30 September, 2010The meeting is the first joint activity on the organization of trade union networks in Latin American companies organized by the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI) to develop new strategies together with their affiliates.
BRAZIL: On September 23 and 24 an international seminar on forming union networks in Latin American TNCs took place in Rio de Janeiro, representatives of the global federations representing the workers in metallurgical, chemical, construction and wood sectors took part.
Supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), the aim of the meeting was to exchange experiences on existing networking activities and joint planning of actions in these companies. GUFs and unions provided information on several companies, as well as on the relationship (or lack thereof) that currently exists between companies and unions.
The companies reviewed were Vale, WEG, Votorantim, Petrobras, and Arauco Odebrecht. All of the companies are involved in more than one sector, and some engage in unacceptable anti-union practices.
"Unfortunately, we have suffered so much abuse by foreign TNCs. But today we see that the Latin American TNCs are no different. Our experience also shows that the anti-union practices and disregard of workers' rights by some companies are even more fierce in the countries where the company has opened new operations than in their home countries," said IMF assistant general secretary Fernando Lopes.
During the meeting, all participants decided to support the workers struggle at Brazilian TNC Vale's operations in Voisey's Bay, Canada, where roughly 200 workers have been on strike since August 1, 2009, after the company would only accept to renew the collective agreement if the workers represented by USW agreed to a drastic reduction in conditions and increased job insecurity.
IMF regional representative for Latin America and Caribbean, Jorge Almeida said, "This meeting was also a first step in the region. In a few years we will work on a global scale with the merger of three confederations overall: IMF (Metalworkers), ICEM (Chemical) and ITGLWF (Textiles)".
The meeting included affiliates from Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru affiliated to IMF, ICEM and BWI and were joined by representatives from IG Metall, Germany and the Solidarity Center of AFL-CIO, USA.