I am delighted to join the workers in Botswana and across the globe to commemorate the 2021 International Workers’ Day.
Let me take this opportunity to observe a moment of silence in remembrance of our citizens and residents who have departed during the course of this year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. I also extend my deepest condolences to the over six hundred bereaved families who lost their loved ones to this pandemic. Today, we commemorate this Day in the second year of the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic and just like last year, this important day will not be characterised by celebrations. Since the outbreak of COVID19, it has become evident that this disease is much more than a health crisis, given the severe economic shocks, disruptions and suffering it has caused in its wake throughout the world.
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President, Mokgweetsi Masisi has pointed out the need to invest in social protection systems and occupational health and safety.
When delivering his speech on commemoration of International Labour Day, Masisi said that although the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines has renewed hope for economic recovery as projections indicate a robust economic recovery for the second half of 2021, one of biggest lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic is that, there is a critical need to invest in social protection systems and occupational health and safety.
“To that effect, through the Botswana Decent Work Country Programme (BDWCP), work has commenced to develop a National Occupational Health and Safety Policy to enhance the existing social protection provisions.”
Support the struggle of WISAG workers at Frankfurt Airport to defend their jobs!
With this appeal, the Network of Action Committees for Safe Workplaces calls for support for the rally of WISAG workers on Tuesday and to extend their fight against layoffs.
The rally will take place on Tuesday, March 16, from noon on the Dernschen grounds, Schlossplatz Wiesbaden, near the Hesse state assembly, where, at the same time, a major debate on the coronavirus policy of the state government is to take place.
Support the struggle of the WISAG workers to defend their jobs! These workers continue the fight for their rights with great determination. Their hunger strike at Frankfurt Airport was just the beginning. They are determined not to be intimidated by the WISAG Group and the Wisser family who own it, nor by the establishment political parties and the trade unions such as Verdi.
Industrial action at WISAG: How the European Union deregulated ground services
For almost three months, a group of ground workers at Frankfurt Airport have been fighting against their dismissal by service provider WISAG. The media remained virtually silent about an eight-day hunger strike at the end of February. Only on 5 March, after the end of the hunger strike, did the first reports about it appear in the
Frankfurter Rundschau or the
WISAG workers on hunger strike (Photo: WSWS)
Michael Dietrich, managing director of WISAG Ground Service Frankfurt, called the hunger strike “excessive and irresponsible,” while the dismissal of the workers was “legitimate” and “necessary,” even though they have been working at Frankfurt Airport for 10 times as long as WISAG itself. According to Dietrich, their hunger strike was “completely disproportionate” and “not a suitable means” to stop “a company from acting in a fundamentally lawful way.”
Water futures: the latest battleground in the defence of the fundamental right to water
According to the United Nations, water use has increased sixfold over the past century and is rising by about 1 per cent a year. For stock market traders in the United States, water futures offer an opportunity to lock-in water prices, but human rights campaigners say, “it is a serious mistake to consider water a commodity”.
(AP/Esteban Felix
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According to the United Nations, water use has increased sixfold over the past century and is rising by about 1 per cent a year. For stock market traders in the United States, water futures offer an opportunity to lock-in water prices, but human rights campaigners say, “it is a serious mistake to consider water a commodity”.