News

2012 has been a very busy year for all of us, including you.



We would like to thank all of the UNI Finance affiliates for their hard work to improve working conditions in the finance sector, protect employees, improve financial regulation and make the UNI Finance family grow and flourish.



We also would like to express a warm welcome to our new affiliates from Romania, Algeria, Morocco, Liberia, Congo, Dominica, Peru, Japan and Denmark. The more we are and the stronger we will be to negotiate collective agreements with multinational companies and ask for better regulation. We need to join forces and develop solidarity efforts, especially now that we are all facing the impacts of the financial crisis, as shown in the last UNI Job Loss Survey.



The situation in Europe is of great concern to us, with unemployment rates going up to historical levels and hitting most the youth, the women and their families in Southern Europe. For this reason, UNI Europa Finance organized the “Etats Généraux” and adopted several emergency resolutions to address the root causes of the crisis and stop austerity. We clearly need a new model of society to build sustainable finance for both current and future generations.



For the first time ever, UNI Finance also organized together with ITUC/TUAC an official consultation with the Financial Stability Board, a powerful but often opaque institution in charge of drafting recovery plans for the large banks that are so-called “too big to fail”. More than 60 union leaders came together from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America to make their voices heard and ensure that these plans include the social and employment dimensions.



We need to congratulate our finance affiliates in Romania and Nepal for their organizing efforts and the awards received from the World Executive Board.

It shows that each of you can make a positive change, in your country, your town, your region.



At the EU level, our new and dynamic team based in Brussels has been working very hard to influence the new set of directives affecting the finance sector. We welcome the significant wins that were achieved, for instance with the MiFID directive and the creation of the banking union, even if some aspects still need to be improved.

The national unions and the EWCs have also been extremely active. A European Social Charter was signed with BNP Paribas, and we can expect the finalization of a new global agreement with UniCredit any time soon.



In the Mediterranean region and North Africa, some of our unions have been at the forefront of the “Arab Spring” and continue to be defending democracy, freedom and women’s rights. Our finance unions met in Tunis, with the support of CGIL-Italy and FSU-Sweden and they will launch regional alliances in Algiers in February 2013.

UNI Africa is also developing new plans with Barclays, Ecobank, Société Générale and BNP Paribas across the continent.



UNI Americas organized a very successful finance conference in Montevideo. The Latin American finance unions are dealing with a very different context compared to Europe. The economy is still dynamic but also the governments are taking some expansionist and social measures opposite to the austerity imposed by the EU “troika”.

In terms of multinationals, we will focus our efforts on Bancolombia and Itaú with a good chance of success for 2013, with the biggest challenge remaining in the US.



In Asia and Pacific, we launched an ambitious campaign targeting the ANZ Bank, one of the largest bank in the Region. The Australian and New-Zealanders unions are intensifying their efforts to increase the density of union membership in their branches and research projects are under way in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. UNI Apro is also working closely with the Asia Development Bank to make labour standards respected.



At the beginning of 2013, UNI Finance will meet with the IMF and the World Bank in Washington DC and prepare for the next G20 in collaboration with ITUC, Transparency International and Consumers International.

We will also continue boosting our communications efforts to connect the dots between all of our union affiliates around the world, making your voice heard and including you as much as we can in our campaigns for decent jobs and better working conditions, on the way to the World Congress in Cape Town in 2014.



More than ever, the world needs a strong, stable and sustainable financial sector which serves society, and not the other way around.



Wishing you a very successful and happy New Year !





The UNI Finance team