The Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI) expresses its sympathies to the Lebanese people on the recent tragedy arising from the explosion at the Beirut Port on Tuesday 4 August 2020.
To address the plight of millions of migrant workers who have been repatriated or are awaiting repatriation as a result of pandemic-induced unemployment, BWI endorsed the call of a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) and trade unions for an “urgent justice mechanism” to respond to the migrant crisis.
BWI denounces the American Peace Plan (Deal of the Century). It is an unwelcome intervention that is a departure from the rules and principles of international law and disregards internationally accepted processes.
Every year since joint inspections began in Qatar based on the memorandum of Understanding signed in late 2016 between BWI and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy of Qatar, established for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Joint Working Group (JWG) has made a report.
Workers at Wendt Corporation, a plant based in Buffalo New York succeeded in winning their two-year fight for a collective bargaining agreement. The workers joined the Ironworkers Union (Local 576) in 2017 and they have been battling the management for its first contract. Finally, this past August the union and the management agreed to an agreement after nearly 60 sessions of negotiations. During the negotiations the Wendt management harassed union members and threatened to lay-off workers.
The global union federation BWI has today released a second report highlighting how Tokyo 2020 construction workers lives are still at risk, while rampant subcontracting is putting downward pressure on workers’ wages.
In June 2018, at the Holcim El Salvador plant in Metapán in the north of El Salvador, eight leaders from the first Board of Directors of SICCA [Union for the Cement Industry and Allied Workers] were dismissed the day after having presented the union to the Ministry of Labour.
On 28 September the BWI and its Japanese Affiliates Council (BWI-JAC) held an international forum looking at the risks to human rights involved in the preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
Today, on the opening of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, the BWI and its 12 million members around the world express condolences to the families of the twenty-one construction workers who died during construction of World Cup stadiums.
On 5 June 2018, the Swiss National Compact Point (NCP) responsible for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises concluded its follow-up on the BWI complaint against FIFA that focused on the 2020 World Cup Games in Qatar.
April 30 2018 - On the eve of May Day in Doha, close to 200 participants attended the BWI “Community Leaders Forum on Workers’ Welfare in the Construction and Allied Sectors” in Doha, Qatar.
For the first time, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) commemorated International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) in Qatar by supporting the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (ADLSA) 2nd National OSH Conference and participating in various site-level activities to raise awareness on safety and health.
Today, as the 2018 Winter Olympics begin in PyeongChang, South Korea, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and the Korean Federation of Construction Industry Trade Unions (KFCITU) have released a joint report outlining violations of construction workers’ rights throughout the Olympic construction process.
A Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) delegation met this week with FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura who was appointed by the FIFA Council at the 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico. Representing BWI were: Ambet Yuson, General Secretary; Johan Lindholm Byggnads, Sweden; Dietmar Schaefers, IG BAU, Germany; Pierre Cuppens, ACV-CSC, Belgium; Steinar Krogstad, Fellesforbundet, Norway; Gail Cartmail and Jim Kennedy, UNITE; UK.
The FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board which includes Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI met this week and issued the following statement:
We welcomed our first day and a half of substantive discussions with the FIFA Administration, including the Secretary-General, about FIFA’s human rights responsibilities. It was an important opportunity to establish a general understanding of FIFA’s human rights efforts to date, and it was a forthright and frank discussion.
The first joint inspections on 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™ projects have been carried out by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), the global trade union for construction workers.
The Mega-Sporting Events Platform for Human Rights (MSE Platform) published the ‘Sporting Chance’ White Papers, a series of 11 white papers on the interaction between MSEs and human rights.
According to the International Labour Organization there are over 150 million migrants in the global workforce. Migrant workers are essential part of the global economy and without them, entire economies would collapse.
On 2 June 2016, 15 members of the Tower Crane Operators Branch of the Korean Construction Workers Union (KCWU) affiliated to the Korean Federation of Construction Industry Trade Union (KFCITU), BWI’s affiliate in South Korea, were found guilty under the criminal charges of “blackmail” and “obstruction of business” for merely engaging in collective bargaining negotiations.
Still too many multinationals are operating without respecting international labour standards and many governments are only interested in attracting investments.
Signing our protest messages to anti-democratic governments or anti-union companies will help trade unionists in many countries as they continue to face imprisonment, dismissal and discrimination.
