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UNI
President, Kurt Van Haaren
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here to see his biography
Dear delegates, dear friends from all over the world, on behalf of the UNI World Executive Board allow me to
welcome you in Berlin to the 1st World Congress of our new international.
UNI came into being on 1 January 2000 as a result of a merger of four international trade secretariats, CI, FIET, IGF and MEI.
With its 940 affiliated unions and 16 million members from 140 countries UNI is the most important global union. It is the trade union response to the challenges posed by the service,
knowledge and information society.
The creation of UNI was a reaction to the increasing convergence taking place in the industries and sectors we represent, to global networking and to the gigantic monopolies of ever larger
super-multinationals in the areas in which we organise.
Our working world, and indeed many of the core issues that concern us in our daily lives, are increasingly affected by decisions taken elsewhere.
Digital capitalism is spreading at a fast pace and is accompanied by ever more brutal forms of wage dumping, attacks against trade unions and marginalisation.
The gap between rich and poor grows by the day. Even the opportunities opened up by information technology seem to increase the digital divide.
Today there are many aspects that can no longer be controlled by individual governments because in an interdependent global economy national parliaments have lost the power to
influence the job market. That is why trade unions and their members need to become global players themselves.
It is all the more appropriate, therefore, that the theme of our Congress is Global Action @ UNI - for people in the changing, global economy.
Together with UNI we need to re-invent internationalism. We must co-operate with one another across borders and become a real counterweight to the super-multinationals, ensuring that
certain basic forms of work are adhered to and organising worldwide solidarity through network campaigns.
The globalisation of labour markets cannot go without the globalisation of labour standards. Good minimum social standards are essential. In particular, we must secure the respect of
human and trade union rights throughout the world.
In the fight against poverty, there must be debt forgiveness for the poorest countries.
It has become more urgent than ever before that transparent and democratic structures be introduced into global institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO.
I am sure that our discussions will focus on a clear platform of demands and we will take decisions regarding the steps needed to implement them.
Berlin, the capital of a reunited Germany, is an historical place.
The division between east and west, the "iron curtain" which the Soviet Union drew right across the country, has been dismantled.
Berlin, which for 40 years was split in two by the wall and effectively cut off from the outside world, has become a symbol and a byword for the constant fight by people for freedom and
democracy during the cold war.
We shall never forget Nobel peace prize winner Willi Brandt words: "Berlin - left wing and free - but, if in doubt, then always for freedom!"
The German people succeeded in bringing down the Berlin wall in a bloodless revolution.
Without the then Secretary General of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, without the steadfastness of the western powers and the courage of the people in eastern Germany, the "iron
curtain" and the Berlin Wall would never have been torn down.
Let us hope that this will give us strength and confidence so that together we can fight against division and oppression and for democracy, freedom and social justice.
I wish us all a successful first UNI World Congress.
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