21 November, 2011As part of the project to strengthen unity among IMF affiliates in Chile, a national evaluation seminar has set objectives for 2012.
CHILE: A national seminar on strengthening trade unions was held in Chile, November 17-18, and was attended by representatives of Constramet, Consfetema, FTC and Huachipato. The project's main objective is to promote trade union unity at the national level among metalworkers' unions.
The trade union strengthening project, which has been under way since 2008 and is supported by the Swedish union IF Metall/LO-TCO, is also being implemented in Colombia with IMF affiliates, Fetramecol and Utrammicol.
The seminar was attended by representatives from Constramet, Consfetema and FTC, which belong to affiliated organisations in Chile and have participated in seminars throughout the year. The activity was also attended by representatives from Colombian affiliates, the IMF Geneva office and the Latin America Regional Office.
Participants conducted an evaluation of the project, made a critical analysis of activities that have taken place so far this year, discussed the main obstacles encountered so far and formulated new strategies for overcoming these obstacles. The seminar also stressed the importance of the project's joint political project, the need to turn ideas into action and the need to formulate guidelines.
Fernando Lopes, representing the IMF, said that everything is going well. "Even though these initial steps towards unity only involve two unions, any change is an achievement. Everything that changes the structure indicates progress and will set a marker for all other affiliates."
Delegates agreed to continue working on the project, to reduce the level of trade union fragmentation and promote the struggle for a single collective agreement in each sector. The IMF highlighted the efforts of the trade union leaders who have participated since the start of the project and praised the work of Constramet and Consfetema in achieving project objectives.