ITUC Supports New International Standard on Social Responsibility
Reacting to news that the ISO 26000 has received enough votes to become an official international standard to be issued by the International Organisation for Standardization, ITUC General Secretary Sharon Burrow expressed her satisfaction. “This was the right decision. The ITUC participated in the Working Group that developed the standard as well as on the drafting committee that wrote it. We are satisfied with the text.”
Sharan Burrow to Call on UN Member States to Prioritize Employment-centred Policies as Key to Achieving the MDGs
A three-day summit on the MDGs opens today in the General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York. Over 100 heads of state will gather to adopt an 81-paragraph MDG Summit Outcome Document which aims to reverse the trends in increasing poverty and hunger, exacerbated by the financial crisis. The document agrees to measures to accelerate progress towards achieving the MDG targets of significantly reducing poverty, hunger and unemployment, of addressing lack of access to education, health care and social protection, and of reversing climate degradation by 2015.
Labour Rights under Attack in Honduras
The new ITUC report on core labour standards in Honduras, published to coincide with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) review of its trade policies, reveals grave violations of labour rights. Indeed, following last year’s coup d’état, virtually all union activity was halted.
Romania: National Confederation of Free Trade Unions to Organise Large Protest Against Austerity Measures
Around 20,000 people are expected to attend the large protest that will be organised in Bucharest on 22 September by the National Council of CNSLR-FRATIA and supported by the ITUC on the eve of the World Day for Decent Work on October 7 . The aim of the demonstration is to protest against the harsh austerity measures imposed by the Romanian government.
Grave Labour Rights Violations in Gambia
The new report by the ITUC on core labour standards in Gambia, published to coincide with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) review of its trade policies, reveals serious violations of fundamental workers’ rights, including a high degree of prevalence of child labour.