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Finance unions coming from all around the Mediterranean sea decided to join forces to defend workers' rights at Société Générale and BNP Paribas both in the North and in the South.

On the 26th and 27th of March, the union leaders from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, France and Italy met in Beirut, Lebanon to develop a joint action plan to defend workers' rights on both sides of the Mediterranean sea.
This solidarity project is being funded by FSU-Sweden and coordinated by UNI Finance. The meeting was hosted by the FSEBL, the Lebanese union which recently joined UNI as an affiliated member. In a context of political unrest in the MENA region and in particular in Syria and Israël, it was extremely important for UNI and its affiliates to show solidarity with the Lebanese people who have been facing the social and economic impact of the neighboring conflicts.

" I would like to thank the Lebanese Union for its hospitality, UNI Finance for the organization as well as FSU Sweden and SCORE for their support. This initiative is a demonstration of the added value of UNI and the strong solidarity that is bonding the finance affiliates to the UNI family in the MENA Region", said Edgardo Iozia, the UNI Finance President who had joined the meeting in Beirut.

Many multinational companies have decided to leave the country, except for Société Générale which is one of the only foreign bank still present in Lebanon.
Société Générale and BNP Paribas are some of the most important banks operating in the region but the employees working for Société Générale or BNP Paribas in Morocco or Algeria don't benefit from the same rights as their counterparts in France or Italy.
For this reason, the unions from various countries in the region have decided to join forces, develop regional alliances, share information and conduct collective actions to better defend their rights across borders.
Most of the branches of the companies are already well organized, with 60 to 100% membership, except in Algeria where a new union just started to be built. The FNTBA union leaders working for Société Générale have already recruited more than 600 members in only three months and are planning to build a new union at BNP Paribas too.
The action plan developed in Beirut is looking very promising and the participants are planning to meet again in Morocco to finalize the Charter of social rights for the MENA region which will be negotiated with both companies in 2015.