Trade union rights

Today, the Supreme Court announced that it had reached a 4-4 tie in the Friedrichs case that challenged the legality of allowing unions to charge an agency or fair share fee to non-members. The tie upholds a lower court decision that recognizes the constitutionality of the agency fee system, but does not prevent similar cases from making their way through the federal courts in the coming years.

Liberia was the third country to be hit by the Ebola crisis in 2014-2015. Over 10,000 cases and almost 5,000 deaths were reported. Health workers in particular were severely hit due to the lack of personal protective equipment, medication and material, as well as knowledge of the disease.

On the 26th of February, more than 12,000 nurses under the banner of the All India Government Nurses Federation (AIGNF) were off-duty to protest against “retrograde recommendations” of the 7th Central Pay Commission. In case the government remains deaf to their demands, an indefinite strike will start from the 15th of March on.

In the absence of successful negotiations with the government on their list of demands, Indian trade unions are organising a series of actions, culminating in an indefinite strike from 11th July.

PSI General Secretary will represent the trade union movement, health workers and public services on a newly created UN High Level Commission announced by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the 2nd of March.

The 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council started on 29 February 2016. For a period of four weeks, the representatives of its 47 member States, elected by the UN General Assembly, will deliberate on the human rights violations in a number of countries and make their recommendations.

In 2016, we should honour the February Strike, not just because those who took action were later tortured and even executed. Rather, we must ask ourselves, as trade unions, as members of the labour movement: what are we doing? Are we ready to take the risks necessary to confront the austerity-fueled resurgence of racism and national chauvinism across Europe and other parts of the world?

The Moroccan trade union movement has decided to hold a general strike on 24 February because of the non-compliance of the government to its commitments on social dialogue and its violations of freedom of association.