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Africa & Arab countries

Africa and Arab countries form one of the four regions in the PSI structure. Our 153 affiliated organisations in some 43 countries represent a membership of around 1.5 million people here. The regional secretariat is based in Lomé, Togo. Contact our regional offices.

PSI Africa & Arab countries Regional Conference - AFRECON 2019 (Lomé)

12 November 2019

A dedicated website for AFRECON 2019 will shortly be available.

Documents can be downloaded here for the moment:

STOP Gender-based violence at work!

10 June 2019

We have entered a decisive period in time: In one month’s time, at the ILO Conference on 10-21 June 2019, the second discussion and last round of tripartite negotiations will take place on the ILO instruments with a view to adopting an ILO Convention and Recommendation.

Fresenius: unions launch first-ever global care workers’ alliance

15 May 2019

In parallel with Fresenius’ annual general meetings of shareholders, trade unions will launch the Fresenius Global Union Alliance on 16 and 17 May in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Unions demand that the healthcare giant negotiates a Global Agreement to secure workers' rights in all its operations.

Two thousand Tunisian municipal cleaners demand safe working conditions and statutory recognition for their profession

13 May 2019

Two thousand municipal workers from Tunisia’s waste management services gathered on April 28th, World Day for Safety and Health at Work, to demand safe and healthy working conditions, adequate personal protective equipment for all, and the recognition of their professional status at national level.

PSI Statement Following the Detention of Trade Unionists in Fiji Whilst ADB Watches On

05 May 2019

As the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting concludes in Nadi, Fiji, PSI expresses our outrage and dismay that the Government of Fiji marked the event, which coincided with May Day, with the arrest and detention of trade unionists, including the General Secretary of our affiliate, the Fiji Nursing Association, Salanieta Matiavi.

RCEP - trade unions seek consultation by the government

02 May 2019

They call for negotiation texts of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) to be made public and to form the basis of consultations, including through town hall meetings.

May Day 2019 - At 100 years old the ILO needs to refind its purpose

30 April 2019

On this May 1st, we call on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to stay true to its origins and values. To be relevant and justifiable, and to set the rules for the work of the future, we must ensure the ILO remains free from the interests of private capital.

STOP Gender-based violence at work!

10 June 2019

We have entered a decisive period in time: In one month’s time, at the ILO Conference on 10-21 June 2019, the second discussion and last round of tripartite negotiations will take place on the ILO instruments with a view to adopting an ILO Convention and Recommendation.

31 October: UN World Cities Day – “Stop precarious work in local public services!”

30 October 2018

On UN World Cities Day 2018, PSI calls the United Nations, governments and mayors to halt the widespread use of precarious work in local and regional government services that hurts local communities, undermines the quality and accessibility of local public services, and stands in the way of achieving sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities (SDG11).

International Youth Day 2018 - #SafeSpaces4Youth

24 July 2018

For International Youth Day 2018 on 12 August, Public Services International (PSI) is calling on all affiliates and young workers to send a strong message that “Violence is NOT part of the job”.

#NotATarget: The lives of health workers in Gaza must be protected

15 June 2018

PSI urges all affiliates to call on the governments of their countries to take immediate action to stop the targeting of health workers in conflict zones in general and Gaza in particular. Health workers are #NotTargets.

HEALTH FOR ALL: marking the 2018 World Health Day

06 April 2018
Saturday 7 April is the 2018 World Health Day (WHD). This date was chosen to draw global attention to international health every year with a dedicated theme, when the World Health Organization was formed seventy years ago.

The End of Water Privatisation?

22 March 2018

Across the world, a wave of remunicipalisations has delivered water services back into public hands, often after decades of private mismanagement.

EQUAL PAY – WAGE JUSTICE

08 March 2018

On March 8, PSI stands with women around the world demanding an end to gender-based discrimination at work and calling for the transformation of the division of labour.

Solidarity with American unions facing dangerous Janus vs AFSCME Supreme Court case

20 February 2018

We ask you to show solidarity with PSI’s affiliates in the United States of America, where another attack on the labour movement is imminent.

Algeria: New government attack on independent energy union (update)

26 January 2018

The government of Algeria is escalating its war on the independent union of electricity and gas workers SNATEGS, which organizes workers at the state energy company SONELGAZ.
SNATEGS lives and fights, and needs your support. ActNOW! Join the LabourStart campaign, send a message of protest!

World Cities Day 2017: Municipal workers make cities happen!

25 October 2017

PSI has chosen 31 October – UN “World Cities Day” - to launch a global visual campaign aimed at raising awareness about the work of municipal public service professionals with a view to increasing their visibility and presenting a positive perception of the many essential public services they deliver every day to cities and metropolitan areas.

World Bank must stop promoting “dangerous” public-private partnerships – New Global Campaign launched!

23 October 2017

A new campaign aimed at reversing the dangerous rush to promote expensive and high-risk public-private partnerships (PPPs) was launched yesterday by Public Services International and by 151 civil society organisations from all over the globe.

Public administration workers of the Spanish foreign service go on strike on 16 October: 9-year wage freeze must end now!

16 October 2017

For the last nine years, public administration employees working abroad for the Spanish state have suffered an unjust and arbitrary wage freeze. Precarious working conditions and, in many countries, rampant inflation and strong fluctuations of local currencies have further compounded the issue.

Fight Privatization at Bridge International Academies!

18 July 2017

Civil society call on investors to cease support to Bridge International Academies - Growing evidence and analysis published in the last two years that raise grave concerns regarding Bridge’s transparency, relationship with governments, labour conditions, and breach of educational standards.

Right to Health campaign: A better future with #PublicHealth4All

13 April 2017

Join PSI's campaign for the Human Right to Health - the global campaign to influence the formulation and implementation of policies leading to Universal Public Health Coverage (UPHC). Now is the time to unite and fight for #PublicHealth4All.

Inspiring campaigning! #TaxJustice for Women's Rights Global Days of Action

27 March 2017

The final week of the #TaxJustice for Women's Rights Global Days of Action has been extremely busy. These have been truly global days of action, as you will see from the photos, events and actions from around the world.

PSI launches first major union perspective on UBI: no silver bullet

29 April 2019

A new report, released by Public Services International, New Economics Foundation and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung highlights the need to fight for collective responses to inequality and austerity, rather than individualised cash payments.

7 April - Time for Universal Public Health Care

05 April 2019

Health is a human right. The 2019 World Health Day (WHD) is an opportunity to advocate for every woman, man and child to have access to quality public health.

Municipal solid waste management services in Africa and the Arab countries

05 April 2019

This is the second of a series of reports, part of a research project on global waste services, that PSI commissioned to develop its work on the municipal waste sector.

22 March - Water for all... no exception

21 March 2019

As we celebrate World Water Day one week after the successful global students strike for climate, similarities between the two events find an echo in the frustration with political systems which refuse to address obvious and urgent needs of the people.

Handbook: Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work

21 March 2019

All women and men have the right to live and work free from violence and harassment. However, while this is generally accepted, violence and harassment remains pervasive throughout the world of work. It affects all jobs, sectors and occupations. It has serious consequences for workers, their families and communities, as well as for enterprises’ reputations and productivity.

PSI statements for the 144th session of the WHO Executive Board

13 March 2019

144th session of the Executive Board (24 January - 1 February 2019)

A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All

11 March 2019

This new ILO report highlights key gender gaps and obstacles to decent work for women.

8 March - Women’s struggles need to be more bold and radical than ever

07 March 2019

Women’s Day is not a moment to celebrate the feminine. It is a day for political upheaval. Only by placing women’s struggles at the heart of labour action can we achieve the meaningful progress which generations of women have fought for. Read the PSI statement here.

The Multilateral Investment Court: PSI Fact Sheet

28 February 2019

In recent years, public opposition to investor State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS has made this acronym political poison.

Advancing Women's Human Rights through Gender Responsive Public Services

12 December 2018

This Expert paper by PSI proposes that the UNCSW adopt the framework of Gender Responsive Quality Public Services (GRQPS) and in doing so address the primary barriers to the delivery of GRQPS and the enablers of GRQPS and women’s human rights, including labour rights of those workers who are strategic in front line-public services.

Tax justice and gender justice in Africa

30 October 2018

This study on tax and public services impact on women and girls in Ghana was commissioned by PSI with support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The study is available in English and the executive summaries are available in French and Spanish.

Declaration of the African Municipal and Local Government Union Network (AMALGUN) - Nairobi 2018

30 October 2018

The “Nairobi AMALGUN Declaration” is the policy outcome adopted by the African Municipal and Local Government Union Network (AMALGUN) on occasion of the PSI Local and Regional Government (LRG)/Municipal Workshop held for the English-speaking Africa Sub-Region on 23-24/10/2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Policy documents adopted by the English-speaking Africa municipal waste sector – Nairobi 2018

29 October 2018

The “Call to Public Authorities” and the “Plan of Action” represent the policy document and action roadmap adopted by the PSI Municipal Waste Workers Network for English-speaking Africa on occasion of the Municipal Waste Services Workshop held for the Sub-Region on 25-26/10/2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

History RePPPeated - How public private partnerships are failing

08 October 2018

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly being promoted as the solution to the shortfall in financing needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Economic infrastructure, such as railways, roads, airports and ports, but also key services such as health, education, water and electricity are being delivered through PPPs in both the global north and south.

Privatization Watch Newsletter - All issues

05 September 2018

This PSI bulletin provides an overview of global trends in privatization of public services and is part of PSI’s global campaign against privatization.

PSI Africa & Arab countries Regional Conference - AFRECON 2019 (Lomé)

12 November 2019

A dedicated website for AFRECON 2019 will shortly be available.

Documents can be downloaded here for the moment:

Human Rights, Trade Unions and Quality Public Services for Refugees and Migrant Workers (Beirut)

14 February 2019

This Roundtable Discussion is part of PSI's mission in support of Syrian refugees in Lebanon bringing together trade unions, civil society, government and international organization stakeholders to share perspectives towards strengthening refugee protection and assistance in Lebanon, with the view to promoting access to decent work, social protection and access to quality public services.

CSO Forum on “Social Protection and Transformative Fiscal and Wage Policy" (New York)

08 February 2019

This Forum has been organized to prepare civil society participants to engage at the 57th Session of the Commission for Social Development (11 to 21 February 2018 at the UNHQ in New York).

PSI mission to support Syrian refugees in Lebanon

05 February 2019

A PSI mission will be held in Beirut, Lebanon from 14-15 February. The mission is part of the project “Trade Unions, Human Rights and Quality Public Services for Refugees and Migrants in the MENA region” and is being implemented in partnership with Union to Union and PSI Swedish affiliates.

Intergovernmental Conference on the Global Compact for Migration (Marrakesh)

11 December 2018

Led by PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli, PSI comes to Marrakesh with a 45-member strong trade union delegation of activists from the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, Nigeria, USA and the Philippines.

PSI Global Labour Remunicipalisation Workshop (Geneva)

30 November 2018

This workshop on “Building union strategies to bring public services back in-house” is open to PSI trade union representatives with a direct experience of remunicipalising public services and/or with an interest in peer learning about these processes with a view to engage and drive remunicipalisation processes in the future.

Demonstrating commitment and leadership on equal pay

26 September 2018

PSI is participating in an Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) Pledging Event. The main objective of the event is to build a consortium of committed partners to accelerate the pace in closing the gender pay gap and achieving equal pay, in line with target 8.5 of the SDGs.

Global Dialogue Forum on Employment Terms and Conditions in Tertiary Education (Geneva)

13 September 2018

The Forum will examine employment terms and conditions, professional rights and social dialogue mechanisms, including collective bargaining and collegial governance in tertiary education, with the aim of adopting points of consensus, including recommendations for future action by the International Labour Organization and its Members.

Corporate power international seminar

27 July 2018

The principal objective of this activity wasto cultivate a broad discussion of the mechanisms that strengthen corporate power while connecting directly to PSI´s global priorities including tax justice, the fight against privatization and free trade agreements.

UN Conference of State Parties to the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

12 June 2018
Shutterstock

PSI is participating for the first time in the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) held in New York from 12-14 June. PSI is also jointly organising a side event on 13 June, to identify how Social Dialogue is, or could be, used to ensure the implementation of the CRPD.

Inter-American Regional Executive Committee & Women’s Committee - IAMREC/IAMWOC (Panama)

04 June 2018

Between the 1st and 3rd of August, the meeting of the Inter-American Regional Executive Committee (IAMREC) will be held in Panama City. On the same occasion, the meeting of the Regional Women's Committee of Inter-American PSI and an international seminar on corporate power will take place.

Public healthcare for all

22 November 2018

#SolidarityWithRefugees  PSI is launching the first video, of a series of three, on building quality public services for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. This first video focuses on quality public healthcare for all.

Everyday Oscars - #EndGBVatWork

12 March 2018

Ending violence against women is a top-priority for PSI. PSI fully supports the ITUC campaignfor this new international labour standard and invites all affiliated unions to join the campaign. Your mobilising, organising and lobbying is critical to build and ensure governments’ support for an ILO Convention and a Recommendation at the ILO Conference in June 2018.

Video: UNISON interviews General Secretary of NAHWAL about the ebola outbreak in Liberia

19 January 2018

UNISON interview with George Poe Williams, General Secretary of PSI affiliate the National Health Workers Association of Liberia (NAHWAL), who was on the front line when Ebola hit. In Liberia, the government arbitrarily fired health workers who were on the front lines of the fight against Ebola; simply because they were trying to ensure adequate protection and working conditions for public workers.

Video: Liberia Healthcare workers - the unsung Ebola fighters

07 September 2017

Watch this series of five videos by PSI on how the Ebola crisis unveiled structural problems in the Liberian Health System. How the bad working conditions such as voluntary work, lack of protective equipment, lack of insurance and decent pay, caused unproportioned amounts of deaths under the health workers, causing a lack of health staff in the country. More information on our #SolidarityLiberia page.

Videos: Interviews with LRG/Municipal workers

27 April 2017

Watch this series of video interviews of trade unions leaders and representatives members of the PSI Global Municipal Workers Network explaining the challenges they face in their countries.

Audio: Healthcare is a basic human right

07 April 2017

RadioLabour interviews PSI General-Secretary Rosa Pavanelli on PSI's recently launched campaign for the Human Right to Health aimed at promoting universal public health coverage for all.

Video interviews: SOLSICO activists in healthcare

23 November 2016

At its May 2016 meeting, PSI’s World Women’s Committee (WOC) agreed that a high priority area of work is workplace violence in the health sector. The WOC also agreed that the experiences of affiliates in raising awareness and developing campaigns and actions to eliminate workplace violence will contribute to the discussions and preparation for developing an ILO standard (convention and recommendations) on violence against women and men at work. This video of interviews is part of the case study on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sub-Regional workshop on strengthening the capacity of young women workers in Lomé, Togo

08 November 2016

Slideshow on Flickr with 82 photos of the Sub-Regional workshop on strengthening the capacity of young women workers that took place in Lomé, Togo on 28-29 October 2016.

Audio: RadioLabour interview with NAHWAL leaders

18 October 2016

In 2014, at the height of the Ebola crisis, the Liberian government fired 22 union leaders. It still has not reinstated two of the fired leaders: Joseph Tamba, the president of the National Health Workers' Association of Liberia and George Poe Williams, the General Secretary . A RadioLabour interview with Mr Williams.

Photos: PSI/EPSU Global Municipal Workers' Network Meeting

22 September 2016

Over 60 Municipal trade unionists from all over the world gathered in Brussels on 19 September 2016 for the PSI Global Local and Regional Government (Municipal) Workers Union Network gathered to identify joint priorities and develop global strategies for the municipal work ahead of the PSI Congress next year. An exciting, promising start for a strong global PSI Municipal sector.

Video: Towards Energy Democracy

06 September 2016

How are people across the world taking back power over the energy sector and re-imagining how energy might be produced, distributed and used?

Statement by Rosa Pavanelli at Informal Stakeholder Consultations

06 June 2016

PSI will be taking part in the Informal Stakeholder Consultations scheduled at the UN Headquarters in New York on 6-7 June, where it will deliver the following statement by General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli that highlights the shortcomings of the Zero Draft and makes constructive proposals for improvement.

Interview with Randa Al-Khaldi, TUWHS

01 May 2016

Randa Al-Khaldi from TUWHS in Jordan was interviewed during the PSI-EPSU-ETUI seminar “Public Services Welcoming Migrants: Strengthening the Role of Public Service Trade Unions in the Protection of Human Rights and Delivery of Public Services to Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees” that was held on 14-16 March in Brussels, Belgium.

Audio: WINS Radio reports on dismissed Liberian health workers

11 April 2016

WINS Radio reports on PSI's call to action for the reinstatement of two Liberian health union leaders dismissed in February 2014 with 22 other workers following a nationwide strike in protest of working conditions and the lack of protective equipment and medication.

Video: All migrants have the right to have economic and social rights

14 March 2016

Statement of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, addressing the PSI - EPSU - ETUI seminar “Public Services Welcoming Migrants: Strengthening the role of public service trade unions in the protection of human rights and delivery of public services to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees” in Brussels, Belgium on 15 March.