Pre-Summer School Briefing - A starter kit for International Trade Unionists
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A brief guided tour around the political and organisational landscape of the movement - for participants new to international trade union discussions.
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Pre-Summer School Briefing - A starter kit for International Trade Unionists
- 1. international summer school starter kit
- 2. The “Global Unions” • The Global Union Federations (GUFs) • The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
- 3. Global Union Federations • Based on industry/sector • Paid for by union subscriptions
- 4. The Global Union Federations • Building & Woodworkers’ International (BWI) • Education International (EI) • IndustriALL 2012 merger of: • ICEM (Chemicals, Energy, Mining) • IMF (Metal/ Engineering) • ITGLWF (Textiles/Garments) • International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) • International Transportworkers’ Federation (ITF) • International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) • Public Services International (PSI) • UNI Global Union 2000 merger of: • FIET Employees, Technicians and Managers • MEI Media & Entertainment • IGF Graphical Workers • CI Communications
- 5. Building & Wood Workers International (BWI) • Based in Geneva • Organises in building, building materials, wood, and forestry industries • 350 unions representing 12,000,000 members in 135 countries
- 6. • Founded 1993 – merger between two rival federations (WCOTP and IFFTU) • 400 unions representing 30,000,000 members in 170 countries • Based in Brussels
- 7. Or … the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) • Founded in 1920 • 336 trade unions in 120 countries • Membership - 12 million workers • Based in Geneva, Switzerland IUF Uniting Food, Farm and Hotel Workers World-Wide
- 8. • Founded 1896 • Based in London • Organises seafarers, dockworkers, civil aviation, railways, road transport, urban transport, fisheries, tourism… • 681 unions representing 4,500,000 workers in 148 countries
- 9. • Based in Ferney, France • Organises in social services, health care, municipal and community services, central government, and public utilities such as water and electricity. • 20 million workers, represented by 669 unions in 154 countries.
- 10. What do the GUFs do? • Support international organising – particularly in TNCs • Co-ordinate solidarity actions • TU Development and Education • UN and employer assoc representation • Campaigning • Research • Information exchange
- 11. International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) • Founded 2006 – merger of ICFTU and WCL • Based in Brussels • Represents national ‘trade union centres’ – the global “TUC of TUCs”
- 12. Where did ITUC come from? International Confederation of Free Trade Unions Formed 1949 Social-democratic / democratic socialist World Confederation of Labour Formed 1920 Christian (Catholic) in origin
- 13. What is the ITUC for? • Represents trade union interests at international governmental bodies, particularly at the ILO • Campaigns for workers’ rights • Co-ordinates solidarity actions against trade union repression • Research and union development • DECENT WORK
- 14. World Federation of Trade Unions Communist Party dominated Formed 1945 Previously based in Prague … now Athens Roots in 1922 Profintern
- 16. Global Unions: Regional Structures
- 17. CORE LABOUR STANDARDS Freedom of Association Right to Collective Bargaining Elimination of forced labour Effective abolition of child labour Freedom from discrimination … decent work
- 18. The political agenda for the international movement Some agenda items for discussion
- 19. “New” Capitalism Financialisation of modern global corporations
- 20. The problem with Europe… • The demise of ‘Social Europe’, and the turn to the right • European Trade Union Confederation & • European Industrial Committees – EFFATT, ETF, EFBWW … • Unions & the European Commission • €…..
- 21. Migration • Organising Migrant Workers • Free movement of workers? • Rise of racism and xenophobia • Hyper-exploitation of migrants
- 22. Climate Change, Energy and the trade union movement
- 23. The future of public services
- 24. The rise of precarious work…
- 27. The International Organising Agenda 1970s • World Company Councils • International Shop Steward Committees 1980s • Networking on the Internet • International collective bargaining? 1990s • International Framework Agreements 2000s • Global organising strategies • Global Organising Alliance
- 28. Where are the politics? Crisis in social-democracy Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism and austerity? Unions in “new movements”? Do we have a democratic socialist alternative?
- 29. “We are not only losing collective bargaining rights, we are now in a labour war effectively across Europe, the U.S., emerging democracies. Why? Because the old stakeholders who drove the neo-liberal economic policies that would seem to be foul policies, the Washington consensus if you’d like, are back in control. We thought the global financial crisis showed them this was a failed economic model. We were wrong. We have now a situation where we are largely engaged in what I can only describe as a labour war”. Sharan Burrow ITUC, 2011
Editor's Notes
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- Beijing: migrant workers sleep for three nights in an underpass to get unpaid wages After completing a project between March and September on one of Beijing's many construction sites, the contractor refused to pay the workers' wages. The latter protested in front of a government office and in a nearby underpass. Only "media coverage helped us" get paid, said one. An estimated 40 million workers are in the same slave-like conditions. Beijing (AsiaNews) - After three nights sleeping in an underpass near a government building in Beijing, a group of about 80 Chinese migrant workers won their fight against their employer over unpaid wages. The workers tried all legal venues to settle the three-month dispute without success. Eventually, "media coverage helped us a great deal," one of them said. The workers, who come from Shandong, Hebei, Henan and Gansu provinces, began working for the same construction company in March of this year on a project in Beijing's Chaoyang district. December 2014
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