| This week we’re passing on urgent action appeals from the Philippines and Korea, an update on a worsening situation in Zimbabwe, and a chance to help get $87,000 for your favorite union or website that campaigns for workers’ rights.
Coca-Cola in the Philippines has replaced collective bargaining over wages with arbitrary individual wage increases as part of a broader assault on workers’ rights. Unions representing Coke workers there have taken to the streets in protest. The IUF has launched a global campaign to back these workers – to learn more or to show your support, click here.
ING, the Netherlands-based bank, has been restructuring and the result in Korea has been a strike lasting more than two months. The company is refusing to consult with its workers and UNI global union, which represents workers in the banking sector, has launched a global campaign to pressure ING. To learn more and to support the campaign, click here.
Meanwhile in Zimbabwe, a member of the Executive Committee of the newly-formed IndustriALL global union, Angeline Chitambo, has been dismissed from her job and this follows the sacking of 135 workers by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Company (ZESA) in July 2012. Full details about this latest attack on the union can be found on the IndustriALL site. If you’ve not yet done so, please send your message of support to the Zimbabwe Electricity Workers Union (ZEWU) here.
Finally, we’re very pleased to once again pass on the news about the Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights, which was established by the union Industri Energi (in Norway) in 2010. In its first three years, the prize has been granted to Wellington Chibebe, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Shaer Sae’d, Secretary General of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the C.CAWDU (Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union). The prize will be granted annually to a worthy winner, based on proposals from trade unions around the world. The prize money is NOK 500,000 (approximately $US 87,000). The deadline for the 2013 nominations is 31 January 2013. Nominations can be made in Norwegian, English, French or Spanish espen.loken.
Eric Lee
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Which campaigns have I missed? Click here to find out. |
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