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The IMF also engages TNC's through its sectoral activities. These have a long history in the IMF, but there have been innovations in recent years: more emphasis has been placed on regional activities, and World Union Committees have been established in SKF, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz. Although the latter are financed by the enterprises, the IMF is represented and there is a well-defined representational structure, as well as regular schedules of meetings. Although, the IMF continues to organize its own World Company Councils, it also works at building smaller Action Groups in the auto and steel sectors. These bodies meet more frequently than the Councils to ensure improved international information exchange and cooperation. IMF activities on TNCs continue to make efforts to balance and coordinate company and sector level approaches at the global and regional levels. For example, the World Auto Council also includes meetings of TNC networks.Another growing area of the IMF's work is solidarity and union building campaigns. These range from the IMF encouraging affiliates to write protest letters to full-scale global campaigns. Campaigns are often triggered by countries or enterprises that violate internationally recognized workers' rights. South Korea, for example, emerged from military rule in the late 1980's, but the struggle for union recognition, the freeing of frequently imprisoned labor leaders, and new labor laws that are based on international standards continues. Since 1989, the IMF and its affiliates have organized several international days of action and lodged complaints to the ILO. Belarus, Turkey and Malaysia have also been repeated targets of IMF solidarity activities. In Indonesia, the IMF expelled its Suharto era affiliate and supported a new independent union (FSPMI) as well as Lomenik-SBSI. Starting in 2006, the IMF was involved in a major campaign in support of its Mexican mining affiliate, SNTMMSRM. The government had attacked SNTMMSRM, removed its legally elected general secretary, and pursued him with fraudulent charges, forcing him to flee the country. Since its launch, the IMF's international campaign with the strong support of its affiliates, continues to fight for union autonomy in Mexico and continues to support the efforts of the miners' union to win justice and fight political persecution. But governments are not the only culprits. TNCs frequently use substandard labor legislation or corrupt officials to violate workers' rights and suppress unions. The IMF has had to campaign against Honda Prospect Motor in Indonesia, and Toyota in the Philippines. In other cases, IMF affiliates took the lead in launching activities, examples are the fight for decent contracts and union recognition at the Brazil based steel maker Gerdau, the campaign to get the Australian manufacturer of asbestos products, James Hardie, to compensate asbestos victims, and the current fight against Australian hearing device manufacturer, Cochlear's, union busting campaign. The IMF-website, launched in 1999, has been a key tool in virtually all of these campaigns. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19219&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=19221&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

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IMF - the last twenty years

In the new millennium, the IMF is also increasingly present at the World Social Forum. At the 2005 meeting, the IMF and its major Brazilian affiliates organized a march for employment that drew more than 4,000 participants. The IMF's Program for Social and Economic Alternatives stresses the forming of alliances with a broad range of democratic organizations that support the labour movement's values.Integrating new affiliates in this period of vast political and economic change also required the IMF to adapt its own structures. The IMF Regional Office for East Asia based in Tokyo was closed, and new ones in Southeast Asia and the CIS countries were opened. In addition, beginning in 1996, new regional structures for representation and coordination were created. By the end of 2002, this process was completed, resulting in four world regions (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific) each of which has from 2-4 sub regions, which have a regular schedule of meetings.Starting in the late 1990's, the IMF began to focus on developing and negotiating International Framework Agreements (IFAs). TNCs and their globe spanning production chains had become increasingly important. IFAs essentially are agreements between a Global Union and a TNC in which the latter agrees to respect the ILO's core labor standards in all of its operations. For the IMF, a requirement for contractors and suppliers to respect the IFA's standards is also a critical provision, as is union participation in IFA implementation. The agreement may also contain other clauses, e.g. requiring a &quot;living&quot; wage&quot;, forbidding the hiring of replacements for striking workers, or additional clauses on implementation.The first IMF IFA was signed in 2002 (with Merloni, now Indesit), but by November 2008, the total had reached 19 including some of the worlds major vehicle manufacturers, parts suppliers, aerospace, and steel companies. Several additional IFAs were proposed but not signed, because they fell short of the IMF's principles or minimum standards. Considering that all seven GUFs have now signed a total of 53 IFAs, the IMF's share amounts to a very notable success. Unfortunately, virtually all agreements are with European TNCs, which means that pursuing agreements with Asian and American enterprises remains a priority for the IMF.IFAs are important instruments for ensuring workers' rights and union building. There has already been several successful application uses, for example, the Daimler-Chrysler agreement helped settle a long-standing dispute at a Turkish parts supplier. The IMF has also developed guidelines for negotiating and implementing IFAs. Because the role of unions and the IMF in negotiating and monitoring agreements is crucial, a World Conference on IFAs was held in 2006 resulting in comprehensive recommendations which were later adopted by the Executive Committee in May 2007 in Spain.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19218&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=19220&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Still, in spite of successes in organizing metalworkers and bringing them into the IMF fold, only about one third of the world's estimated 70 million metalworkers are members of a union. Even in countries that pride themselves on political democracy, such as the USA and the United Kingdom, adverse labour laws and often vicious employer opposition deprive workers of the benefits of organization. Finally, in many developing countries, there are Export Processing Zones, where too often workers' rights are restricted and unions are non-existent. In 2005, the IMF Congress identified EPZ's as a priority for attention and organising projects in Latin America and Indonesia have been launched.Globalization and the IMF Action ProgramThe history described above took place against the background of accelerating economic globalisation. Rooted in the Reagan and Thatcher administrations, hostility towards labour and the welfare state grew, neo-liberalism promoted deregulation, smaller government, and privatization. The lowering of trade restrictions and investment controls promoted globalization, as well as larger and more powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). Outsourcing, often to the growing number of EPZs, became a powerful trend. The global financial market effectively became a casino for the biggest financial players, and a new wave of mergers and acquisitions was unleashed. As early as 1993, the IMF developed an Action Program, which has evolved from a relatively brief document prepared by the Secretariat for the centenary Congress into a more concrete and detailed guide. The 2005-2009 program, for example, was developed by a committee of affiliate representatives and Secretariat members that met four times in a two-year period. Like its predecessor, the document contains an analysis of the challenges confronting metalworking unions, a mission statement that lays down the basic principles and values of the IMF, and set of strategies and concrete proposals that need to be implemented at local, national, regional and international levels. It addresses in detail four key aspects of union work in a global economic environment: 1. Building global structures; 2. Engaging transnational corporations; 3. Solidarity and organising; 4. Giving a social dimension to globalisation.Implementing the Action ProgramOver the last two decades, the IMF has played an increasingly active role in its cooperation with other Global Union Federations (GUFs), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) and the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF). This involvement rests on the principle that activities must go beyond lobbying international institutions and actually mobilize workers. Furthermore, joint activities must be based on agreed strategies and clearly identified objectives. When these are not clearly present, such as in the recently established Council of Global Unions, the IMF does not participate. On the other hand, there are a number of examples of joint activities. IMF is cooperating with all the GUFs in its on-going campaign against Precarious Work. The Burma boycott is a joint endeavour of the ITUC and all GUFs, as is the campaign for a worldwide ban on asbestos products and occupational cancer/zero cancer. The IMF has also cooperated with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) to support organizing Indian shipbreaking workers, and signed an International Framework Agreement jointly with International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19217&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=19219&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Text / Peter Unterweger Photos / IMF archives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------A new era dawns1989 was an eventful year. The participant list of the IMF Congress in June of that year gave some clues to the events transforming the world. Trini Leung, who had been present at the Tiananmen Square demonstrations only 14 days earlier, addressed the Congress. Moses Mayekiso, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), had recently been freed by the apartheid authorities after 3 years of detention and ultimate acquittal. Apartheid was tottering, and its rulers were turning to compromise. Popular pressures inside the Soviet block were building. Years of Gorbachev&#039;s reforms had loosened the grip of the Communist elites on satellite states and the Soviet republics. In Poland, Solidarnosc successfully concluded talks with the Communist authorities in April 1989, and won the subsequent elections by a landslide. On August 23, the Hungarian government opened its border with Austria, and more than 13,000 East German &quot;tourists&quot; escaped to the West. Demonstrations began in East Germany, and by November 9th the East German government was forced to permit unrestricted visits to the West. Euphoric crowds scaled the Berlin Wall from both sides and began to dismantle it.Aside from these momentous developments, there were still other trends changing the world. Dictatorships were on the decline, and by its long-time support for metalworkers in South Africa, Latin America, Poland, and Korea, the IMF had made important contributions. The elections of Thatcher and Reagan had signalled the start of a right-wing backlash against the welfare state and workers&#039; gains that reverberated far beyond the United Kingdom and the USA. Under GATT, world trade liberalization continued. Eventually, even social democratic parties adopted parts of the neo-liberal programme. For the IMF, an important new chapter began in 1989. Since its founding in 1893, there had been only seven IMF Secretaries or General Secretaries, and in 1989 a new GS, Marcello Malentacchi, was unanimously elected. The challenges confronting the IMF and its new leadership were large: <ul><li>Millions of metalworkers in the former Soviet block needed assistance even as the struggle for democracy in South Africa, Korea, Latin America and a number of other countries still required support.</li><li>Anti-social political and economic trends on the national and global levels had to be resisted.</li><li>New ways of dealing with the growing power of trans-national corporations (TNCs) had to be found. </li></ul><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=19216&amp;mwId=19189">forward&gt;&gt;</a> </td></tr></tbody></table>

The IMF has witnessed important growth and change 
over the last twenty years, and has shaped the course of international trade unionism in the developed and developing world alike. This work is critical to meet the economic and political challenges of today.

During the crisis autumn of 2008, the loss in members slowed down. The economic crisis has had the effect that more people are joining the union. Inga-Lill Samuelsson thinks the project has so far yielded good results. &quot;But it's hard to say how many of the approximately 23,000 new members joined thanks to our efforts or because of the crisis.&quot; The union's 52 branches are responsible for their own recruiting. Each branch can request economic support from the union for its recruiting efforts. &quot;The branches have done a good job. Many have conducted training to attract more members, and to attract members who will stay in the organization,&quot; says Inga-Lill. &quot;Our elected officials need to be strengthened through training and to receive tips on debating and reporting.&quot;At first the project was aimed at the smallest enterprises. This is because the degree of organization in them is usually lower than in big enterprises where unions often have their own branches with outreach activities. At the smaller workplaces the union is therefore less often seen. &quot;The important thing is that the individual be asked: 'will you join?' Someone has to ask the question. Then many do join,&quot; Inga-Lill says. That applies both for finding new sustainable work methods and rediscovering tried and true forms of work, says Inga-Lill. &quot;We have to explain that we are stronger if more people join.&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=19212&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=19214&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

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Swedish Unions revive recruitment efforts

Meeting recruitment challengesTraditionally the rate of organization has been higher among blue-collar workers than among white-collar workers and engineers. That remains the case in the manufacturing industries. But over the last 15 years the level of union membership, both for blue- and white-collar workers, has fallen from 85 to 71 per cent. The big drop in membership came right after the conservative government came to power in the autumn of 2006. The level of organization remains significantly higher in the manufacturing industries than for the rest of the economy. That goes for both blue- and white-collar workers. In Sweden, 82 per cent of blue-collar workers in manufacturing and 72 per cent of white-collar workers belong to a union. IF Metall has one of the highest rates of organization of all the union confederations, close to 92 per cent. But that rate is falling. &quot;We sat back and relaxed, and thought everything was going well, despite the fact that the decline began ten or fifteen years ago,&quot; says Inga-Lill Samuelsson, a representative at IF Metall's branch in Gothenburg. Inga-Lill is also the project leader for the union's drive to organize and recruit more members. The organising project will run for two years and began in 2008. 22,726 new members were recruited last year. But at the same time, many people have left the union. Hence overall membership in IF Metall has declined. According to the union, one in two members who left IF Metall left due to finding a new job and for that reason moved to another union. Every fourth person left the union after ceasing to pay membership dues. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19210&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=19213&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

&quot;We had already begun to commit ourselves to membership recruitment,&quot; says Kjell Johnson, who is in charge of long-term development work in Unionen. &quot;And then, I think that Unionen's image may also have attracted new members. With the merger, the new union is perceived as a stronger and more attractive force.&quot; At ABB there are many engineers. Most of them belong to Sveriges Ingenjörer (the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers). At the ABB Corporate Research centre, union recruitment work has been quite successful. Out of 180 engineers, about 150 belong to Sveriges Ingenjörer. &quot;We don't seek out individuals to try to recruit them [into the union]. We don't believe in that model,&quot; says Shiva Sander-Tavallaey, the union representative for Sveriges Ingenjörer at ABB Corporate Research. &quot;For us the important thing is to show that we are attractive and accessible. We have to show that members can benefit from union membership.&quot;Shiva explains that the union gets good cooperation from the company. Whenever the company has an introductory meeting for new employees, the union is given an opportunity to present its work for 15-30 minutes. &quot;That is an opportunity that my union colleagues succeeded in achieving some 30-40 years ago. Over time it has become part of the corporate culture. The company is positive toward the union,&quot; says Shiva.The union activity of ABB engineers is adapted to the company. According to Shiva, &quot;ABB has an 'activity clock' to which we adapt. We make our own union 'activity clock' so our members can get the most from their union membership.&quot;Before management meets with members to discuss salary, the union makes sure that material is available to equip members before individual meetings. To help them, the union has a local database where members can obtain current pay statistics.&quot;There they can see where their salaries stand in relation to the average for comparable groups, taking into account experience and educational background,&quot; Shiva explains. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19207&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=19210&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

White-collar organisingSnap-On in Bollnäs is a traditional industrial factory where workers directly involved in production constitute the majority of employees. A bit further south, about an hour's drive from Stockholm is ABB, one of the world's leading high-tech companies and one which is increasingly dominated by white-collar workers and engineers.Of the 3,500 white-collar workers, 1,300 are organized in Unionen (a merger of the industrial employees' union Sif and the commercial employees' union HTF). When the government made the unemployment funds more expensive, Unionen lost members.&quot;Many older members left,&quot; recalls Krista Loiske, Unionen's branch chairman for ABB in Västerås. &quot;They thought their jobs were secure and that they could afford to be outside the union.&quot; &quot;It has become increasingly difficult to recruit,&quot; Krista says. &quot;It used to go without saying that people would stick up for each other. But society has been getting more and more individualized, and we are often confronted with the question: 'Why should I join, what do I stand to gain from the union?'&quot; Last autumn the crisis came. And that was when many people's attitude toward the union changed, says Krista. &quot;The loss of members stopped, and more people began to join. It was as if the crisis served as a warning that people have to stick together. Which is really the whole point of the union.&quot; That is precisely the point that Unionen's activists constantly try to make when they meet newly hired people, when they report on their activity, when they offer coffee and show themselves among the employees. The effect of the crisis in reversing the downward trend of membership figures has also been seen at the national level in Unionen. From September to October 2008 the number of members began to rise. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19199&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=19208&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

A changing political landscapeThe high rate of organization in Sweden is usually explained partly by the fact that the unemployment insurance funds are managed by the unions. The unemployment insurance funds were originally created by the unions as protection against cuts in pay. The idea behind the funds was that no one should have to be tempted to take a job at a pay rate below the contract rate. Thus, unemployed people could refrain from taking a job that paid less than what the unemployment funds gave. In addition, the unemployment funds became a form of pay insurance for those who did have a job. The funds made it more difficult to engage in wage dumping or force workers to compete with each other for jobs with poorer conditions. But when the present conservative government in Sweden came to power in 2006, they decided shortly after taking office to undermine the unemployment funds. Compensation for the unemployed was reduced. At the same time, the government also made it substantially more expensive to be a member of an unemployment fund. The unions regarded this as a way for the new government to scare members into leaving their unions. &quot;In our case, no one has left the union because the contributions to the unemployment fund have increased,&quot; says Stefan Halvarsson. &quot;We made a point of telling people that it was the government that raised [unemployment fund] contributions, not the union.&quot;Another reason for the high degree of union membership in Sweden is the position of the collective contract. &quot;Without a strong collective contract, we would be much weaker,&quot; Stefan warns.According to Stefan, the contract provides strong protection to members, including protection against pay cuts. The contract also gives local union organizations a strong negotiating position against employers. The threat to unions now is that employers - as a result of the economic crisis - are trying to hollow out the collective contract and weaken it. &quot;Such attempts have been made before, but we managed to fight back,&quot; says Stefan.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19198&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=19207&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

MEXICO: A Mexico City Federal District Court decision has invalidated arrest warrants and Mexican Government extradition requests for Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, leader of IMF affiliate, the National Miners&#039; and Metalworkers&#039; Union (SNTMMSRM).Gomez is living in exile with his family in Canada after receiving death threats.Gomez, the democratically elected general secretary of the SNTMMSRM was forcefully removed from his position in 2006. Gomez spoke out against the Mexican government and Grupo Mexico mining company in response to a tragic mine accident in Pasta de Conchos that left 65 miners dead, many of them members of SNTMMSRM. The Mexican Government and Grupo Mexico have continued a campaign of harassment against Gomez, the miners&#039; union and its members.Grupo Mexico has been linked to the physical assault, kidnapping and murder of miners&#039; union members and their families. In 2006 the IMF lodged a complaint with the International Labour Organisation accusing the Mexcian Government of violating Convention 87, including illegally intervening in union activities, seizing union assets and forcing government appointments into union elected positions.IMF affiliates throughout the world have shown their solidarity to our Mexican union brothers and sisters through letter writing campaigns, public pressure, and demonstrations.&quot;The continuing legal and personal persecution of Napoleon Gomez must end,&quot; said Ken Neumann, United Steel Workers National Director for Canada. USW has helped Gomez and his wife secure work papers enabling them to remain in Canada.The attorney general of Mexico is still pursuing Gomez by trying to move the court proceeding to another district.

A panel of Mexico City Federal District Court judges has granted Napoleon Gomez Urrutia legal protection against extradition in a huge win for the Mexican Miners' Union.

IMF pledges support to Mexican miners

Mexican Miners&#039; Union leader wins injunction against arrest warrants

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