Public Services International
Member profile
Public Services International (PSI) is a non-governmental organization based in Ferney-Voltaire near The United Nations in Geneva. PSI is a global federation of public sector trade unions with a membership of over 600 affiliated unions. Its priorities include promoting quality public services, trade union capacity building, defending and promoting fundamental rights at work and promoting equality and diversity.
Main activities
PSI seeks to engage public sector unions in joint actions to:
- Promote the rights of all health workers;
- Organize women migrant workers into unions to better promote and protect their rights and to meet their needs;
- Eliminate exploitative and discriminatory recruitment and employment practices in the health care sector;
- Strengthen bilateral cooperation between unions in sending and receiving countries;
- Advocate for increased spending for quality health services and human resources for health; and
- Establish measures to compensate sending countries for the investment made in training and educating workers.
Links to the health workforce crisis
In PSI the largest single group of members is health workers - over the last five years they have accounted for fifty per cent of all new members. There are now 230 affiliated unions representing health workers, with approximately 7 million members, out of a total of 630 affiliates. 80% are from the broad family of nurses. This makes PSI the largest international organization representing all categories of nurses. Issues of current concern to the nurse members of PSI include migration, HIV/AIDS, violence at work, training, occupational safety and health, their value to the health system, lack of staff, low pay and poor working conditions. PSI places health sector support as one of its core areas of activity. An increasing amount of work has been undertaken with the World Health Organization, through PSI’s Health Services Task Force. It advises the PSI Executive Board on all health-related matters and helps shape future policy developments in this area.
Call for knowledge information:
Alliance Members are invited to submit any relevant knowledge products such as documents, reports, tools, multimedia, links to specific project web sites by sending an email to ghwa@who.int. The Alliance Secretariat will publish relevant products on the Member's page.
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