Global solidarity

Sam Gurney
Former global trade union leader and current Everton fan could lead key UN body

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Former ITUC General Secretary, and ILO Secretary General Candidate, Guy Rider

Guy Ryder the former head of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is in the running to be the next Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) the part of the United Nations that deals with issues relating to the world of work.

As the Trades Union Congress representative on the ILO governing body, and someone holding one of the 56 votes that will decide the next DG, I’m giving my full support to Guy, notwithstanding his dodgy sporting allegiances.

The ILO is an important organisation for working people around the world, set up in the aftermath of the First World War to work for social justice by creating a level playing field of labour standards. It was seen as fundamental to building a fair and just peace, sadly as the outbreak of the Second World War showed this vision didn’t quite work out in practice. However in the years since WWII it has continued to build a base of globally agreed rights and backed them up with technical and policy support at a national level.

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Posted on February 22nd, 2012 by Sam Gurney filed under: Global solidarity
Owen Tudor
Spanish unions agree to tie pay to GDP

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The historic deal between Spanish union confederations CCOO and UGT and employers’ organisations CEOE and CEPYME that I reported on Touchstone a couple of weeks ago has some interesting features which may show the way for bargainers across Europe (and, if the UK still had significant collective bargaining, here too). In particular, the agreement ties wage increases to overall GDP growth in a way which unions hope will increase employment in a country where youth joblessness has now reached 5 million and youth unemployment is near 50%.

Wage increases have, of course, been decoupled from price increases and productivity over the last ten to thirty years (depending which part of the developed world you live in), which is one reason why inequality has increased, fuelling both the supply and demand side of the ruinous easy credit bubble that led to the global financial and economic crisis. The agreement also exhorts companies to use profits to invest in jobs rather than inflate executive pay or dividends, which has been the other reason for growing inequality.

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Posted on February 13th, 2012 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity
Owen Tudor
Unions protest at Greek austerity: economy and democracy now under threat

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Protestors and police in Athens, January 2012. Photo: Mehran Khalili

Greek unions are just concluding a 48-hour General Strike and mass protests against the austerity measures which will be discussed in Parliament on Sunday 12 February. Unelected Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has warned of dire consequences if the austerity measures are not adopted, but Greek unions point out that dire consequences have already happened, with one in five adults out of work, and the austerity measures on offer will make matters even worse – and that’s if Greece’s creditors, like the European Commission, don’t demand even more.

How much more do the bankers and Europe’s right wing governments think the Greek people will take? How much more do they think the Greek economy, now in its fifth year of recession and getting worse, can take? And what price democracy in a country already run by an unelected PM, where the only winners electorally seem to be the extremists? PASOK’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou quit on Friday afternoon, accusing the government of fixation on attacking labour rights, following the PASOK Deputy Labour Minister on Thursday, although the social democratic party remains part of the governing coalition.

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Posted on February 12th, 2012 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity
Owen Tudor
Free trade unionists in Iran not so free any more

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The notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, where many independent trade unionists have been imprisoned in recent years, and where activist Mehdi Shandeez has recently been incarcerated. Photo: Ehsan Iran.

I have blogged at Amnesty International UK about the latest wave of arrests of independent – or free – trade unionists in Iran.

You can always find more about Iranian trade unionism at Justice for Iranian Workers.

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Posted on February 5th, 2012 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity
Ben Moxham
Egypt’s new labour movement comes of age

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On the desert-battered outskirts of Cairo, in a kitsch marble convention centre, the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) has just announced to Egypt and the world that it has come of age. EFITU was born in the inspiration and chaos of Tahrir square, exactly 12 months to the day. Since then they have been organising, organising and organising. Today was a chance to show the results and I was blown away.

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Posted on January 30th, 2012 by Ben Moxham filed under: Global solidarity
Owen Tudor
US unions growing in private sector

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The latest figures from the USA show that trade union membership is up over the last year, despite the difficult economic conditions, continuing anti-union activism by the Republicans, and – and this is perhaps the most interesting element of the statistics - a decline in the number of trade union members in the public sector. As well as the increase in union numbers in the private sector, union density in the public sector has gone up despite the number of members going down – a result of the reduction in public sector jobs.

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Posted on January 27th, 2012 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity
Ben Moxham
Are workers now free in Burma?

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Burma has seen many dramatic moves toward democracy and respect for human rights over the past six months. Most political prisoners have been released, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy are about to contest by-elections, and there’s been some progress in ending the government’s bloody repression of ethnic groups. But has Burma improved its terrible labour rights record? And should foreign investors – long discouraged or barred under sanctions – be booking their air tickets to Rangoon? Not yet, and not yet.

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Posted on January 27th, 2012 by Ben Moxham filed under: Global solidarity