Independent unions found new Global Union Federation
engl./german/spanish with engl. subs.
|5 min| 2018 |hits: 75
In
May 2018 the “International Confederation of Labour” was founded in
Italy to unite independent unions and worker organisations across
frontiers. We interviewed delegates at the congress to hear about their
union activities at home and what they hope will come out of the new
confederation.
The United Voices of the World union from London, UK wrote a report on their experience from the conference:
“Delegates
and observers from Greece, Brazil, Morocco, Bulgaria, Netherlands,
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Catalonia, Spain, Poland, United States,
Canada, France, Austria and Argentina sent solidarity messages or
attended the Congress, which was organised at the headquarters of the
Italian independent USI union.
The idea behind the union
confederation is to reignite practical international solidarity between
workers in struggle that, in the words of Spanish CNT union organiser
Miguel Pérez, 'has to be shown in acts that go beyond issuing
communiqués or holding pickets of solidarity.'
Italian USI
delegates emphasised the historical anarcho-syndicalist and
revolutionary-syndicalist origins of many of the participating unions
and collectives: ‘Today, and even more so tomorrow, a combative
libertarian international trade union organisation is needed to defend
workers effectively, and to build a new, free and equal society
independently of the traditional political party and union structures.’
Anna
Baum, an organiser with the German Free Workers’ Union in Berlin,
explained that the new confederation intended to share resources and
information across frontiers among independent unions, focussing on
workers who work for the same corporation, but in different countries.
‘An
emphasis will be made on sharing campaign aims, for instance in
fighting for a collective agreement across sectors that includes
protecting migrant workers from immigration checks,’ Anna reported.
‘Campaigning
and organising resources will be shared on a joint website or platform,
and workshops and conferences bringing workers in struggle in other
countries such as China and Indonesia, together with Italians, Germans
and Polish workers, for example, will also be held, with unions from the
wealthier nations financially supporting workers from low income
countries to attend.’
There was discussion about coordinating
research on international labour laws, and an idea to register the
confederation with the International Labour Organisation so as to be
able to take cases of abuse of workers’ rights by multinational
corporations to international tribunals.
Several union activists
from Catalonia, Brazil and Greece emphasised how workers are more
frequently organising wildcat strikes, road blockades and other
imaginative acts of resistance to counter the lack of response from
official trade unions and traditional political parties which have
failed to defend workers’ interests.
Mass workers’ migration
across frontiers, combined with the increasing ease of communication
technology that allows these workers to stay in contact with struggles
back home and connect to struggles in their destination country, mean
that independent unions and collective organisations should step up
their cooperation and, in the words of Bulgarian Autonomous Workers’
union organisers, ‘look towards building an international resistance
movement’.
United Voices of the World organiser Claudia
Turbet-Delof concluded that the congress had been ‘an enriching
experience, especially for me as a feminist, migrant trade unionist, and
has stirred profound reflection on what union organising means to me
and what we, as workers, hope to achieve.' "
May 2018 the “International Confederation of Labour” was founded in
Italy to unite independent unions and worker organisations across
frontiers. We interviewed delegates at the congress to hear about their
union activities at home and what they hope will come out of the new
confederation.
The United Voices of the World union from London, UK wrote a report on their experience from the conference:
“Delegates
and observers from Greece, Brazil, Morocco, Bulgaria, Netherlands,
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Catalonia, Spain, Poland, United States,
Canada, France, Austria and Argentina sent solidarity messages or
attended the Congress, which was organised at the headquarters of the
Italian independent USI union.
The idea behind the union
confederation is to reignite practical international solidarity between
workers in struggle that, in the words of Spanish CNT union organiser
Miguel Pérez, 'has to be shown in acts that go beyond issuing
communiqués or holding pickets of solidarity.'
Italian USI
delegates emphasised the historical anarcho-syndicalist and
revolutionary-syndicalist origins of many of the participating unions
and collectives: ‘Today, and even more so tomorrow, a combative
libertarian international trade union organisation is needed to defend
workers effectively, and to build a new, free and equal society
independently of the traditional political party and union structures.’
Anna
Baum, an organiser with the German Free Workers’ Union in Berlin,
explained that the new confederation intended to share resources and
information across frontiers among independent unions, focussing on
workers who work for the same corporation, but in different countries.
‘An
emphasis will be made on sharing campaign aims, for instance in
fighting for a collective agreement across sectors that includes
protecting migrant workers from immigration checks,’ Anna reported.
‘Campaigning
and organising resources will be shared on a joint website or platform,
and workshops and conferences bringing workers in struggle in other
countries such as China and Indonesia, together with Italians, Germans
and Polish workers, for example, will also be held, with unions from the
wealthier nations financially supporting workers from low income
countries to attend.’
There was discussion about coordinating
research on international labour laws, and an idea to register the
confederation with the International Labour Organisation so as to be
able to take cases of abuse of workers’ rights by multinational
corporations to international tribunals.
Several union activists
from Catalonia, Brazil and Greece emphasised how workers are more
frequently organising wildcat strikes, road blockades and other
imaginative acts of resistance to counter the lack of response from
official trade unions and traditional political parties which have
failed to defend workers’ interests.
Mass workers’ migration
across frontiers, combined with the increasing ease of communication
technology that allows these workers to stay in contact with struggles
back home and connect to struggles in their destination country, mean
that independent unions and collective organisations should step up
their cooperation and, in the words of Bulgarian Autonomous Workers’
union organisers, ‘look towards building an international resistance
movement’.
United Voices of the World organiser Claudia
Turbet-Delof concluded that the congress had been ‘an enriching
experience, especially for me as a feminist, migrant trade unionist, and
has stirred profound reflection on what union organising means to me
and what we, as workers, hope to achieve.' "
team: Labournet.tv
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