Service and Food Workers Union member Kristine Bartlett talks to Aged Care and Retirement magazine Insight about what drove her to head up the Equal Pay case currently before the courts in New Zealand.
The striking Cleaners involved in a bitter dispute over the impact of austerity on their jobs have issued an appeal for support. They face a deadline of May 18th and UNI urges all affiliated unions and other sto support their campaign. This is their statement:-
We are 595 women, who have been working for many years as janitors for the Ministry of Finance. Since 18 September 2013 we have been suspended from our work and on 18 May 2014 we will lose our jobs, we will be fired.
Members of UNI Hong Kong Liaison Council - the Retail, Commerce and Clothing Industries General Union and its branch the Insurance and Finance Practitioners’ Solidarity Sector, the PCCW Staff Association, and the Building Management and Security Workers General Union - participated at the Labour Day Rally co-organized by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. More than 2,300 protesters were in support of a range of demands, including shorter working hours and a higher minimum wage. The protesters marched from Victoria Park to the Central Government Office (CGO).
More than 350 trade union leaders from various sectors turned up for the May Day Celebration organized by UNI-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) at the Transport Workers Union Building in Petaling Jaya. The celebration was in conjunction with the launching of UNI-Malaysia Labour Centre and logo which was inaugurated by Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Haji Zainal Rampak, General Secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU).
President Obama will stand side by side with a company known for low wages, few benefits, unreliable hours, discrimination against women, violating workers’ rights, and yes, environmental degradation,” said Joe Hansen, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
Mr. Hansen also knocked the retailer’s efforts to curb its carbon emissions.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, also took issue with the visit and urged the president to take the opportunity to push another priority: income inequality.
UNI Global Union and the entire trade union community in the public service broadcasting sector condemns the Greek’s government masquerade pretending to have set-up a new public broadcaster, the so called “NERIT”. NERIT started broadcasting on Sunday, May 4th. By doing this, the Greek government wants to show that Greece has once again a public broadcaster.
But NERIT has neither, staff, assets nor does it provides truly public service broadcasting. The government has simply renamed the interim state broadcaster (DT) set-up in September 2013.
Barclays announced today a major reorganizing plan. The good news is that the bank is willing to reduce its speculative activities, shifting and refocusing its priorities from investment bank to real banking. However, this plan will have a major impact on jobs, with 14,000 positions to be cut globally in 2014.
As a response to this plan, the UNI Secretary General Philip Jennings said:
"Barclays workers are enduring a period of intense and unprecedented upheaval at a time when stress and health problems have never been worse in the banking sector.
The G4S 2013 Corporate and Social Responsibilty Report for 2013 shows a 1% growth in union density in G4S, despite a terrible turnover rate of 29.6% - nearly a third of its global workforce. Union density in UK and Ireland went up by 4% last year - from 25 to 29% - and shot up from 10% to 33% in Latin America. Europe too recorded a growth from 32% to 36%. Africa showed a drop from 32% to 26% and the US decline continued from 20% to 14%.
Overall G4S workers rose from 602,000 to 618,000 with global union density now at 17% or 105,060 union members.
SDA officials and organisers came together this week at a national conference in Brisbane to discuss a number of key union issues, including triumphs and milestones which have been achieved in the 100% Pay at 18+ campaign.
Organisers from all over the country celebrated the recent news of the Fair Work Commission’s decision to amend the General Retail Industry Award to move 20 year olds to the full adult rate from 1 July this year.
