26 Jul 2014 VIETNAM, WOMEN RIGHTS

With the participation of 23 delegations from 17 countries of the Asia Pacific region and more than 60 women Vietnamese trade unionists from all sectors, the workshop on working women organized by WFTU and VGCL took place for the days 23-25 July 2014 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Muhammed Shaban Azouz, President of the WFTU noted in his opening remarks: “There is no society that can ignore the women’s great role. We support the struggle of the women in order to get all their rights. We call on all bodies in the international community to continue to put pressure on those reactionary systems that ignore the rights of woemn as well as the rights of the society as a whole. We condemn all forms of discrimination between people of diffrent belonging, beliefs and religions. We understand trade union action as a militant action that does not distringuish between man and woman.”

“At this workshop, a lot of information and experience of trade unions from different countries will be exchanged and shared with a view to contributing to ensure employment, ncome and livelihood of women members and wokrers” said the President of VGCL and Vice-President of WFTU, Dang Ngoc Tung.

A video-message of the WFTU General Secretary was presented as well during the opening ceremony.

A “voice for Bahraini  Pensioners”

National Union for Bahraini Pensioners (NUBP) was formally launched on April 1^st, 2014, with a vision of being the ‘voice’ for those who had toiled for the development and betterment of the nation on various fronts.

The Union was officially launched under Bahrain Free labour Unions Federation ( BFLUF)  and Alba Labour Union patronage, at the Aluminium Bahrain (Alba Club), in the presence of  hundreds of retirees. Unionist delegates from Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Kuwait, Iraq Jordan, Palestine, Yemen and Bahrain attended the ceremony along with General Secretary of International Confederation of Arab trade Union (ICATU), comrade Rajab Mohamed Matouq.

Speaking on this occasion comrade Abdulrahman Shafea chairman of NUBP: “The retired older generation, has nowhere to turn to, in order to get their work-related needs and settlements addressed, as they are no longer part of the various official trade unions, which are meant only for the ‘working’ lot. Here comes in the need for a Pensioners’ Union and hence this venture”

“All national retirees can be a member of the union and like every other union, they are expected to pay a minimal amount of membership fee. The main aim of the union will be to be available as a platform for the pensioners and their problems,” said comrade Shafea. “The Executive Board will plan towards working closely with the Parliament and will seriously look into bringing in changes in existing legislations that are not helpful to the retirees,” he added.

The union will address the needs of both private and public sector pensioners,” he noted, adding that the balancing of the General Insurance percentage of the two sectors will be dealt on priority. “The retirement policies and benefits in private segment vary and depend on the company and its policies.

This also needs unification under the law, apart from a minimum wage scheme, which is highly decisive in terms of the pension amount, the sole income of the pensioners, who often are supporting family members,” he explained.

From his part, comrade Rajab Matouq said “BFLUF had initiated the first-of-its-kind national move, to have a union for the retirees and to link it with the Arab Federation for Pensioners, which is indeed a noble thought and gesture.” Comrade Matouq was astonished there was not a single representative of Bahrain’s government at the event!!

“The humble attempt of BFLUF is to bridge the gap between generations and we feel that there is a need to make the older generation feel that they have people to represent their voice, which has gone feeble over the years,” said Comrade Yaqoub Yousif, chairman of BFLUF.