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In Latin America, unions began to see the fruits of their decades-long struggle against dictatorships. Together with political and civil society allies, unions ultimately succeeded in electing progressive governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela. At its 1989 Congress, the IMF had 19 regional affiliates, but none in the economically powerful Brazil and only three medium-sized organizations in Mexico. By 2005, the IMF counted 35 metalworking unions, including the two largest in Brazil, and seven significant unions in Mexico including the powerful mine workers (SNTMMSRM). This positive turn in Mexico was largely due to an increase in IMF activities after 2000. Nevertheless, much work remains to be done there - a conservative government and a majority corporatist union movement still inhibit the formation of independent unions.The Asia-Pacific Region saw strong economic development during the last twenty years. For unions, particularly metalworkers, there were some important successes. There were affiliations in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal, but most notably, the large metalworkers' organization in Korea (KMWF, now KMWU) and important unions in Indonesia (FSPMI and Lomenik-SBSI) joined the IMF. In 2000 the IMF expelled the Thai union and assisted in the formation of a new independent union called TEAM. Through workshops organised annually since 2003 for the then Vietnam National Union of Industrial Workers (VNUIW) the IMF has consolidated its relationships with the successor organisation, the Vietnam National Union of Workers in Industry and Trade (VUIT), which has recently applied for affiliation to the IMF.The IMF's engagement with China began with a 1994 fact-finding mission which was followed by a high-level mission to China in 2000 and 2006. After a long process of discussions, a small meeting with the Chinese Machinery, Metallurgical and Building Materials Workers' Union (CMMBMWU) was organised at the beginning of January 2009 and a joint workshop on collective bargaining has been planned for April 2009. Nevertheless, these gains cannot obscure the enormous obstacles that independent unionism faces in Asia, including China. However, the IMF is committed for the long term, and persevering efforts are necessary to make further progress in the future. In India, independent unionism is relatively weak in the private sector, and a number of important unions linked to Communist parties are not yet prepared to follow their counterparts in Europe and the former Soviet Block and join, or at least work with, the IMF. In cooperation with its affiliates, the IMF has launched a number of projects, which include union-building among shipbreaking workers and targeted educational activities. The IMF is also working with Indian unions to advance organising in fast growing sectors such as steel and automotive industries. Nevertheless, strengthening and uniting metalworker unions in this rapidly developing part of the world remains one of the key challenges confronting the IMF.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19216&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19218&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Download the pdf file of the special report with illustrations >>

IMF - the last twenty years

Post Cold War Union BuildingUnder new leadership, the IMF immediately addressed these challenges. By December 1990, a &quot;Plan of Action&quot; identified Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary as key transition countries and focused on preparing them for the role independent unions play in democratic market-based societies. In 1991, seminars were held in the target countries as well as Romania and Bulgaria, and in December the first IMF conference in Eastern Europe took place in Brno, Czekoslovakia on the issue of migration. Starting that year, millions of metalworkers in Central Europe began to join the IMF, and by the time of the centenary congress in 1993, metalworking unions from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania were IMF members. The Slovenian metalworkers became members that same year. By 1997, IMF affiliates in this region by-and-large took over responsibilities for their own programs. The first IMF office opened in Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest in 1997 and efforts turned to South-eastern Europe, where the rebuilding of cooperative relations after years of war and ethnic conflicts was a priority. Affiliations, mostly in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, soon followed. IMF attention then turned to the former Soviet Republics and the Baltic states. Plans for a Project Office in Moscow were developed and implemented over several years. A new milestone was passed with the affiliation of unions in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine in 1999. In 2001, the IMF Executive was enlarged to include a representative from Central and Eastern Europe. By 2004, the 12 regional affiliates the IMF counted in 2001 had grown to 19, including a first affiliation from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan). Since 1989, strong metalworking unions have been built throughout the former Soviet Bloc, but many challenges remain. Entrenched regimes still regard independent unions with hostility, particularly in Belarus, where the Lukashenko dictatorship tries to crush them. Economic difficulties persist in many countries, and even where there has been some progress, metalworkers' gains are sure to be threatened by the deepening economic crisis that began in 2008.Eastern and Central Europe was not the only world region where the IMF and the movements it had assisted, progressed. In South Africa, combined international and domestic pressures forced the apartheid state to release Nelson Mandela, who was elected to lead the country in 1994. South African metalworkers were already well represented in the IMF in 1989, particularly by the huge NUMSA, but in the rest of Africa, there were only 13 affiliates and none in Mozambique, Angola or Nigeria. That number grew by 2005. Excluding South Africa, there were 24 affiliates in Africa, including important unions in Mozambique and Angola as well as countries on the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, despite this membership growth and a few bright spots, there was no significant economic development in post-colonial Africa.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19217&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

The details of the national collective contract are key to recruitment. With shrinking membership figures, it will be more difficult to maintain the collective contract, Inga-Lill points out adding, &quot;for that reason we must explain what a collective contract is. Many young people think that pay and overtime compensation and other working conditions are determined by law and not through negotiations between the unions and employers' organizations. &quot;The more workplaces lack members, the more difficult it is to defend conditions. For that reason there is a clear connection between membership and the ability to defend working conditions.&quot; Back to Snap-On in Bollnäs where Stefan Halvarsson, chairman of the IF Metall branch, is not satisfied that almost all metalworkers at the plant are in the union. He also participates in the union's organizing and recruiting project. &quot;We travel around to workplaces, and many people think it's fun when we come. They are happy to see us. Often it's a matter of showing yourself. And listening. We also get an opportunity to explain why we're here. We can inform people about the value of being in the union,&quot; Stefan says. The Swedish trade union movement is confronted with new challenges. For Stefan it is self-evident that the fate of the Swedish trade union movement is part of the global movement. He is chairman of the Snap-On company's European Works Council and through it he has close contacts with other European unions. Stefan is also participating in the start-up of a union project with the metalworkers' union in Namibia. &quot;International cooperation has been becoming even more important. Bollnäs and our plant are a part of the world - that has become ever more obvious in recent years, says Stefan. &quot;It is important to organize more people, both here in Sweden and around the world.&quot;<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19213&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19197&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Feature: Download pdf file with illustrations >>

Swedish Unions revive recruitment efforts

Members not only have access to the local database, but also to a national database for Sveriges Ingenjörer throughout the country. &quot;The database is highly valued by our members and strongly contributes to our attractiveness as a union. Quite simply, they get a lot for their membership,&quot; she adds. The database also contains information on current union activities at ABB Corporate Research. The board of directors regularly publishes information on its activity, and all meeting minutes are also available. Hence, all members receive an electronic newsletter from the engineers' corporate department in all units throughout Sweden. All totalled, Sveriges Ingenjörer has some 2,000 engineers at ABB in various locations around the country. &quot;We know that the newsletter is very popular. It is a way of providing important information to members on, for example, equality and pay issues. It is also a way of getting members from various parts of the country to feel involved and to feel united,&quot; Shiva says. ABB is a global, knowledge-intensive group in the power and automation technology sector and employs people all over the world. Many engineers come to Sweden and to Västerås from elsewhere. The international character of the ABB Corporate Research Center, where some 30 countries are represented among the 180 engineers, is very much evidence. &quot;That doesn't mean that everyone with a foreign background comes directly from another country. Many were raised in Sweden,&quot; says Shiva. &quot;But more and more of them do come directly from another country. Just last year some ten foreign engineers were newly recruited at the ABB Corporate Research Center.&quot; These foreign engineers often choose to join Sveriges Ingenjörer at ABB.&quot;The response has been very positive. We have gained a lot of new members,&quot; Shiva adds. The level of organization among engineers at ABB is significantly higher than the national average. In Sweden as a whole, it is estimated that just over half - 54 per cent - of graduate engineers are members of Sveriges Ingenjörer. The total number of members is 120,000, which represents an increase of 3 per cent during the last year. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19208&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19197&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19212&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Whenever the company hires new staff, the branch holds an information meeting for new employees. &quot;That gives us an opportunity to explain what the union stands for and why we are needed. It usually results in a useful dialogue with the new employees, who are frequently young people and often do not know much about the union's values,&quot; Stefan adds. But a good introduction is not enough, says Stefan. The union must be alive all the time. The union must be visible and accessible for the members, who must be kept properly informed and have an opportunity to participate. The Bollnäs plant branch has found a new approach. &quot;If we gather everyone together at a big meeting in the dining hall, usually only two or three people will take the floor. The rest keep quiet,&quot; says Stefan. &quot;For that reason we have tried another way.&quot; Member meetings take place on a small scale so that as many people as possible have an opportunity to speak. Members are divided into small groups of about 15 people. To bring the union even closer to employees, they hold annual IF Metall meetings at the plant. A number of issues are discussed in small groups and they also conduct a survey among the members. In that way the branch gets answers on how union work can be improved and developed. Approximately one out of four branch members attend the IF Metall meetings. &quot;Through the IF Metall meeting we get to know what the members expect of the union,&quot; Stefan says, noting &quot;that puts pressure on us and lays the basis for the branch's action plan. In addition, it gives us a good basis for working with our superiors. We can show the survey results and point to what needs to be changed at the workplace.&quot;It is also important that elected officials be equipped to work effectively for the members. During the first year an elected official sits in on meetings to listen and learn. Then he or she undergoes a training program which includes law, contracts and negotiating techniques. All officials are given their own areas of responsibility. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19197&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19197&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19199&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Text / HARALD GATU Photos / LARS HALVARSSONIn Sweden most people belong to a union and the level of organisation is among the highest in the world. But joining a union is no longer taken for granted. The proportion of union members is declining, forcing unions to make an effort to recruit new members. Stefan Halvarsson is 38 years old and president of the IF Metall union at one of the American Snap-On factories in Sweden. All workers, except one, are organized in the union. &quot;They used to come and ask to become members, now we need to motivate them to join,&quot; he says.A few hours' drive north of Stockholm lies Bollnäs, a small town in an idyllic setting of vast forests and beautiful lakes. The American firm Snap-On has a plant here that makes handsaws. There are 137 workers at the plant, and all but one are union members. The fact that so many people are members does not mean that the union can relax and expect that every employee will spontaneously join. &quot;No, it's not so simple,&quot; says Stefan Halvarsson. &quot;Not any longer. It used to be that people spontaneously came and asked to join. Now we have to seek people out and argue for our cause. They want to know what the union can do for them.&quot;Halvarsson is 38 years old, a bowling fan, and has worked at the plant for 14 years. Prior to that he worked in healthcare, and he believes that the healthcare job involving contact with people has made it easier for him to engage in union work. &quot;Being a union activist means working with people, building relationships and trust,&quot; Stefan says.After a few years at the plant, he was asked if he wanted to undertake a union assignment. He said yes. Today Stefan is the chairman of IF Metall's branch for the company. &quot;We must always explain why one should join the union. And first and foremost, the union must always be visible. The union must be present among its members.&quot;<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19198&amp;mwId=19189">forward&gt;&gt;</a> </td></tr></tbody></table>

In Sweden most people belong to a union and the level of organisation is among the highest in the world. But joining a union is no longer taken for granted. The proportion of union members is declining, forcing unions to make an effort to recruit new members.

GLOBAL: On the eve of the April meeting of the Group of 20 in London Global Union Federations have released  a special publication &quot;Getting the World to work: Global Union Strategies for Recovery.&quot; The joint publication is the result of  work by all Global Union Federations together with the International Trade Union Confederation and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. Each organisation has contributed  their vision on the ways to recover from the world economic crisis and to make changes in the world system to prevent it from happening again.In the preface to the publication Aidan White, editor of the publication and the General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, writes: &quot;At this critical moment, trade unions are mobilising. They have developed a vision for the world economy that goes beyond tinkering with regulation and repairing broken models of free trade&quot;. The publication represents a collection of visions of unions speaking on behalf of workers employed in different sectors of world economy. All of them are united with the idea of the necessity to revise the current global financial system so as to provide workers and their families with a fair and sustainable global economy based on humanitarian values serving future generations as a strong basis for development.&quot;The crisis can be resolved and a return to decency is possible, but that will not happen unless we give voice to those at work,&quot; writes Marcello Malentacchi, IMF General Secretary in his article 'Decency for a change'.&quot; That involves making sure that the right to organize and the right to bargaining are the foundation stones of a new economic and social structure that will provide us with the means to ensure that we are never again held hostage by slick and shady global marketeers.&quot;The publication in English is posted on the Global Unions website <a href="http://www.global-unions.org/spip.php?article253">http://www.global-unions.org/spip.php?article253</a>, French and Spanish translations will follow shortly.

Global Union Federations push for alternative strategies for recovery from the world economic crisis.

Decency for a change

Global unions provide strategies for recovery

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INDIA: More than 1300 workers went on indefinite strike on April 20 after management at Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), located in Chennai, India, refused to negotiate contract demands with the Hyundai Motor India Employees&#039; Union (HMIEU). The company has taken a firm position that it will not negotiate with HMIEU, the sole registered union at the plant, and instead is pressing to enter into agreement with a company-appointed Works Committee. Workers downed tools after three rounds of mediation by the Deputy Labour Commissioner (DLC), during which HMIL expressed its refusal to negotiate with the union, failed to bring results. Hyundai Motor India, which employees some 3000 precarious workers, has a history of rights abuses in the plant. The company recently terminated the contracts of some 600 workers, some who had worked at the plant for almost 4 years, just prior to them receiving permanent status. Since July 2007, in response to the formation of the HMIEU, trade union leaders, members and supporters have suffered from dismissals, suspensions and transfers and workers have faced management&#039;s widespread use of threats, harassment and intimidation for joining a union. Currently 65 workers have been fired for their union activities and 34 more are in the process of being dismissed. Approximately 1200 permanent workers, out of a total of 1500 permanent employees, and a large number of precarious workers are supporting the strike.Among the charter of demands, workers are calling for:<ul><li>Union recognition and a collective bargaining agreement;</li><li>Equal treatment of all workers; </li><li>Reinstatement of all precarious workers fired as a result of the company&#039;s response to the economic crisis or those fired in an effort to deny them permanent status;</li><li>Reinstatement of union members and officers unfairly fired, transferred or suspended and the withdrawal of all charges pending against them.</li></ul>In March 2009, the International Hyundai-Kia Workers&#039; Network meeting hosted by the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation and the Korean Metal Workers&#039; Union passed a resolution in support of HMIEU efforts and calling for an end to violations of trade union rights at HMIL. To see resolution text, <a href="../main/files/09042709334884/Hyundai%20Kia%20Network%20Resolution%20MARCH%202009.pdf">click here</a>.

Workers at Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) have entered the fourth day of strike action in protest of gross trade union rights violations and the company's refusal to enter collective bargaining with the union.

Hyundai-Kia Network meeting resolution

Indian autoworkers strike Hyundai

Welcome to the IMF, the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation. Our organisation represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers in more than 200 unions in 100 countries. The IMF is a federation of national unions - a union of unions - in the metal industry at world level. The IMF head office is in Geneva, Switzerland, where worldwide activities are coordinated with a network of regional offices. &#160;

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