India: Alarming Erosion of Labour Laws
The ITUC has expressed alarm at a wholesale erosion of labour laws initiated by the Indian government, and pledged full support for a general strike in protest against the changes planned for 5 January. The global trade union body has also condemned the government’s exclusion of major national trade union organisation INTUC from key tripartite processes.
Turkish Trade Union Leader Abdullah Karacan Murdered, Two Union Representatives Wounded
The ITUC has condemned the murder of Turkish trade union leader Abdullah Karacan, and the wounding of two other union representatives in Adapazari, Turkey, today. According to reports received by the ITUC, a gun-wielding assassin fired at the union officials while they were meeting workers at a Goodyear tyre factory.
Unions call for Africa/Europe Economic Partnership Agreements to be changed
The ITUC, its African Regional Organisation and the European Trade Union Confederation have called for trade agreements designed to govern trade relations between Europe and Africa, known as “Economic Partnership Agreements” (EPAs), to be replaced with fair trading arrangements. EPAs, which do not guarantee workers’ rights and were developed without consultation with unions, threaten to curtail African countries’ ability to industrialise and diversify their economies.
Asia-Europe Forum: Unions Press Heads of State on Decent Work and Minimum Wages
Trade union representatives from 20 Asian and European countries, meeting in Brussels this week at the Asia-Europe Labour Forum (AELF), have called for their governments to address persistent decent work deficits and ensure minimum living wages in global supply chains and digital businesses.
World Bank’s World Development Report 2019: Unsatisfactory policy perspective on changes in the world of work
Responding to the World Bank’s publication of the “World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work” on Friday, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow expressed disappointment in the Bank’s ‘flagship’ report: “The WDR 2019 seems more intent on delivering a few highly questionable and simplistic policy messages about the need to deregulate business and alleviate it of obligations to contribute to workers’ social protection than providing a thoughtful perspective on challenges created by rapid transformations in the world of work.”
