Unionists Denounce Qatar as Choice for 2012 Climate Change Talks
AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh, a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), sends us another in a series of reports on the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations taking place now in Durban, South Africa.
The choice of Qatar for next year’s climate change conference drew an immediate and harsh reaction from the ITUC delegation. Qatar’s labor laws are highly restrictive. In a country where migrant workers make up the majority of the workforce—87 percent of the total population—government employees as well as non-Qatari nationals are not allowed to form or join unions.
We issued a statement calling on the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reconsider the decision. Says Sharan Burrow, ITUC general secretary:
The international union movement will not accept climate change talks being held in a country which does not respect workers’ rights and is the highest emitter per capita in the world.
South African Delegate Joined Young Workers at Next Up Summit
This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
Sisanda Mbokotho, a representative of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the nation’s largest union, led a workshop on global worker solidarity at the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit.
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| Sisanda Mbokotho marches with other delegates to the Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of Workday Minnesota. |
Mbokotho, 30, is an organizer for the South African Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU). As a delegate to the summit, which was held in Minneapolis Sept. 29-Oct. 2, she spoke about the importance of linking young workers across borders and described her own work, organizing workers in the hospitality and entertainment industry. She also talked about the need for joint organizing strategies between U.S. and South African unions for taking on anti-union multinational corporations. South African workers and their unions are demanding that these companies do much more to respect worker rights, preserve jobs, and source from South African producers.
International Women’s Day: U.S., South African Union Women Share Strategies
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The problems facing working women extend across national boundaries, and today, International Women’s Day, women organizers on opposite sides of the world shared ideas and inspiration. In a live teleconference, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and four young women organizers in the United States talked with a roomful of women organizers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Shuler began by saying:
With the global jobs crisis increasing unemployment…young workers, young women workers entering the workforce struggle to find decent work. Given the challenges facing young women workers around the world, the AFL-CIO, ITUC [International Trade Union Confederation] and [the South African trade union federations] hope to use International Women’s Day as a way to shine a spotlight on the important role unions can play in the lives of young women workers.
Organizers in both countries spoke about rising unemployment and precarious work as key challenges to organizing women workers. Unemployment among women around the world is growing. In a special report, “Living with Economic Insecurity: Women in Precarious Work,” the ITUC found that while the initial impact of the crisis was equally detrimental to men and women, increasing numbers of women are now either losing their jobs or being forced into temporary and informal forms of work. To read the full report, click here.
No Silver Bullet in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS
The following is an excerpt from the latest report by Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg. Read the full post and more at their blog, Border Jumpers.
In the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, there is no silver bullet.
As we travel throughout sub-Saharan Africa we are seeing dozens of innovative ways that organizations, governments and individuals are working to fight the disease.
25th Anniversary of Free South Africa Movement: Solidarity Works
The union movement played a big role in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. In marches, political action and direct action, the Free South Africa Movement in the United States proved that international worker solidarity works. And its ripple effects impact not only workers-but each person on our planet.
Speaking last night at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C., in honor of the 25th anniversary of The Free South Africa Movement, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said:
Victory over apartheid meant victory over racism, exploitation and abuse.
Union Movement Works to Halt AIDS/HIV Pandemic
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Today is World AIDS Day, and global union members are reinforcing their commitment to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, which has infected 33 million people worldwide and more than 1 million in the United States. Around the world, the pandemic has devastated workers and their families, shattered communities and reversed the rise in work and living standards.
Among the most vulnerable of those with the disease are some 2 million children worldwide, with 1,000 more becoming infected every day. In the United States, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) is teaming up with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the producers of the fun children’s DVD “Sockville—A New Pair of Socks” to help fight pediatric HIV/AIDS.
For every DVD purchased at a special $9.99 price, $3 will go to the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation, CWA’s charity of choice for nearly 20 years. Click here to buy the DVD at this special rate and help children with AIDS. This special offer is only good until Dec. 15, 2009.
LabourStart: AFT Reaches Out at Home, Around the World
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On the second day of the LabourStart conference, participants got to hear from AFT this afternoon about the challenges facing teachers in the United States and around the world.
David Dorn, director of the AFT International Affairs Department, said the AFT long has been interested in reaching out around the world. One of the most important projects in which AFT has been engaged is the AFT-Africa AIDS Program. African teachers unions with which AFT has built relationships have been affected by the AIDS crisis, as their members, their students and their students’ families and communities have been devastated by the spread of HIV and AIDS.
AFT is using organizing techniques to educate teachers in South Africa and other countries about AIDS, primarily through teacher-to-teacher education aimed at breaking the silence that surrounds AIDS and connecting people to information, counseling, testing and treatment.
