In reaction to the international financial crisis, initatives are multiplying around the world to make a financial transactions tax a reality.

After the earthquake and tsunami that affected the southern central region of Chile, PSI affiliate FENPRUSS asks the new government to make the rebuilding of hospitals a priority.

PSI affiliate the FDA, the senior public servants' union in the UK, has reacted to the government's proposal to freeze the pay of senior staff in the civil service, the military, the judiciary and the health service, alongside the pay of GPs and dentists and salaried NHS consultants.

PSI general secretary Peter Waldorff is a keynote speaker at the Euromediterranean Conference, 16 March, in Bari, Italy. PSI affiliate members will be participating in this important conference.

Seher Tümer appeared in court in Ankara, Turkey on 9 March. A total of 8000 signatures had been collected and presented to the Ministry of Justice on 8th March, petitioning for her immediate release. Her trial has now been postponed until 18 March. Ms Tümer’s lawyers are optimistic that she may be released at that time. Meanwhile, keep sending letters and signing the petition. Tümer continues to need international support in her bid for freedom..

Despite signs of progress in gender equality over the past 15 years, there is still a significant gap between women and men in terms of job opportunities and quality of employment, according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO).

PSI South African affiliate - NEHAWU - is organising a seminar on International Women's Day focusing on the issue of women and children trafficking. The seminar aims to raise awareness about how trafficking happens and to assist in rooting out this crime. The seminar will underline the roles played by the different stakeholders (government, NGOs, labour movement, community,etc.) in combating and preventing these crimes.

A new ITUC report examining how women take decisions on their working life confirms that deep-rooted inequalities in child care and household work are still restricting the opportunities for women to get the most out of paid employment. The report [...] confirms that women with children are far more likely to work part-time than their male partners or than women who don’t have children. The report also demonstrates that countries which ratify and implement ILO Conventions covering equality, protection from discrimination, maternity rights and workers with family responsibilities have significantly better laws to support a decent balance between work and family life.

An increasing number of female workers are joining the ranks of trade unions throughout Europe. According to this year’s European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) 8th March Survey, women account for around 45% of the trade union membership of ETUC. The study shows that women are important for trade unions’ future growth and sustainability and that trade unionism is key in the promotion of gender equality in employment and society at large. Nevertheless, women do not appear to be effectively represented in trade unions’ decision-making positions, with only 7% of the top trade union positions being occupied by women.

Photographer Natasha Fillion went to Haiti in February and took photos of PSI affiliates in Port-au-Prince.

PSI has sent solidarity letters to its Chilean affiliates.

Union activist Seher Tümer will spend this International Women’s Day in a Turkish prison. But international solidarity action could open the door to freedom for her. “Joining a trade union is a crucial first step to achieving equality for many women,” emphasizes Kuini Lutua, chair of the PSI World Women's Committee. “And when workers’ rights are abused, union organisations assert our collective power to demand justice. Seher Tümer’s situation requires such action. Our voices matter!”

The Canadian Labour Congress has just issued a new report on women. During the period of 2004-2009, Canada’s achievements towards women’s equality in all twelve areas of critical concern outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action have slowed or been turned back. Canada no longer compares favourably against other nations in assessments of gender equality and the gender gap. Canada has been strongly criticised by several UN human rights bodies on the issues of women’s poverty and the endemic violence against Aboriginal women and girls.

This is the story of Mirriam Gurajena, a public sector health worker in Zimbabwe, who has experienced years of social turmoil. Decades of violent conflict, economic constraints imposed by international financial institutions, and government attacks on the rights of trade unions have damaged her work and her family.

The very existence of unions is under threat in Zimbabwe today. Public service unions have had virtually no income for nearly two years and PSI affiliates in Zimbabwe are struggling to continue representing members. Zimbabwe’s public sector workers desperately need the collective support of PSI affiliates.

This year, in connection with March 8th, International Women’s Day, PSI is working to draw global attention to the case of Seher Tümer, branch secretary of our Turkish affiliate SES. Tümer, who is Kurdish, was arrested and imprisoned in April 2009.

The very existence of unions is under threat in Zimbabwe today. Public service unions have had virtually no income for nearly two years and PSI affiliates in Zimbabwe are struggling to continue representing members. Zimbabwe’s public sector workers desperately need the collective support of PSI affiliates.

We have the pleasure to welcome Anandalakshmi Vaidhiyanathan as new PSI Regional Secretary for Asia-Pacific region. Anandalakshmi will officially start work on 1st March 2010, and be based in the regional office in Singapore. She will be taking over from Katsuhiko Sato who has worked in this position for six years.

More than a quarter of a million public sector workers in the United Kingdom are voting on whether to strike over proposed cuts to pension plans.

PSI will present the first annual Public Service Trade Union award at the Quality Public Services Conference in Geneva this October. Nominations must be sent to PSI before the end of April 2010.

Hospital cleaners create more value for society than financial managers – it’s all in how you calculate it, says a new report from the New Economics Foundation.

Since the start of the economic crisis, PSI has consistently warned that workers should not be made to pay the price for a crisis they did not create but also that this could lead to a major social crisis. It is unacceptable that public sector workers and their families should foot the bill for the lack of government policies which now result in the current financial crisis in Greece. PSI fully supports its affiliate's action in opposing the planned government reforms that limit workers' benefits without improving the system. PSI and EPSU urge the Greek government to review to review the impact of these measures and to ensure that the affected workers are guaranteed a decent standard of living.

Thirty women delegates from PSI attended the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York in early March. PSI, together with Education International, UNI Global Union, and the International Trade Union Confederation, has created a special CSW blog for trade union women, to encourage discussion and share information on the CSW.

On 9 February, members of PSI affiliate the Public Service Association (PSA) and the Corrections Association (CA) rallied outside the New Zealand parliament in protest against the National Party-led government’s plan to privatise prisons.

Australian trade unions are optimistic that pay equity legislation will, after the publiction of a government report, become a reality for working women.

The latest GLU Working Paper, "Developing a Labour Voice in Trade Policy at the National Level" reports on trade union capacity to influence national trade policy, drawing on case studies from developed, newly industrialised, and developing countries.

Millions of people have joined the general strike action today and protest actions are being organised all over Turkey. The six trade union confederations representing the interests of the Tekel workers in Ankara decided to launch a one-day strike following a breakdown in negotiations between the government and the representatives of Tekel workers.

The B.C. CEDAW Group, a coalition of women's and human rights organizations in British Columbia, Canada, has just released a report on the state of human rights among the province's most vulnerable women. The report finds the B.C. government has failed to take any steps to deal effectively with issues of violence against Aboriginal women and girls, and with women's poverty and inadequate social assistance rates.

RadioLabour is a new source of international labour news on the Internet. Weekly audiocasts will focus on union and workers' activities and issues from around the world with special emphasis on emerging market and developing countries.

3 February 2010 - Unions in Germany have decided to carry out a series of warning strikes in the public sector this week after a round of wage negotiations ended in failure.