World

There have been strikes in a total of eleven Länder and in nearly all federal and municipal public service sectors and institutions. On Friday 13 April too, work stoppages are taking place in many public service sectors and institutions.

On 6 April, the United Nurses Association (UNA) released an open letter to the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan that demands a fair resolution to the industrial dispute at KVM Hospital in Cherthala, Alappuzha. For more than 6 months, nurses from KVM have been on an indefinite strike demanding for statutory wages and better working conditions. UNA is the union representing the KVM nurses.

If changes are implemented, Bangkok will be the first UN station in the world with three tiers of staffing. This follows a review in 2011 that reduced salaries of local staff in Bangkok by 22%.

For the second year, in collaboration with the People’s Health Movement (PHM) on the Global Health Watch programme which PHM organizes for the civil society movement in international health, a young health activist from a PSI affiliate participated in the WHO Watch at the World Health Organization Executive Board session in January 2018.

On Thursday 5 April, federal judge, Sergio Moro, decreed the imprisonment of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Convicted without evidence on two charges of corruption, Lula leads the polls for the presidential elections this October.

On April 3, members of National Coordinating committee of Engineers and Employees (NCCOEEE) will take part in a massive non-violent sit-in protest in front of the Parliament against the passing of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, which will extend privatisation in the electricity distribution.

New EU digital tax rules are a good first step to address public outrage over the dodgy tax practices of some of the world’s biggest corporations says Public Services International, a Global Trade Union Federation at the centre of the campaign for corporate tax forum.

The 2018 World Social Work Day (WSWD) was commemorated on 20 March in Geneva, New York, Bangkok and several other cities across the world.