UNI Americas Commerce Executive Committee Meeting was held in Bogotá
On the 23rd of September in Bogota, Colombia, UNI Americas Commerce Executive Committee meeting was held with the participation of representatives of commerce sector unions in the region.
The meeting was opened by José Luis Oberto, President of UNI Americas Commerce, who warmly welcomed the attending brothers and sisters, and highlighted the importance of building strategic power for unions and the workers that represent them.
Participants enthusiastically discussed strategies to organise workers, and the challenges they face. The focus was on the current situation, where workers are being affected by the increase of outsourcing, and how multinational franchises do not respect labour rights, even companies that have signed global framework agreements.
Alke Boessiger, UNI Global Union Head of Commerce, referred to the increase of commerce sector unions participating in the region and the importance of organising workers.
"It is very important to organize value chains in order to organise MNCs adequately" she stated.
She also spoke about the activities performed, reviewing all the progress made by UNI Americas Commerce both globally and regionally, and mentioned the objectives that remain to be fulfilled in 2015.
Ruben Cortina, President of UNI Americas, highlighted the need to address a regional strategy in the process of strengthening commerce unions in the region, particularly in border locations.
"Unions in border locations have specific problems and needs. UNI Americas must set out to participate in regional integration processes to strengthen commerce unions, "he said.
Following the debate on organising in areas affected by these changes in the new world of work, Gustavo Triani, Regional Director of UNI Americas Commerce and Orhan Akman, Coordinator of UNI Americas Peru, referred to these changes in the commerce sector, mentioning the rapid growth of fast fashion, e-commerce and transformations in the retail sector.
These changes occurring in the industry inevitably affect the quality of life of workers. The increase in part-time contracts results not only less income for workers, but also fosters multi-job employment.
Adriana Rosenzvaig, UNI Americas Regional Secretary, stressed the importance of strengthening sector alliances to build power to face the advance of multinational corporations, and address issues related to the new world of work that are impacting the commerce sector.
"There are new challenges in the commerce sector with the advancement of new technologies such as fast fashion and e-commerce," she said. "It is very important to closely monitor the changes that occur in a sector that holds a large number of youth and women workers" she concluded.
After the activity, representatives of participating unions shared several conclusions. One was the need to work on these new challenges in the new world of work to face companies with effective and concrete union strategies.
The importance of creating alliances to strengthen union power and the commitment to further research and organise value chains was also highlighted.