News

Swine Flu Epidemic Poses Serious Threat to Humankind

In view of the Swine Flu cases reported in Mexico in mid March, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that this outbreak could turn into a pandemic. Therefore, we thought it appropriate to inform our readers of the precautions that should be taken to avoid becoming infected with this deadly disease caused by the AH1N1 virus. To this end, we have prepared a brochure containing all the necessary information that can be accessed by clicking on this news headline.

Contact: uni-americas@uniglobalunion.org



UNI americas Calls Off its Activities due to Swine Flu

Given the health emergency situation in Mexico City caused by the appearance of the swine flu virus. UNI americas Post & Logistics has called off the following activities scheduled to take place from May 14 to 22: UNI-FES Seminar, UNI Post & Logistics Regional Committee Meeting, UNI Post & Logistics World Committee Meeting, and Third Regional Conference. We apologize to those of our colleagues who have already made plans to attend these events but unfortunately we are forced to postpone these activities in light of this unforeseen situation that affects not only Mexico but the entire world.

Contact: cenise.monteiro@uniglobalunion.org



Estrella Azul Strike Ends

On April 1, 2009 and after long and tough negotiations, the workers of the dairy company Estrella Azul represented by their union succeeded in reaching an agreement with the company that puts an end to the indefinite strike held by SITEEA. The agreement was signed by representatives of the union and of the company on the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development in the presence of the Secretary of State and the Minister of Labor and Labor Development of Panama. As a result of the unshakable unity shown by the workers during this negotiation, workers have achieved significant social and economic gains. The workers thanked UNI for its support and the trade union organizations of the region for their solidarity in this struggle in defense of workers’ rights.

Contact: marcio.monzane@uniglobalunion.org



Uruguayan Trade Union Movement’s Response to the Crisis and the G-20

A general strike was held on April 1 in all the branches of PIT-CNT in Montevideo and the metropolitan area. This action was part of the response of the Uruguayan trade union movement to the spate of dismissals of hundreds of workers in exporting companies and their placement under the unemployment insurance scheme as well as a contribution to the global mobilization at the G-20 summit in London. The day of action was held under the following theme: “The people should not pay for the crisis. For a democratic and productive way out. The law of impunity must be repealed.”

Source: Graphic Arts Union, SAG /PIT-CNT.



Fighting for Collective Bargaining in Peru

On April 1 2009, the Federation of Civil Construction Workers of Peru (FTCCP) carried out a demonstration outside the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion in Lima. A delegation of the Graphical Federation of Peru (FGP) participated in the mobilization. FTCCP presented its national list of demands for the signing of the collective agreement. “Alan Garcia’s administration has set up a parallel organization to distort the meaning of the struggle of true trade union leaders,” claimed the sector’s representatives, who also expressed their strong rejection of the Free Trade Agreement signed by the incumbent government and the United States. “This rally is particularly important for FGP since it steps up the struggle for respect for collective bargaining at the industry level,” said Carlos Torres, General Secretary of this UNI affiliate.

Contact: marvin.largaespada@uniglobalunion.org



Quebecor Peru Workers Back Measures to Tackle the Crisis

On April 1, 2009, the members of the Management Board of the Quebecor World Peru Workers’ Union held a meeting with leaders of the Graphical Federation of Peru and UNI americas Graphical. The union’s representatives assessed the importance of FGP’s participation in the UNI Graphical Trade Union Network as well as the level of compliance with the Global Agreement signed with the company. During the year FGP and UNI americas Graphical will carry out joint training and labor seminars. At the end of the meeting the participants agreed that FGP and UNI americas Graphical would continue working to raise the standards for all member workers in this multinational of the graphical sector.

Contact: marvin.largaespada@uniglobalunion.org



UNI americas Participated in UNI Property Services Conference

UNI Global Union Property Services held a conference in New York, United States, on April 2 and 3. UNI americas Regional Secretary Rodolfo Benítez and Regional Director Alberto Barrow were present at this event. More than fifty representatives of trade union organizations from the cleaning and security sector from 20 countries gathered at the headquarters of Local 32 BJ of the Services Employees International Union (SEIU). The purpose of the meeting was to raise awareness of the achievements made during the last year, particularly the Global Agreements signed with G4S and ISS—two of the largest employers in the sector—which cover more than a million cleaning and private security workers. The participants also took this opportunity to devise plans for the upcoming months. Several renowned leaders of the international trade union movement were also present at the conference, such as Philip Bowyer, UNI Global Union Deputy General Secretary, who highlighted the changes that the organization has been making to adapt its actions to a world that is undergoing constant and vertiginous transformations in all areas and facing a severe economic crisis that jeopardizes the survival of all human beings on this planet.

Contact: alberto.barrow@uniglobalunion.org



39,000 Workers Die in Occupational Accidents in the Region

The Third Occupational Health Seminar for Trade Union Centers and Global Union Federations of Central America and the Caribbean took place in Managua, Nicaragua, from April 6 to 8, 2009. The main objective of this seminar coordinated by the Trade Union Institute for Central America and the Caribbean (ISACC) was to assess the work done by the Sub-regional Trade Union Occupational Health and Environment Committee. Forty-seven participants, including some Committee members as well as general secretaries and education secretaries, from the 17 national organizations and the GUFs that are part of ISACC attended the event. “39,000 human beings die each year in the over 30 million occupational accidents that take place in the region, not to mention those that are not reported,” said Fernando Rodrigo, Director of the Ibero-American Health and Safety Organization, adding that these figures are unacceptable and the social, human and economic cost is to be lowered if we are to enhance wellbeing at work.

Contact: marvin.largaespada@uniglobalunion.org



Launching of Youth Training Program

On April 15 2009, the Trade Union of Telecommunications Workers and Telephone Operators of the State of São Paulo, Brazil (SINTETEL) launched a training teleservice program for low-income youths from São Paulo with the support of the Telefónica Atento Brazil Foundation and the APSE Institute. The launch took place at the SINTETEL Vocational Training Center. This initiative falls under the scope of the PREJAL Project (Promotion of Jobs for Youths in Latin America) introduced by the ILO with the support of the Spanish government.

Contact: cenise.monteiro@uniglobalunion.org



Argentina: Celebrating the Day of Telecommunications and Postal Workers

The National Secretariat of the Post and Telecommunications Workers’ Federation of Argentina (FOECYT) has issued a communiqué congratulating all its members on the Day of Telecommunications and Postal Workers, which is celebrated each April 14. In UNI americas we enthusiastically adhere to this celebration and extend fraternal greetings to our brothers and sisters.

Source: FOECYT prensa@foecytargentina.org



Kimberly-Clark: Global Agreement to Strengthen Relations

UNI Graphical and Packaging said that it was encouraging to see at a recent meeting with Kimberly-Clark that both parties recognized and valued global dialogue as a fundamental tool. At the meeting held in Atlanta, UNI, UNITE UK and the US union United Steelworkers (USW) had the opportunity to talk with Kimberly-Clark top executives about the working conditions and trade union rights of more than 53,000 employees of the company at a global level. This was the second meeting of UNI with this group of managers. The multinational company reaffirmed its commitment to fair wages and good benefits for its workers but for the moment refused to start designing a plan leading to the signing of a global agreement to step up its commitment to the workers and their trade union representatives.

UNI global union



THE ELECTRICAL SECTOR IN BRIEF

Argentine Government Representative on the Board of ENDESA Affiliate. The Argentine government now has a representative on the Board of Endesa Costanera - the second Spanish-owned company to include a government representative on its Board. It is the largest thermal power generation company in the country and is owned by the ENDESA Group with a 69.7% controlling interest and ANSES (National Social Security Administration) with a 13.4% interest, while the remaining shares are traded on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.

Italian ENEL controls ENDESA, the owner of EDESUR. ENEL Spa, the most important company in Italy and the third largest in Europe by market capitalization, has become the controlling shareholder of ENDESA as a result of an agreement established between ENEL Energy Europe and the construction company Española Acciona S.A, which in March 2007 decided to jointly manage ENDESA.

Chile: Saving Resources for the Crisis. FESCHCAM sent a letter signed by its president to Chilectra S. A. with the aim of contributing ideas to save resources in a plan put forward by management aimed at tackling the global economic crisis that is affecting the country.

Rally for Dignity and Heritage Rescue. The colleagues of the Trade Union of Electricity Workers of Honduras (STENEE) marched along the streets of Tegucigalpa to demand the termination of the SEMECH consortium contract (Electrical Power Metering Service in the Commercial Area) and the “Nationalization of the Thermal Power Stations.”

Trade Union Alliances Workshop. Within the framework of the UNI-LO/TCO Project “Organizing and Trade Union Development in Multinationals of the Electricity Sector in Latin America” for 2009, the Coordination Workshops of the Trade Union Alliances ENDESA S.A. and AES Corp., and Unión Fenosa and Iberdrola were held in Bogotá (Colombia) and Panama City (Panama) on April 20 & 21 and 23 & 24, respectively.

Contact: fernando.mcmaster@uniglobalunion.org



CONTRAF-CUT Brazil Held its 2nd National Congress

CONTRAF Brazil held its second National Congress from April 14 to 16 in São Paulo, amidst significant changes in the organization’s leadership team. Vagner Freitas, President of UNI americas Finance, stepped down from his position as President and will be replaced by Carlos Cordeiro, a young unionist who served as Vice-President on the 1^st UNI americas Youth Committee. At UNI we believe that CONTRAF’s renewal process is highly positive and can set an example for the rest of the trade union movement showing that it is possible to renew and maintain the competences and political ability to manage our organizations. UNI americas wishes Carlos Cordeiro success as the leader of this organization that represents over 400,000 workers of the finance sector in our region.

Contact: marcio.monzane@uniglobalunion.org



Telecommunications Workers and their Response to the Global Crisis

Brazil has dealt with the serious economic crisis that has the entire world on the rack differently from other countries. Since early this year, an atmosphere of speculation has been generated with diverse effects according to each sector. Issues such as the need to substantially lower interest rates, the validation of ILO Convention 158 prohibiting unfair dismissals, the creation of sectoral committees to address the consequences of the crisis and measures to boost production are at the core of the social agenda for telecommunications workers.

Contacto: cenise.monteiro@uniglobalunion.org



VI Meeting of the UNI americas Finance Steering Group

Last April 17th, 2009, UNI Americas held its 6th Finance Steering Group meeting in São Paulo, Brazil. Trade unionists from Brazil, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, Spain, Italy, and the Caribbean Region attended the meeting. Discussions centered on the current financial crisis and its impact on work relations, jobs and the sector in the Americas. Oliver Roethig, World Head of the Sector, presented the proposals that had been discussed at a global level to the Steering Group, taking the opportunity to coordinate actions in the region. Each member of the Steering Group was given the chance to express his/her point of view on the crisis as well as on its impact on his/her country or region. It was decided that the next UNI Americas Finance Conference would be held in Argentina next year.

Contact: marcio.monzane@uniglobalunion.org



Panama: Successful Security Guard Campaign

The “We are human beings… We are workers… We have rights” campaign carried out by UNI americas together with trade union organizations of the private security sector in Panama to improve the working conditions of thousands of security guards is already having positive results and strengthening trade unions in the sector. Recently, the Industrial Union of United Security Workers (SITUS) successfully completed the negotiation of a new collective agreement for the workers of the province of Bocas del Toro. SITUS is also preparing to submit a new list of demands for negotiating an agreement with another security company, in the same province, with the objective of obtaining similar benefits for hundreds of workers who are presently defenseless from a labor perspective and fall victim to multiple abuses by businessmen who do not pay their wages as established by law.

Contact: alberto.barrow@uniglobalunion.org



Social Insurance and Health Care: UNI americas Intensifies its Work in the Region

During this year, UNI americas has carried out an intense work with the unions of the Social Insurance and Health Care sector that have no activities or participation at an international level, regardless of whether they are formally established or not, as well as with those brothers and sisters who strive to organize themselves into unions. UNI americas has sought to improve the relationship and participation of the unions in this sector with UNI americas, since this is a key sector in the region given its direct implications for the actual wellbeing of millions of workers in this part of the world. In other words, efforts have been made to significantly improve organizing in the sector. The incorporation of new organizations to UNI americas and the current work of these unions seem to indicate that the sector will have greater visibility and capacity to fight in the region.

Contact: jose.molina@uniglobalunion.org



Peruvian Social Insurance Nurses Held Vigil

The National Union of Health Social Insurance Nurses of Peru (SINESSS) has called on all its members across the country to hold a vigil in all public parks of Peru on April 24 in rejection of the government’s intentions of destroying the union and not complying with the commitments made through the Collective Agreement and, what is even more serious, substituting the workers in their direct jobs with nurse technicians.

Contact: jose.molina@uniglobalunion.org



CUT Chile: “Workers Should Not Pay for the Crisis”

On April 16, a large number of workers led by the Unified Labor Center (CUT) demonstrated in Santiago, Chile, under the slogan “Workers should not pay for the crisis.” During the demonstration organized to draw attention to the effects of the current economic crisis, the burden of which is falling mostly on workers, CUT President Arturo Martínez expressed the center’s strong rejection of “dismissals by companies out of necessity,” and requested the support of all the participants for future mobilizations with a view to effecting substantial changes in labor legislation that may guarantee job security and decent wages for workers.

Contact: alberto.barrow@uniglobalunion.org



‘NEWS’ ALEARA’s E-NEWSLETTER

We are pleased to present to you the newsletter published by our Argentine Gaming sector affiliate, ALEARA. You can access the publication titled “News”, 8ª Edición, Abril de 2009 by clicking on this news headline.

Contact: info@aleara.com.ar



UNI americas Joins the SST Global Day of Action

“According to the ILO, there are more than 240,000 deaths at work every year in Latin America. We do not know the exact figure because there are problems with reporting and registration in the Central American region,” said Marvin Largaespada, Coordinator of the Health and Work Environment Committee of the Trade Union Institute for Central America and the Caribbean and UNI americas Global Union Regional Director, on April 28, 2009, the World Day for Health and Safety at Work, before handing in the document on the “Ibero-American Strategy on Health and Safety at Work” approved by the governments of the region in Santiago, Chile, on April 3, 2009, at the 3rd Congress on Occupational Risk Prevention in Ibero-America Presencia 2009. “We came here today to hand in this document demanding that it be fully developed and complied with; to this end, we want to actively participate in all its execution phases. We hope to be able to count on the support of the Panamanian government as we did before with the Social Dialogue in the Graphical Industry document subscribed last March,” he added.

For more information, please contact: marvin.largaespada@uniglobalunion.org



Contributions

Please, send your comments, suggestions, and contributions to the editor of Americas info via e-mail: mario.sanchez@uniglobalunion.org; via Fax (507) 317-0170; and by traditional post to Apartado Postal 0819-06290, El Dorado, Panamá, República de Panamá.