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22 September, 1999IG Metall Congress will take important organisational and political decisions.
GERMANY: The quantity and quality of the motions and resolutions being put to the coming IG Metall Congress, in Hamburg on October 3-9, point to the deep-rooted changes being demanded by the membership and leaders of the German metalworkers' union.
An enormous agenda lies before the 595 delegates representing the 2.75 million-member organisation. They will deliberate and decide 537 motions and 8 resolutions of considerable significance, such as organisational reform, which has already been discussed at an Extraordinary Congress in 1998, and a ten-point action programme for the period 1999-2003.
Many of the motions aim at including jobless and retired members in the daily work of the union. Another frequent request is the reduction of dues for certain groups of members - for example the sick, retired, those in retraining and the jobless. A motion of the Executive sets new patterns for the distribution of dues among the various bodies of the union, providing larger funds for grassroots activities. The merger with the wood and textile workers' unions is also reflected in the statutory motions.
With regard to the 8 resolutions, the most important one by far concerns general trade union policies and contains an analysis of the present economic situation and defines the type of society which IG Metall is aiming at. It deals with globalisation and the failure of neo-liberal economics and gives top priority to the struggle against unemployment. Union organising in industries thus far neglected will be made obligatory. The 1999-2003 action programme contains ten concrete tasks of union policy, from the struggle for peace and human rights to collective bargaining, codetermination, and the intensification of European and international activities. IG Metall wants to initiate a new debate on the future of society, the economy, social policy and the tasks and forms of action of the union itself, searching to develop an alternative to short-sighted global capitalism.
The remaining 7 resolutions underline socio-ecological reforms, collective bargaining, the development of the welfare state, union policy in the workplace, the promotion of membership drives and organisational change, and the role of education for preparation of the future.
Clearly IG Metall is showing how actively engaged it is in an internal as well as political reform process which will certainly influence the entire trade union movement and set new landmarks in politics as well.
An enormous agenda lies before the 595 delegates representing the 2.75 million-member organisation. They will deliberate and decide 537 motions and 8 resolutions of considerable significance, such as organisational reform, which has already been discussed at an Extraordinary Congress in 1998, and a ten-point action programme for the period 1999-2003.
Many of the motions aim at including jobless and retired members in the daily work of the union. Another frequent request is the reduction of dues for certain groups of members - for example the sick, retired, those in retraining and the jobless. A motion of the Executive sets new patterns for the distribution of dues among the various bodies of the union, providing larger funds for grassroots activities. The merger with the wood and textile workers' unions is also reflected in the statutory motions.
With regard to the 8 resolutions, the most important one by far concerns general trade union policies and contains an analysis of the present economic situation and defines the type of society which IG Metall is aiming at. It deals with globalisation and the failure of neo-liberal economics and gives top priority to the struggle against unemployment. Union organising in industries thus far neglected will be made obligatory. The 1999-2003 action programme contains ten concrete tasks of union policy, from the struggle for peace and human rights to collective bargaining, codetermination, and the intensification of European and international activities. IG Metall wants to initiate a new debate on the future of society, the economy, social policy and the tasks and forms of action of the union itself, searching to develop an alternative to short-sighted global capitalism.
The remaining 7 resolutions underline socio-ecological reforms, collective bargaining, the development of the welfare state, union policy in the workplace, the promotion of membership drives and organisational change, and the role of education for preparation of the future.
Clearly IG Metall is showing how actively engaged it is in an internal as well as political reform process which will certainly influence the entire trade union movement and set new landmarks in politics as well.