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10 February, 2000The IMF general secretary addresses for the first time a congress of the recently affiliated mining and metalworkers' union.
RUSSIA: The Miners and Metallurgical Workers' Union of Russia is holding its Fourth Statutory Congress this week in Moscow, on February 10-11. At a welcome dinner on February 9 for official guests, union leaders gave a brief account of the present political, economic and trade union situation in Russia. They described the general mood of the country, corresponding to the very difficult times in which working people are now living, with much poverty and very low wages.
Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, giving his first speech at a congress of the MMWU -- which affiliated to the IMF at the 1999 Central Committee meeting -- detailed four central themes in his comments to the delegates: globalisation of the economy, unemployment, international solidarity and organising the unorganised -- the core concerns of the IMF's work. He told the Congress that although "it took 80 years, in which we have seen a World War, the separation of the world into different blocs, misunderstandings and hostility, we are at last united." The first talks about affiliating the Russian metalworkers in the IMF began in the early 1920s.
Malentacchi warmly welcomed the MMWU into the IMF and announced the expected opening later this year of an IMF office in Moscow.
Next week, the IMF general secretary will also attend congresses in Moscow of the Automobile and Farm Machinery Workers' Union and the Engineering Workers' Union.
Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, giving his first speech at a congress of the MMWU -- which affiliated to the IMF at the 1999 Central Committee meeting -- detailed four central themes in his comments to the delegates: globalisation of the economy, unemployment, international solidarity and organising the unorganised -- the core concerns of the IMF's work. He told the Congress that although "it took 80 years, in which we have seen a World War, the separation of the world into different blocs, misunderstandings and hostility, we are at last united." The first talks about affiliating the Russian metalworkers in the IMF began in the early 1920s.
Malentacchi warmly welcomed the MMWU into the IMF and announced the expected opening later this year of an IMF office in Moscow.
Next week, the IMF general secretary will also attend congresses in Moscow of the Automobile and Farm Machinery Workers' Union and the Engineering Workers' Union.