Dear Friends


Welcome to the September edition of the IFWEA bulletin. Apologies for the long summer gap since the last bulletin, largely the result of extended periods of travelling made necessary by our partnership project with the ILO on organising in the informal economy.

 

IFWEA programme consultation

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the consultation process preparing for a new IFWEA one-year international education programme on “Organising in the Global Economy”, run in partnership with the National Labor College in the US. The report of this first stage of the project is now available http://www.ifwea.org/archive/IFWEA_cert_stage_1_report.pdf.

 

Asia informal economy training

In July and August we completed training of trainers workshops for trade union educators on organising in the informal economy in three countries: Thailand, Cambodia and Mongolia. This was part of the partnership with the ILO informal economy project in the Asia-Pacific region. The main purpose of the training was to test the draft manual produced by IFWEA earlier this year. The three workshops were very successful, and we learned a huge amount from the exercise. The experience was invaluable in making important revisions to the manual, which will be made available on the IFWEA web site in English in the next few weeks, and other languages thereafter. For a report of the training programme, see  http://www.ifwea.org/archive/ToT_Asia_2005_report.rtf.

 

Africa informal economy project launches in October

IFWEA’s new informal economy project in Africa, supported by a grant from the UK’s Department for International Development is due to start on October 1st, making full use of the materials and experience developed in the Asia programme. Details from Mike Chungu, IFWEA’s Africa Regional Co-ordinator (mikechungu@yahoo.com).

 

Split in the AFL/CIO

As most of us realise, there have been profound changes in the trade union movement in the United States over the last few months, including a split of the AFL/CIO. This is likely to have implications for all of us in the coming months and years. The most recent issue of Federation News, published by the General Federation of Trade Unions in the UK, carries an article we wrote, examining the changes in the American unions from a British perspective. If you would like an electronic copy of the article, please contact the Secretariat.

 

New web site for ILRIG

The Cape Town-based International Labour Research & Information Group has launched a new web site, and IFWEA member organisations are encouraged to register and provide feedback on the site. See www.ilrigsa.org.za.

 

Solidar seeking researchers

Solidar is looking to appoint one or more experienced researchers for the Solidar/IFWEA Global Network project, and a new trade project: Civil Dialogue: the key to better trade agreements. See http://www.ifwea.org/archive/Call_for_Expressions_of_Interest.rtf for full details.

 

Angela Hale

We are very shocked by the news that Angela Hale, Director of Women Working Worldwide died suddenly of a suspected heart attack on 6 September. Angela dedicated her entire working life in promoting international solidarity in defence of the rights of working women, and she will be sorely missed by friends and colleagues alike. Messages of condolence may be sent via mary.sayer@women-ww.org.

 

Kamal Abbas

We were also shocked by the appalling events in Cairo in July, when Kamal Abbas the General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) was brutally attacked by security forces during pro-democracy demonstrations. He suffered fractures of his rib-cage and bruising in the head and the back. IFWEA sent letters of protest to the Egyptian government. We wish Kamal a speedy recovery (contact ctuws@link.net).

 

Staff changes in the IFWEA Secretariat

After working in the IFWEA Secretariat for one year, Crystal Dicks – formerly of DITSELA in South Africa – has moved to London to take a new permanent post with Amnesty International. Crystal had been working hard in support of our IFWEA Certificate Programme project and the development of our informal economy training manual, while completing her studies at Manchester University. We will miss her greatly, but we wish her the very best for her new job (contact crystaljdicks@yahoo.com).

Meanwhile, we have been joined for a few weeks by Jens Sparbier, from Hamburg, studying at University of Lüneburg in Germany. Jens is working as an intern in the IFWEA office, giving much-needed support and care to our information technology, as well as using his German language skills (contact sparbier@gmx.de).

 

Dave Spooner
General Secretary