News

A. Gnatyuk, founder of the Ukraine union for IT staff ITT.Ua and an IT professional himself, told the Forum that there were around 50’000 IT specialists in the Ukraine mainly working for foreign customers. The offshore business was booming in the capital Kiev and a shortage of qualified staff was emerging. Thus salaries were rising and few thought about unions. Andy told the Forum that his union was created in December 2006 and was run exclusively by IT professionals. The slogan for their members said Andy was: Hear everyone – overcome everything! Said Andy that over 50% of new members signed up over the internet.

He said that he would appreciate some assistance from other UNI affiliates, as they have to learn some basics in terms of trade union management and organising.

Peter Skyte of UNITE, UK, Chair of UNI IBITS, told the Forum that the ICT industry, mainly down the supply chain but also ICT services had to attain a proactive role in order to reduce their carbon dioxide footprint. He referred to a number of codes and institutions that already addressed the environmental responsibility of the industry, yet more needed to be done said Peter. There is the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), which has a chapter on environment. There is also an association of large IT companies, called Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). Peter suggested that those commitments included ethical trading, responsible sourcing practices and full transparency, but still only HP would reveal the names of all suppliers of their products.

He said that half of the energy used relating to the workplace, resulted from travel and continue to increase by 1% per year.

The issue of environmental responsibility should be addressed in Multinational Framework Agreements. It is an issue for trade unions. Unions should demand that when employers want to reduce costs, they should reduce energy costs, not employee costs. He also said that the protection of the environment would be a challenge for employers since none of them will make money from a dead planet.



The Forum also adopted a resolution in support of Spanish affiliates Comfia CC.OO. and UGT FES, who had been struggling for a collective agreement with employers for almost a18 months, when the employer unilaterally decided to stop negotiations. The resolution, which was unanimously adopted by the Forum, urged employers to return to the bargaining table immediately and finalise the collective agreement that is desperately desired by thousands of IT workers.



The ICT Forum also send congratulations to the Turkish affiliate TEZ-KOOP that has helped organise IBM employees and has just won a court case against IBM, which had refused to recognise the union, what they now will have to do. IBM Turkey now has to enter into collective bargaining with the union.

The Forum also expressed solidarity with Austria IT workers, who had not had an increase in real salaries for years. UNI affiliate GPA-DJP for this reason has opened a website in support of the 45’000 struggling IT workers.

Support messages can be sent from here.

Finally, the Forum proposed a number of priorities for future work, which will be addressed the UNI ICTS Taskforces. These include:

• Use MOOS handbook and the Offshore Code for Managers to approach companies, European Works Councils, and Offshore Outsourcing Institutions,
  
• Monitoring offshoring: observatory, offshore tracking
  
• Reinforce global trade union networking and trade union building in offshore destinations
  
• Develop “sustainable” offshore outsourcing standard
  
• Campaign for green ICT in ICT services and along the supply chain.