Ukraine Unions Leading the Fight for Quality Health Care
Alexander Feltham of the Solidarity Center reports on the struggle of health care workers in Ukraine to gain better conditions for patients and a decent contract.
The global economic crisis has had a severe impact in eastern Ukraine, where Soviet-era mines and steel mills dominate the economy. The health care system in eastern Ukraine, which desperately needs updating, is starved by unrealistically low budgets and funding that is routinely siphoned off by rampant corruption.
The small Independent Trade Union of Medical Workers (ITUMW), an affiliate of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTUU), is emerging as the driving force for improving the quality of health care and living standards for medical workers in Ukraine. Its growing influence is due in part to the continued support from the international labor movement, including training and technical assistance from the Solidarity Center.
Recently, a joint team from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center’s Washington and Kyiv offices visited Zaporizhia, a city of 750,000 in eastern Ukraine, to visit clinics and hospitals and meet with local union leaders and medical workers. Read the rest of this entry »
Solidarity Center Supports, Extends Workers’ Efforts to Build Unions
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Through its work in more than 60 countries on five continents, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center is supporting and extending workers’ efforts to gain a better life by helping them to build strong unions. In its 2009 Annual Report, the Solidarity Center highlights its wide range of programs to help workers form unions.
The Solidarity Center is helping African journalists in Rwanda and Burundi create full-fledged democratic unions and joining with national unions in those countries to fight HIV/AIDS.
- In Pakistan, where teachers unions are banned, the Solidarity Center, with support from AFT, brought together 45 teacher associations to form the Teacher Consortium of Pakistan (TCOP). The 150,000 members of TCOP fight for issues important to all teachers in the country.
- The Solidarity Center supports an association of women workers in the Dominican Republic, comprised of both Haitian migrants and Dominican nationals, and conducts advocacy to ensure they know their rights as workers.
- With the support of the Solidarity Center, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine launched a campaign for quality health care and education. Members collected more than 50,000 signatures on a petition calling for adequate funding for medical and school supplies and other needs.
You can download the Annual Report here.
