Uruguay forum on organising in MNC's
Tommy Andersson UNI Graphical & Packaging Global President opened the Organising Forum in Multinational Companies held in Montevideo, Uruguay on the 16-17th October, 2011.
Pictured are the 20 delegates from 8 countries of the region who attended the forum organised as part of the project UNI Graphical & Packaging has through the support of the Swedish affiliate GS and the LO-TCO.
In opening the forum, Tommy referred to the significance of holding this forum in Uruguay as over 100 years ago during a general strike in Sweden one of the first trade union movements outside of Europe to offer solidarity support were the unions of Uruguay.
Tommy said that he was proud of his unions’ involvement in supporting unions in this region as the Nordic unions have a long history of co-operation and solidarity support.
He said organising is the lifeblood of our trade unions and we must continue to ‘break through’ in those areas where it has been difficult to organise.
The HoD of UNI Graphical & Packaging, Steve Walsh presented the key elements of the sector’s work plan and identified the key priorities for the region. He outlined the global strategies for organising in the targeted multinational companies and spoke about the key priorities in this region.
Following that presentation the Regional Director Marvin Largaespada then led a discussion on the major points of trade union planning to be used as a general guide when planning our organising activities for 2012.
Ben Parton the Organising Co-ordinator for UNI Americas conducted a session on the importance of properly evaluating the outcomes from the previous years’ work plan and what needs to be done in the next period to achieve the objectives of the forum.
Participants broke into work groups and evaluated the outcomes of the work plan for the previous year as well as analysing the main issues that workers are being confronted with.
The priority for the region is to continue to organise workers in the multi-national companies that have been identified as having a major presence in the region.
The forum developed a work plan for the next 12 months and committed themselves to implementing the strategies over the next 12 months.
Further information contact. marvin.largaespada@uniglobalunion.org