ITUC-CSI-IGB - News

Trafficking for labour exploitation - tackling group cases

2013-06-18T21:02:59Z

First expert meeting of the Fine Tune project took place today in Madrid, Spain, hosted by the Spanish trade unions Unión General de Trabajadores. The meeting gathered project partners as well as national and international experts, including the Spanish Ministry of Labour, EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Belgian National Social Inspectorate, anti-trafficking project coordinators, trade union leaders and NGO representatives.

Recent cases from Belgium, Sweden, Germany and Czech Republic were discussed, in order to draw conclusions out of the first project's mapping exercise focused on tackling group cases of trafficking for labour exploitation and on the responses by various stakeholders.

In the past five years, labour trafficking has received an increased attention in the international agenda. It has been also made a priority by number of governments in their national action plans. Despite this, there are still few cases of traffickers being brought to justice.

Trafficking for labour exploitation which frequently involves large groups of people is often imperfectly understood, and therefore not approached as caused by deficiencies in the regulation of labour markets or economy. As such, it is both regulated and dealt with as caused by a individual vulnerability of a worker. Consequently, workers affected by forced labour rarely receive redress for their suffering.

Understanding new elements, developing new responses and partnerships is urgently needed in order to combat growing modern slavery in Europe as well as worldwide.

FINETUNE is an ISEC/EU DG Home funded project, focused on THB for labour exploitation. It gathers 3 international partners (ITUC, CCME and Anti-Slavery International) and 7 national partners (trade unions, FBOs and NGOs) in : Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Romania, Spain. The project focuses on strenghtening partnerships and exploring new trends in trafficking – such as gender dimension of labour trafficking, more and more severe exploitation of increasingly large groups of exploited migrant workers in mainstream economic activities and new labour trafficking recruitment methods including the use of Internet and ICTs.

Turkish Unions Launch Strike as Government Intensifies Repression

2013-06-17T09:47:51Z

Turkish national trade union centres DISK and KESK have launched a national strike today as the government of Prime Minister Erdogan steps up violent repression of demonstrations against his autocratic rule.

Five people have died and some 7,500 injured as police have repeatedly attacked demonstrators with tear gas and vicious beatings. Turkey's Interior Minister, Muammer Guler, has reportedly declared the strike “illegal”.

“Mr Erdogan seems only to want confrontation, instead of agreeing to dialogue to resolve the legitimate demands of trade unions, environmentalists and others who don't accept his dictatorial behaviour. The path he is following seriously undermines Turkish democracy and will only deepen divisions.

We call on him to stop the police violence against innocent people and show respect for the deep and genuine feelings of millions of Turkish people over the high-handed and aggressive way the government has been behaving,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

Prime Minister Erdogan has blamed foreign media, “terrorists” and even social media for the wave of protests in Turkey. In a move guaranteed to inflame tensions, he has called mass rallies of his own supporters to denounce those protesting against his policies.

Organisations representing engineers, doctors and dentists have announced their intention to join the strike. Medical personnel treating demonstrators have been detained by police in recent days. Thousands of lawyers stopped work last week in protest at police detention of 60 of their colleagues.

“Turkey's record on labour rights and other civil rights has been worsening for some time, and it has imprisoned more journalists than any other country in recent years. The government's actions are deepening the divisions, and causing great harm to the very fabric of Turkey's society and economy,” said Burrow.

To join the Labourstart campaign action on Turkey

Video of police kicking detainee in the head

Equal Times report from Taksim Square

Equal Times article: Fear and loathing in Erdogan's Turkey

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018

Global Fund: New application materials for next wave of early applicants to the New Funding Model

2013-06-15T21:18:02Z

The Global Fund Secretariat has published the updated application materials for the next set of early applicants, including the regional applicants, for the New Funding Model.

The documents are available on line in English on the link below:
Link: http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/accesstofunding/early/materials/

Translation to French or Spanish is not there yet but should be soon made available on the following links:
http://www.theglobalfund.org/es/accesstofunding/early/materials/
http://www.theglobalfund.org/fr/accesstofunding/early/materials/

Single-country applicants:
Concept note template (sections 1-5)
Instructions to complete the concept note
Attachment 1: CCM Endorsement of Concept Note
Attachment 3: Financial Gap Analysis and Counterpart Financing Table

Regional applicants:
Concept note template for Regional Coordinating Mechanisms (sections 1-5)
Concept note template for Regional Organizations (sections 1-5)
Instructions to complete the concept note for Regional Applicants
Attachment 1: Regional endorsement of concept note

Attachments for all applicants:
Attachment 2: Modular Template

ITUC's '12 by 12' Campaign keeps up the pressure on governments for the ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention

2013-06-14T13:59:29Z

On 16 June, actions and mobilisations in dozens of countries (from Spain to India, Senegal to Chile ) are expected to keep up the pressure on governments to better protect domestic workers in law and practice and to put a hold on the exploitation and abuse of the 50 to 100 million domestic workers.

Two years on from the historical adoption of the ILO Convention 189 at the International Labour Conference (ILC) on 16 June 2011, the ITUC is intensifying the campaign to get more ratifications and to strengthen domestic workers' unions.

The adoption of a Convention and of a Recommendation, which are aimed at extending fundamental labour rights to an estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers worldwide, represents a landmark step in the fight against discrimination and abuses. However, that fight is still far from over, since more governments need to ratify Convention 189 and to modify their national labour laws accordingly.

ITUC's '12 by 12' Campaign aims at 12 ratifications of C189, a goal nearly achieved with the two ratifications of C189 last week: Germany and South Africa – making up a total of 10 ratifications.

Other aims and impacts of the '12 by 12' Campaign include major labour law reforms (including Brazil, Argentina, Philippines, Vietnam and in two states in the U.S., namely Hawaii and Oregon), significant pay rise of minimum wages in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi and new collective bargaining agreements in Italy and Uruguay. New unions have been established in Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Columbia, Egypt and Angola and tens of thousands of domestic workers have been organised in unions.

The ‘12 x 12' Campaign is a broad coalition gathering unions, NGOs and other civil society partners in more than 90 countries, working together on improving rights and protection for domestic workers.

Background information:

So far, there have been 10 ratifications: seven countries whose ratifications are registered at the ILO (Uruguay, Philippines, Mauritius, Italy, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Bolivia) and three who finished their ratification process at national level and still need to register at ILO: Colombia, Germany and South Africa.

ITUC ‘s '12 by 12' Campaign international partners are the International Domestic Workers Network, IUF, PSI, ETUC, Human Right Watch, Anti-Slavery International, Amnesty International , Caritas, SOLIDAR, Migrant Forum Asia , World Solidarity and FOS.

For more information, see
The 12 by 12 Newsletter
The 12 by 12 Flyer
The 12 by 12 Webpage
12 June: Global Day Against Child Labour – focus on child domestic workers
The 12 by 12 Facebook page

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018

New global poll shows overwhelming voter support for policies to curb multinational tax scams

2013-06-14T07:38:24Z

Eighty-five per cent of voters in 13 countries including six G8 economies support policies to stop large and multi-national corporates avoiding tax, according to a new public opinion poll released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) ahead of the G8 Summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

The UK ranked top of the G8 countries polled to measure voter support to curb tax havens and with 96% of voters in support of policies followed by 91% Germany; 88% Canada; 82% France; 75% Russia and 74% Japan.

The G8 is expected to commit to work on new global standards to tackle tax evasion when it meets for the Lough Erne Summit 17-18 June in Northern Ireland. In the Global Unions Statement released on the eve of the Summit, unions warned commitments must be backed by concrete deliverables as action taken to date is inadequate.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC, said G8 members including Canada, Germany, Russia, the UK and the USA are failing to comply with standards set down by the Global Forum on Tax Transparency.

“Workers are paying for the financial crisis with their jobs, while corporations are denying ailing economies the revenue they so badly need.

“The sheer scale of tax evasion revealed by one corporate tax scandal after another is matched only by the injustice to workers and their families.

“In developing countries, national economies are robbed of revenues which could be used to address critical needs such as food security, health, poverty alleviation and education,” said Sharan Burrow.

John Evans, General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD and ITUC Chief Economist, said worldwide unemployment is forecast to rise above 200 million. Young women and men are particularly scarred by the crisis with 74 million young people under 25 unemployed globally.

“The slow down in economic activity is likely to push even more into unemployment by 2014.

“The stakes are high, as we face a financial, economic and social crisis that threatens to divide and fracture our societies. G8 leaders must act urgently to put fairness at the heart of our economies. Curbing tax havens is one lever the G8 leaders have in their hands to put fairness and equality back on the table,” said Evans.

Read the Global Union's statement to the G8 Lough Erne Summit covering global union calls for action on taxation, transparency in the extractive sector and putting equality and fairness in trade policies

For more information on the ITUC global poll 2013 contact Gemma Swart gemma.swart@ituc-csi.org

Countries and dates of research

Between April 18, 2013 and May 1, 2013, TNS Opinion carried out the survey International Trade Union Confederation Global Poll 2013. This project covers the adult (18 years and over) populations of Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Spain, UK and the USA.

Methodology
The sample in each country has been selected by quotas to reflect national proportions in terms of age, gender and region.
In each country 1000 interviews were targeted for a total of 13.015 conducted interviews.

All interviews were conducted online.

Readers are reminded that survey results are estimations, the accuracy of which, everything being equal, rests upon the sample size and upon the observed percentage. With samples of about 1,000 interviews, the real percentages vary within the following confidence limits:

Observed percentages	10% or 90%	20% or 80%	30% or 70%	40% or 60%	50%
Confidence limits	± 1.9 points	± 2.5 points	± 2.7 points	± 3.0 points	± 3.1 points

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018

World Day Against Child Labour

2013-06-12T12:29:13Z

The ITUC is calling on governments to step up commitment to the global fight against child labour, with new evidence from the ILO that progress is slowing. 215 million children are still at work instead of in school.

“The two ILO Conventions on child labour have been ratified by the vast majority of governments, but tens of millions of children are experiencing the exploitation and misery of child labour when they should be getting a decent education. The economic crisis, and the obsession with austerity, are severely hampering efforts to get the children out of work and into school,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

177 governments have now ratified ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, while 165 have ratified Convention 138, which is the main global reference point for the age at which people under the age of 18 can begin work experience, apprenticeships or enter work full-time.

A special focus on the World Day Against Child Labour this year is the situation of children trapped in domestic servitude, facing some of the most severe exploitation and physical and psychological abuse. So far, 10 countries have ratified Convention 189 on Domestic Work, adopted by the ILO just two years ago.

“Out of sight, out of mind, can no longer be the reality for children in domestic servitude or indeed in any other form of exploitation. The global community needs to boost action directed specifically at tackling child labour, and also focus on quality education, social protection and labour inspection, instead of the erosion of these crucial services to satisfy subjective fiscal targets that are tearing communities apart,” said Burrow.

The union movement is concerned that much of the focus for action on child labour has been on specific projects, without governments putting comprehensive policies in place. An overall government policy and programme approach is essential. Without this, sustained impact from individual projects to tackle child labour in particular locations or sectors is difficult or even impossible.

For more information, see:
ILO-IPEC

Global March Against Child Labour

12 x 12 campaign

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018

Photo: Damien Halleux Radermecker

New ITUC Report on Violations of Trade Union Rights

2013-06-12T07:28:25Z

Special focus on seven countries at risk for trade unionists and trade union rights: Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Guatemala, Burma, Fiji, Georgia and Bahrain.

Unemployment rates and income inequality are increasing globally. Trade unionists continue to fight for jobs, rights and equality. This fight often costs them their jobs, and sometimes even their lives, in various parts of the world. Since 2006, the ITUC, the largest and most democratic social movement of the world, has been monitoring violations of trade union rights. This report points at key findings in 87 countries with a special focus on seven countries where the existence of trade unions and other democratic institutions are under extreme risk: Burma/Myanmar, Bahrain, Fiji, Guatemala, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Georgia.

According to the ITUC report, despite international legal instruments that protect and promote freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, unions and their members are still exposed to severe violations of their rights. Unions are increasingly under attack, fighting to maintain the ability to effectively promote and defend the interests of workers.

In more than half of the countries surveyed, workers have been dismissed or otherwise subjected to discrimination because of their trade union membership. The report includes detailed information on physical violence committed against trade unionists for their trade union activity in 24 countries. For example, 18 trade unionists were murdered in Colombia in 2012, and at least four already this year. Two workers were killed by police in Sierra Leone for protesting for better working conditions in mines in January 2013. Collective bargaining has been severely weakened in countries with strong industrial relations such as Portugal, Greece, Romania, Spain and Italy. In 28 of the countries surveyed, the report examines the arrest and detention of workers for their trade union membership and activities. Ninety-one members of the trade union KESK (22 women and 69 men) are still in detention in Turkey.

Guatemala has become the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. Since 2007, at least 53 union leaders and representatives have been killed, and there have been numerous acts of attempted murder, torture, kidnapping, break-ins and death threats, which have created a culture of fear and violence where the exercise of trade union rights becomes impossible.

Trade unionists in Africa's last absolute monarchy, Swaziland, are calling for the election of a democratic and accountable government in 2013 and have therefore been targeted by the King and the authorities. The only national centre, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland, was de-registered in April 2012, and six trade union leaders were arrested in May 2013.

In Fiji, the military regime is trying to strengthen its illegitimate power at the expense of workers' rights. Trade unionists are excluded from bringing the voice of workers into the political debate by decree which prohibits them from expressing support for political parties.

“Hundreds of millions of working people, in developing and in industrialised countries, are denied the fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining,” said Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary. “For many, especially those in precarious employment, this denial wreaks havoc on their lives, as they work extremely long hours in hazardous or unhealthy situations with incomes so low that they are unable to support themselves and their households properly. Lack of respect for workers' rights has increased inequality around the world, and that inequality helped trigger the global economic crisis and stand in the way of recovery.”

An online website with constant updates on trade union rights violations will become publicly available in October 2013.

Read the whole report here:
http://www.ituc-csi.org/countries-at-risk-2013-report-on

For further information or to request an interview, please contact Mathieu Debroux on +32 476 62 10 18 - mathieu.debroux@ituc-csi.org

Bangladesh Labour Law Changes Inadequate

2013-06-11T12:04:49Z

Changes to Bangladesh's notoriously weak labour laws being discussed in parliament are inadequate and will leave workers still without protection guaranteed under global labour standards, according to the international trade union movement.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC, said, “After years of inaction, the government is trying to hose down criticism of a system which has cost thousands of lives and kept the country's garment workers on dollar-a-day wages to feed the corporate bottom line. The changes being debated in parliament won't change that, so major trading partners including the US and the EU will now need to step up pressure for real reform.”

The 360,000 workers in the country's eight export processing zones will remain excluded from labour law coverage and instead relegated to a separate law that prohibits workers from even forming a union. Remaining union-free appears to be one of the promises made to investors who set up in the zones.

“With so many factory owners holding seats in parliament, it is no surprise that workers' rights are still being stifled,” said Burrow.

One of the worst clauses in the old labour law, a requirement that factory owners be given the names of workers wanting to join unions, is likely to be scrapped; however, cosy relations between many government officials and the country's employers mean that workers will still risk their jobs by signing up to unions. The revised law, through a series of administrative obstacles, still makes it extremely hard for workers to form unions; such obstacles include high membership thresholds for registering unions, restrictions on who can serve as a union official and unreasonable limits on collective bargaining and the right to strike.

There is no sign that another common anti-union tactic, where government officials simply don't process union registration requests, will diminish. Registrations have often increased when previous factory disasters have put Bangladesh under the international spotlight, only to taper off when the global pressure eases.

“Partial measures are not good enough. Bangladesh needs to bring its laws fully into line with ILO standards, especially on freedom of association and collective bargaining. We're pressing for that in tomorrow's debate at the ILO Conference, and we're keeping up the pressure on the global clothing brands and on governments to convince Bangladesh to do the right thing by its own people,” said Burrow.

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018

Photo: Jeevs

Launch of a global initiative on HIV in the world of work

2013-06-05T23:00:00Z

On 6 June 2013, ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, and UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, will launch the ILO's VCT@WORK initiative to provide voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing for 5 million working women and men by 2015.

Heads of ILO and UNAIDS will be joined by Luc Cortebeeck - President of Belgium's Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (CSC), Vice-Chairperson of the ILO Governing Body and Deputy President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Jacqueline Mugo – Director of Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), Member of the ILO Governing Body and Board Member of the International Confederation of Employers (IOE).

The 6 June event is open to the media and will start at 13:15 in Room XVI of the Palais de Nations in Geneva.

According to UNAIDS, it is estimated that seven million people are currently eligible for treatment, but are not accessing it. The majority of them do not know their HIV status. The workplace is an ideal entry point to generate a demand for, and increased access to, testing and treatment.

The launch of the initiative takes place during the ILO International Labour Conference in Geneva <http://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/...> , which brings together around 5,000 delegates representing governments, employers and workers from the ILO's 185 Member States to discuss issues including social protection in an ageing world, sustainable development and social dialogue.

Gap Hitches Ride on Walmart's Bangladesh Race to the Bottom

2013-06-05T13:00:00Z

The decision by US clothing retailer Gap to join Walmart in a non-binding and unenforceable “Bangladesh safety programme” is a sham, according the ITUC. The two retail giants have ignored calls to join the global Bangladesh Fire and Safety Building Accord that has already been welcomed by the ILO and OECD, and signed by more than 40 US, Canadian and European brands.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, “Gap and Walmart are now unfortunate bedfellows in a public relations effort that aims to protect their business model rather than Bangladeshi workers. Their refusal to join the global, binding effort brings shame upon them.”

Walmart and Gap have announced they are working on their own “safety programme” with some employer lobby groups and the US Bipartisan Policy Center, a think-tank of US political figures that “works to address the key challenges” facing the USA.

“The Bipartisan Policy Center has a very strong track record on advocacy around US policy issues, but it doesn't seem to have any background on fire and building safety or on Bangladesh. Walmart and Gap have avoided any commitments and can simply step away from their own programme any time they choose,” said Burrow. “Three weeks ago Walmart said its own unilateral plan would bring faster results than the global accord, yet now they are launching into a new programme with Gap, causing even greater confusion and uncertainty. Gap said earlier that they were close to signing the global accord, but in the end didn't want anything legally-binding.”

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018