Urgent Action! Colombia: More than 2,300 municipal workers dismissed Paramilitary group issues threats against trade unionists - click here!

 

News articles and protest letters on workers' rights issues that are of strategic concern to trade unionists.

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..

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.

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.

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.

 

PSI has produced a large range of publications relating to winning workers' rights. Below is a selection. We are still adding to this list so watch this space!

PSI's UK affiliate UNISON has published a special report on the occasion of International Migrants' Day. The Evaluation Report of the UNISON Migrant Workers Participation Project offers practical advice based on UNISON's experience in organising migrant workers in the union.

December 2007 - Sri Lankan domestic workers face serious abuses, including violence, harassment and exploitation when they migrate to work in the Middle East, Human Rights Watch said in a newly released report. Human Rights Watch said the governments of Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should do more to protect women from labor exploitation and violence when they migrate to the Middle East. "Governments in the Middle East expose Sri Lankan domestic workers to abuse by refusing to guarantee a weekly rest day, limits to the workday, freedom of movement and other rights that most workers take for granted," said Jennifer Turner, a researcher in the Women's Rights division at Human Rights Watch. "For its part, the Sri Lankan government welcomes the money these women send home, but does little to protect them from exploitative bosses or labor agents."

An appalling total of 144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers’ rights in 2006, while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to the ITUC's Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations. The report details nearly 5,000 arrests and more than 8,000 dismissals of workers due to their trade union activities. 484 new cases of trade unionists held in detention by governments are also documented in the report.

2 October - The ITUC released a new report today on core labour standards in Gabon and Cameroon. This report coincides with both countries´ trade policy reviews at the WTO and highlights important shortcomings in the application and enforcement of core labour standards, with many contradictions between the principles of these binding legal instruments and their application in both countries.

In the presence of Commissioner Spidla, the secretaries general of ETUC, BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME and CEEP officially signed an autonomous framework agreement to fight against harassment and violence at work. Negotiated during ten months, the text commits the members of the signatory parties to combat all unacceptable behaviour that can lead to harassment and violence at the workplace.

 

The following section contains links to other websites on winning workers' rights.

	Estatales Colombia ISP : This new PSI website follows trade union rights developments in Colombia
	Labour rights are human rights : the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), Canada, labour rights e-bulletin
	LabourStart  : an online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which aims to serve the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information -- and by assisting unions in campaigning and other ways.
	Institute of Employment Rights (IER - UK):   A think tank for the labour movement
	http://www.iranlabourwatch.net/ ILRW brings together a group of concerned experts (writers, journalists, trade unionists, and community and human rights activists) and intends, by providing accurate information in an objective way, to make the website a reliable source of news about the Iranian labour community for the audience abroad.