25 March, 2011ArcelorMittal workers have taken an important step forward by creating a Latin American regional trade union network that will overcome the barriers between plants at the local, national and global levels.
BRAZIL: Representatives from IMF-affiliated trade unions organizing employees of the transnational company ArcelorMittal met on March 22-23 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and agreed a plan of action to formalise the creation of a Latin American regional trade union network of ArcelorMittal workers. Representatives from unions at ArcelorMittal plants in Germany, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Spain, Morocco and Mexico met over two days to discuss a plan of action to create the network. The trade union leaders highlighted the importance of the creation of the network, which will promote solidarity between workers at the local, regional and global levels.
Anti-trade union practices, local organisation, health, safety and the environment, outsourcing, collective bargaining, observance and compliance with ILO conventions were some of the priorities set by the network, as well as company recognition of the network at its plants in the region.
One of the first steps will be to choose local, national and regional coordinators. The network and the IMF also made a commitment to integrate Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela into the regional network.
The IMF undertook to provide technical assistance to help the network get organised in the next few weeks and to provide the network with tools to help it develop independently from the shop floor up to the regional and global levels.
"This meeting was very important for the IMF, because today we created a regional network of Latin American workers employed by a single company, ArcelorMittal, which will help us stay informed about what is happening in the industry. We will go on to promote the creation of other such networks in other companies", said Rob Johnston, IMF Executive Director.