Construction and trades

Forty-five Indian construction workers have been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment under charges of holding illegal gatherings, vandalism, and violating public security following their participation in a strike last year for better working conditions.

The ITUC strongly protests against the verdict of the Dubai Criminal Court, a verdict that constitutes a strong violation of Convention 87 on freedom of association. According to the ITUC, Head Judge Jassem wanted to create a precedent and send a strong message to workers “who resort to illegal methods to get their rights from employers.”

A Swedish trade-union blockade which forced a Latvian company that used cheaper Latvian labourers into bankruptcy was illegal, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday. The website "EUobserver" has reported about the courtcase: "The EU's highest court has delivered a blow to the Swedish system of collective bargaining -- seen as underpinning the country's highly successful social model - by ruling that Swedish unions cannot force a foreign company to observe local pay deals."

In April 2004 union and labor activists of 13 European countries were invited to catch up on site on the working conditions in the construction industry as a “test case” for the overall labor market situation and the employment policies in Israel. The journey had been initiated and organized by the Workers Advice Centre (WAC; Arabic: ma’an).