Secretariat Report 2011 (pdf) - International Metalworkers' Federation

Secretariat Report for the Central Committee of the IMF
violation of their fundamental rights by TNCs will continue to be difficult, and
capacity will need to be built among IMF affiliates in the use of the updated OECD
Guidelines that were finally adopted on 25 May 2011.
IMF work to promote metalworkers’ interests in the context of the International
Financial Institutions in 2010-2011 has continued focussing on the need to bring
jobs on the multilateral agenda for recovery, to fight against precarious employment,
and to promote fundamental workers’ and trade union rights.
While further developing collaboration with and support to the Global Unions
Washington Office the IMF took part in January 2011 in the biennial high-level
consultations with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in
Washington together with the ITUC-coordinated global trade union delegation.
7. Trade Union Networks in Transnational
Corporations
After the Congress in 2009, IMF’s Executive Committee decided to move from the
concept of rigid Company Councils to a flexible and dynamic concept of trade union
networks in transnational corporations, while maintaining the ultimate goal of
achieving more agreements on setting up World Works Councils. The idea was that
in order to build a counterweight to transnational companies, we have to set up
functioning networks and mechanisms to ensure regular exchange of information,
development of joint initiatives and common platforms, building solidarity, organizing
unorganized plants, joint union action and contact with the real decision makers
within the enterprises.
The first part of the IMF strategy has been to develop the concept of networking
and to produce a set of guidelines. The work of a working group and a series of
company network meetings has been supported financially by Friedrich Ebert
Foundation (FES). To improve communications, a new section on TNCs on IMF’s
website was created and went operational in 2010.
The Executive Committee nominated twelve representatives to an IMF Working
Group on Trade Union Networks in TNCs. Valter Sanchez (CNM-CUT, Brazil)
was elected as the Chair. After a lively e-mail exchange and meeting, the Working
Group made a proposal to the Executive Committee, which adopted it in December
2010. The guidelines are now published in various languages and contain six
sections on the purpose, roles of respective parties, tasks, IFAs and other global
level agreements.
The working party also highlighted a number of areas for future work, including
developing a list of priority companies, additional guidelines for other global
agreements, and developing training and education materials.
In March 2011, participants from 20 countries attended an IMF Seminar for Trade
Union Coordinators, supported by the FES. This meeting provided an opportunity
for networking experts to come together and further define the IMF strategy. The
main areas addressed in the seminar included the role of the TNC Coordinators,
how to develop goals and action plans, what training and education should be
developed and how to deal with the question of other global agreements and IFA’s.
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