News
UNI Americas Executive Committee Adopts New Strategies
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With more than 100 people in attendance, including members, guests and observers, the UNI americas Regional Executive Committee formally opened its 11th Annual Meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay. The opening session was attended by the Minister of Labor of Uruguay, Dr. Julio Baráibar, and by his Argentine counterpart, Dr. Carlos Tomada, as well as by Gustavo Bernini, Socialist Party congressman and former trade union leader of the Association of Bank Employees of Uruguay (AEBU), all of whom contributed interesting remarks and ideas for debate. The Regional Management Committee had met earlier and adopted the REC Agenda and Order of Business.
During the first day of the meeting, the Committee discussed the issue of Global Financial Crisis and Organizing Campaigns with a focus on the “Breaking through” strategy, whose main objective is to train and organize more workers in the hemisphere. In addressing participants at the meeting, Philip Jennings, UNI General Secretary, said that “a South African multinational company will sign the 35th global agreement with UNI.” And added, “We have witnessed the resounding failure of banks leading us to the crisis... We cannot let the same people make the same mistakes...” Discussions also centered around organizing experiences in companies such as HSBC, DHL and CENCOSUD, where the main goal is to organize the workers and ensure respect for their trade union and labor rights. At the end of the first day, AEBU General Secretary Fernando Gambera informed the Committee that AEBU’s national grassroots had unanimously agreed to apply for affiliation to UNI. The work of the Committee will end on Tuesday, February 16, when a number of issues of interest for workers in the Americas will be addressed. Contact: raul.requena@uniglobalunion.org |
