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Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

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The ILO estimates that the present financial crisis is likely to lead to the loss of some 20 million jobs worldwide and conservatively estimates that the number of working poor living on less than a dollar a day could rise by some 40 million, with those at two dollars a day rising by more than 100 million. Even now, before the full effect of this crisis is known, over one-third of the world's workforce is jobless or underemployed. The so-called modernisation of labour laws that governments and business interests are seeking to introduce is also part and parcel of the neo-liberal agenda and a direct attack on workers. Not only is there a rise in unemployment worldwide, but also employment creation increasingly comes at the expense of quality jobs.  More and more workers are finding the search for full-time, permanent employment a fruitless quest.  Precarious work is becoming the norm, spreading in all sectors of the economy including in professional groups.  Others find their jobs are outsourced, misclassified, and lack protection from existing labour laws. In many developing countries, workers have been squeezed out of regular employment into the so-called informal economy due to severe economic crises, widespread privatisation programmes, and the job destruction resulting from economic restructuring. The unregulated economy is expanding and a growing number of people struggle to survive on poverty level wages. Unemployment and poor living conditions spur migration within countries and across national boundaries, creating a multitude of tensions in many parts of the world.  Precariously employed workers face job insecurity and an uncertain future, low wages, limited or no access to social benefits, such as health or pension schemes, and increased health and safety risks at work. Precarious workers are also frequently denied rights at work, such as the right to join a union or bargain collectively. The rise of precarious employment is creating a two-tier workforce, which is undermining social cohesion and weakening trade unions.  This is part of a larger union-busting strategy used by employers in their well orchestrated anti-union campaigns.

Preface

3. GLOBAL SOLIDARITY IN ACTION

3.3 Defend and protect workers rights

1. OUR MISSION

2. THE WORLD TODAY

2.1 Profits over people

2.2 Unemployment and job insecurity

2.3 Unions under attack

2.4 Fundamental workers´ rights denied

2.5 Spreading influence of Transnational Corporations

2.6 World trade system in disarray

2.7 An unsustainable future

2.8 Alliances, resistance and opportunities

3.1 Build strong national trade unions

3.1.1 Organise the unorganised

3.1.2 Strive for trade union unity at the national level

3.1.3 Build unions through education, training and effective exchange of information

3.2 Strengthening collective bargaining

3.3.1 Fight for trade union rights

3.3.2 Fight for Equal Rights

3.3.3 Fight for safe workplaces

3.4 Build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations

3.4.1 Strengthening union solidarity and cooperation across sectors and TNCs

3.4.2 Advance fundamental rights through International Framework Agreements

Financial capital has come to dominate productive capital. Short-term speculative investment has gained the upper hand at the expense of long-term investment in job creation, skills development, research and innovation, and sustainable development. The current food, fuel and financial crises, are neo-liberal policy failures, that have drastic consequences for working people and the poor, and that are now dragging the world economy into a severe recession. Over the past few years the globalisation of finance has taken on a new dimension with the proliferation of novel speculative products that escape monitoring and regulation. Speculative funds are fed by banks and institutional investors such as insurance companies, mutual funds and pension funds. Some part of private equity assets also come from sovereign wealth funds with huge resources at their disposal, and with a deliberate lack of transparency as to their political and economic objectives, as well as to their practices and investment strategies.Never before has the influence of private equity and hedge funds on markets and enterprises been so strong.  Many of them are located in tax havens, which deals another blow to already declining public income from corporate taxation. The financial economy based on short-termism and high rates of return is increasingly disconnected from the real economy with devastating consequences for workers.Today, hardly any company is immune from takeover by private equity funds. In most cases, these funds take control of enterprises without any industrial plans, and for the sole objective of boosting share prices and extracting maximum returns over a short period. The potentially high short-term gains attract institutional investors, including pension funds. Thus workers who have put their retirement savings in these pension funds find themselves unwittingly involved in speculative finance that is destroying jobs. Many workers have already watched their savings dissolved by corporate scandals.    The instability of the world's financial markets is not just a problem due to a few speculators - the whole system requires new rules.

Since the IMF Congress in 2005, metalworkers and the whole trade union movement have been confronted with an increasingly hostile political, economic and social environment. Corporations have led globalisation to maximise the global reach and profits of their operations with the support of governments and international institutions by promoting neo-liberal policies, which feature deregulation of capital and labour markets, privatization of public services and assets, a reduction in employment growth in many regions, an erosion of social security systems and the frequent denial of worker and human rights.  Even today, a large proportion of the world's metalworkers do not enjoy the fundamental right to have a union.While the world economy has grown and created vast amounts of wealth, the divide between rich and poor has widened.  Ever more workers have been faced with deteriorating working and living conditions, job insecurity and an erosion of their rights. Capital has gained huge profits, while the purchasing power of most workers has fallen or at best stagnated.

The global economy is in the throes of a unique crisis. The ideology that unbridled greed for profits is the driving force behind human progress has been discredited. What we need is a new approach where politics and economics serve the development of society and quality employment. The current crisis is not only the result of misjudgements and misguided developments in the market, or the result of overheating financial markets. It is entirely the result of the ideology of an unrestrained market and economic and political policies directed at maximising  short term profits.  On a positive note however, while undoubtedly the next four years of the International Metalworkers´Federation work will be tough and difficult, the current economic situation also provides us with a real opportunity to create a new international development model that rivals that of neoliberalism and is based on regulation, fairness, equality, sustainability and decent trade union and labour rights.Therefore, the fundamental mission of the trade union movement is more than ever to improve workers' wages, working and living conditions, and to ensure that workers and workers' rights are respected. The mission of the IMF is to work towards the achievement of these goals in metal­working and related industries by working with its  affiliates and on the global level.Today, corporate-led globalisation is still massively infringing on the rights of workers. The policies promoted by employers, most governments and the international institutions they dominate have resulted in increased economic inequality, precarious employment and a reduction in the bargaining power of working people around the world. Recognizing that union building/organising and collective bargaining are at the heart of our work, metalworker unions must organise and mobilise union members to challenge the neo-liberal agenda of corporations and most governments, and ensure working people have a fair share in the wealth generated through economic growth. The goal of the IMF is to support, coordinate and strengthen the activities of its affiliates to:<ul><li>Improve workers' wages, working and living conditions;</li><li>Organise new members into democratic workers' unions throughout the world;</li><li>Build and strengthen national metalworking unions;</li><li>Ensure that internationally recognized Core Labour Standards are applied in every country and that national laws are changed to reflect these standards; </li><li>Defend and protect workers' rights; </li><li>Fight for safe and healthy working conditions;</li><li>Make women's rights, interests, and representation one of the highest priorities;</li><li>Struggle for sustainable economic growth that protects the environment and improves social conditions; </li><li>Strengthen the power and unity of trade unions to build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations (TNCs), including their power over the allocation of employment and investment; </li><li>Struggle for fair trade, social justice and the elimination of poverty; and</li><li>Support and build solidarity with countries and governments who promote progressive policies aimed at delivering fairness, equality and social sustainability.</li></ul>It is clear that trade unions cannot achieve these goals only at the national level.  National initiatives must be complemented with international action in order to be successful For this reason the role of the IMF is to:<ul><li>Unite national metalworking trade unions in a global union structure capable of mobilising its membership in solidarity at all levels wherever and whenever required;</li><li>Bring unions together to share information, overcome conflicts of interest and build common strategies;</li><li>Coordinate solidarity and support for affiliates during major disputes or when fundamental workers' rights are infringed;</li><li>Provide information on developments that affect the activities of metalworker unions; </li><li>Actively voice the concerns and interests of metalworkers in effective and innovative ways that involve and mobilise trade union members and bring the IMF into the daily activities of affiliate unions; </li><li>Direct resources and solidarity support towards building strong national unions in countries where unions are weak or non-existent;</li><li>Support trade union education that tackles core trade union activities such as organising, collective bargaining, defending workers' rights and international solidarity;</li><li>Coordinate an international strategy for building unionism in TNCs and their suppliers at the sectoral and enterprise levels.  Challenge the power of TNCs by developing the capacity to bargain collectively at the international level - based on a case by case mandate from the affiliates and by such means as sharing information and experiences among affiliates  and building on the work of negotiating, implementing and monitoring International Framework Agreements (IFAs);</li><li>Expose and challenge governments that violate fundamental trade union rights or interfere in the functioning of independent trade union bodies;</li><li>Represent the interests of metalworkers in international bodies which take decisions affecting jobs and employment conditions, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO);</li><li>Work with other Global Union Federations (GUFs), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD to pursue closer cooperation and action in the interests of affiliates; and</li><li>Build, whenever possible, dialogue, alliances and joint actions with appropriate political and social organisations. </li><li>Affiliates of the IMF will make significant contributions to the attainment of our goals by:</li><li>Strengthening their political influence, capacities, and resources through organising and collective bargaining at the national level;</li><li>Sharing information and actively communicating with the IMF and other affiliates at the national, regional, and international level;</li><li>Engaging in the regional and global structures of the IMF;</li><li>Supporting each other during disputes or when fundamental workers' rights are violated;</li><li>Participating in international actions and international networks organised through the IMF; and</li><li>Giving visibility to international trade union action by incorporating IMF co-ordinated activities in day-to-day trade union work. </li></ul>Ultimately, to achieve our goals, the IMF must go beyond simple coordination and become a truly global trade union organization that is able to counteract social and economic challenges and is based on the principles of independence and democracy following the mandates given by the decision-making bodies.

In the process of developing a new Action Programme we see the strengths of the International Metalworkers' Federation. We find that the things that unite us are much greater than the things that divide us.  In the borderless world of today, we share common experiences, challenges and an analysis of the situation facing workers globally. This common ground helps the IMF family to decide upon the direction we will take in order to tackle the problems metalworkers confront every day. The fact that this Action Programme was adopted in the midst of a global economic crisis is not insignificant. But we didn't need the global crisis to understand that the neoliberal model that used to dominate the world was destructive to workers' rights and social development. This IMF Action Programme adopted at the 32nd World Congress puts increased emphasis on concrete action and what IMF affiliates can accomplish together through global solidarity. In order to maximise our influence we need to mobilise the forces of the whole IMF family.We have to invest more resources in organising everywhere.  We will systematically target transnational companies that are reluctant to allow workers to exercise their fundamental rights.The campaign against precarious employment becomes solidified in this document.  The Programme recognises that we need to say and do more on the question of sustainable development and combating global warming. Building trade union networks in transnational companies offers a possibility for exchange of information and joint action to make sure that enterprises behave well wherever they operate.  Union building programmes help us strengthen trade unions where they are weak.This Action Programme contains exciting and challenging new commitments for IMF affiliates to respond with real and effective action to build stronger unions and when workers' rights are violated.  If we work together to implement this Action Programme, we can achieve our mission. In solidarity,Jyrki Raina, IMF General SecretaryJune 2009

PREFACE

TNCs, in their pursuit of profits, exert enormous pressure on workers with little regard for democratic, labour and social rights. Employers, supported by many governments and institutions of international governance, seek to shift business risks onto workers and reduce their social, economic, and environmental obligations.To date trade unions have struggled to act as a counterweight to the enormous economic power and sophistication of TNCs. Cost reductions sought by TNCs frequently include a shift from secure to insecure forms of employment, fragmentation of collective bargaining, corporate restructuring, and abuse of human and workers' rights. This serves to heighten competition between workers and communities within and across nations and triggers a race to the bottom in standards.There is an urgent need for more effective international solidarity and cooperation among metalworkers in TNC and along the TNC supply chains to reverse these trends. The IMF has considerable scope to challenge this situation and a range of experiences to draw on, including strategies and activities to strengthen the solidarity between workers across sectors and TNCs. Nevertheless, better tools, a better exchange of information, and more mutual trust between workers need to be promoted by the IMF and its affiliates. This must be built on a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of union organisation and corresponding networks, councils, and the resources available in each of the major TNCs. This analysis will be undertaken by the IMF Executive Committee, informed by the IMF regional and sectoral structures.

All workers should enjoy equal rights irrespective of their sex, age, nationality, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or religion.  Yet metal industry employers in many countries, including highly industrialised ones, continue to discriminate with impunity against workers precisely on those grounds. The IMF will work with its affiliates to eliminate discrimination in the workplace in all its forms. Many workers throughout the world are subjected to discrimination that deprives them of their rights to freedom of association and collective bargain.  That is why IMF will focus its efforts on assisting affiliates to develop specific organising strategies, e.g. to improve unionisation rates among women, migrant and young workers, particularly in EPZs, where labour rights continue to be abused and trade unionism is repressed. There is a clear and urgent need for unions to assess whether new approaches must be adopted to meet the needs and aspirations of women, young people, and migrant workers -  groups that are underrepresented in metal unions, but that are entering the industry at an increasing rate.  Changes need to be made to union structures, cultures and practices that discourage such workers from becoming union members to ensure that equal rights are extended to all workers.According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, discrimination occurs if persons with disabilities cannot participate as fully-fledged members in society and if their human and workers' rights are violated.  In particular, with respect to elderly workers, many countries need to intensify their struggle against discrimination and social exclusion of older, disabled and health-impaired workers from the labour market and further training.Discrimination also means that women, migrant and young workers are over-represented in precarious employment. This reaches extreme levels in the case of migrant workers, particularly when dramatic poverty leaves them without protection against unprincipled and sometimes criminal organisations that exploit their vulnerability. The IMF will encourage affiliates to share strategies for making contact with and organising migrant workers, and improving their working conditions by including them in collective bargaining.The double burden of domestic work that is placed on women can force them into precarious employment situations, with adverse consequences for themselves, their families and communities.  The IMF will give priority to highlighting the disproportionate impact precarious work has on women workers and to encouraging measures to address it, focusing in particular on the gender pay gap and the gender segmentation that leads to women being denied access to better jobs.Women's representation at all levels of trade union organisation is still too low. Efforts by unions to organise women workers are hampered by structures that do not include women as leaders.  The IMF will continue to work with its affiliates to redress this imbalance and assist them to remove barriers to women's representation in their union structures and electoral processes. An emphasis will be put on the need to encourage greater participation by young workers in union structures. The IMF will:<ul><li>Assist its affiliates in leading the fight in the workplace against discrimination in all its forms;</li><li>Support organising activities of affiliates in EPZs and encourage the exchange of successful experiences between them;</li><li>Cooperate with ITUC and other GUFs, particularly International Textile, Garment &amp; Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), in addressing the lack of union organisation  in EPZs;</li><li>Assist its affiliates in eliminating constraints that hinder persons with disabilities to get equal opportunities at the workplace.  The IMF will also support programs that focus on issues concerning people with disabilities in all trade union and ILO activities;</li><li>Assist affiliates to identify and remove barriers to women's equal participation and representation in their unions;</li><li>Monitor and report on the impact of precarious work on women, migrant and young workers including encouraging affiliates to do their own gender analysis of precarious work and to take action to reduce the double burden of domestic work on women;</li><li>Ensure that measures taken to improve conditions for precarious workers take particular account of the needs of women, migrant, and young workers;</li><li>Provide opportunities for affiliates to share experiences and strategies for making contact with and organising both internal and external migrant workers; and</li><li>Raise awareness of the difficulties faced by young people in finding secure employment with good pay and working conditions, and support efforts by affiliates to respond.</li></ul>

SWEDEN: Executive Committee members of the International Metalworkers' Federation met in Gothenburg on 21 May to discuss building closer cooperation with Global Union Federations and proposed candidates to lead the IMF for the next four years. Proposed rule changes, if adopted by Congress delegates on 25 May, will allow for the election of one or more IMF Assistant General Secretaries as well as IMF Vice-President. Elections will also be held on Monday for the position of IMF President and IMF General Secretary. Committee members discussed concrete steps for closer cooperation and coordination with Global Union Federations and all agreed such measures should be taken up by the new IMF leadership as a priority of future work.Three unions were unanimously approved for affiliation to the IMF: the Vietnam National Union of Workers in Industry and Trade (VUIT) with a membership of 40,597; the Metals Industry Committee of Industrial Union of Serbia (ISS) representing 7,000 members; and the Mining and metallurgy Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan (MMTUK) representing 7,200 workers.Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, delivered the secretariat report noting the many current struggles metalworkers are engaged in as Congress opens on Sunday and the need for strengthening our solidarity efforts in defence of labour rights around the world.

Executive Committee members met in Gothenburg to discuss future cooperation with Global Union Federations and put forward candidates to be elected by the IMF Congress delegates on Monday.

IMF Executive proposes candidates for Congress 2009 elections

Achieving and strengthening collective bargaining is the core activity of trade unions and remains the best instrument for improving wages and conditions, regulating the relationship between employers and workers and solving problems at the workplace. Its impact goes beyond the workplace and affects the living conditions and development prospects of communities. Collective bargaining should be increasingly used as a tool for trade unions to engage with communities and promote the broader interests of workers as citizens and consumers.Over the past decade the trade union movement has been attacked by employers, governments and their allies who are determined to weaken collective bargaining, thereby weakening the union movement. In particular, employers are eager to eradicate national, sectoral, and sometimes even enterprise-wide collective bargaining. Using the threat of outsourcing production and services, they push for more flexibility and other concessions. New forms of employment and work practices are imposed on employees, increasing stress and insecurity. In developing countries, foreign investors in particular demand deregulation of labour law and other regulatory changes, which have negative impacts on the development opportunities for these countries.  The IMF will work with affiliates to ensure that collective agreements continue to provide a framework for intervening on all work issues including decent wages and working conditions, including working time, work organisation, pace of work and health and safety. In the long-term, and as companies increasingly operate globally, collective bargaining at the international level, while respecting the rights of national unions, must be the goal of the IMF.  As a first step, an information and coordination system should be established. To develop and strengthen global and national collective bargaining efforts, the IMF will:<ul><li>Develop ways to exchange information on collective bargaining that build on the experiences gained at the regional level in Europe and elsewhere;</li><li>Build commonality for bargaining among affiliates at the global level, e.g. by developing global union positions on issues such as precarious employment and training;</li><li>Conduct cross-border negotiations with TNC with the involvement of functioning global union networks and an IMF coordinator, based on clear case by case mandates from affiliates.  In order to have a framework of action for these cross-border negotiations, the IMF Executive Committee will develop IMF guidelines with the support of the Secretariat, which will also describe the roles of the IMF coordinators.  Not only may IFAs be negotiated, but also topics such as health and safety and training;  access to information and other issues of common interest; and</li><li>Assist affiliates in building collective bargaining capacity at the national level. </li></ul> IMF affiliates shall:<ul><li>Provide information on collective bargaining experiences to others; and</li><li>Strive to remove legal obstacles to collective bargaining at the national and sectoral level.</li></ul>

<h3 align="left">Training and Education</h3>Where appropriate, the IMF will cooperate with the ITUC, TUAC, the ILO and union-friendly partner organisations to organise and provide education and training aimed at building strong national unions. The IMF Secretariat, with advice from the Executive Committee and the Regions, will prioritise this work to best meet the Action Programme objectives. Where there is cooperation with donor organisations, the primacy of the IMF objectives and the independence of the IMF will always be maintained.Education and training for union building will include topics such as:<ul><li>Globalisation, the rise of corporate power and challenging neoliberalism;</li><li>Organising;</li><li>Collective bargaining policies and effective collective bargaining skills and structures;</li><li>Health and safety issues; </li><li>Equal rights;</li><li>Introduction of new technologies;</li><li>Skills development and life long learning;</li><li>Internal and external communication strategies;</li><li>Financial union management (including effective collection of membership dues and appropriate and transparent expenditures);</li><li>Implementation, monitoring and enforcement of IFAs; and</li><li>Other trade union topics that are of interest and concern.</li></ul>Consistent with the principles outlined above in sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, the IMF will provide resources for union building projects on the condition that they:<ul><li>Build organisations independent of employer and government control;</li><li>Enhance democracy within the organisation and encourage and enable members, particularly youth and women, to take part in the activities of the organisation. Projects should contribute to eliminating political, racial and gender discrimination;</li><li>Increase the capacity of the organisation to carry out its own core union activities, building self-reliance, particularly in the area of education;</li><li>Strengthen solidarity within the organisation, among unions in the country and/or region, and inside the IMF; and</li><li>Support independent trade unions confronting and fighting repressive governments.</li></ul><h3> Information</h3><ul><li>Information on the work of the IMF and its affiliates needs to be more systematically communicated. This information can help affiliates in the different regions to learn from one another and build up their strength.</li></ul><h3> The IMF will:</h3><ul><li>Work towards establishing a more effective internal information system, using the IMF website, newsletters, the quarterly journal and other means of communication. </li></ul><h3> IMF affiliates will:</h3><ul><li>Inform the secretariat about what type of information they are interested in; and,</li><li>Provide the IMF with information about their activities.</li></ul>

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