PCS international

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PCS international

PCS international

Britain's economy and political system are interdependent with Europe and the rest of the world.

This is why PCS works closely with trade unions in other countries and through key international organisations to promote and protect its members' interests and concerns.

We are affiliated to the world trade union bodies, Public Services International and Union Network International both of which maintain up to date links to unions throughout the world.

This section includes the following pages:

Latest news

May day protest calling for justice for South African miners

Lunchtime event at the Royal Courts of Justice.

International Women's Day

For International Women's Day, a new EPSU report states that European public sector unions confirm that women are hit hardest in austerity Europe.

The report looks at what has happened in eight countries where governments have pursued a policy of public sector cuts: the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the UK.

View the EPSU statement here

KGEU South Korea - trade union rights

PSI is promoting the LabourStart online campaign to support civil servants in KGEU, a South Korea trade union. The government of South Korea refuses to recognise KGEU (and have declared them an illegal organisation) and have sacked over 100 workers (in KGEU and the transport union KPTU). The union's President Kim Jungnam is currently on indefinite hunger strike.

Lobby your MP about Palestine

PCS and the Unite trade union are among the organisations supporting a lobby of parliament in support of the Palestinian people's right to live in peace and govern their own affairs.

The event takes place on Wednesday 28 November at the Houses of Parliament, London, 2pm-6pm.

There are more details on the website of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign

The aim is to persuade MPs to support:

End UK support for the occupation and settlements
Action against Israel’s forced expulsions of Palestinians from their lands and homes
Insisting on the rights of all Palestinian prisoners under international law.
Action to protect child prisoners

PCS is urging members and supporters to contact their MPs via the solidarity campaign and to take part in the lobby if possible.

There will also be an evening event from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm to mark 30 years of Palestine Solidarity Campaign – more details from the PSC website.

Please act now for the Miami Five and their families

Please ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 497 for visitation rights for the Miami Five.

September 2012 marks 14 years that the Miami Five have been imprisoned in US jails. For twelve of these years, two of their wives, Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, have been denied visitation rights by the US government.

We need to let the US authorities know that the world is watching and are aware of their cruelty towards these two women and their husbands.

EDM 497 calls on the US government to make a humanitarian gesture on behalf of Adriana and Olga and let them see their husbands. Please write to your MP today and ask them to sign up, or sign our solidarity wall if you live outside the UK.

Their case is supported by human rights, religious and legal organisations around the world. Amnesty International states that "denying the men visits from their wives is unnecessarily punitive and contrary to standards for humane treatment of prisoners and states' obligations to protect family life."

Please take just 30 seconds to email your MP now and ask them to sign EDM 497.

Condolences to South African miners

The NEC endorsed the following statement:

PCS is appalled at the recent events at the Lonmin mine in South Africa in which at least 34 people lost their lives and many more were injured.

We send our condolences to all those who have lost family and friends and wish all those injured a speedy and complete recovery.

The actions of the South African Police Force are of deep concern and PCS condemns the use of violence in all industrial action. Whilst welcoming the setting up of a commission of inquiry by President Zuma, it is hoped there is genuine transparency in its findings and that those responsible for this shocking loss of life must be brought to justice.

Attack on union offices across Tunisia

Several offices of the Tunisian trade union centre the UGTT were firebombed by Islamic extremists last week. The UGTT were the backbone of the revolution that toppled Ben Ali last year and have a strong twinning relationship with the Yorkshire and Humberside region of the TUC.

The TUC has sent a message of solidarity to the UGTT Secretary General. PCS has also sent a message of solidarity, and written to the Tunisian Government condemning the attacks.

Letter to general secretary of UGTT from Hugh Lanning

Letter to Tunisian government from Hugh Lanning

The TUC has asked UGTT and ITUC colleagues what more it can do in this situation, and will let affiliates know when they hear.

For more information see: ITUC: Tunisian Salafists firebomb union offices across the country and TUC Owen Tudor's blog.

The PCS Deputy General Secretary's recent visit to Palestine – a short report

The PCS Deputy General Secretary Hugh Lanning has just returned from participating in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign delegation to the Occupied Territories.

Early on in their visit, the delegation walked up a "controlled" area of Hebron called Shuhada Street, where the number of Israeli settlers now outnumber the original Palestinian inhabitants; their guide, Issa, was arrested by the military authorities for being in the wrong place, even though Hebron is his home town.

The delegation went on to meet a farmer, Omar, who refuses to sell his farm which now borders the green line; because he won't move the Wall will be built around his house; he will only be able to get to his land by tunnel, and all the time the land will be in shade from the Wall except when the sun is directly above it. Omar's son watches the animals in the nearby Jerusalem Zoo through binoculars; he is not allowed to cross the valley to the zoo because he has the wrong ID.

At Birzeit University in the West Bank, students are systematically arrested before their exams, in what is seen as a cynical attempt to disrupt their education. The President of the University can't get a work permit, because he has a British passport; mobility is strictly controlled, with lecturers unable to visit when they need to, and students can't come from Gaza or leave without risking losing the right to return.

Palestinian East Jerusalem accounts for 30% of Jerusalem's total population, pays 40% of the city's taxes, yet benefits from only 8% of the city authority's expenditure budget.

Over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike.

The Co-operative Group's ban on exports from Israel's illegal settlements (see below) is welcomed by Palestinians; the solidarity helps them appreciate that they are not struggling alone.

Co-operative Group bans exports from Israel's illegal West Bank settlements

The UK's largest mutual has taken the lead amongst UK and mainland European supermarkets by ending trade with companies that export produce from illegal Israeli settlements. This is an extension of its existing policy which had been not to source produce from illegal settlements that have been built on Palestinian territories in the West bank.

For more information see the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website.

For more information on PCS' involvement in the campaign, see our Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions page.

Turkey: More Than 100 Trade Unionists Arrested

Turkish authorities are using anti-terrorism laws to crack down on trade unionists, and more than 100 have been arrested. PCS is supporting the LabourStart e-campaign. Branches and individual are encouraged to take action by adding their name to the online campaign.

International union news from LabourStart.