(31/7/2010)
UNFF workshop in Ghana: Applying sustainable forest management to poverty reduction
The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) major groups’ workshop was held in Accra Ghana from 26th to 30th July 2010 under the theme “Applying Sustainable Forest Management to Poverty Reduction”. This event is a unique opportunity for Major Groups to come together to provide input and recommendations for UNFF 9, discuss key issues regarding participation in UNFF, and to begin planning for the International Year of the Forest.
There are 9 major groups within the UNFF that includes Forest...
(27/7/2010)
Africa: 3F Construction meeting focuses on strategy and research mapping
The 3F Construction Network has reached another level as shown during the vibrant debates when each union tabled its country reports. The meeting focused on strategy and research mapping. A few new outputs were also included in the phase July 2010 to June 2012 like Gender Mainstreaming and Green Construction. The 3F Construction Network held its second quarterly meeting from 21 to 23 July 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The workshop “Strategy and Research Mapping” was well received by...
(26/7/2010)
Europe: No austerity. Priorities for jobs and growth
Under the slogan "No austerity. Priorities for jobs and growth", the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) will organize on 29 September 2010, a European Day of Action to coincide with a meeting of Europe’s Finance Ministers. Governments across Europe are presently implementing austerity packages by major cuts in public expenditure. These austerity measures may have serious long-term effects on growth and employment, as well as on the future of Social Europe.
The European Federation...
(26/7/2010)
BWI gender sensitivity and planning workshops in India
In order to promote gender equality, specifically in trade unions, the BWI has been steadily implementing various activities through its affiliates to create awareness and sensitise the attitudes of members of BWI at all levels. The current global scenario is adversely impacting the construction workers in general. In view of this, the BWI has developed a gender policy and strategy to enhance and strengthen women’s participation in all trade unions activities and structures to face the...
(26/7/2010)
Cambodian Unions Protest Over Minimum Wage
Despite police and security forces’ blockades to discourage trade union members and workers to participate in a demonstration held on 25 July 2010 to challenge the Labour Advisory Council’s (LAC) endorsement for U$D 61.00 monthly minimum wage for garment workers, thousands of workers protested in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Towards the afternoon, the merely 200 workers who gathered at the gate of the National Assembly reached almost 3,000.
Last 8th of July, the...
(23/7/2010)
Weaving tapestry of Unity: A Decade of TU Movement in Cambodia
“The outcomes of trade unions’ struggles and campaigns to date are reflective of movement organisational and political maturity and in a bigger context the mirror of political democratisation taking roots in the country”, said Ken Chengglang, General Secretary of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia (BWTUC) as representatives of major national trade union confederations, national federations, BWI and UNI, Solidarity Support Organisations and labour networks and NGOs...
(22/7/2010)
Lebanon: Al-Mustakbal Company looks into terminating all contracts
On the 4th of June 2010, the administration of the Al-Mustakbal Company for the production of pipes, presented the Ministry of Labor with a letter discussing the possibility of terminating all contracts established between the company and its workers due to the losses which have been inflicted on three-fourths (75%) of the company’s capital investment. The decision was taken in accordance with paragraph (W) of Article 50 of the Lebanese Work Law, with no financial compensation to be paid to...
(22/7/2010)
New Investigations on the asbestos trade
In late 2009, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists began looking into the global trade in asbestos, a cancer-causing fiber banned or restricted in much of the industrialized world but aggressively marketed in developing countries. What evolved was a nine-month investigation of an international lobby, much of it coordinated from Canada, which promotes the use of asbestos in construction materials and other products. ICIJ joined with reporters and producers with the...
(22/7/2010)
New Edition of General Conditions of Contract In Use
The final version of "Conditions of Contract for Construction, Multilateral Development Bank Harmonised Edition" was posted yesterday on FIDIC's web site: http://www1.fidic.org/downloads/cons_mdb_gc_jun10_unprotected.pdf The World Bank and the regional development banks (ADB, AfDB, EBRD, IDB), collectively know as the multilateral development bank (MDBs), Last November agreed mandatory labour standards requirements for construction projects they finance. The specific language that the...
(20/7/2010)
Peruvian construction workers march to demand wages and safety regulations
On 14 July 2010, protests called by Peru’s FTCCP construction workers union federation brought 150,000 workers into the streets of cities throughout the country. Over 25,000 demonstrated in Lima. Members of 125 unions participated in the march, which, in addition to protesting the deaths and injuries of 131 construction workers since 2008, demanded wage raises and improved working conditions. According to media outlets, “[T]he mobilization caused huge traffic tie-ups in downtown Lima,...
(20/7/2010)
BWI – ILO New Materials for Health and Safety Training in Construction
BWI Health and Safety Director, Fiona Murie, is co-author (together with Professor Richard Neale of Glamorgan University) of the ILO’s new training package on Health and Safety in Construction. The overall aim was to compile a comprehensive international Occupational Safety & Health (OS&H) training package, made available in the public domain by the ILO. The training package is relevant to a global audience and applicable in a variety of legislative environments and construction projects,...
(19/7/2010)
Anglophone construction network discusses strategies on organising international financial institutions projects in Africa
BWI affiliates in Africa carried online search and training on identification of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) Construction Projects in Africa and started mapping out countries where in future they have potential to organize construction workers using the Performance Standards (PS) guidelines in World Bank contracts. Each sub region in Africa identified a project highlighting on organizing strategy and sharing lessons drawn from the Bujagali Hydro Electricity Project in Uganda....
(19/7/2010)
Workers in Rai Ply find it imperative to address impacts of climate change on daily lives
Workers in Rai Ply find it imperative to address impacts of climate change on daily lives.
Workers representatives from Rai Ply Company meeting 6th and 7th July 2010 in Eldoret town in Kenya recounted the good experience in the past whereby there were many trees that provided fuel, timber, wood which made jobs to be secure,but with the current situation, workers welfare has gone down and other social services supported by the industry such as school, clinics are no longer available due to...
(15/7/2010)
Unions wants to play their part in developing a sustainable forestry industry i Indonesia
“Indonesia needs to set about the task of developing a forestry industry which is based on long-term sustainability where the social aspects need to be strengthened and promoted,“ said Khoirul Anam, President of KAHUTINDO, the BWI affiliate in Indonesia which represents forestry and wood workers. Anam was commenting during a seminar to promote decent work in the forestry industrIes of Indonesia, organised by the ILO in Surabaya on June 21-22. The seminar brought together representatives...
(15/7/2010)
More migrant workers joining GS - Sweden
Polish, Latvian and Latin American forestry workers are now increasingly joining GS (the Swedish union which organises wood and forestry workers). The union hopes that more will thus be paid the right wage from the start - not only after a year of dispute and campaigning. During the spring and summer months, forestry contractors in Sweden hire foreign workers on a regular basis, particularly for planting and clearing avenues for power lines - work that is also suitable for less skilled...
(14/7/2010)
Congo Basin: Forest and Woodworkers should be involved in Forest Certification
"Forest and Wood Companies in Cameroon just pay annual taxes to the State Forest and Commons in defiance of the need to take into account the working and living conditions of their employees” has observed the BWI Africa francophone Coordinator Abdoul Karim Ouedraogo at the opening of the sub-regional workshop on Forest Certification in the Congo Basin held on 21 and 22 June 2010 in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Wood and forestry Unions in the Congo Basin countries that are Cameroon, DR Congo and Central...
(14/7/2010)
IKEA manufacturing subsidiary breaks off talks as unionist speaks out
BWI, together with its Swedish affiliate GS, has been involved for a number of years in discussions with the management of IKEA and its wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary Swedwood concerning its recently opened manufacturing plant in Danville, Virginia, USA. Talks have focused on the observance of trade union rights at the plant, and in particular efforts by the BWI-affiliated IAMAW to organise the workforce at this plant. So far these talks have proven fruitless. Earlier in July, Bill...
(13/7/2010)
ACT NOW! Panama: Anti-union repression and arrest of SUNTRACS leaders
"Once again, the BWI has forwarded a strong protest message to the president of Panama protesting at the government's anti-union repression of SUNTRACS leaders - Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Construcción y Similares -, members of our International," said Carlos Salguero, regional representative of the BWI Latin America and Carribbean office. The police arrested SUNTRACS leadership and members on 10 July 2010 while the trade union held a meeting in a hotel in the city of Panama....
(12/7/2010)
Australia: ACT NOW! Support Ark for a safe working environment
"In the past, we have looked to Australia as a reference point for upholding human rights and respecting workplace standards. But today, workers who oppose poor safety onsite in Australia face massive fines and/or imprisonment for objecting or failing to speak with the ABCC - Australian Building and Construction Commission. Now Ark Tribe, a CFMEU member, faces court on 15 June 2010 and if convicted, faces a possible six months imprisonment." says Ambet Yuson, general secretary of the BWI. He...
(12/7/2010)
“Certification in Forest and Wood Processing plays a key role in fighting violation of workers’ rights in subcontracting”
“Certification in Forest and Wood Processing plays a key role in fighting violation of workers’ rights in subcontracting” was one of the key conclusions of the sub-regional conference on “BWI Strategies to Promote Decent Work and Sustainable Development Trough Certification in the Forest and Wood Processing Industry” organized on 1-2 July 2010, in Tuhelj Croatia. The subregional conference was supported by the BWI/LO-TCO project in South East Europe. Representatives of the Forest and Wood...
