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Unions respond to changes in the global economy
After
just two years of negotiations a new trade union International was born on
January 1 2000.
UNI - Union Network International - is the skills and services
International for the 21st century with 15.5 million members.
UNI was created in response to the huge changes going on in the global
economy and because of the impact of technology on increasingly
overlapping industries.
It brings together about 900 unions, the world’s largest grouping of
individual trade unions.
It is a new International for a new millennium. It is on-line and uses the
latest communications technology to build networks with affiliates.
By pooling resources UNI aims to give union members a more effective voice
- with multi-national corporations, with governments and with
international institutions.
A small group of increasingly global corporations already dominate
telecommunications or huge areas of entertainment and the media. The rapid
expansion of the Internet is bringing these two industries together.
E-commerce is spawning a whole new industry and will have a considerable
impact on traditional commerce. Internet banking is already replacing
traditional finance jobs.
Many corporate functions are now sub-contracted to the growing business
services, property services and temporary work giants.
An increasing number of corporations have bigger turnovers than nation
states while the states themselves de-regulate and give up ‘hands on’
control of increasing areas of their economies in favour of market forces.
"Unions have to acknowledge these developments and we have to change
ourselves - that’s what UNI is all about," says Philip Jennings,
UNI’s General Secretary. "We want to make union members global
players and make sure that their voice is heard in the new, global
economy."
"Increasingly our members work for the same global employers and
through UNI we plan to build effective dialogue with these enterprises.
And if things go wrong we want to be able to help members in trouble with
effective global solidarity."
"Our education and development work will also aim to reinforce the
importance and effectiveness of unions in developing countries as
democratic institutions and to help them to organise and get on-line to
make their distinctive voice heard."
UNI
- the skills and services international
The launch of UNI recognises that
members are citizens of a new, global economy which requires unions to
focus on their changing needs., says UNI General Secretary Philip
Jennings.
"We are moving into a knowledge economy where success depends on
skills - both for companies and workers.
"Our members offer the skills and, increasingly if present trends
continue, they will be working as e-lancers, tele-workers, agency staff,
sub contractors and pan-continental
work travellers.
"The bargaining agenda needs to change to deliver those skills that
improve employ-ability and family friendly policies that support an
increasingly flexible work pattern.
"We also need to ensure that the skills that are needed are exported
to those who will otherwise miss out - like women, who are still very much
in the minority in the IT field, and the unemployed who have been
de-skilled by technological change.
"We also need to ensure that modern skills are exported to developing
countries to avoid the ‘know’ and ‘know-not’ gap getting
wider."
Governments cannot avoid their responsibility in this process, they cannot
leave it all to the market, says Jennings.
"Globalisation is unstable and has failed working people around the
globe.
"Millions lost their jobs in Asia because of the recent economic
crisis and, without social safety nets, most of those have fallen straight
into poverty with their families."
The recent UN Human Development report estimates that 1.3 billion people
around the world are trying to survive on less than $1 a day and that most
foreign direct investment misses the poorest countries on the globe.
"Globalisation cannot survive if billions of people are on the
outside looking in, victims rather than beneficiaries of the enormous
power of technological and economic change."
UNI will be pressing for the involvement of the International Labour
Organisation and international trade unions in discussions on reforming
the global economy.
"The spreading of wealth - not its concentration into fewer and fewer
hands - should be a key international objective.
"The race to the bottom - where the globe is scoured for the cheapest
and most exploitable labour - should be replaced by an enlightened race to
the top."
UNI
will speak for more than 15 million trade union members
UNI represents 15.5 million members
in 900 unions from more than 140 countries world-wide.
* The founding partners are:
The Communications International,
FIET (the white collar and services grouping),
the International Graphical Federation,
the Media and Entertainment International.
* The new organisation is global - a
new head office is being built in Nyon, near Geneva, Switzerland, which is
due to be ready next October.
* The new organisation is regional - with four strong regions:
UNI-Africa,
UNI-Americas,
UNI-Asia & Pacific,
UNI-Europa.
* The new International is sectoral.
To cover a range of industries there will be 12 Sectors:
UNI Commerce; UNI Electricity; UNI
Finance; UNI Graphical; UNI Hair & Beauty; UNI IBITS (white collar,
professional and IT staff); UNI Media, Entertainment & Arts; UNI
Postal; UNI Property Services; UNI Social Insurance & Private Health
Care; UNI Telecommunications; UNI Tourism.
* And to develop issues that cut
across the Sectors UNI has three key groups:
UNI Women,
UNI Youth,
UNI Professional & Managerial Staff.
* Back-up functions at Nyon include
a Campaigns Department, Trade Union Education & Development and News
& Information.
* Web site: Browse our new web site - www.union-network.org. It expands
the use of on-line discussion groups and the use of the Internet for
downloading information and campaign materials. There will be links to 300
other sites.
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