expected that this will assist the unions in recruiting more young workers and school-leavers. Another expected result is to enhance the image of trade unions in society.

Women trade unionists wil be provided with tools to carry out gender analyses and audits. This will assist to re-structure and strengthen the Women's/Gender Committees, who will build alliances with national Gender Bureaus and other women's organisations to effectively advocate for the ratification of international conventions and treaties as well as monitor their application.

The project seeks to contribute to the improvement of quality of public health services and the terms and conditions of employment in the health sector, through building union partnerships between origin and destination countries, organising and assisting migrant workers and networking, campaigning for increased funding for public health services and rights-based migration, trade and labour policies and promoting collective agreements defending job security, training and promotion, pay equity and decent work. A project coordinator is located at PSI headquarters.

The unions in the water sector have identified their main problems as being the privatisation and outsourcing processes of the drinking water services. Such processes constitute a strong threat against working conditions and basic trade union rights. The project aims at contributing to improve the management of the water sector, including the interests and participation of citizens. Training and campaigning activities focus on formulating alternative proposals for quality management of water services that would reduce the impact of labour flexibilisation and strengthen the union capacity for collective bargaining. A project coordinator was hired in 2008.

This project aims to increase the mutual cooperation and solidarity among public sector unions, and develop their capacity to promote affordable quality public services and a strong, democratic workforce free of HIV/AIDS, where worker and trade union rights are respected. Main strategies include meaningful participation in social dialogue to influence government policy on public sector reform; monitoring of labour law reforms, awareness raising campaigns and lobbying for ratification of ILO Conventions; and development and introduction of workplace policies to reduce discrimination against workers. In 2009, the project will include planning to identify the unions’ priorities for the next three years, action based research training for unions to gather information on the impact of public sector restructuring on communities and workers with a gender equality analysis and project management training.

The project seeks to promote the image of efficient public services and trade unions by promoting a campaign on quality public services, and simultaneously strengthen the internal organisation of PSI affiliates in Chile through the training of new leaders and retraining of existing leaders, particularly young workers and women. In 2009, the project will be evaluated and a planning process will take place jointly with the 4 countries in the Southern Cone to identify sectoral priorities for a future three-year project at the sub-regional level.

The main focus of the project is to strengthen union capacity at the national level to deal with the issues of collective bargaining, trade union rights and public sector restructuring. Each country has a different focus, depending on their particular situation. All countries are using study circles to raise membership awareness using materials on Quality Public Services developed at the sub regional level with assistance from a labour educator. The unions selected 23 June as a sub regional QPS day and will all hold campaign activities on this day. In 2009 the study circle programme will be evaluated to identify how effectively this has activated membership to participate in public sector restructuring. The unions will continue to conduct campaigns around the Public Service Day and Women, water and workers. There will be gender equality training for women leaders and a planning process will identify the unions’ priorities for the next three years.

Union will strengthen their capacity to formulate alternative proposals to improve the efficiency and quality of public services, build strategic alliances and sectoral networks, consolidate their women‘s committees and their awareness of gender aspects, recruitment of young workers, worker rights and LGBT.

This sub regional project includes affiliates in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The project concentrates on public sector policy and advocacy work to intervene in national governments and ECOWAS to ensure the principles of Quality Public Services are implemented. The strategy takes into account the differences between the countries and the unions and although there is a common vision, national activities focus on developing the skills and knowledge to campaign and lobby. The gender component of the project continues to take up pay equity issues and to ensure that women wages and conditions are valued and improved in job evaluation processes and collective bargaining.

In order to improve the unions’ capacity to raise their profile and visibility at the branch and workplace level, the project will continue to develop the skills and knowledge of shop stewards in order to ensure effective representation of members at the work place level and improved communication between the leadership and the grassroots. Efforts will also be made to ensure that 50% participants in all activities are women and that 40% of all shop stewards are women.

The project seeks to develop union education policies and programmes, and train a core group of educators. It is expected that membership education and leadership development will assist the unions to strengthen their democratic structures and increase their popularity, particularly among young workers. Activities consist of four training seminars to develop training skills and local pilot seminars. In 2009, the project will be evaluated and a planning process will take place to identify the unions' priorities for the next three years.

The project aims at improving the working conditions of health workers in the Southern Cone by promoting joint union strategies against privatisation of health services and campaigning for adequate funding and good quality of public health services.

The project aims at removing obstacles and limitations in the legal system to the freedom of association, which prevents unions from exercising their rights to represent their members and operate democratically, and ensure respect of ILO Conventions 87 & 98. The strategy is to appeal to the high court against decisions passed down in the national courts that are contrary to the ILO Conventions 87 & 98. In 2009, the project will be evaluated and a planning process will take place to identify the unions' priorities for the next three years.

The project aims at improving living and working conditions of municipal workers by influencing public policy, advocating quality public services and promoting social dialogue and citizens’ participation. Unions will promote equal opportunities and ensure the incorporation of women as well as young workers and other equity-seeking groups. New innovative trade union structures will be developed, as well as means of communication to achieve ratification and respect for ILO fundamental Conventions, particularly those related to collective bargaining and decent work.

The project aims at improving living and working conditions of municipal workers in Central America by influencing public policy, advocating quality public services and promoting social dialogue and citizens’ participation in alliance with other social sectors. Unions will promote equal opportunities and ensure the incorporation of women as well as young workers and other equity-seeking groups. Special focus will be placed on recruitment strategies and developing union capacity for collective bargaining.

The project seeks to consolidate the trade unions in the municipal sector through developing social dialogue as a valid tool for promoting quality public services, promotion of equal opportunities, organising and recruitment, and leadership training in collective bargaining.

The project seeks to develop policy, take up legal cases and launch campaigns in order to create and/or enforce labour laws, which comply with international standards and the ratification of ILO conventions. The unions will develop strategic alliances to promote the rights and interests of public service workers. Activities will include capacity building, organisational and gender consciousness. The project has a full-time coordinator and a Steering Committee that will meet once per year.

Trade union rights for public service workers have been further reduced by public sector restructuring and affiliates recognise that this is an issue to confront collectively. The first phase of the project will be conducted in India and focus on developing strategies to gain trade union recognition at the central and state government levels. Unions will focus campaigns on the right to form and be recognised by law as independent trade unions and stop the current victimisation of trade union leaders and activists. The pilot year will be implemented in South India and then evaluated before taking to other states.

Health workers’ unions seek to consolidate their existing network activities, build their policy-making and negotiating skills and engage in campaigning with civil society organisations to defend the sustainability of the health sector in public hands. This also involves PSI’s two global campaigns: quality health services and pay equity.

Rosa Parks, a black seamstress whose refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama helped start the U.S. civil rights movement.

The Inter American Regional Committee (IAMREC) decided in 2007 to focus on three sectors: the Judiciary, Energy and Universities. Each year, three sectoral workshops are organised at regional level to debate the main aspects of globalisation as related to WTO, WB, IADB, multinationals and trade agreements; discuss and develop alternative proposals of regional integration at sectoral level and adopt regional action plans.

Independent unions face problems because governments are revising and reducing trade union and workers rights in order to deliver a more flexible labour market to attract foreign investment. Work is becoming more precarious in the public sector and workers are afraid of losing their jobs if they become involved in trade unions. The unions recognise the need to continue strengthening their structures and skills to gain more financial independence and improve collective bargaining. The project concentrates increasing membership and strengthening financial management, motivating members to take a more active role in campaigns and developing stronger networks between unions and with Civil Society Organisations. Gender equality issues in the union and the workplace will also take priority.

The project will assist PSI Colombian affiliates to set up a web-portal to offer information and news relating to human and trade union rights in the public sector, and act as a vehicle for exchange and coordination, both nationally and internationally. The women’s committees will be encouraged to participate actively in this facility. A part-time coordinator will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the web-portal.

The project aims at strengthening the participation of the water unions in Colombia in the promotion and collection of signatures for the water referendum, and to disseminate PSI’s policies concerning water as a human right and a public asset, in order to cement long-term strategic alliances. This will be achieved through a promotional publication to sign the referendum with the positions of PSI’s affiliates in the sector, and the collection of signatures at cultural events and workplace visits in the main cities.

The project targets three groups discriminated in public employment, i.e. young workers, GLBT (gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered), and black workers. The long-term strategy is to create more space for these groups within the unions and propose measures to promote equal opportunities in public sector employment, respecting diversity based on age, race and sexual orientation of the workers. Activities include national and sectoral seminars.

This project supports the PSI Global Quality Public Services Campaign with evaluation and research to assist the implementation of a regional action plan developed at a PSI workshop after the 2007 Congress. Affiliates will develop alternatives to privatisation and pro active campaigns at the national, the sub regional and the regional levels. This will raise the profile of public services and their role in contributing to the democratic participation, accountability and engagement of service users.

The main purpose of the project is to strengthen and identify new alternative models for providing affordable water services to all citizens irrespective of income levels. Support will be provided to reactive the citizens’ movement to defend the public-public partnership (PUP) between the water plants in Huancayo, Peru and Buenos Aires, Argentina, with trade union participation. It is also proposed to promote exchange of experiences with other PUP models and produce a summary report of the Huancayo model.

In the long term, the project seeks to improve the capacity of the public sector unions to promote gender issues and incorporate them in the trade union agenda for collective bargaining. Based on a 2004 study on wage differentials in public services, the project is focusing on training women activists in pay equity issues, particularly gender-neutral job evaluations. The unions will promote pay equity committees at the workplace and implement a national campaign.

The project supports the organising efforts of the health union SOLSICO and its women’s committee through the following four components: reactivate the provincial union committees, develop leadership skills in gender issues, collective bargaining and international labour standards, raise awareness on HIV/AIDS, and promote women’s rights, participation and access to decision-making posts.

The project will promote discussions to redefine the organizational model of public sector unions, particularly in the health sector. Unions will continue their lobbying and advocacy in Parliament to ensure adoption of the draft laws that ensure the right to strike and bargain collectively for the public sector. A dossier on violation of trade union rights will be published. The Finnish Nurses’ Union TEHY will participate in seminars to train negotiators, particularly by transmitting their experiences of collective bargaining in Finland.

This new phase of the project for India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand recognises that the situation in the health sector continues to create difficulties for users, workers and communities in all countries, especially for women. Public health care is underfunded with staff shortages and the migration of health workers. Health care quality is reduced and privatised services are not affordable for the majority of the populations. The project takes into account that health care restructuring is at different stages and provides capacity building and support to intervene in government policy. It also provides opportunities for unions to work collective and coordinate actions with Civil Society Organisations.

The project focuses on developing a sectoral gender policy in public administration; developing best practice models concerning job evaluation and elimination of job segregation; organising and training young workers; and analysing the situation of Afro-descendent and indigenous populations in the public health system. The project has a full-time coordinator based in Ecuador.

The unions will train young workers, set up specific structures and policies where they do not exist, introduce strategic planning, strengthen young workers' understanding of industrial relations, promote their participation in collective bargaining, and increase their campaigning and research skills.

Affiliates from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco will explore how they can promote quality public services in their countries in the health, public utilities and local government sectors and how they can integrate their work with the PSI policy and strategies adopted at the 2007 International Congress. The unions will examine the current situation in the sectors and how they can influence government to provide quality services.

A recently released report states that unless women are involved in the decision and policymaking process at all levels of the state, changes in women’s political and to some extent social and economic status will continue to be marginal.

The new national Health Workers’ Federation will strengthen its capacities through four main components: strategic planning, introduction of study circles at grassroots level, introduction of a more efficient union management system mainly thanks to new software developed by PSI that will facilitate the registration of membership and dues payments, and amendments of the statutes to take into account the gender perspective.

The project seeks to address three priorities identified by the unions: workers’ rights, social dialogue and gender equality. Activities will be implemented on economic restructuring and privatisation, modernising union culture and structures, young workers’ recruitment, women on the EU labour market, social dialogue, trade union rights, the impact of globalisation and EU integration on the quality of public services and working and living conditions of public sector employees. There will also be specific seminars for the health, energy, communal service and civil service sectors.