Liberia

Although Liberia has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and the Liberian constitution guarantees the right to freedom of association, the right to organise is not recognised in the public sector and unions and associations are confronted with continuous anti-union behaviour from the government.

In 2014, the government fired health workers who were on the front lines of the fight against Ebola, simply because they were trying to ensure adequate protection and working conditions for public workers. Other unions have been denied registration, and union leaders and activists are regularly dismissed, displaced to faraway regions, denied their salaries, and intimidated.

PSI has been campaigning for the reinstatement of Joseph Tamba and George Poe Williams of NAHWAL and for the respect of trade union rights in Liberia. In 2016, NAHWAL – together with PSI, ITUC, UNISON, SEIU – filed a complaint with the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association.

The solutions to the climate challenge require a substantive transformation of the current socio-economic development paradigm, including industrial change. This is not just about some technical changes to energy production or transport systems. What is required is a redefinition of the predominant model of production and consumption. We must give back to the state and public services their role in supporting our communities, and ensure that workers and trade unions are able to participate fully in all steps of this process.

PSI works in coalition with EI, ITUC, civil society partners, the ILO and others to influence the inter-governmental negotiations related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Financing for Development (FfD) arena.

PSI represents first responders and frontline workers. These are the people who put their lives at risk in order to protect and save your families. First responders include firefighters and emergency medical technicians, police and other uniformed services. They are also the frontline workers in hospitals and health clinics, in schools, in energy and water utilities; in public transport; in civil administration and in a range of other areas. All of us depend on these people being able to do their jobs, having the right tools and training.

Deaths to health workers accounted for six percent of all deaths confirmed as due to EVD, even to the end of the outbreaks. Over 500 health workers, including members of PSI affiliated unions, were killed in the line of duty. PSI is actively lobbying national governments, the ILO and WHO and working with health and allied care workers in our unions to rebuild health systems that can resist future outbreaks in the context of universal access to essential healthcare, which is the core of the post-2015 agenda for health.