International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

Online bulletin 154/041103

November 4, 2003

The ICFTU is gravely concerned at the recent and alarming resurgence in death threats against and forced displacement of trade unionists in Colombia. This climate of violence would appear to be related to the political context, which last week saw the failure of the referendum called by the head of state, as well as the rise of a new opposition force with the election of former trade unionist Luis Eduardo Garzon as mayor of Bogotá.

Lack of Teachers, Inadequate Funding Hamper Efforts

to Fulfill President's Campaign Vow

By Emily Wax

HOMA BAY, Kenya -- The tree was sprawling, its trunk thick, its shade cool. But those weren't the reasons why a cherub-faced teacher with oversized glasses and a weakness for teaching "Romeo and Juliet" in Swahili decided to move his class of 150 fifth-grade students outside.

By Mary Hennock

"We have money problems all the time, we're short of money for food, we can't pay the kids' tuition... it's hard because we haven't had money for more than a year," says Mr Li.

Mr Li is one of 40 mechanics at a transport firm who have been laid off and re-employed at below the minimum wage.

They look uneasy in the lush, green surroundings of Sun Yat-sen University, in the southern city of Guangzhou, where students run a legal aid clinic.

YANIRIS FELIPE

El Fondo Internacional para los Derechos Laborales (ILRF, por siglas en inglés), de Washington, y la Fundación Laboral Dominicana revelan que el 40.7 por ciento de cada cien mujeres trabajadoras de zona franca ha sido víctima de acoso sexual en sus espacios de trabajo.