IMF - the last twenty years

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.