Part-time wage earners, migrants, precarious workers, domestic workers, housewives, women from the North and South. We move the world!

Join forces in demanding Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, and above all, a better world that is distinct –demand social justice and environmental sustainability.

For information on events for International Women’s Day across the globe click here

Seoul, Korea – A new international coalition has launched a campaign to demand that Samsung accept responsibility for the many deaths of its young workers from occupational cancer. The Coalition – the “Samsung Accountability Campaign” – includes Supporters for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry (SHARPS), Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), Asian Network for the Rights Of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) and International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT).

SHARPS is now asking concerned people around the world to join their campaign for international solidarity to raise awareness about occupational disease in the electronics industry and bring accountability to Samsung (and the rest of the electronics industry), especially now that it has become a leading global brand that is promoting itself as a “green company” around the world.

From March 1-3, 2010, the seminar “Global Agreement for Employment, Decent Work and Sustainable Development” is set to take place in Montevideo, Uruguay. Organized by the Programme for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) of the ILO and the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), it includes the participation of more than 20 trade union leaders from the entire region.

The seminar’s main objective is to reinforce training of unionists in order to better implement activities as part of the sustainable development and decent work agenda. In addition in aims to strengthen TUCA´s work in the area of labour and environment, and advance toward trade union proposals for action related to these themes.

During the seminar Sustainlabour will present the training manual “Decent Work and Sustainable Development”, elaborated specifically as a resource for the training of Latin American unionists through ACTRAV and ILO´s International Training Centre (ITC).

Download the training manual here (in Spanish)

Acrylamide, a highly hazardous substance, for the time being will not be covered by the European Community regulation on chemicals and their safe use (REACH) which regulates the marketing and use of the chemical substances within the European Union. Acrylamide is mainly used in the chemical industry for synthesizing plastics and pigments, water purification, paper and textile production, and is also present in cosmetics and personal hygiene products.

A list of candidate substances is being formed as part of these regulation procedures that are to be covered by the process of authorization. The candidate substances that make it on to the final list of authorization will not be marketed in the European Union without the approval of the European Commission, a supporting reference which will not be given if other less harmful alternatives are found to exist as established by REACH.

At the beginning of 2010 arcylamide had been included in the process of authorization, however, pressure exerted by the major arcylimade-producing companies, has resulted in its removal by the president of the EU General Board as a temporary measure which could last up to four years. Acrlymade is a substance that is an allergen, carcinogenic, mutagenic, neurotoxin, and toxic for reproduction

Bali (Indonesia) - In the first landmark Declaration issued by ministers of the environment who met in Bali, governments pledged to step up the global response to the major environmental and sustainability challenges of this generation.

The Declaration, the first by world environment ministers since they met in Malmö, Sweden in 2000, will be transmitted to the UN General Assembly later this year.

The wide-ranging Nusa Dua Declaration was agreed in the closing session of the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, which was attended by some 1,000 participants from 130 countries, including nearly 100 environmental affairs ministers. The agreement underlines the vital importance of biodiversity, the urgent need to combat climate change and work towards a good outcome in Mexico later in the year, and identifies key opportunities associated with a transition to a low-carbon resource-efficient Green Economy.