Secretariat Report 2011 (pdf) - International Metalworkers' Federation

Secretariat Report for the Central Committee of the IMF
strengthen cooperation at national and regional level, and contribute to the longterm
development of democratic and sustainable organisations.
Two sub-regional meetings were held during the period under review, in Belgrade,
Serbia in 2009 and in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2010, the latter in cooperation with the EMF
and the FES. In addition, the IMF organised a regional meeting for Central and
Eastern Europe in Prague in October 2011 that brought together all IMF affiliates
from the region as well as representatives from the ICEM and ITGLWF. Issues
addressed included collective bargaining and union-building, precarious
employment, trade union networks, international framework agreements and their
implementation at suppliers and subcontractors, workers’ rights and campaigns,
occupational health and safety and women’s activities. The creation of a new global
industrial federation and its implications at national level were also discussed.
The project on occupational health and safety in the steel and non-ferrous
sectors initiated in 2008 for affiliates in the countries of the former Yugoslavia ended
in June 2010. It was carried out in cooperation with the IMF Spanish affiliate MCA-
UGT and the Trade Union Institute of Cooperation for Development (ISCOD), and
benefitted from the financial support of the Spanish Agency for Development
Cooperation. The project consisted of three seminars held in Belgrade and Sarajevo
which focused on the following issues: (i) legislative framework and relevant
European and international instruments, including international framework
agreements; (ii) risk analysis and prevention techniques and (iii) social dialogue and
collective bargaining. In spite of a number of weaknesses, partly inherent in the
donor’s requirements and partly in the problems faced by the trade unions, the
project has helped to increase awareness of workplace health and safety and
mobilize affiliates around this issue. Written material, videos and a campaign poster
have been produced in Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian and Albanian languages. The
project has generated various activities and initiatives locally and nationally and the
training material produced has been used widely.
In 2010, as part of its cooperation with other GUFs, the IMF joined a multi-union
project on organizational development in SEE which is partly sponsored by the
FNV, Netherlands and the FES. In addition to the ICEM, the IUF and the IMF, two
European federations (EFFAT and EMCEF) are also providing financial and
technical support. The IMF Austrian affiliate PRO-GE joined the project in 2011 as
an additional donor. This project builds on the experience and activities of an earlier
project jointly run by the ICEM and the IUF in the region which aimed at rebuilding
the links between unions in countries divided by war. The overall objective is to
strengthen union structures in the region and promote regional sectoral cooperation
and training. Some progress has been made in terms of structures; however
financial sustainability remains a critical issue for all unions in the region. The IMF
is part of the Project Advisory Team that met in Berlin in January and Zagreb in
September 2011 to evaluate the first year of the project implementation, discuss the
work plan for 2012 and possible follow-up activities after the project ends in June
2012.
In June 2010 the IMF supported a seminar on collective bargaining techniques
organised by the EMF with FES funding. This activity was held in Montenegro and
conducted by an expert from the Slovenian trade union confederation (ZSSS). In
October, an IMF mission went to the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
to meet with the leadership of the Trade Union of Metal Industry and Mine Workers
which had applied for membership to the IMF. An IMF Tenaris network meeting
took place in Zalau, Romania in September 2011. It was attended by some 40
union representatives including, for the first time, from Japan. Also in September,
the ArcelorMittal Joint Global Joint Health and Safety Committee visited the
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