Belarus Promoting Foreign Investment but Violating Workers’ Rights
Although the government of Belarus is continuing to engage in widespread and significant violations of workers’ rights, that has not stopped it organising a high-profile event with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 27-28 April 2010 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva – Belarus Investment Days – aimed at attracting potential foreign investors to Belarus by enabling them to engage in meetings at the highest level with Belorussian officials.
Turkey: Call for Protecting Human Rights Defenders against Judicial Harassment and Threats in Turkey
To date, trade union rights’ violations are still rife in Turkey. While little or no progress is being made towards achieving a legal framework which guarantees full respect for these rights, in line with EU Standards and ILO Conventions, severe limitations remain to the right to strike, and collective bargaining is still heavily obstructed. Workers are being pressured to leave their union, and interference in internal union affairs is abundant.
Albania: Child Labour Extensive – More Efforts Needed to Fight Exploitation
A new report by the ITUC on core labour standards in Albania, published to coincide with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) review of its trade policies, has found that further measures are needed to comply with the commitments Albania accepted when it joined the WTO.
G20 ministers and IMF should endorse financial transactions tax to meet looming public resources gap
The ITUC has urged G20 finance ministers meeting in Washington on Friday 23 April to support the adoption of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) and the IMF, whose ministerial committee meets on Saturday, to design a strategy for the coordinated design and introduction of the FTT among as many countries as possible.
G20 Labour Ministers give an important message on Jobs - but will government action to raise global employment follow?
While the recommendations to the G20 Leaders issued by the G20 Labour Ministers from their meeting this week in Washington DC recognise the need to put jobs and social protection at the centre of economic recovery, trade unions are concerned that with pressures rising to cut back on recovery programmes and reduce public deficits, premature “exit strategies” could tip the global economy back into a recession with catastrophic results, according to an ITUC/TUAC evaluation of the meeting’s outcomes.