May Day Press Release

May Day Press Release

PSI is seizing the occasion of International Workers’ Day to call for a fair globalisation and the defence of quality public services. PSI General Secretary, Hans Engelberts said, “Globalisation has so far failed to deliver tangible benefits for working women and men and it is usually the lowest paid who have paid the highest price. A fair globalisation means committed and adequate investment in vital public services such as health, water, sanitation, electricity and education, where the contributions of workers are properly recognised and recompensed. It is through the proper funding and provision of these services that we will achieve more just and inclusive societies. Policies which drive countries, particularly developing countries, to restructure, outsource and privatise their public services only serve to perpetuate poverty and underline inequalities”.

On May 1st, PSI also joins trade unionists around the world in celebrating the achievements of the labour movement and in commemorating all those who have given so much in the cause of social justice, equality and dignity at work. It is a shocking truth, said Hans Engelberts, that in 2007 being a trade union activist is still a life-threatening vocation in some parts of world. In the first half of this year alone, trade unionists have been killed in Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Iraq, Cambodia, the Philippines, to name but a few countries, simply for defending workers’ rights. Many others have been brutally assaulted, injured andimprisoned.

PSI is calling on governments to do more than pay lip service to International Conventions on labour standards and to take urgent steps to guarantee the protection of trade union rights and the safety of trade unionists. PSI joins trade unions across the globe in calling for an end to exploitation; for safe working conditions; for respect for the dignity of workers; and for respect for the right of workers everywhere to form trade unions and to bargain collectively for their pay and conditions.

PSI is particularly concerned at the situation in Korea where the Government has persistently denounced the Korean Government Employees Union, a PSI affiliate, as an illegal organisation and actively suppresses, arrests and imprisons union activists performing what are normal unions activities. "In South Korea, PSI is concerned that the government is not meeting its commitments to bring the labour legislation in line with ILO Conventions. The situation is currently under review at both the ILO and the OECD. The struggle of the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU) is an example to many other Asian countries where there are no full trade union rights", said Hans Engelberts.

In February this year, PSI sent a delegation to the Philippines where more than 80 trade unionists were victims of extra-judicial killings in 2006. Thousands more suffer from intimidation and harassment either due to their political affiliation, trade union activities or the exposure of corruption cases. In addition to meetings with trade unions, NGOs, the Commission on Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation, the delegation met with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Killings, to voice PSI's concerns about the particular way trade unionists are affected by the spate of killings and intimidation. In March, PSI submitted both a written and oral statement to the UN Human Rights Council.

Also this year, PSI has vociferously protested violent repressions of trade union actions in Zimbabwe Guinea and Morocco, three assassination attempts on the life of a trade union leader in the Palestine, and the arbitrary arrest and detention of trade unionists in Ethiopia, Turkey and Iran. In the five months leading to May 1st, PSI has issued 5 appeals for urgent action and more than 20 letters of protests. The latest annual survey of violations of trade union rights produced by the International Trade Union Confederation shows that in 2005 115 trade unionists were murdered, while more than 1,600 were subjected to violent assaults and some 9,000 arrested. Nearly 10,000 workers were sacked for their trade union involvement, and almost 1,700 detained.

PSI reports that the majority of these trade union rights violations occur in the public sector.

ENDS

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