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The objective of this three-day workshop was to equip trade unions with information on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and how they can participate in the EPAs process, to show them the global tools they can use at national or regional level to engage in a dialogue with multinational companies (global agreements, International Finance Corporation's Performance Standards, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises) as well as to share research and campaign skills.



The first day of the workshop was devoted to Economic Partnership Agreements. Participants learnt about the origins of EPAs, the European Union's EPAs process in the Marghreb region and more broadly about regional economic integration and issues of concern to African countries.



It was recommended that trade unions create a platform for collaboration and participate actively in decision-making processes on issues related to economic reforms. UNI Global Union should organise follow up regional seminars on EPAs, establish a framework for collaboration between non-state actors and establish a platform to empower affiliates with knowledge on all issues related to the EPAs processes in Africa.



During the two last days of the workshop, a number of global tools to further basic workers' rights were presented and discussed by participants. To illustrate how these tools can be used to empower workers, examples of successful trade union campaigns conducted by UNI were given (UNI Property Services campaign on G4S as well as UNI Graphical campaign on Quebecor). In addition, a mapping exercise using the example of Ecobank was used to show participants the type of information needed to carry out a successful campaign. The meeting was also an opportunity for trade union representatives from Africa to discuss new strategies to organise workers in the finance sector and beyond.





The workshop took place from 6 to 8 May 2009 in Tunis, Tunisia. It brought together 27 participants from 19 African countries.



The documents related to this workshop are available for affiliates here.