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UNI meets SENTRACOS in Sao Paulo

A four-year project launches in Latin America this month aimed at boosting union membership in commerce and building trade union networks in multinationals in the sector.

The project is being sponsored by CC.OO Spain and the ultimate aim is to sign global agreements with the retail giants to establish union rights, dialogue and collective bargaining.

It covers Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

Some of the big retailers are Latin America-based - like Cencosud, Pao de Azucor and Falabella - while others are global names like Wal-Mart and Carrefour.

Carrefour already has a global agreement with UNI and there is collective bargaining in Wal-Mart in Argentina.



SENTRACOS president Ricardo Patah, who is also president of the new Brazilian trade union centre UGT

“This is a key sector for us,” says UNI-Americas Secretary Rodolfo Benitez. “It’s a huge industry with many, many workers and we want to help them develop a collective voice and build regional and global links.”

The project starts with a preliminary meeting in Chile and was discussed with Commerce union leaders in Brazil last week (both Brazilian commerce unions SENTRACOS-UGT and CONTRACTS-CUT will be involved).

“Latin America is an important region for us,” says UNI Deputy General Secretary Philip Bowyer who was in Sao Paulo to discuss the project.

“Growing unions in the region will also strengthen the global networks that we are building in the multinational retailers,” said Alke Boessiger, who will head UNI Commerce global union from the beginning of next year.