Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Friday, September 5, 2014

PSI Global Trade in Services forum

PSI’s Global Trade in Services Forum, From GATS to TISA, held in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) network, is the first ever global conference to provide a critical perspective on the TISA. 

It will bring together leading global experts, trade unions from the public and private sector, civil society and government representatives from around the world to share information about the TISA. They will discuss the threats posed to public services, democracy and workers, and plan action to oppose its harmful elements.

Read more here.


Friday, August 29, 2014

Report wrongly discounts role of support staff in school


We don't need a study to show how crucial paraprofessionals can be to schools—and to individual students. Nearly everyone who works in a public school has a story about a child who was struggling until a paraprofessional took the time to sit down at one of those little, child-sized desks, take up a No. 2 pencil and work out the kinks in the learning process. Nearly everyone knows a student who was ready to drop out of school until a para stepped in and became a mentor, reeling her back in until graduation day and sometimes beyond. And who among us can't name a teacher who is eternally grateful for close collaboration with another educator—not to mention the extra eyes, ears and hands in the classroom? Read AFT's review here.


Combating the austerity agenda in Canada | PSI partners make budget recommendations



The Association of Canadian Financial Officers - a PSI partner representing financial officers and managers in the Canadian federal government - has called on the government to make common-sense tax changes in the name of combatting austerity.

As ACFO argued in its brief:

A balanced budget is one that considers both sides of the financial ledger. So far, focus has been on the expenditure side - austerity measures and resulting cuts to public services. These cuts affect most Canadians through lost services and, in many cases, lost jobs.
But a balanced budget doesn’t just require cutting expenses; it also requires collecting the revenues that are due. Improving taxation laws, eliminating avoidance schemes and investigating tax evaders and holding them responsible will provide a significant, sustainable and hitherto-ignored source of revenue for the Canadian public purse. This will result in a truly balanced budget that also supports the robust public services that Canadians need and deserve. 
Read the complete submission and common-sense tax regulation changes.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

US trade officials give Guatemala more time to install labor overhaul | TheHill

U.S. trade officials on Monday said they would give Guatemala more time to implement a labor rights enforcement plan.
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman said that the dispute settlement process will remain suspended for another four weeks while the United States reviews information provided by Guatemala about whether labor law reforms are leading to improvements.
“The additional steps Guatemala needs to take are important not just in terms of implementation of the Enforcement Plan they agreed to in 2013, but also because they’ll send a signal to investors.
"This is critical to create the kind of climate in which businesses and workers can flourish and will assist in addressing the deep-seated economic issues that the country is facing," he said. 
The case was first brought in 2011 under the under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) over Guatemala’s inability to effectively enforce its labor laws.
Froman traveled to Guatemala on in late July to press for effective implementation of the enforcement plan agreed to by Guatemala and the United States in April 2013.
“Our aim, all along, has been to support changes on the ground, not to punish Guatemala," McAlvanah said.  "The dispute settlement option from the outset has always been a means to that end, and we continue to regard it that way.”
A senior Democrat expressed concern about Guatemala’s ability to install the labor plan.
“I remain deeply concerned about Guatemala’s failure to take the necessary steps to fulfill even the limited commitments it agreed to under CAFTA and the Enforcement Plan,” said House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.).
“This failure to effectively provide its citizens with basic worker rights weakens its economy and the chance for a decent livelihood for large numbers of its citizens, during a period when large numbers of unaccompanied minors and others are fleeing to escape poverty and violence in their home countries," he said.
"If Guatemala continues to shirk the long overdue implementation of its commitments, I look forward to working with the administration to pursue arbitration in this case.”
Under the labor plan, Guatemala has agreed to strengthen labor inspections, increase labor law compliance by exporting companies, improve the monitoring and enforcement of labor court orders and establish mechanisms to ensure that workers are paid what they are owed when factories close, according to the USTR


Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/215913-us-trade-officials-give-guatemala-more-time-to-install-labor-overhaul#ixzz3BVfnNHlJ
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook


US trade officials give Guatemala more time to install labor overhaul | TheHill




Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Inter-American Region LGBT Committee meeting

PSI Meeting Alert!
WHAT: Inter-American Region LGBT Committee meeting
WHEN: October 26, 2014
WHERE: Mexico City, Mexico

According to the resolutions adopted during the Regional LGBT Committee’s meeting held in 2013, we are organizing the next LGBT Committee’s meeting on October 26, 2014 in Mexico City. The proposal is to carry out a one-day meeting, in order to facilitate the participation of the Committee members in the ILGA World Conference which will be held on 27 - 31 October, in Mexico City.

These are the main issues that will be discussed during the Regional LGBT Committee meeting:

·Reports and update of the plan of action adopted in 2013, and proposals for 2015
·Launch of the campaign and the manual on LGBT rights
·Signature of the agreement with ILGA Latin America and Caribbean and plans on how to make this agreement effective

PSI is also preparing a trade union meeting and a workshop on LGBT issues within the trade union context at the ILGA World Conference.

The Inter-American Regional LGBT Committee meeting on October 26th will start at 10 a.m.

PLACE OF THE MEETING AND ACCOMODATION DURING THE STAY in Mexico:

Hotel Fiesta Americana Reforma
Paseo de la Reforma 80
Col. Juarez 06600 México, D.F.
Tel. (52 55) 5140 4100

The ILGA World Conference will be held at this hotel too.

Should you have any questions about this meeting, please contact:

Mark S. Langevin, Ph.D.
Subregional Secretary for North America
Tel. 202-744-0072
  
In solidarity,


Mark

Monday, August 18, 2014

Utility Workers Ratify New Labor Agreement


Utility Workers Ratify New Labor Agreement with Pennsylvania-American Water Ending Pittsburgh Work Stoppage
 
For immediate release:
August 16, 2014
 
For more information contact:
Kevin Booth, System President, UWUA Local 537
412.551.1294
 
Pittsburgh, Pa.  Utility workers ratified a new labor agreement today that includes solid job protections for working families and ends an eight-week work stoppage by nearly 150 union workers at four Pennsylvania-American Water worksites throughout the Pittsburgh area.
 
Members of Utility Workers Union of America System Local 537 voted by a strong majority to ratify the four-year labor agreement.  The new contract turns back bargaining demands previously made by management to eliminate long-standing protections in the union contract against subcontracting of workers’ jobs.  The agreement also drops management’s previous demands to substantially curtail employee sick leave benefits.  The employees are expected to return to work on Monday.
 
“The sacrifices made by UWUA members in Pittsburgh over the past 60 days have clearly paid off with a strong labor agreement that will protect workers’ job security,” declared Kevin Booth, System President of UWUA Local 537.  “We can now return to work delivering essential public services to our customers without fear that management will destroy working families’ jobs through unfair subcontracting.”
 
The Pittsburgh employees were forced onto picket lines on June 18 to protest a series of unfair labor practices committed by Pennsylvania-American Water and its New Jersey-based parent company American Water.  The new contract marks the first time in more than three years the Pittsburgh employees have a ratified labor agreement.  The previous union contract expired in May 2011, after workers rejected management’s demands for the unlimited right to destroy every worker’s job through subcontracting.
 
Pennsylvania American employees in Pittsburgh went without any wage increases for four years while fighting to win a fair labor agreement.  The new contract provides significant “catch-up” wage increases to help make up for the loss of any cost-of-living adjustment over those four years, but the union emphasizes that the Pittsburgh work stoppage was never over wages.
 
“This dispute has always been over the basic right of utility workers to have some semblance of job security for our families,” stated Booth.  “Our members have won everything they have fought for over the past three years, with a solid union contract that protects workers’ jobs against unfair management subcontracting demands.”
 
The Utility Workers Union of America represents 50,000 working men and women in the utility and related industries throughout the U.S., including 2,400 employees of American Water in Pennsylvania and in ten other states.