Six young Swedish trade union members from the large local government union Kommunal visited Tamil Nadu, India to learn about the importance of solidarity support and the vital role that Swedish union development cooperation plays in supporting unions in South Asia.  They shared information about their union structures and struggles with a particular focus on the lack of trade union rights for public service workers in India.  Young members from the Tamil Nadu Government Officers Union (TNGOU) met with the delegation and discussed the challenges facing young workers in the two countries and shared tactics on how to get young workers to join unions.

In a rural area 650 km from the capital city Chennai, the Swedish trade union members met with the local council and discussed the improvements they were making to public services, taking environmental issues into account, providing jobs for young workers and strengthening industrial relations.  At a well attended press conference following the meeting, the Swedish delegation appreciated the work that the local council was doing but also drew attention to the fact that good industrial relations was not possible without the trade union rights to organise, strike and bargain collectively.   This message was promoted widely by all parts of the media, giving a boost to the current trade union rights campaign being piloted in Tamil Nadu by PSI and the affiliates.

The General Secretary of NOGE, the union confederation that represents local government workers, explained how the Swedish project over the last three years had assisted them in organising 10 local government corporations and 148 municipal council unions, placing them in a strong position to support the campaign for trade union rights.  They expressed their heartfelt appreciation to SEKO, the Swedish union that supports the ongoing project to campaign for trade union rights for public service workers in India.

The mission was organised by Kristina Olsson, Kommunal International Secretary, and Kannan Raman, PSI Trade Union Rights Project Coordinator.  PSI thanks all the Swedish affiliates for the valuable support they have been giving the PSI development cooperation projects around the world.

Related Files

Report of Kommunals visit to India (PDF File)
Press cuttings (PDF File)

Six youth network coordinators together with three observers met in Jeju, Korea on 6th April 2010 for the 3rd Asia Pacific Youth Network meeting. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Tan Sze Wei, APYN Coordinator and attended by PSI General Secretary, Peter Waldorff, PSI AP Regional Secretary, V. Lakshmi, and Chidi King, PSI Equality and Rights Officer.

In his opening remarks, the general secretary congratulated the APYN on its growth and looked forward to seeing its work “Last year we saw the Global Financial Crisis and unemployment crisis. Now youth unemployment is rising and it’s a challenge, we need to take seriously. It is three times more likely that young people will use their job. There is also an ageing workforce and growth in the eldercare sector, which is a paradox”, stated Waldorff.

The Asia Pacific Regional Secretary added “unemployment in the region is forcing young people to migrate in search of precarious jobs where workers have no rights. Creating employment for young people has become one of the major challenges for unions.  There is a need for unions to be seen as supporters of young people’s issues and training them to be great leaders. The Asia Pacific has always been in the forefront in providing space and opportunity for young people and will continue to do so”

The main point on the agenda for this year was strengthening young workers’ voices in the region and how the network can actively participate and move forward on this issue. The network coordinators welcomed the newly created PSI East Asia Youth Network and its two coordinators, Mr. Tomohiro Hasegawa of JPSU (Japan) and Ms. Hong Soo Jung of KNEWU (Korea). Ms. Katie Rowsell was nominated by the network coordinators to fill the vacant Substitute position for AP Young Workers Representative.

The Network urged for the implementation of the international forum for young workers prior to the 2010 Quality Public Services Conference and needs further support from the APREC for their participation. The Network is also ready for the Asia Pacific Regional Conference (APRECON) 2011 and has submitted a proposal to the APREC for a 2nd Asia Pacific Youth Forum prior to the Conference. The theme has been decided “Creating quality sustainable public services: nothing about us without us is for us”.

For further information, please contact: indah.budiarti@world-psi.org

Related Files

Minutes of the 3rd APYN Meeting (Word Document)
Agenda of the Meeting (Word Document)
Program (Word Document)
APYN Member as per March 2010 (Word Document)
APY Rules and Procedure (Approved by APREC in 2008) (Word Document)

The ITUC is relaunching its youth blog and is launching the campaign’s brochure. The Youth blog comes with a redesign, new functionalities such as Facebook and Twitter sharing as well as a special campaign section.

The brochure is a best practice guide on organising young people and is aimed at informing young people in trade unions about the wide range of work covered by trade unions at the international, regional and national level. The brochure is available for download on the campaign section of the blog. If you would like to receive printed copies for your union members, please contact us.

On the campaign section of the blog, you will also find various others links and tools such as Joe’s pictures for your websites and publications as well as Joe’s ringtones for mobile phones. Don’t forget to say thank you to Joe by becoming a fan on Facebook or by watching his video

 by Philippe Gousenbourger, ITUC Youth Officer

This new ITUC report shows that the Burmese military junta currently in power has no intention of showing any more interest in the population than their predecessors have over the last 47 years of military dictatorship and highlights the link between the abuse of human rights, including trade union rights, and the catastrophic situation of Burmese children. Crushing all forms of opposition the Burmese military junta spends at least 40% of the State budget on the army, even though the country is not facing any external military threat, and leaves only crumbs for such important sectors as education and health care.

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Short report by Katie Rowsell, CPSU and Oceania Youth Network Coordinator

In October CPSU members in a government call centre in Sydney, Australia reported that staff were having to keep a diary of their toilet breaks.  Staff were also being told to take no more than three minutes to use the bathroom. If at least 92% of their time was not on the phone they were “threatened” with counselling and disciplinary action. This time off the phone included time spent on some work activities, including processing claims and other paperwork. Some members even reported management had “popped in” to the bathroom to hurry them up!

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PSI Asia Pacific Regional Office is committed to implementing the 30% quota of young members participation in all activities in this region. Recently about thirty young members participated in the QPS Workshop in Manila, Philippines from 1 to 3 December 2009.

Chiranjibi Guragain, Youth Network Coordinator of Nepal gave me a brief report on his participation. He explained that QPS is core campaign of Public Services International and its public sector unions.

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