Radio Labour:  International Labour News, Bringing Labour's Voices to the World

LabourStart Solidarity Campaigns

• Violations of Trade Union Rights...annual worldwide survey by the International Trade Union Confederation
• Union Solidarity International
• Water is a Human Right...European campaign
• Respect at DHL...campaign by the International Transport Workers Federation, International Trade Union Confederation and UNI Global Union
• Clean Clothes Campaign...urgent action network
• We Expect Better...from Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile
• Quality Public Services--Action Now!...Council of Global Unions
• Decent Work...a web movie available in 29 languages, a three minute overview of the concept of decent work...International Labor Organization
• Campaign for Decent Work...towards and beyond the World Cup 2014
• Alberta Federation of Labour Project 2012...100 years of struggle and solidarity
• Play Fair 2012...campaigning for a sweat free Olympics
• US Labor Education in the Americas Project...campaigns and urgent actions
• Stop the War on Workers...International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• Fight for a Fair Economy...Service Employees International Union
• Stand With Wisconsin...American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations
• Making Change at Walmart...United Food and Commercial Workers
• Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports...Change to Win
• Protest in the USA...National Nurses United
• Union Busting Playbook...Communications Workers of America
• Worker Station...standing up for the right to organize at Station Casinos

ILO Labor Standards

The International Labor Organization (ILO) labor standards take the form of International Labor Conventions which are ratified by member countries. Of the total number of ILO Conventions, eight are considered core labor standards, fundamental to the rights of workers

Global Delivery Unionists Talk Tactics at UK Event

18 May 2012:  Asserting union strength at global delivery companies worldwide was among the key topics discussed by activists attending a meeting in the UK this week. More than 100 unionists from around the globe attended the ITF/UNI global delivery meeting in London from 15-16 May, where they homed in on ways of bolstering union activities. ITF general secretary David Cockroft opened the conference and presented a video celebrating the growth of the network. A new campaign leaflet was also launched. DHL unionists reported violence, intimidation and human rights abuses. Global actions and better communication could help unionists to deal with these issues, they said. The recently published Corporate irresponsibility white paper was also discussed and the next steps of the campaign developed. The pilots' group analysed organising successes and outlined plans to identify what rules could be applied across the company. Meanwhile, UPS and TNT unionists discussed the merger of the two companies. Despite obligations to consult employees, for example, in countries such as Australia and parts of Europe, this was not happening. Delegates agreed on an approach to target both central and regional levels of the companies. Activists representing Fedex workers had also developed an action plan, which would aim to ensure greater sharing of information and increase organising. At the Geopost group, inaugurated at the meeting, participants described how, although the company's "corporate behaviour" was positive where there was a high volume of activity, it was less clear what was happening in other core areas. They planned to investigate the situation. Ingo Marowsky, ITF organising globally coordinator, commented: "This conference was the biggest ever under this network umbrella. Activists from around the globe, felt the power of international solidarity. Taking this home with them will further strengthen this work, keep global delivery companies under close scrutiny, and enable our unions to be ready to fight whenever necessary."
Source:  International Transport Workers Federation--ITF is 779 unions representing 4.6 million transport workers in 155 countries

Global Delivery Better in Union Hands

IndustriALL-European Trade Union Born Today with Merger of Three Federations

16 May 2012  ICEM InBrief  Belgium:  In Brussels today, 16 May, the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers' Federation (EMCEF), European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF), and the European Trade Union Federation for Textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (ETUF-TCL) formally merged to become IndustriALL-European Trade Union, a new union federation representing seven million workers. The Congress took place in the Square Brussels Meeting Centre with 270 delegates from 125 trade unions taking part. Another 375 guests and visitors witnessed today's historic founding Congress. The new federation, to officially take effect 1 June, will become a fighting force as a dynamic workers' structure aimed at making European industry the motor for both job growth and sustainable economic growth. The three current federations vowed that social progress and the European social model will no longer be victimised by past neo-liberal policies. EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters called the timing of the Congress ideal, considering recent elections in France and Greece which he said will turn back the harmful austerity measures undertaken by governments. "What Europe needs is a quality of growth based on more public spending and mandates for worker-friendly and socially-enriching initiatives that drive our economies forward," said Wolters. "The work that starts here today is focused on just that." Michael Vassiliadis, President of Germany's IGBCE, was elected President of IndustriALL-European Trade Union, while current EMF General Secretary Ulrich Eckelmann was elected to the position of General Secretary. Anders Ferbe of IF Metall, Sweden, Renzo Ambrosetti, UNIA, Switzerland, and Valeria Fedeli, CGIL FILCTEM, Italy, were elected Vice Presidents, while Sylvain Lefebvre, EMCEF, Bart Samyn, EMF, and Luc Triangle, ETUF-TCL, were elected to the posts of Deputy General Secretaries. IndustriALL-European Trade Union's structure will consist of four policy committees - Collective Bargaining and Social Policy, Company Policy, Industrial Policy, and Social Dialogue Policy. It will also be composed of eight regions: South, Benelux, Central, South-East, Eastern, British, Nordic/Baltic, and South-West. Regarding industrial policy, IndustriALL-European Trade Union will focus on sustainable industrial growth, with the intent to create more jobs and better quality jobs in Europe. The company policy platform will focus on work within some 600 European Workers Councils. Collective bargaining and social policy will key on achieving economic balance and also social and distributional balance. The new European trade union federation will consist of 11 sectoral social dialogue bodies that will be overseen by a policy coordination committee.
Source:  International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions--ICEM uniting over 20 million workers in 255 industrial trade unions in 94 countries

Union Leaders Call for Action Now for Jobs and Growth and Against Inequality and Austerity

16/05/2012:  Trade union leaders from OECD countries and global labour organisations call for urgent action from OECD Finance Ministers on the worsening jobs and income inequality situation in a statement released in advance of the annual meeting of OECD Finance Ministers on 23-24 May. The meeting is being held as mistaken austerity policies are worsening the economic crisis, slowing growth globally and raising unemployment levels from already unacceptable figures of 47 million in OECD countries and more than 200 million globally. The union delegation, led by Richard Trumka, President of the American labour centre AFL-CIO and the TUAC, the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, will call for action on jobs and for a fairer distribution of income: "Working people are not responsible for the financial crisis. But they are its victims. They pay its high price in terms of their jobs, their homes, their savings and the future of their kids". Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, added that "we are calling for government leadership to bring about coordinated measures to support and rebalance growth, to create "green jobs" and decent work and to regulate financial markets". John Evans, General Secretary of TUAC concluded that "OECD governments must muster the same level of political will that was used to save the global banking system. This will can be transformed into decent jobs now and for the generations to come. If we can fix the jobs crisis, we can reduce deficits. This is the message to send to financial markets." Union leaders will answer questions in a press conference at the OECD Media Centre, 2 Rue André Pascal, 75016 Paris, at 12.30 on 22 May.
Source: Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD    (OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)

Unions Hold Protest at International Olympic Committee

May 15, 2012:  Workers call on the IOC to end the use of Rio's tarnished gold in Olympic medals. Unions want Rio, "Off the Podium!"
SWITZERLAND: The Swiss metal union UNIA, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) protested against the use of Rio Tinto metals in Olympic medals with an action at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne on May 14, 2012. The action is part of a global campaign, initiated by the United Steelworkers' Union in Canada where 780 Rio Tinto workers have been locked-out from their jobs because they refuse to allow the company to hire all new employees on a contract basis at half the wage of permanent workers. "Rio Tinto, sponsors of the 2012 London Olympics, is providing 99 per cent of the metal for minting the London Olympic medals, tarnishing them with the company's reprehensible labour practices," said UNIA regional secretary for Vaud, Jean Kunz. "50 million industrial workers represented by the ICEM and the IMF strongly speak out that what Rio Tinto does in Alma, Quebec, Canada is unacceptable," said Kemal Ozkan, ICEM's director of industry and corporate affairs. "We are here to remind the IOC to follow their fundamental principles and values and not accept sponsorship from an unfair player, Rio Tinto," he added. "We urge the International Olympic Committee to demand that Rio Tinto to end its attacks on workers and the environment, starting with the lockout of 780 workers in Alma, Quebec, Canada, or tell Rio Tinto to get off the podium now," said Jyrki Raina, general secretary of the IMF. IMF and ICEM filed a second complaint on May 10 against Rio Tinto with the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG) urging the standards setting bodies to drop mining giant Rio Tinto as an official supplier of the 2012 London Games because of the company's treatment of workers at one of its facilities in Alma, Quebec. Last month, the IOC refused a request from IMF and ICEM to meet and discuss the matter, claiming it was only a matter for LOCOG. Following the action, an IOC representative met with IMF's Raina and ICEM's Kemal Ozkan and said the issues raised at the action would be taken into consideration. The campaign, called, Off the Podium, is urging the IOC and LOCOG to uphold their responsibility to ensure that official suppliers to the Olympics meet minimum ethical business standards, which run contrary to Rio Tinto's actions at the facility in Alma, Quebec. The action in Lausanne comes just days after Australian unions held a protest outside of Rio Tinto's AGM in Brisbane. Unions around the world are taking action to expose Rio Tinto as the anti-worker, anti-community company that it is. For more information go to: www.offthepodium.org/ (English) www.justiceforriotintoworkers.ca/ (English) www.solidaritealma.org/ (Francais) - Kristyne Peter
Source:  International Metalworkers Federation--IMF representing 25 million metalworkers in more than 200 unions in 100 countries

New Report Shatters DHL's Good Conduct Claims

9 May 2012:  Global trade unions will unveil a report into how Deutsche Post DHL treats its workers, at the company's AGM in Frankfurt today. They will launch a white paper entitled Corporate Irresponsibility, Deutsche Post DHL's Global Labour Practices Exposed, which exposes a shameful track record of union avoidance outside of Europe and overuse of temporary or agency workers. Shareholders are being urged to help clean up the logistics multinational, and ensure that high standards are met throughout its operations. The research carried out by UNI Global Union and the ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) shows widespread and systematic abuses regarding freedom of association and precarious work. In country after country workers are fearful of retaliation if they try to organise a union. In many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia and India, subcontracted workers have been paid substantially less than regular workers while doing exactly the same work. In Colombia, Costa Rica and South Africa, the company has forced workers to submit to lie detector tests in spite of the company's initial position that it did not tolerate the use of such tests. The company has also been fined substantial amounts of money for health and safety violations, notably earlier this year in the US where DP-DHL subsidiary Exel has been fined almost $300,000. These labour rights violations directly contradict DP-DHL's own corporate responsibility policies and its commitment to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which it signed in 2006. The report provides a whole raft of evidence holding the company to account and demanding it meet its aspirations as a responsible enterprise in every country where it operates, not just in its home base, Germany. The campaign is being supported by the 175-million member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The unions will be raising the concerns detailed in the new publication with Deutsche Post DHL (DP-DHL) at its AGM at the Jahrhunderthalle Frankfurt, Pfaffenwiese 301, 65929 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, today. Present at this the shareholders' meeting will also be Monica Okpe, a Norwegian DHL worker who recently won reinstatement after being illegally sacked for her trade union work. As well as targeting the company's leadership, the unions will also seek to persuade shareholders that this is an issue for them too, and have written to them to say: 'We find it unbelievable that a company of Deutsche Post DHL's size and aspirations can find itself unable to put a figure to the number of agency workers it uses, even though many of them are on poverty wages and are being put at risk of injury and death. We find it unacceptable that DHL workers have suffered intimidation, bullying and worse, and that the company can't even get its facts straight on the use of lie detectors against staff.' The new report - available at www.respectatdhl.org - investigates the company's record on labour rights and treatment of workers across the globe. Philip Jennings, UNI Global Union general secretary, commented: "If I were a shareholder, I would be asking some serious questions at the meeting. DHL's global practices are a definite risk to the company's ethics, reputation and image. This new report shows a shopping list of labour violations. DHL clearly needs to address these concerns if it is to be seen as an ethical and responsible global operator." ITF general secretary David Cockroft stated: "At its best this company is very good indeed. At its worst it is racking up fines, allowing shameful abuses such as the use of lie detector tests and intimidation against innocent workers, and using workers employed on the cheap and with inadequate protection. Yet the high corporate responsibility ideals it aspires to are almost within its reach. It just needs to guarantee a decent standard of treatment for all its workers, not just some." Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation), added: "DP-DHL's corporate social responsibility mechanisms are failing. We would strongly advise them to do what their workers want, which is to engage in discussions about negotiating a global framework agreement that would set baseline standards for all the company's personnel, and enable them and management to move ahead together to make DP-DHL even more successful." UNI Global Union and the ITF have been encouraging DHL to sign a global framework agreement, designed to ensure that the company respects the same core rights of its employees in every country in which it operates. The unions' concerns will also be raised in a leaflet they will be handing out to shareholders arriving at the AGM.
Source:  International Transport Workers Federation--ITF is 779 unions representing 4.6 million transport workers in 155 countries

Paris, London and Munich Re-Municipalized! Is Your Community Following the Trend?

EPSU Press Release - 7 May 2012:  EPSU trade union representatives from more than 20 European countries will discuss at the EPSU Annual Conference Local and Regional Government in Riga on the 8th of May about the advantages and challenges of remunicipalization. Local and Regional authorities across Europe are responsible for the delivery of a wide range of services to citizens, which include: public passenger transport, public utility services (water supply and waste water treatment, waste management), health and social services (health care, child care, care of elderly people), public employment services, education and vocational training, cultural services, etc. Austerity policies push for these services to be put on the market and be run for profit. Some large European cities as Paris, Munich or London who first took the path "first the market, then the state" have realized that the results of privatization of municipal services are alarming and do not deliver. Therefore they correct the mistakes of the past. They have remunicipalised services and run them for long-term successes and the public interest again. A recent study commissioned by EPSU from the University of Greenwich Public Services International Research Unit gives many examples of privatizations that turned out to be a disaster for citizens. Well known examples include Paris water services, London transport system and Munich Public Utilities Company. Mayors understand that they can win the hearts of the citizens who support these remunicipalization projects driven by strong citizen groups campaigning. The current focus in many countries is on austerity to reduce public spending leading to the privatization of public services. Many municipalities demonstrate how wrong such policies are for citizens and return from failed policies by taking the services back in public hands. EPSU will encourage more debate in municipalities to reassess and better evaluate the ways in which public services are provided by private companies. "Current developments regarding the remunicipalisation or insourcing of public services can be expected to gain more attention", says Deputy General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan. Against this background the objectives of the EPSU Annual Conference Local and Regional Government will be to:

• Examining the rational and potential advantages and challenges of "in-house"/direct provision of local public services by providing political, economic, legal and scientific arguments;
• Clarifying the reasons why the bias exists against direct provision; and
• Developing strategies to correct this, drawing on examples of effective trade union/civil society initiatives to improve services and to keep them under direct and democratic control;
• Examining potential difficulties to be addressed in case of (re-) municipalisation/insourcing public services, including in terms of implications for employment conditions.

Global Unions to ADB: Formalize Partnerships with Us Now

05/03/2012:  Members of the Global Union Federations (GUFs) urged Asian Development Bank (ADB) to act on formalizing partnerships with trade union organisations towards building workers' capacities and research on workers' conditions in ADB-assisted projects. "It is high time that ADB takes concrete action in recognizing the role of the organized labor sector in its technical assistance for research and capacity building," said Lakshmi Vaidhiyanathan, Regional secretary of Public Services International (PSI). PSI together with the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), the Union Network International (UNI), and the International Transport Federation (ITF) comprise the GUFs, representing about 70 million workers across the globe in the public sector, building and construction, services, and transport sectors, respectively. About 70 GUF delegates from India, Indonesia, Singapore, Mongolia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Nepal, Japan, Philippines and Cambodia are now at the 45th ADB Annual Governors' Meeting held at the Philippine International Convention Centre (PICC) from May 2 to 5. The GUF delegation urged ADB at the Meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and ADB Senior Staff headed by President Haruhiko Kuroda, to push for "institutional arrangements for technical assistance on research and capacity building." Mr. Kuroda reportedly responded that the proposal for ADB to enter into technical assistance agreements with GUFs is "quite relevant." Vaidhiyanathan said the GUFs have been lobbying the ADB to act on this since 2005, but have not seen tangible action from the ADB. "We are uncertain what keeps the ADB from acting on our demand," Vaidhiyanathan said. She also said that ADB formalized similar institutional arrangements with other CSOs and even private contractors, but not with unions. The GUFs said that formal partnerships would provide trade unions quick mechanisms to ensure the observance of labor standards and respect for human rights in ADB-funded projects. The GUFs urged ADB to pilot the partnerships in India and Indonesia as these countries have the most number of ADB-funded projects in Asia. The GUFs also took part at the Labor Day Rally in Manila. Apart from challenging the ADB to respect workers' rights, the GUFs also said the ADB should be held liable for the current power crisis in the Visayas and Mindanao as ADB provided loans to privatize the power sector in 2001, paving way for the enactment of the Energy and Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).
Source:  UNI Global Union--UNI represents over 20 million workers in 900 unions in 150 countries

Russian Think-Tank: Neither Workers Nor Employers Benefit From Agency Labour

On April 20 the Center for Social and Labour Rights, a Moscow-based think-tank, presented the results of the research on 'Agency Labour and its Effects on Workers'. Experts found that neither workers nor employers benefit from agency labour.
RUSSIA: On April 20 the Center for Social and Labour Rights (CSLR), a Moscow-based think-tank, and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung presented the results of the research on 'Agency Labour and its Effects on Workers'. About 60 representatives of trade unions, employers and the scientific community took part in the round table. Petr Bizuykov, CSLR researcher, presented the results of the work. He described the key findings of the research team. According to Bizuykov, despite the intention to find advantages of agency labour, none were discovered. This is true both for workers and for employers willing to establish a sustainable production, since the motivation and effectiveness of agency workers is low, while rates of workplace injuries are high. Furthermore, Bizuykov stated that agency labour merely replaces stable permanent employment, despite the agencies' claims that it is works as a bridge between unemployment and a stable job. Mikhail Tarasenko, member of both the IMF Executive Committee and Russian parliament, addressed the participants as an expert. He noted that the bill against agency labour passed the first hearing in the Russian parliament last year. A full-scale attack on the authors of the bill followed swiftly, as well as intensive lobbying of employment agencies' interests with support of foreign associations of such agencies. Tarasenko said that earlier unions in Western countries hoped that agency labour could be regulated by laws. Now they fight for a lower percentage of agency workers and support Russian unions' initiative to ban agency labour altogether. In their turn, Oleg Kulikov, president of the All-Russian Association of Employers in the Electric Industry, and Olga Bacekina, head of the Committee on Labour Issues of the Association of European Business in Russia, spoke of the necessity to legalize agency labour, since flexible work schedule is rather convenient for certain groups of workers, such as students, mothers with little children and intellectual and creative workers. They also claimed that agency work has become a prominent feature of Russian labour market, therefore it should be legalized. Boris Kravchenko, president of the All-Russian Confederation of Labour, said that he hand't heard any arguments for the introduction and legalization of agency labour, except the fact that it exists in reality. Corruption grew manifold in Russia recently, but this doesn't constitute a reason for its legalization, claimed Kravchenko. Vadim Borisov, IMF representative for CIS countries, said employers make groundless claims that Western unions agree with legalization of agency labour, while in reality unions from all over the world take part in the IMF campaign against precarious work and consider agency labour to undermine workers' rights and conditions. The neoliberal economic model created the 1997 Asian crisis and the 2008 world crisis. It will reproduce situations of crisis again and again. Employers' lobbying for agency labour is explained by the fact that they want to ensure the safety of their businesses in such situations and put the risks on the shoulders of workers. CSLR published a book based on its research called 'Agency Labour: Effects on Workers'. The publication in Russian can be downloaded from the CSLR website. - Ilya Matveev
Source:  International Metalworkers Federation--IMF representing 25 million metalworkers in more than 200 unions in 100 countries

Global Workers' Capital Committee Launches Report - Investing in Decent Work, Safe and Healthy Workplaces

2 May 2012:  Marking 28 April, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the Committee on Workers' Capital (CWC) launched a briefing paper on workers' safety and the role of responsible investing in ensuring labourrights. The report shows how investors can hold companies accountable for failure to protect their workforce from work-related accidents or diseases, and how workers' capital especially through trade union pension funds can seriously effect change in corporate governance. Collaborators in the project included ICEM, the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), and ICEM affiliates the United Steelworkers (USW), and the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa (NUM). The CWC is a joint initiative of the ITUC, Global Union Federations (GUFs), and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC). Established in November 1999, following a meeting of international trade union leaders in Stockholm, Sweden, the CWC examines ways for workers to leverage their retirement savings on companies so that they respect human and labour rights. The paper includes case studies from the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine disaster of April 2010 that killed 29 non-union members in the state of West Virginia, and from USW oil workers at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, Washington, and from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The paper also includes a clear framework on how pension trustees can use their pension fund investments to address the issues of Occupational Health and Safety and labour rights. Ken Georgetti, Chair of the CWC and President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) said: "Innovative partnerships between labour rights advocates and investors can deliver the promise of decent work for all."
Source:  International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions--ICEM uniting over 20 million workers in 255 industrial trade unions in 94 countries

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on May Day

May 1, 2012:  Today, working people from around the United States and the world are coming together to commemorate May Day. The message is the same everywhere: Workers' rights should be universal and every person - no matter what nationality, ethnicity or gender - must have equal rights and the opportunity to achieve a better life. Those are the values that have carried our nation to prosperity. But increasingly today we see a group of special interests-the 1%-who seek to divide and weaken the collective power of working people. They are trying to limit the freedom of working people to vote or to join together in a union at the workplace or to live without fear of harassment or discrimination - whatever their national origin. Special interests are not only attacking the values we share; they are playing the politics of division. America was built by the hard work of all working people, not by a small group of rich people. And together, we're responding to the politics of hate by forging new partnerships with worker centers, domestic workers, day laborers, taxi drivers, and all people who work. America's working families will continue to stand together in their fight to reestablish fairness and opportunity so everyone can have access to their own American dream.
Source:  American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations--AFL-CIO is a National Trade Union Center in the United States of America representing 12 million workers

May Day Statement: Governments Must Act for a Sustainable and Equitable Recovery

It is more than five years since the financial crisis hit, followed rapidly by a larger economic crisis. This economic earthquake exposed the dangers of financialisation; of having the real economy subservient to finance; and of two decades of growing inequality. The resulting shock added millions to the already teeming ranks of the jobless and threw millions more into precarious work. Many workers have lost good jobs and far too many have also lost the fundamental rights that went with them. Global financial markets, opened up by deregulation at national level, have not only produced the current economic crisis, but also the instability that has characterised economic development for the last 30 years, with periodic "bubbles" and crises. This has made it much more lucrative to make money from money than from the production of goods and services. In response to the crisis, governments, together and separately, engaged in an unprecedented flurry of activity, but deeds did not reflect the words of their statements. There was enough action that was rapid and real to keep the Great Recession from becoming a Depression, but the dramatic shift to austerity policies in many countries is pushing the global economy back to the brink of new recession. Moreover they have not, recovered the authority that they ceded to markets and their actors; markets that have no political legitimacy. And, because the root causes of the crisis have not been addressed, nothing has been put in place to prevent future financial market disasters. The pressure from financial markets and financial actors has also fuelled short-term thinking and behaviour. It has undermined all three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental. It has deepened and worsened the plight of working people, whose rights are under attack by many governments and employers, both national and multinational. For millions upon millions of working women and men, work means exploitation and deprivation of their fundamental rights, with poverty wages and appalling conditions. The pattern of exploitation which has been thrust on the world leaves more and more people in insecure or informal work, and means growing inequality. Public coffers have been drained for a series of bail-outs of banks leading to cuts in public programmes, increasing inequality and weakening prospects for decent jobs and sustainable recovery. 'Recovery' has come for the handful who caused the crisis, while their victims are subject to further 'punishment'. Too many people, outraged at injustice, but unable to touch powerful elites, are turning against their neighbours, including migrants on whom many healthy economies depend. Many lose hope in political solutions and retreat into apathy and isolation. On this May Day, Global Unions call on governments to assume their responsibilities and join together to end the crisis. They need to create decent, sustainable jobs and stand up for the rights of people at work. We call for:

• Global regulation of financial markets to reduce their dominant role in the global economy and restore them as a support for productive investment to meet social needs;
• A broad range of urgent actions for jobs and recovery, including a focus on youth unemployment, in order to create good, secure employment;
• Employment measures, including enhanced education and training, which will ensure the long-term generation of good, sustainable jobs; a central element of the fight against inequality and poverty;
• Responses to the challenges of climate change in a way that has a real, demonstrable impact on carbon emissions, creates green jobs, and strengthens social sustainability;
• Fair taxes that raise greater revenue from upper income groups and corporations, fight tax fraud and evasion, close loopholes and crack down on tax havens;
• A Financial Transaction Tax to inhibit rapid financial transactions; making financial markets more stable and less dangerous, while generating essential revenue;
• Full respect for trade union rights and the promotion of strong systems of collective bargaining and social dialogue to help build fairness and democracy;
• More comprehensive social protection including through the creation of a global social protection floor supported by adequate funding;
• Guarantees of rights to such basic needs as food, water, housing, health, and education;
• Opposition to austerity measures and the maintenance of government capacity, so that they can govern effectively, deliver effective services, and be relevant and credible - including with respect to measures to influence and affect the direction of the economy; and
• Sustained investment in quality public services, and, especially, in quality education services, as an important means to overcome the crisis, but also as a way to build democratic societies in which people have the opportunity to live healthy, rewarding and satisfying lives.

April 28, 2012: A Day of Mourning

27 April 2012:  As we remember those that have died, been injured or suffered ill health as a result of work, we must also commit to making occupational health and safety one of the highest priorities for IndustriALL Global Union. Every year, on April 28, the World Day on Safety and Health at Work, workers take a moment to reflect on the devastating toll taken by workplace fatalities, injuries, and occupational diseases. IndustriALL Global Union will soon be created, a new organization speaking for some 50 million workers represented by its affiliates. Here are some statistics that should give us all pause. Of IndustriALL's 50 million affiliated workers:

• An estimated 16,400 will die in 2012 as a result of their work. That's about 45 fatalities per day.
• About 5,000 IndustriALL members will die this year of cancer, alone.
• 1,570,000 will be diagnosed with a non-fatal occupational disease.
• An enormous number, millions, impossible to estimate with any accuracy, will be injured on the job.

Poultry Unions Internationally Say Safe Food Begins With Worker Safety

26-04-2012:  Unions representing poultry processing workers in the United States have spoken out strongly against a proposed new rule being promoted by the industry to replace government inspectors with industry "self-inspection" and permit significant speedup of the already dangerously fast line speeds at which chickens are processed. Under the proposed change to Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) rules, line speeds could increase from the current 80-140 per minute up to 175 birds per minute, while at the same time assigning workers the task of "inspecting" each bird! The rule change is being promoted as a "Public Health-Based Slaughter Inspection System" despite the epidemic of worker injuries, high levels of contaminated product and a mountain of evidence linking processing speeds to high rates of accidents and crippling repetitive strain injuries. The UFCW, the largest union representing US poultry workers, has sharply criticized the FSIS for including in the proposed rules their advocacy of greater productivity and flexibility that would benefit companies while excluding from consideration the impact on workers from the increased line speeds. UFCW International President Joe Hanson has called on the government to shelve the proposed rule changes pending a comprehensive study of workplace health and safety in the poultry industry, and emphasizes that "The only way to ever truly guarantee safe food is to have safe workers." (The UFCW statement on Line Speeds, Worker Injuries and Food Safety is available here) In Australia, the National Union of Workers (NUW) is building on their successful strike last year against massive casualization at a Baiada Poultry site and the launch of their "Better Jobs 4 Better Chicken" campaign aimed at winning permanent work, safer workplaces and the production of better chicken. NUW has now published the results of their worksite survey. The report (available here) emphasizes the huge costs to workers and consumers resulting from the industry's relentless drive to lower labour costs. Not only are food poisoning illnesses and deaths on the rise in Australia, with most of these resulting from the salmonella and campylobacter bacteria which are mainly found in chicken. The report highlights recent research demonstrating that the impact of these two bacteria is far greater than the fatality figures alone express: exposure to these two bacteria can triple the average person's chances of dying from disease or any other condition within a year. The report contains evidence of massive outsourcing at Baida (Australia's largest producer) and other companies through contracting and other employment outsourcing schemes, and links this to unsafe and working conditions and a rising incidence of contaminated product. Indirectly-employed poultry workers, in addition to working for poor pay under dangerous conditions, are typically undertrained, transient, and much more likely than their directly-employed counterparts to be killed, injured or made ill on the job. Among the key policy regulations set out in the paper is the demand for strict regulation of indirect labour. For the NUW, better workplaces are the indispensable basis for better chickens. In Brazil, where occupational injuries are devastatingly high, the struggle to slow down the lines has been at the center of the campaign by the IUF and its affiliates to strengthen union organization and change the way the poultry industry operates. Line speeds are among the highest in the world, while low production costs have positioned Brazil as a major export platform. The recent merger of Sadia and Perdigao has resulted in the creation of a new company called Brasil Foods (BRF), which now controls 25 per cent of the global poultry market. This year, the National Confederation of Food Workers (CONTAC) took their campaign for decent work in the poultry industry into the Porto Alegre Thematic Social Forum, convened from January 24-29 to prepare for the Rio+20 meetings.
Source:  International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations--IUF is composed of 389 affiliated organizations in 120 countries representing a combined membership of around 2,6 million

Actions Sweep the Globe as Railway Workers Make Their Voices Heard

25 April 2012:  More than 100 railway workers from 13 European countries, who gathered in Luxembourg this week, were among thousands of activists around the world who threw their weight behind the slogan "organising globally - solidarity and sustainable transport". The European unionists, who were marking this year's ITF international railway workers' action day on 23 April, were staging a rally in Schengen to demand quality public services, integrated railway companies, better safety and fair jobs and working conditions for railway workers. Sabine Trier, ETF assistant general secretary, welcomed the unionists. Guy Grievelding of the Fédération Nationale des Cheminots, Travailleurs du Transport, Fonctionnaires et Employés Luxembourgeois and chair of the ETF railway section, stressed that unions had to prevent the further liberalisation of the European railways and the social dumping to which it led. Mac Urata, speaking on behalf of the ITF, referring to a train collision that took place two days earlier in Amsterdam, stated that the ITF upheld a no-blame policy; workers should not be 'scapegoated' when accidents occurred. Meanwhile, several unions in India arranged a whole gamut of activities such as mass meetings, seminars and dharnas (peaceful protests) on issues such as the destructive policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, increasing levels of outsourcing and the need to unite in the face of these challenges. A union in New Zealand hosted a meeting of rail union representatives from Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, where they exchanged experiences and discussed rail safety. In Zimbabwe, unionists organised meetings with management on health and safety and with workers who had failed to receive protective clothing. Union officials also held "walk arounds" in commuter trains, discussing safety with passengers. Actions also took place in Bulgaria, Croatia, Mongolia, Turkey, Ukraine and other countries.
Source:  International Transport Workers Federation--ITF is 779 unions representing 4.6 million transport workers in 155 countries

Indian Activist in Switzerland Raises Awareness on Workers' Rights Abuses at Holcim in India

23 April 2012:  Shalini Gera, activist and legal adviser of Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS) conducted a two-week tour around Switzerland, educating trade union colleagues on the grave violations of contract workers' rights by Holcim Cement in India's Chhattisgarh region. Causing a stir in the Swiss media, the PCSS together with Swiss union UNIA and Swiss-based human rights organisation MultiWatch, solidarity organisation Solifonds, the BWI and ICEM raised increasing awareness through various channels. The PCSS met with the National Contact Point of the OECD in Switzerland as part of the process of the complaint on breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim India. PCSS was welcomed at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 13 April 2012, where explanations of the violations in India were met with serious concerns and proposals for possible action. Public events in Zurich, Bern, and Geneva spoiled Holcim's 100-year anniversary celebrations. A demonstration outside Holcim's Annual General Shareholders meeting on 17 April 2012 presented management with a new book documenting the group's abuses around the world, and a manifesto for which signatures are being collected around the world, already signed by global figures such as Ambet Yuson and Noam Chomsky. Holcim is the largest cement producer in India with contract workers comprising 80% of the company's total workforce at both subsidiaries ACC Jamul and Ambuja Cement. The PCSS union represents contract workers at the two plants. Contract workers are protected by Indian law and by a sectoral agreement prohibiting employment in core production work, with all work paid at the same rate as permanent workers. Contract workers work side by side with permanent workers in core production, but they are denied proper protective equipment and paid one-third less than permanent workers. They also do not receive proper benefits and have greatly reduced rights to organise and bargain collectively. Global pressure has forced Holcim to pay attention to these violations in India. BWI and ICEM met with Holcim CEO in January 2012. A next round of talk is planned on 9 May 2012 with the new CEO Bernard Fontana.
Source:  Building and Wood Workers International--BWI represents 12 million workers in 328 affiliated unions from 130 countries

Unions Protest at Ahold's Alleged Breaches of Workers' Rights in USA

04/20/2012:  UNI Global Union backs the stance taken by its Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten and US affiliate UFCW at Ahold's AGM on April 17, 2012. The unions jointly urged Netherlands-based Ahold to respect workers' rights at its Giant-Carlisle supermarket chain in the US. A group of Giant-Carlisle workers told shareholders gathered at the meeting in Amsterdam that there was clear evidence of intimidation at the Giant-Carlisle stores aimed at preventing workers from exercising their human rights and labour rights by infringing on their ability to make a free and fair choice on whether to join the union. Tracey Barrentine, who travelled to the meeting from Stephens City, Virginia in the USA stated how her manager distracted her from her job in Giant-Carlisle by handing her a letter in person which detailed the company's view that she did not need to join a union and which, she believed, was intended to intimidate her. Speaking in the meeting she stated: "Last year while I was working in the bakery in our store, my manager distracted me from doing my work and serving my customers. Rather than allowing me to do my job, add value to the shareholders, he insisted that I look at a letter from Rick Herring, President of Giant of Carlisle." She asked the Chairman of Ahold: "Have you seen this letter about the alleged evils of unions? It is a shameful letter. I am appalled that money and time are being misused to send intimidating letters filled with lies about unions. It is wrong. He said we would lose our jobs because of the union." Alke Boessiger, Head of UNI Commerce said, "70% of Ahold owned supermarkets in the US have collective bargaining, and Ahold itself has said that its relationship with the UFCW in this regard is a good one. It is this situation which makes the behaviour of the company, in being so oppositional to workers who simply want the same rights in other parts of the company, so difficult to understand. We back our affiliates in both the Netherlands and the US who stand with these workers and urge Ahold steer well clear of the Walmart model." At the same meeting, many shareholders also raised their concerns about Ahold's labour relations in the US. Kees Gootjes of VBDO stated to René Dahan, Chairman of the supervisory board: "A dialogue has not evolved at Ahold level between the union and your organization, which is quite unfortunate in our view because this conflict started last year, and it's been going on for more than a year, and we still don't see a solution. So my question to you is would you be prepared to engage in a dialogue with this union in order to solve this conflict?" Kris Douma of Mn Services stated at the meeting: "Over the past few years, we have seen that indeed there have been letters from the American subsidiaries to American employees that are intimidating. We've seen billboards at the personnel entrances of stores that are clearly intimidating. Why can you not here at this meeting say that indeed situations have occurred that could be experienced by employees as intimidating and that you guarantee that that will not happen again and that people indeed have the liberty and the freedom to decide whether or not they want to become members of the trade unions or whether or not they want elections in the United States? That is actually what we ask from you. A commitment..." Ahold sales increased in 2011 by more than 5.5% to over 30 billion euro and net income increased 19% to over 1 billion euro, but instead of celebrating this, much of the meeting was spent discussing the problems in the U.S. UNI affiliates who wish to learn more about this campaign and discover how they can support workers in the USA and the Netherlands should log on to www.iholdcampaign.org.
Source:  UNI Global Union--UNI represents over 20 million workers in 900 unions in 150 countries

Mining Unions Announce Global Campaign Against Rio Tinto

Apr 19, 2012:  Unions representing members at Rio Tinto operations globally pledged to fight the company's anti-worker, anti-community practices in Alma, Canada and around the world. The first step, stop Rio Tinto from supplying the gold, silver and bronze for medals at the London Olympics in June.
AUSTRALIA:  International mining unions declared Rio Tinto their number one target for global campaigning, due to the company's legendary anti-union, anti-worker, unsustainable labour, community and environmental practices worldwide. The unions were gathered at the ICEM World Mining Conference, held in Sydney, Australia on April 17 to 19, 2012 with unions representing mine workers from every continent and with a combined membership of over 50 million. A resolution unanimously passed at the conference noted that Rio Tinto, like many transnational miners, was recording strong profit growth while engaging in brutal and unethical practices. The global union body resolved to commit resources to drive a global campaign against Rio Tinto leading up to the London Olympics and beyond. The resolution called for a number of actions, including:

• The re-launch of an Xstrata and BHP-Billiton Global Network
• To support affiliates in resource rich countries in the negotiation and implementation of a mineral resource tax
• To support affiliates in their demands to have the ILO Convention 176 ratified in their countries
• To initiate a white ribbon trust to be managed by the NUM in recognition of gender violence and the memory of Pinky Mosiane, a woman miner who was brutally murdered in one of the mines in South Africa.