International Centre for Trade Union Rights

A proud history of global solidarityAuthor(s): MARCELLO MALENTACCHISource: International Union Rights, Vol. 14, No. 2, Focus on the Unite/USW internationalinitiative (2007), pp. 6-7Published by: International Centre for Trade Union RightsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41936442 .

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FOCUS □ UNITE / USW INITIATIVE

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MARCELLO MALENTACCHI is the General Secretary of the International Metalworkers' Federation www.imfmetal.org

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essential when tackling the challenges globalisation creates for metalworkers. Representing 25 million metalworkers in 100 countries , the International Metalworkers' Federation has a proud history of global soli- darity

In August 1893 in a small hotel in Zurich a group of 30 metalworkers' unions from Austria- Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland and the United States met and decid- ed to create an International Information Bureau to collect and exchange information on labour issues in the different countries. According to data collected in Europe by the Bureau at the time, the social and economic conditions for met- alworkers were extremely difficult. Working hours ranged from 11.5 to 15 hours a day and wages were very low. Only a small number of metalworkers were organised and the structure of unions at the national level was highly frag- mented.

From the very beginning solidarity between the unions was not limited to exchanging infor- mation. Within the first three years, British metal- workers contributed 1,000 marks to the Solingen cutlery-makers out on a protracted strike and the Swiss metalworkers contributed 100 Swiss francs to moulders engaged in a harsh struggle in Nuremburg. German metalworkers reciprocated in 1897 when British engineering workers fight- ing for the eight-hour week and foundry workers in Denmark demanding higher wages were locked out. Everywhere, especially in Germany, funds were raised establishing a tradition of inter- national solidarity that has significantly strength- ened metalworkers' unions to this day.

In 1904, the unions, which now included repre- sentatives from 1 1 countries, decided to establish the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF). The goals of our Federation were to encourage metalworkers' organisations to co-operate on trade union matters, to support unionisation efforts in countries where the trade unions were still weak and to establish guidelines for the effec- tive implementation of solidarity actions in the event of labour disputes.

Even during this so-called 'first era of globalisa- tion', a period of rapid growth in international trade and investments, metalworkers understood the strategic and important role we play in pro- tecting human and trade union rights. In an appeal for international solidarity of metalwork- ers in all countries, the first Congress in 1893 wrote: ' There has been a complete upheaval in

methods of production because of the increased use of machines, technological

progress and the transformations brought about by electricity Obviously this revolution in industry, trade and transport in recent decades has had an effect on human rela- tions and particularly on those of workers. . .

You who make the machines, who add, year by year, to the ranks of the unemployed, who force us to expend ever more strength for low wages, yours is the great and sacred task of leading the march of the trade union organisations !

Our joint endeavour must be to fulfill the slogan of the May Day celebrations: eight hours' work, eight hours' leisure, eight hours' sleep'.

Neo-liberal globalisation Now, 114 years later and at a time when global-

isation is once again a dominant force impacting on labour relations everywhere, building strong national unions and strengthening international solidarity between metalworkers' unions remains a fundamental goal of the IMF. Many metalwork- ers' unions have made significant gains since 1893, but in this latest age of globalisation grow- ing numbers of metalworkers lack the protection of a union. In many places wage gains are stagnat- ing, inequality is increasing, conditions of work, such as the length of working hours, are under pressure, and the struggle to build and maintain strong national unions continues.

Ensuring international solidarity between IMF's 200 affiliated union organisations from 100 coun- tries, each with their own history, culture, struc- ture and membership, is not without challenges. Drawing on our sometimes difficult experiences of building unity among workers and groups of different interests at the national level, IMF affili- ates show great commitment to international soli- darity by identifying common problems and tak- ing action together.

Attempts by global capital to divide workers both within countries and between countries only add to the challenge. Transnational compa- nies (TNCs) try to divide us by putting groups of workers into competition with each other for work when they restructure their operations, moving production to lower-wage areas to reduce their labour costs. There are many exam- ples where unions in our sector have worked together across national borders in the face of these challenges, particularly when jobs are mov- ing to countries where governments put business interests before people with little or no respect of human and worker rights or where unions are weak and unable to act at the national level.

International solidarity The IMF and its affiliates undertake a range of

INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 6 Volume 1 4 Issue 2 2007

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union building work in different parts of the world. For instance in India in 2003 we began organising and improving the desperate health, safety and working conditions of ship breaking workers. In Indonesia we supported a women's organising project that saw the union Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia increase the number of women members by 42 per cent from 29,780 in 2003 to 42,272 in 2006. And in Africa we have focused our energies on developing self-sustain- able general manufacturing unions in countries where there is a critical mass of metalworkers, with significant success in Tanzania and Swaziland.

Providing solidarity support when human and trade union rights are violated is also a central part of IMF's work. Last year alone, we held two international days of action to draw attention to the violation of workers' rights in the Philippines and Mexico. On 12 September 2006 63 affiliates took action calling for the reinstatement of 136 illegally dismissed Toyota Philippines workers. Despite rulings of the Supreme Court and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in their favour, the dismissed Toyota workers in the Philippines are yet to see their rights restored and to this day remain out of work.

On 1 1 December 2006 68 affiliates took action around the globe calling on the Mexican govern- ment to comply with international labour stan- dards and recognise Napoleon Gomez Urrutia as the democratically elected general secretary of the Mexican miners' union. A complaint to the ILO against the Mexican government, launched by the IMF, detailed how Gomez was forcefully removed from his position in March 2006 after speaking out against the Mexican government and the mining TNC, Grupo Mexico, in response to a tragic mine accident in Pasta de Conchos that left 65 miners dead. On 16 April 2007 the Mexican government reversed its decision and once more recognises Gomez as the leader of the union - an important victory for all workers and trade unions in Mexico.

In Belarus, we are supporting our affiliate REPAM in its efforts to organise workers under the threat of repressive anti-union measures adopted by the Lukashenko regime, the subject of another ILO complaint and, since 2003, an ILO Commission of Inquiry. Elsewhere, such as in Colombia, Turkey, South Korea and Australia, the IMF and its affiliates continue to provide workers with practical, political and moral support in their struggle to end violations of human and trade union rights.

Bilateral and regional solidarity IMF affiliates are actively engaged in these

international solidarity actions and most regularly take part in IMF meetings exchanging informa- tion and building platforms for joint action. Many affiliates also exercise cross-border solidarity through bilateral and regional activities with sis- ter organisations on issues of common interest, with or without the direct involvement of the IMF.

For example, IMF affiliates come together on a bilateral or regional basis to tackle trade and eco- nomic integration issues, such as the collabora- tion between the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) and the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU) during the Canadian and South Korean free trade agreement negotiations. A similar alliance exists between unions in the Mercosul region where

unions are working together to respond to and influence the regional economic integration pro- ject between the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In Europe, national unions saw a nee.d to build a union structure on the con- tinent that would act as a counterpart to the political structures of the European Union and so formed the European Metalworkers' Federation.

Metalworkers have also built specific alliances in dealing with common employers. For instance, Brazilian metalworker unions actively supported metalworkers in North America who were locked-out in a protracted dispute with the Brazilian TNC Gerdau. Similarly, the Mexican and Peruvian miners' unions took action in support of workers locked-out at Grupo Mexico operations in the US. Agreements were reached in both cases at the start of this year marking a significant milestone in nearly three years of struggle.

More recently, in a bold experiment of trade union bilateralism, Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G), two British unions in the midst of a merger to form Unite, and the United Steelworkers (USW) from North America signed an accord and announced their intention to explore the formation of a global union structure through a transatlantic merger of their organisations. The scope of this ambitious project has ramifications both at the national and international level and will be watched with interest by the IMF and the rest of its affiliates around the world.

Global unity for global issues Clearly bilateral or regional co-operation that

brings metalworkers' trade unions together and strengthens international solidarity is important. Bilateral and regional alliances based on common interests can certainly speed up the work of unions on those issues. However, these alliances will never be a substitute for multilateral global solidarity between metalworkers from all regions including the developed and the developing world.

At the IMF Congress in 2005, affiliates once again committed themselves to working together to tackle global problems together. For instance, affiliates signed up to strengthening links across TNC production chains and to entering into International Framework Agreements with TNCs as a means of ensuring workers' rights through- out the company and its supply chain. Affiliates also affirmed our collective vision for a globalised economy that enables sustainable development and is governed by democratically agreed multi- lateral rules and bodies.

However, the heart of our work remains the building of strong national unions, for while we share problems globally, most solutions lie at the national level. National governments are responsi- ble for the protection of human and trade union rights and national governments must provide for the governance of global capital.

Working together across all divides, metalwork- ers must fight for human and trade union rights, a fair wage and secure jobs and sustainable devel- opment, because if we don't workers will be worse off. And as we have seen in the past, inter- national solidarity can and does lead to stronger national unions, unions that are able to improve the lives of metalworkers and working people everywhere.

The IMF urges support for multilateral

solidarity from all

regions -

including the

developed and the

developing world

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