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Public Services International is a global union federation representing 20 million members in
150 countries. Asia Pacific News is published and electronically distributed by Public Services
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Public Services International

Edition: March 2015

The right to strike re-affirmed at the ILO

After more than two years of conflict, the right to strike was re-affirmed at the International
Labour Organization on 25 February during the Tripartite Meeting on the Freedom of
Association.
Employers brought the ILOs supervisory mechanism to a standstill by challenging the existence of
an international right to strike and the authority of the ILO. This conflict also endangered decades
of ILO jurisprudence on the right to strike.
Today governments and social partners have re-affirmed the right to strike as a fundamental right
at work, and the role of the ILO supervisory mechanism, said Rosa Pavanelli, PSI General
Secretary. These same governments are currently negotiating the Post 2015 Development Agenda
and international trade agreements. We need to make sure that they show the same commitment to
international labour standards across the board. While the recognition of an international right to
strike is essential, attacks on the right to strike at national level are widespread. Therefore PSI will
continue its campaign for the right to strike for all workers, she added.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, Having created the crisis, employer groups and
some governments were refusing to allow the issue to be taken to the International Court of Justice
even though the ILO Constitution says it should be. We have now managed to negotiate a solution
which protects the fundamental right of workers to take strike action, and allows the ILO to resume
fully its work to supervise how governments respect their international labour standards
obligations.
Union and employer representatives have now reached an understanding at a special ILO meeting
to end the impasse, based on recognition of the right to take industrial action, backed by explicit
recognition from governments of the right to strike, linked to ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of
Association. This agreement is the result of a successful international union mobilisation on 18
February in support of the right to strike and months of lobbying governments and employers
around the world. Read more.

Korea: First Congress of new KPTU

On 25 February, delegates of the former
Korean Federation of Public Services and
Transportation Workers Union (KPTU)
held their 2015 Congress. At the Congress,
KPTU delegates took bold steps towards
strengthening their collective power in a
difficult battle against the Korean
governments attack on workers and the
public sector. Specifically, delegates passed a
long-discussed proposal to transform from a
loose federation into one single industrial
union.
It was the first Congress of the newly reorganised Korean Public Service and Transport Workers
Union. The KPTUs reorganisation will rationalise a previously heterogeneous union fees system
and affiliated-union structure. Most significantly, it will increase unity among a diverse
membership by creating/strengthening project groups based on similarity in sector, region and/or
employment type, which will serve as platforms for joint bargaining, campaigning and struggle.
More information.

Japan: Quality public services and the role of

trade unions

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO) organised an international symposium

on Quality public services and the role of trade unions in Tokyo, Japan on 24 February 2015.
The main objective of the symposium was to study the application of international standards
relevant to public employees in Japan and elsewhere, as well as at discussing the role of trade
unions in ensuring quality public services. Quality public services are essential to maintaining and
improving the standard of living and the best way to ensure quality is to improve governance and
transparency through social dialogue. In particular, autonomous industrial relations to determine
decent working conditions for public employees play a crucial role. However, fundamental workers
rights for public employees, including the right to collective bargaining, are restricted in Japan. In
other countries too, achieving decent work for public employees is often at risk due to reduced
public expenditure as a result of austerity policy and/or privatization in the name of structural
reform.
After the symposium, RENGO organized a rally, under the banner "STOP THE DISPARATE
SOCIETY: Quality Public Services and the Role of Trade Unions. Three thousand unionists
gathered from all over Japan. They marched toward the Diet Building after the rally. Read the
news in Japanese.

Women Power Unions: CSW59 Implementing

the Beijing Platform for Action

The 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) was
held at the UN Headquarters, in New York, 9-20 March 2015. Public Services
International (PSI) is an accredited organisation for the UN Commission on the Status of
Women and participated with a delegation of 20 people from our affiliated unions. The main
focus of the session was on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, including current
challenges that affect its implementation and the achievement of gender equality and the
empowerment of women. The session also addressed opportunities for achieving gender equality
and the empowerment of women in the post-2015 development agenda. See the UNCSW59 blog to
find out more PSI Equality and Rights Officer [email protected].

SASRAC: More action in organising work

PSI South Asia Sub-regional Advisory Committee (SASRAC) met in Kathmandu, Nepal on 13 February 2015. On the first day of the meeting, the Advisory Committee members
organised two thematic workshops. The workshop Organising health sector workers in South
Asia presented a detailed scenario of the health situation in South Asia through various country
presentations. Participants also developed an action plan as recommendations to the SASRAC, to
organise health workers in South Asia. The workshop Trade and investment the implications for
public services focused on various types of trade agreements undertaken by countries in the subregion, the secrecy surrounding them and attempts to campaign actively against such agreements
that are harmful to public services.
On the second day, the South Asia Sub-regional Women Committee and Young Workers Network
met. The meeting included a workshop on the elimination of violence against women.
All the recommendations of the workshop and meetings were brought to the SASRAC meeting on
3 February, where the committee members approved the recommendations for the 2015 subregional plan of actions and campaigns. For more information, please contact
[email protected] South Asia Sub-regional Secretary.

Tale of a journey: Filipino migrant health

workers

The 42-minute documentary Tale of a Journey features the

experience of Filipino migrant health workers in Finland in the
entire migration cycle, from pre-immigration to return. It deals
with the migrant workers education, recruitment, managing
family life, as well as the issues for receiving countries such as
training and employment procedures. The film is produced by
ILO Decent Work across Borders with funding support from
the European Union and in partnership with the Asia Pacific
Film Institute. Read more about the project.

Australian workers fight for their rights

On 4 March, workers across Australia held a "Fight for Our Rights" rally. They protested in
response to austerity measures that are threating the working conditions and wages of millions of
Australians. PSI affiliates were out in force, defending rights at work, saving Medicare, defending
community services, saying no to cuts to pensions and superannuation, calling for an end to
Government cuts that target the vulnerable (like unemployed youth, victims of domestic violence),
and against electricity privatisation. Read more about the rally.

Ensuring quality social security systems for

all: A global perspective
PSI, together with its Indonesian affiliate BPJS
Ketenagakerjaan Union (SP BPJSTK) will hold this
international conference in Bali, Indonesia on 8-10
June 2015. On 12 February, the two organisations met
the Indonesian Manpower Minister to inform him of
the planned event. SP BPJSTK President Abdul
Rahman Irsyadi said in the meeting that social security
programmes are among the most important
instruments of public services.
Ensuring basic social security protection for all is good for the economy and an investment in social
justice. Unions, especially those working in the social security sector, have an obligation and a vital
role to ensure the success of implementation of the social protection floor for all. The Indonesian
Minister of Manpower, Mr Hanif Dhakiri, said that the government fully supported the conference
and welcomed the unions initiative in fully implementing social security protection in Indonesia.
He also said that recommendations from the conference would be very useful for the further
development of social security programmes in Indonesia and other countries. For more information,
please contact: [email protected]

Why Public-Private Partnerships don't work

Public Services International (PSI) has just released the new report Why Public-Private
Partnerships dont work: The many advantages of the public alternative. PSI released the report
on 18 March 2015 at the SDGs for Workers, a Parallel Event sponsored by Global Unions at the
NGO CSW Forum during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).
The report assesses the PPP experience in both industrialised and developing countries and
contains a combination of 30 years of research by David Hall, former Director of Public Services
International Research Unit (PSIRU), University of Greenwich, UK.
The many case studies analysed, from United Kingdom to Chile, show that PPPs have failed to live
up to their promise. In most cases, they are an expensive and inefficient way of financing
infrastructure and services, since they conceal public borrowing, while providing long-term state
guarantees for profits to private companies. The author proposes a public alternative to this system,
in which national and local governments can continue to develop infrastructure by using public
finance for investment, and public sector organisations to deliver the service.

Reducing disaster risk what about the

workers?

PSI unions from around the world participated in the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk
Reduction (WCDRR), held in Sendai, Japan on 14-18 March. The key points of the PSI
interventions are that governments need to train, equip and respect first responders and frontline
disaster workers. In any type of disaster, better training and equipment helps reduce deaths and
injuries among community members and among workers.
The outcome document of the WCDRR pays scant attention to the needs of workers, with a bare
three mentions in 25 pages. However, there are useful policy recommendations that unions can use
with their local and national governments.
Having first responders costs money: wages must be paid, training and equipment provided. And
since austerity is the dominant policy, no government wants extra spending. PSI made the link to
tax justice, as massive funds are being withheld from our public services by corporations and the
richest. The PSI Japan Council of unions welcomed the delegation to their meetings
commemorating the fourth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. PSI vice
president Annie Geron spoke on behalf of all and shared her experiences with the aftermath of
Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Read more.

Public Services International Asia Pacific Regional Organisation (PSI APRO)

Regional Secretary: Ms. V. Lakshmi
Wisma AUPE, 295 Upper Paya Lebar Road Singapore 534929 |Tel: +65.6282.3219 Fax +65.6280.4919 | E-mail:
[email protected]

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