We've moved to a new site!

Join us at publicservices.international - for all the latest news, resources and struggles from around the world.

We are no longer updating world-psi.org and it will be progressively phased out: all content will be migrated to the new site and old links will redirect eventually.

  1. Home
  2. Trade Union Rights
  3. Trade union rights news

Trade union rights news

All work has dignity, and all workers deserve to be treated with respect by their employers. Trade unions play a decisive role in improving working conditions, safety and wages – yet some governments and employers systematically abuse the right of workers to join existing unions or form new ones. PSI works actively to support the right of workers to free collective bargaining, and to help stop abuses when they occur.

Collective Bargaining in the Municipal Public Sector

06 June 2017

PSI is jointly organising a panel debate with the Municipal Workers’ Confederation of Argentina (CTM) and the Confederation of Municipal Workers of the Americas (CONTRAM-ISP AMERICAS) on the issue of Collective Bargaining in the Municipal Public sector focusing on the experiences and challenges from the Province of Buenos Aires and specifically on Act 14656 on Labour Relations and Collective Bargaining.

The Mexico City Public Service Workers’ Union wins historic provisions in the defence of labour rights and public services in the federal capital’s constitution

26 May 2017
City of Mexico

On 5 February 2017, the government of Mexico City, one of the world’s largest and most populous cities and capital of the Federal State of Mexico, promulgated its first constitution, which will come into force on 17 September 2018.

What is in and what is not for workers in the final text of the New Urban Agenda: a trade union assessment of the outcome document of Habitat III

26 May 2017

In October 2016, over 30,000 representatives of national, regional and local governments, trade unions, business, academia, and civil society gathered in Quito, Ecuador, for the Habitat III Conference (HIII), where state representatives adopted the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the UN guidelines meant to serve as a reference for urbanization policies for the next 20 years.

Municipal workers in the Province of Buenos Aires and their trade unions take action to seek compliance with the Paritaria Act on collective bargaining in local and regional government

12 May 2017

Members of the Confederación de Trabajadores Municipales de la República de Argentina (CTM), affiliated to the PSI, took action in 2016 and again in 2017, calling on mayors to comply with Provincial Act 14.656 of 2015 on Labour Relations and Collective Bargaining for local government  workers in Buenos Aires province, generally known as the Paritaria Act.

Release Zeynep Çelik NOW! Stop attacks on the Turkish people!

03 May 2017

The arrest of Zeynep Çelik by the Turkish government on May Day is totally unacceptable to the Public Services International. Zeynep, is a nurse and former Executive Committee member of PSI Turkish affiliate Dev-Sağlık-İş (DISK).

Big win for Philippine unions as govt finally agrees to ratify ILO Convention 151

02 May 2017

After years of campaigning by a coalition of unions, the Philippines Government has agreed to implement Convention 151 of the International Labour Organsiation, assuring government workers the right to unionise.

1st May 2017: Public service workers are the custodians of an alternative world and a better future

30 April 2017
In Patung Kuda (Silang monas)

On this 1st May, we are demanding a better and fairer world, defending strong democratic states and inclusive societies, ensuring economic development and the redistribution of wealth for the benefit of all.

UN staff protest in Geneva against unilateral 7.5% pay cut

27 April 2017
No 7.5% pay cut

At its 84th session, in March 2017, the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) decided that pay for UN Geneva-based staff will be reduced by 7.5%. This amounts to a reduction of one month’s salary in a year.

Motion of support from PSI's Executive Board to the general strike in Brazil called on 28 April

24 April 2017

The Executive Board of PSI expresses its support for the general strike in Brazil called by the trade union centres on 28th April. In response to the attacks on democracy and trade union and labour rights by the illegitimate government of Michel Temer, a general strike clearly shows strong opposition from the working class to the backward steps taken by the government.

Turkey: Solidarity fund for trade unions

20 April 2017

In the aftermath of the failed coup that took place last July, the Turkish government has arrested and detained thousands of workers and trade unionists. Public employees have been summarily suspended or dismissed. PSI calls on affiliates to contribute to a solidarity fund to help trade unions and workers operate under these difficult conditions. #SolidarityTurkey

Chad: tentative progress on trade union rights

10 April 2017
PSI Subregional Secretary Charlotte Kalanbani met the Prime Minister of Chad in February 2017

Since 2012, trade unionists in Chad have been struggling to obtain trade union rights for their members. Their hard work is starting to pay off.

UN Special Rapporteur reminds the ILO that fundamental right to strike must be preserved

05 April 2017
Maina Kai, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association, Mr. Maina Kai, has reminded the ILO that the right to strike is fundamentally enshrined in international human rights and labour law, and that its protection is necessary in ensuring just, stable and democratic societies.

President Park is gone for good – and trade unions played a major role in making it happen

15 March 2017

The impeachment of Park Geun-hye, now former President of South Korea, is not only the culmination of a political scandal involving corruption. It is also a victory built by the trade union movement which, relentless, denounced for years the abuses against workers committed by her regime.

Solidarity with dismissed unionists in Turkey

21 February 2017

Ms. Gülüzar ATES, is a union representative and has been working for the Bureau of Labourers Union (a member of KESK) for the past 14 years. She is one of the thousands of Turkish public employees who were removed from their jobs after the attempted coup of 15 July 2016.

In New York, PSI affiliate 1199SEIU delivers letter to the Ambassador of Liberia to the US

20 February 2017

On February 17, joining the worldwide protests for the reinstatement of health workers Joseph S. Tamba and George Poe Williams, President and General Secretary of NAHWAL, respectively, Maria Castaneda on behalf of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East delivered a letter to the Ambassador Jeremiah C. Suluneth.