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PSI welcomes the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on global warming released on 8 October 2018. 

As hundreds of representatives of trade unions, social movements and civil society organisations are gathering in Bali on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, a workshop organised by PSI, Walhi / Friends of the Earth Indonesia, and KSBSI within the framework of the People's Summit for Alternative development, asserts the need for a Binding Treaty on TNCs and IFIs with regard to their Human Rights obligations.

PSI has been providing solidarity to the Alliance of Filipino Workers (AFW) to build power by organising new members. PSI asked its affiliate the SEIU, the largest health sector trade union in the USA, to partner with the AFW to transform their approach to growth amongst hospital workers with positive results now emerging.

On 7 October 2018 we “celebrate” the 10th anniversary of the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW): 10 years that unions across the world have been fighting to place decent work at the centre of government policies, to bring back economic growth that puts people first – people over profit.

PSI and its affiliated unions in the Philippines welcomed the decision of Senators and Representatives comprising the Congress’ Bicameral Conference Committee which approved the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law of 2018, thus, amending the existing maternity leave.

PSI attended the court hearing as an international solidarity observer for fourteen health worker who face years in prison over their attempts to provide medical assistance to civilians during a curfew imposed by Turkish armed forces in the Kurdish-majority city of Cizre.

The report of the Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the SDG era (HQSS) shows quite clearly that the universal health coverage strategy is not sufficient to improve health in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Provision of good-quality health care is essential for the attainment of sustained improvement in health outcomes and the full realisation of the human right to health.

The Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA) general secretary Rajeshwar Singh claims that the public sector unions are “still being targeted” to weaken the collective voice of their members. Speaking at its 75th anniversary in Suva on 22 September, Mr. Singh also claimed that they are “suppressed” on a daily basis.

Many trained and qualified nurses in Liberia, most of whom are members of PSI affiliate NAHWUL, are on a continuous struggle to get their names on the nation’s payroll system, while others, whose names have been wrongly erased from the system, race against time to resolve the “ghost” status tagged to their names in the system.

PSI learns with chilling accounts, the rising numbers of the toll of death of persons returning from a busy market day on 20 September, when their overloaded ferry, MV Nyerere, capsized on Lake Victoria, killing most of its passengers.