The PSI World News is a monthly round up of events and news relating to the work of public service trade union staff and activists. To subscribe email communications@world-psi.org with the word/s: "english"; "français"; "espagnol"; "japanese" or "russian" in the subject line. Below is a selection of stories from recent editions.

Optimism for Pay Equity in Australia

After a decade of industrial legislation that was hostile to trade unions, women and pay equity, there now is cause for optimism in Australia. The Federal Government has moved to address pay equity by supporting an Equal Remuneration Test Case under its new industrial system and also the House of Representatives Inquiry into Pay Equity has delivered its Report Making it Fair.
"The issue of continued gender wage inequality undermines fundamental values in our society which deems that discrimination is intolerable and unlawful.  Failure to take measures to redress gender wage inequality ignores discrimination which not only results in Australia’s economic loss but comes at a personal economic and social cost to women and their equal sharing of the benefits of our society". The Report of the Inquiry is comprehensive and makes recommendations that, if adopted, will restore the importance of the industrial system to advancing pay equity.
The Report provides valuable information on the position of women in the workforce and makes recommendations that enhance the power of the industrial commission to define equal remuneration, to set equal remuneration principles, to make pay equity orders and awards, to set up a specific pay equity unit. The Report also recommends  government financial assistance to run pay equity cases, the strengthening of pay equity standards in contract procurement, the payment of superannuation on all wages (many casual workers are denied superannuation) and suggests better reporting and gender auditing of workplaces. The Report confirms the importance of using the industrial system in gaining a fair wage for working women.

Read more here: http://cpsu-spsf.asn.au/latest_news/women/20091126_equity.html

The full report can be downloaded at www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ewr/payequity/report.htm

Davos: Corporate Greed Has to Stop

PSI general secretary Peter Waldorff is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos this week in his role as the newly elected vice-chair of the Council of Global Unions.

Urgent Action Needed on Financial Reform and Jobs

Trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this week will use the occasion to maintain pressure on governments to act urgently to tackle the deepening global employment crisis, and to move ahead with reform and restructuring of banking and finance. The unions will also challenge the business world to work with governments and unions to create decent jobs and to support financial reform rather than oppose much needed changes, as many in the financial sector in particular have been doing.

“Business has traditionally used the Davos platform to push for yet more deregulation and convince governments to leave everything to the market. This approach has had catastrophic results, with some 60 million people expected to lose their jobs due to this crisis and taxpayers having to bail out financial institutions which failed because of a toxic combination of greed and the withdrawal of governments from their responsibilities to govern effectively,” said ITUC President Sharan Burrow.

In its statement to the Davos meeting, the ITUC, with its Global Unions partners and national affiliates, will push a series of key policy demands which are central to the trade union inputs to the G20, the international financial institutions and the WTO.

The full article can be found on the ITUC website here.

Click here to access the Statement of Labour Leaders to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 27-31 January 2010.

New Communications Coordinator

We have the pleasure to welcome Teresa Marshall as the new PSI Communications Coordinator, who will be working from our head office in France. Teresa began her career as a television journalist in Vancouver, Canada, and has worked for more than 20 years since as a social justice media and campaigns strategist, and award-winning filmmaker. She comes to PSI through the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) in her work as a communications officer for the past decade with the affiliated British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU). At this union she focused on bargaining, child care, environmental, anti-poverty and equity + human rights issues. Teresa has also worked with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on municipal and water campaigns, and with the Service Employees’ International Union’s (SEIU) Justice for Janitors campaign in northern California. See short examples of Teresa’s union videos at these links: a one minute animated cartoon about long child care waitlists http://www.bcgeu.ca/node/4120/play  and a three minute story featuring The Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein on the dismantling of public services in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina  http://www.veracifier.com/gh/episode/GH_20071214/ground-hounds-from-evacuation-to-eviction

Quebec cartoons add a pinch of humour to negotiations

The Quebec Public Sector Union (SFPQ), a PSI affiliate in Quebec, Canada, has created a series of animated cartoons based on the negotiations between the union and the government and the importance of quality public services. A new cartoon appears every month, and they offer an amusing way to present the union vision to both union members and the general public. They cover issues such as building regulations, salaries and working conditions.
"We were looking for a new way to express our message, so people can think about these issues and have fun at the same time," says Lucie Martineau, SFPQ President.
You can watch the cartoons, developed by Yan Thériault, on www.sfpq.qc.ca/nego.

Unions in Canada and Europe alarmed by proposed trade deal

PSI affiliates in Canada the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), together with the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), have published a joint report criticising the proposed economic and trade agreement between the European Union and Canada.
Canadian and European officials began negotiating a "Canada-European Union Trade and Investment Enhancement Agreement" in the summer of 2009. In the report, the unions highlight their major concerns, arguing that the deal is fundamentally flawed and a thorough rethinking of the whole approach to international trade is needed.

Read more here: http://www.nupge.ca/node/2869

To read the full report click here.

New protections and minimum standards will be better for all Australian workers

New minimum employment standards that came into effect on 1 January will be good for all Australian workers and represent a major step forward from WorkChoices, say unions.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says the 10 National Employment Standards set out minimum entitlements for all workers that cannot be taken away under any circumstances, including hours of work, leave, notice of termination and redundancy pay.
Additional changes will provide additional enforceable minimum employment terms and conditions, including minimum wages, penalty rates, and superannuation.
“The new rights and protections that come into force on New Year’s Day are in addition to enhanced unfair dismissal protection, rights to collective bargaining and a good faith bargaining regime for all workers that began in July 2009,” said ACTU President Sharan Burrow.

Read more on the ACTU website.

GLU Conference - call for papers

The Global Labour University Conference will be held in Berlin, 14-16 September 2010. The Conference will look at how labour markets have been hit in a fundamental way by the financial crisis, and the organisers are calling for papers to be presented to the conference. The following topics will be discussed:

• Analyses of the crisis and short-term options
• Employment Developments and Labour Market Regulations after the Crisis
• Changes in the global economy and power structures and global governance reforms
• The Financial system, distribution and growth
• Social safety nets and the public sector
• Financial systems, corporate governance and multinational companies
• Looking beyond the horizon - are there fundamental options?

A longer version of the call for papers can be found on the GLU website: 
http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/GLU_conference_2010/GLU_Conference_Call_for_Paper.pdf

If you would like to offer a paper in one of these areas, please send a short, half-page abstract by 15 April 2010 to: malpg@hwr-berlin.de

See more on the financial crisis on PSI's blog http://financialcrisisblog.world-psi.org.

Ögmundur Jónasson leads democratic opposition in Iceland

Ögmundur Jónasson, a member of the Executive Boards of PSI and EPSU and of the Parliament of Iceland, continues to successfully lead the opposition to the unfair treatment of Iceland by the governments of the UK and the Netherlands. The movement he leads has succeeded in getting the President of Iceland to refuse to sign legislation that would impose onerous conditions on his country's population.
Jónasson, who resigned his post as Health Minister over his views on the Icesave agreement, has stated that "the British and Dutch are using the IMF and the EU as weapons to force the country to accept more debt than it is responsible for." After the coalition government approved legislation that opponents consider unfair to Icelanders, a quarter of the population signed a petition opposing it. The matter will now go to a referendum.
“It is fundamental for a democratic society to listen to the will of the people,” said Jónasson. "We have a saying," he told PSI, "that in times of crisis, the task is 'everyone take to the oars'. But for that to be the case, we all have to be on the same boat. And a few have profited and left, leaving the rest of us with the burden of their mistakes."
How the issue gets resolved in Iceland will not only have repercussions for the future of that country, but for the issue of who pays for the consequences of the financial crisis around the world.

Read more on http://healthblog.world-psi.org

Greece: Austerity cuts will affect the public sector

Greece has adopted big budget cuts designed to lower the country's 300 billion euro debt.
One measure the Greek government has adopted is a decision not to hire any new public servants in 2010. However, PSI affiliate ADEDY informs us that this does not concern the health, education or police sectors. Appointments will resume in 2011, but with only one recruitment for every five that leave the civil services.
Prime Minister George Papandreou has also outlined further measures, including a 10% cut in social security spending and a cut in defence spending.
ADEDY has warned against the public sector cuts, drawing attention to the negative implications that they will have in the provision of quality public services to the population. ADEDY has announced plans for a nationwide strike in February to protest the government's austerity measures. The union President Spyros Papaspyros said, "Many critical points remain unclear but we estimate that from the cut of supplemental salary allowances we will have a reduction of 3-4 percent in public sector wages. With some of the tax law changes, some categories may suffer a reduction of over 10 percent."  

Five-year stress campaign in Denmark

Regional, municipal and union representatives in Denmark have jointly published a short booklet in which they present how they have implemented the European framework agreement on work-related stress.
The booklet, "Five-year stress campaign in Denmark", describes the joint effort to prevent work-related stress at municipal and regional workplaces. It is a useful tool for unions, offering guidelines on how to identify, prevent and manage problems linked to work-related stress.
The booklet has been prepared by Local Government Denmark, representing the 98 municipalities, Danish Regions, representing the five regions, and KTO, the joint negotiating body for 46 Danish trade unions.

Read more about the stress campaign and download the booklet on http://www.personaleweb.dk/stresscampaign.

Labour film resources

Every year, PSI participates in the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival (www.labourfilmshorts.org), jointly organised by the Global Unions.

The online labour film festival site https://laborfilms.dabbledb.com/page/laborfilms/oohjaYNX# features several such related festivals. It is sponsored by the DC Labor FilmFest and LabourStart, who also sponsor the online labour film database https://laborfilms.dabbledb.com/page/laborfilms/ePjMknLk#. The database includes no fewer than 1,465 union films and videos. If you have videos to suggest for inclusion in either of these lists, please send them on to cgarlock@dclabor.org.

The book "Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An expanded guide to films about labor" is a 434-page guide to 350 labour films from around the world. Its author, Tom Zaniello, describes all the films in detail, and gives rental or purchase details. You can buy the book from the UCS Labor Books Catalog: https://ssl30.pair.com/unionist/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?rrc=N&pg=prod&ref=movies&affl=labourstart

New Regional Secretary

PSI Regional Secretary for Africa and Arab countries

We have the pleasure to welcome David Dorkenoo as the new PSI Regional Secretary for Africa and Arab countries. David is a Ghanaian national who has a strong trade union background. For the last six years he has been employed by the Ghana Trades Union Congress, as Head of the international department from 2003-2007, and for the past two years as Head of the education and training department and Principal of the Ghana Labour College.
David has already worked closely with PSI from inside his union, facilitating national workshops and designing a programme for young workers.
David will start work on 1st February 2010. He will be taking over from Têko Kpodar who is retiring after working in this position for over fifteen years. David will work from the regional office in Lomé, Togo.

AFSCME Releases Best Practices Guide for Pension Systems

PSI affiliate the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, has released a new report on pension plan governance. Enhancing Public Retiree Pension Plan Security: Best Practice Polices for Trustees and Pension Systems. The report serves as a road map for improving pension plan governance.
“Our members’ retirement security is directly tied to the investment performance of public pension systems,” said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee. “Pension plans continue to be the best and most efficient way to deliver retirement security to public employees. Just as AFSCME has been a leader in promoting good corporate governance, our leadership in promoting effective governance of pension plans will ensure that they remain strong.”
The report proposes banning current and former pension trustees and staff from providing placement agent services at any system where they were previously employed. It reviews best practice policies and recommends policy language for pension systems to adopt with a focus on board member responsibilities, education, core competencies and ethical and fiduciary conduct.
AFSCME members and retirees participate in a public pension system with $1 trillion in assets.  In 2007, state and local government retirement systems paid $162.7 billion in benefits to 7.5 million retirees and beneficiaries. AFSCME has taken a leadership role in corporate reform and since 2005 has been leading the fight to make corporations more responsible and accountable.

For more information, visit the AFSCME web site at www.afscme.org/pensions.

Trading Away Human Rights?

Special Hearing on the proposed EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

The EU is in the process of negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia – despite the terrible human rights situation in that country. Similar agreements
with the USA, Canada and the EFTA group of countries have all been delayed due to human rights concerns and Colombian civil society are calling on the EU
to suspend the negotiations until the human rights situation improves dramatically.

On 9th December, trade unions and civil society groups are organising a special hearing in Brussels. Speakers include:

• US Senator Sherrod Brown (tbc), Democratic Party, on why the Obama Administration has refused to ratify a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia;
• Dr Domingo Tovar, General Secretary of CUT, Colombia’s principle labour federation, on the ongoing violence against Colombian trade unionists;
• Colombian Senator Jorge Robledo, Democratic Pole Party, on why Colombia will not benefi t from the proposed Free Trade Agreement;
• Miss Yessika Hoyos, human rights lawyer, daughter of a murdered trade union leader, and recipient of the AFL-CIO human rights award, on the crisis of impunity in Colombia;
• John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC, on why the European trade union movement is supporting the campaign against the EU-Colombia trade deal.
• Chair: Richard Howitt MEP, Co-ordinator for the Socialist and Democrat Group for the European Parliament’s Human Rights Sub-Committee

The hearing will take place:
4.30-6.30pm, Wednesday 9th December 2009
Room A3G-3, Altiero Spinelli building, European Parliament, Brussels

Simultaneous Interpretation will be provided in English, French and Spanish. For more information, contact info@justiceforcolombia.org or +44 207 794 3644.

Click here to download "Trading Away Human Rights - Why the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is a step in the wrong direction".

Violence is NOT part of the job

PSI along with the ITUC and other Global Union Federations has renewed its campaign on the occasion of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25th November.
Violence against women, whether in the workplace, in the home or in the community is a trade union issue.
Sexual harassment and violence in the workplace are common and constant threats to working women’s lives and livelihoods. Violence at work is not merely an episodic, individual problem but a structural, strategic problem rooted in wider social, economic, organisational and cultural factors. Violence at work is detrimental to the working environment and to the quality of services provided
“There can be no equality between men and women when gender-based violence - be it physical, verbal, psychological or economic - continues to be such a prevalent, unchecked and almost accepted part of our workplaces, our homes and our communities,” said Kuini Lutua, Chair of the PSI World Women’s Committee, “Trade unions must be ready to play their part in ending this cycle of violence against women.”

PSI encourages you to join this awareness campaign - send on a white ribbon or hold other activities. See www.world-psi.org/VAW 

Ireland: Public sector strike on 24 November

Irish public service unions staged a 24-hour strike on Tuesday 24 November in protest of government plans for more cuts to public sector pay. Last March public servants already suffered a pay cut of around 7% and now the Government is prepared to do the same thing again, hitting family incomes, public services, and the local economy. Public sector unions are up for a fair and workable alternative but the Government isn’t prepared to listen.
The strike was followed throughout the public sector, but the unions agreed to withdraw the strike notice from regions where recent floods and bad weather had caused widespread hardship and genuine emergency situations. Members of almost all public service unions affiliated to Irish Council of Trade Uunions (ICTU) voted to strike. They include the AHCPS, ASTI, CPSU, IFUT, Impact, INO, INTO, POA, PSEU, SIPTU, TUI, Unite and the craft unions. Excepting essential and emergency cover, staff across education, health, local authorities and the civil service agreed to join the strike.
Gardaí (police) members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) cannot legally take industrial action but they refused to perform overtime, and vowed to be lenient in handing out penalties for traffic offences. The GRA urged its members not to use their own laptops and mobile phones for official purposes. Off-duty gardaí joined pickets alongside health and prison staff.
PSI has sent a letter of support  to its Irish affiliates and applauds their efforts to find workable solutions, which would not only see jobs protected but the level and quality of vital services maintained.

Read more from The Post.ie: http://www.sbpost.ie/newsfeatures/pulling-the-plug-45784.html

Click here for Impact's "Why we're on strike" flyer.
http://www.impact.ie/iopen24/pub/crisis/strike/whyonstrike.pdf

PSI participation at COP15 summit on climate change

PSI has just released its statement for the upcoming COP15 climate change conference in Copenhagen. Copenhagen must mark a turning point for global leaders. Only by working together for a planet which puts human needs and respect for our fragile, endangered planet ahead of corporate profits and greed will we succeed in this collective effort.

PSI is asking its affiliates to send letters to Governments urging them to ensure that the agreement in Copenhagen recognizes the importance of quality and sustainable public services in addressing the urgent challenge of climate change and the need for significant scaling-up of public investment after decades of cuts.

For details of these documents, see the Special page on COP15 on the PSI website: www.world-psi.org/climatechange/COP15

For more information on climate change: www.world-psi.org/climatechange/

New Zealand Ministry of Justice workers strike over wage freeze

More than 1,700 members of PSI New Zealand affiliate Public Service Association (PSA) working for the New Zealand Ministry of Justice held a one hour strike on 27 October, followed by a further 24-hour action on 16 November. The industrial action began on October 14 with a work-to-rule. Workers held protest rallies outside courthouses in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and numerous smaller towns.The union has used coordinated action using texts and email in order to contact members quickly. After the latest action, court services across New Zealand were severely affected for 24 hours.
The workers are protesting a government proposal to freeze wages and cut redundancy entitlements. The union has been in negotiations with the ministry since two previous collective agreements expired on 30 June.
According to PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff, the Ministry of Justice workers are paid on average 6.3 percent below the median pay rate for public servants and are denied the right to collectively negotiate their contracts. The ministry wants to freeze wages until July 2010 and then implement performance-based pay increases.

Read more on www.psa.org.nz

New videos: unions against climate change

ITUC and Sustainlabour have just released four short videos showing unions' commitment to fighting climate change. PSI General Secretary Peter Waldorff appears in two of these videos. Please circulate them and post them on your website! Join us in making Copenhagen a success for the planet, a success for workers and a success for social justice!

http://climate.ituc-csi.org/new-videos-unions-against-climate.html?lang=en

WTO Ministerial - union statement

The 7th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will take place in Geneva, 30 November – 2 December 2009. Global Unions have published a Statement of Priorities for the Conference, setting out the key demands from the international trade union movement.
For public sector unions, the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) is the area of most relevance as all our members work in services. The issue of domestic regulations will affect crucial service sectors such as financial services, education, utilities and land development. The Global Unions say that current proposals for restrictions on domestic regulation should be withdrawn and GATS Article VI.4 should be deleted or revised in order to protect governments’ ability to regulate and to enact domestic regulatory measures.
In practice, domestic regulations could abolish the right for regional and national government bodies to regulate. In a case driven by Antigua and Barbuda on US regulation on betting, the WTO panel says members’ regulatory sovereignty is an essential pillar of the progressive liberalisation on trade in services, but this sovereignty ends whenever rights of other members under the GATS are impaired.
PSI will participate in the Ministerial, but only has NGO status, which excludes the right to speak. We will also participate in NGO meetings outside the Ministerial.

Click here to download the Global Unions Statement.

Click here to download the Global Unions Update.

Standing up for public employees

In Canada, NUPGE's Larry Brown defends the case of public employees who are being asked to pay the price for working in the public sector.

Tax cuts benefitting mainly the wealthy are the cause for current government deficits and it would be unfair and damaging to the economy of public sector workers become scapegoats and are forced to pay the price in lost jobs and pay cuts says Brown, National Secretary-Treasure of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). His three-page opinion piece has relevance to all public sector workers around the world who are suffering the effects of the financial crisis.

See http://www.nupge.ca/node/2672

Exploring alternatives to privatization

The municipal services project (MSP) is an inter-disciplinary project made up of academics, labour unions, non-governmental organizations, social movements and activists from around the globe. PSI participates through its Research Unit, PSIRU, based in Greenwich University and directed by Profesor David Hall.
The MSP  website, accessible in English and Spanish, provides a valuable resource for those working to protect and improve public services. It features a diversity of publications and materials, from academic journal articles to video and audio documentaries. An interactive map allows visitors to see what’s happening in the world of alternatives. The events listing will keep you up to date on engaging conferences, workshops and meetings.

We encourage you to visit the website. By becoming a member (www.municipalservicesproject.org/user/register) you can access all of the interactive features of the website, add your own publications and research material and create links to your own organisations.

www.municipalservicesproject.org

Violence in the  Health Sector

Preparing for the Second international conference

The prevalence of workplace violence continues to rise in the health sector, as pressure mounts on the capacity of health systems to provide adequate services to patients and inadequate staffing levels leave health personnel more vulnerable to physical attacks.
PSI has joined with other international organisations in co-sponsoring a second international conference on 27-29 October, 2010 in Amsterdam, where all stakeholders can collectively discuss the problem of violence and safety in the health care sector. The conference will build on the success of the first conference held in October 2008.

The focus of the conference will be on violence against health care workers, and the specific aims are:

• To sensitize stakeholders to the issue of workplace violence
• To understand the manifestations and the human, professional and economic implications of workplace violence
• To promote effective policies and strategies to create safe work environments

Please see the attached announcement and submit an abstract for a presentation before the deadline of 10 March, 2010.

http://www.oudconsultancy.nl/Violence-Healthsector/program.html

PSI Executive Board meeting

At its meeting in Nyon, Switzerland on 17-18 November, the PSI Executive Board held fruitful discussions based on a very complete agenda. They endorsed the proposal concerning PSI activities for 2010 in line with strategy adopted in the 2007 World Congress. They adopted a new format for the 2010 budget in order to assure more transparency, better monitoring and accountability. On the second day, discussion focused on follow-up to the organisational review, they approved the decision to create a Programme and Policy Advisory Group, which will replace the Public Sector Steering Group, and a Constitutional Group in preparation of the 2012 PSI Congress. Other items on the agenda concerned on-going issues such as the PSI/EPSU merger, the forthcoming Copenhagen summit on Climate Change and other missions and activities. The Board listened to a report on the EPSU Mediterranean Constituency meeting in Israel and Palestine. They later discussed the planned 2010 Conference on Quality Public Services and the Board decided to create a PSI Public Service Award that will award a trade union on their initiative to attain and promote quality public services.

PSI Focus new online edition

PSI's magazine Focus is now available in a new interactive online format. The new features now allow readers to:

• Turn the pages like a real magazine, but online.
• Click on titles on the contents page to go directly to the chosen article.
• Zoom in and out, and use the scrolling wheel on your mouse to adjust the size of the text.
• Link directly to external websites mentioned in the magazine.
• Watch embedded videos directly on the screen by simply placing your mouse over the video title.

The French, German, Spanish and Swedish editions of Focus will also be available in the new format, starting with the latest edition from November 2009.

See www.world-psi.org/focus.

Please send your comments and feedback to communications@world-psi.org.

Japanese firefighters may receive broader labour rights

PSI welcomes the announcement by the Japanese Democratic Party government, elected on 30 August, that Japanese firefighters may at long last receive basic labour rights. At a meeting with PSI affiliate the All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union (Jichiro), on 28th October, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi said he had instructed his ministry to consider the matter of granting fire department workers the right of association.
"I've instructed the ministry to study the issue as we shouldn't ignore the ILO's repeated recommendations," he was quoted as telling Jichiro leader Hideaki Tokunaga and other union officials. "We should proactively press forward with our plan while gaining consensus from the public and listening to the opinions of those concerned."
The ILO has recommended on four occasions that the Japanese government grant the right of association to fire department workers, including firefighters, clerks and technical workers, so the Minister’s announcement represents a crucial departure from the policy of the previous administration.
“By acquiring the right of association, we'd like to hold negotiations on working conditions and safety," said a representative of Firefighters' Network, one of the consultative bodies.

Turkey: Detention of Ms Seher Tümer

We would like to bring your attention to the case of Ms Seher Tümer, Branch Secretary of PSI affiliate SES (Trade union of public employees in health and social services), Turkey.
Seher Tümer was arrested  shortly after taking part in the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2009 and the Newroz Spring festival on 22 March. She has also been active in denouncing a high mortality rate at Zekai Tahir Burak, the Women’s Health Research and Education Hospital. PSI believes that her arrest is  linked to these activities. She has now spent almost seven months in a high security prison with limited access to lawyers and there are serious concerns about her health and the conditions of detention.
PSI wrote to the Turkish Prime Minister on 22 October, the day before she was due to appear in court. However, she is still in custody and her next court appearance will be on 19 November. We are therefore asking PSI affiliates to write to the Turkish authorities asking them to release Seher Tümer. Please find attached a model letter.

Argentina: 50,000 health workers demonstrate

The  Trade Union Federation of Health Professionals (FESPROSA) from Argentina organised a national strike on 28 October 2009, mobilising over 50,000 doctors and health professionals from more than 200 hospitals and health centres. One their demands will be "not to approve the reduction of 500 million pesos in the national health budget for 2010.” 
FESPROSA expresses its "deep regret and concern" over the death of Doctor Maria Carolina Tarchini de Arques, a neonatologist in the province of Santiago del Estero, who died of Influenza A on 15 October at the age of 38, in her third month of pregnancy. The union informed the media about the precarious employment conditions in which Dr. Tarchini worked, "a situation that exists in many health centres, putting the lives of workers and patients at risk."
 
The union described the "grave situation of public health in Argentina", which has been largely affected by influenza A and is now facing an epidemic of dengue fever.
 
Jorge Yabkowski, FESPROSA President, said "The situation of inequality and wage arrears faced by most of the provinces, residents and professionals in the community is worsened an increased level of job insecurity and lack jobs in the health sector. In addition, the level of retirement pension is around 50% or less of salaries, leading to a situation of gross injustice."

PSI demands justice for world’s 200 million migrants

At the Civil Society Days of the Third Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) on 2-5 November 2009, PSI will call for wider access to quality public services, decent work, and economic policies that are fair to both workers and development efforts in their countries. On 4-5 November, government representatives will meet in an Interstate Dialogue to discuss and debate proposals. PSI has issued a press release and a commentary by general secretary Peter Waldorff.

“We can’t afford to ignore this challenge,” says Waldorff, alluding to the forum theme, Integrating Migration Policies into Development Strategies for the Benefit of All. “Industrialised countries are draining the best skills from the rest of the world. This is a particularly critical situation for the seven million social and health care workers we represent. Industrialised countries with aging populations bring in these workers to fill labour shortages without benefits or rights and then want to send them back.”

There are about 200 million people living outside their country of birth, according to figures from the United Nations, generating more than $300 billion in remittances that flow back to their home countries. PSI participants are concerned about the social and economic impact on families, communities and gender equity in the workplace and are advocating for fair migration laws and sustainable development policies.

Landmark anti-corruption treaty falters

The future effectiveness of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, (UNCAC), the landmark global anti-corruption treaty, is in jeopardy as negotiations on a monitoring mechanism reach stalemate.
Strong opposition on transparency and civil society participation from a small but vocal group of countries that includes China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran and Pakistan, is threatening to undermine the global fight against corruption.
"This is a critical moment", said Annie Geron, PSI Vice President and leading anti-corruption activist. "Without a strong monitoring mechanism, UNCAC will have no teeth. Corrupt governments will have carte blanche to keep on plundering our public resources and trampling on our rights". 
With only 10 days to go until the final negotiations in Doha, the civil society network that campaigns on UNCAC, the Coalition, is calling on trade unions and CSOs around the world to take urgent action and sign the Coalition Statement and send it to their governments.

Speak up and sign up against corruption!
 
Read the statement here: http://www.uncaccoalition.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=40&Itemid=36&lang=en

UNCAC Coalition: www.uncaccoalition.org

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V37jjv-5NuM