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GERMANY: For many years the enterprise Volz, specialized in the production of air filters for the car industry had a good image in Horb, a small town in the region of Black Forest (Schwarzwald), Germany. The owners made contributions for the development of football in their city, supported a rabbit breeders' association and their enterprise was even awarded a prize as a model company within the state of Baden-Wurttemberg.  The other side of the story regarding workers was not as bright. Quite often workers faced arbitrary short notice orders to transfer to another job or to change their shifts disregarding their private life and family situation; even single mothers could not avoid it. Enough is enough, the workers tired of arbitrariness of their employer stood up for their dignity. They decided to set a works council at their enterprise. The first meetings were held in secret at a nearby bar that only confidants, acquaintances and relatives knew about. As a result in October last year leaflets announcing the election to the works council were distributed. The first attempt was not successful and the employer for flimsy reasons contested the second election attempt in court and even made up an opposing list of candidates loyal to him. Despite constant checks, harassment and oppression at work and even at home on the part of the management, worker activists supported by the IG Metall representative Robert Schuh managed to convince their colleagues of the necessity of union members in the works council. As result two hundred employees of the Volz enterprise voted for eight IG Metall members out of eleven members of the works council.In parallel with the workers struggle at Volz enterprise IG Metall referred to the IMF International Framework Agreement with Daimler, which also covers its suppliers' chain. Just before the election Daimler contacted its supplier Volz and alerted of possible labour violations at their enterprise.

Volz workers supported by the IG Metall created their works council despite hostility and threats from the enterprise owner.

IG Metall assists in setting a works council at Volz in Horb

SARAJEVO: The third and last phase of the IMF Occupational Health and Safety Project for affiliates in the former Yugoslavia was held on 29 June- 1st July 2010 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.   This project initiated in 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, targeted  the steel and non-ferrous sectors  - two sectors of special relevance to metal unions in the region and showing a high number of occupational accidents and work-related illnesses, often due to lack of proper training and awareness of OHS hazards.  The project has benefitted from the support of the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID) through the Trade Union Institute of Cooperation for Development  (ISCOD), and has been carried out in close cooperation with the IMF Spanish affiliate MCA-UGT.  The project was built around three main lines of work that were the subject of three seminars:  (a) the legislative framework and occupational health and safety standards;  (b) risk analysis and prevention techniques; and (c) social dialogue and collective bargaining that were the main theme  of the third seminar.    Representatives from the Spanish and Croatian governments as well as from the Spanish steel Association UNESID participated in a round table on the development of social dialogue and collective bargaining, laying the foundation for advancing collective demands in the field of OHS.  Strong emphasis was put on the importance of active and effective health and safety committees and  ongoing surveillance of workers' health as a mean s of preventing risks .  The participants were able to interact during the group work activities arranged as part of the curriculum.One session of the seminar was devoted to labour inspection which has been identified as a particularly weak link in prevention policies throughout the region.   Experts from Spain, Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina, the ILO Budapest Office and the European Trade Union Institute gave enlightening presentations, providing a national, European and international perspective on the need to strengthen the effectiveness and impact of labour inspection in the region, moving towards more prevention-oriented organisations.As part of the implementation of its 2009-2013 Action Programme,  the IMF will continue to promote the development of OHS activities in the region with a view to strengthening trade unions, supporting their efforts both at national and enterprise levels to carry out health and safety training and work out organising strategies around safer and better workplaces.    The material produced in local language in the course of the project will be used as an information and educational tool to further the union objectives in this area.Health is not for sale  - health is a fundamental right to be defended.  This has turned into the main slogan for trade union action and campaigning in the region that needs to be developed further.

Health is not for sale -- Health is a basic right to be defended

Programme (ESP)

FERNANDEZ ARROYO Fernando (ESP)

FERNANDEZ ARROYO Fernando (Local Language)

ARIAS ALVAREZ Juan José (ESP)

BARTOLOME Juan Ignacio (ESP)

BARTOLOME Juan Ignacio (Local Language)

MONTERO LEBRERO Pedro (ESP)

MONTERO LEBRERO Pedro (Local Language)

SAN MIGUEL José Ignacio (ESP)

SAN MIGUEL José Ignacio (Local Language)

NOVOSEL Mladen (ESP)

NOVOSEL Mladen (Local Language)

MUTNJAKOVIĆ Branimir (ENG)

ARIAS ALVAREZ Juan José (Local Language)

KEMPA Viktor (ENG)

KEMPA Viktor (Local Language)

LOSADA CRESPO Beatriz  (ESP)

LOSADA CRESPO Beatriz  (Local Language)

BUENO Carmen (ESP)

Improving occupational health and safety in the Balkans

BULGARIA: NFTINI Podkrepa, representing workers in the IT sector in Bulgaria, has reported on serious violations of freedom of association at IBM Bulgaria where workers involved in trade union activities are subjected to intimidation and harassment.The International Metalworkers' Federation joins with the European Metalworkers' Federation and UNI Global Union in expressing concerns that IBM is putting pressure on workers and trade union officials within the company after learning about the trade union organization in the factory. EMF, IMF and UNI support their Bulgarian colleagues and strongly oppose any kind of intimidation of workers involved in trade union activities. The trade union founded within IBM Bulgaria complies with local legislation and is recognized by the appropriate public administration. It is therefore entitled to recognition by IBM's Bulgarian management. &quot;We urge you to do everything in your power to assure the respect of internationally recognized workers' rights to join and form trade unions and the right to collectively bargain at IBM in Bulgaria. EMF, IMF and UNI demand in particular that IBM Bulgaria apply IBM's internal regulations stipulating the strict application of local legislation, as put forward in the Corporate Guidelines of IBM Corp,&quot; states the letter.

Following reports of harassment and intimidation by IBM management of workers involved in trade union activities at IBM Bulgaria, EMF, IMF and UNI send joint letter to company.

IMF, EMF, UNI letter to IBM Bulgaria

Violations of workers&#039; rights at IBM Bulgaria

NEW ZEALAND/MEXICO: Representatives of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), an affiliate of the International Metalworkers' Federation, the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) delivered a letter to the acting Mexican Ambassador on June 30 expressing deep concern at the Mexican government's use of force against striking workers in the National Miners' and Metalworkers Union of Mexico (Los Mineros).The letter condemns the assault by heavily armed riot police on striking members of Los Mineros at the Cananea copper mine in Mexico earlier in June.On June 6, hundreds of Mexican riot police surrounded the mine and used tear gas to dislodge workers who were occupying the entrances and to assault the union office. More than 1,000 members of Los Mineros were on strike over a long-running dispute with the company, Grupo Mexico, over health and safety and other contract violations.Los Mineros reported that three workers received gunshot or projectile wounds, and others had been beaten or were suffering from the effects of the tear gas.The letter urges the Mexican government to allow the elected leader of the union, Napoleón Gómez, to return to Mexico from exile in Canada and resume his position.The acting Mexican Ambassador Luis Enrique Franco gave an assurance he would convey to his government the deep concerns of the New Zealand trade union movement over the Mexican government's treatment of the workers involved.&quot;We urge the Mexican government to allow the safe return of Napoleón Gómez, the elected leader of the National Miners' and Metalworkers Union of Mexico, so he can resume his duties without fear of reprisal,&quot; says the EPMU's senior national industrial officer Paul Tolich.&quot;The Mexican government needs to honour its commitments as a member of the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO) and guarantee freedom of association for all Mexican workers,&quot; says MUNZ general secretary Joe Fleetwood.

New Zealand unions protest Mexican government's use of force against striking workers by delivering a letter to the Mexican embassy.

New Zealand unions support Mexican Miners&#039; Union

INDIA: Meeting in Chennai a group of communication and trade union leaders from the metal sector held a workshop to discuss how to improve union communication and networks.Participants identified that achieving two way communication with workers through existing methods and developing new communication technologies will be essential to build membership and campaign on issues important to metalworkers.Through group work and discussion a number of ideas were identified including the need to train union leadership and members on how to use new technologies to enable greater sharing of information on trade union successes and struggles. An example of establishing a community centre that provided workers and their families with access to information technology training was seen as a positive example that unions could adopt. The power of study circles as a way to develop union communication and networks was also noted.The meeting discussed the importance of using communication to bring the unorganised and unprotected workers into the union. Embracing new technologies for communication may also be a way for unions to bridge the generation gap and bring in young people to the trade union movement.Affiliates participating in the workshop learnt about IMF communication channels, how to find out information and how to feed in informationThe IMF National Workshop on Communications and Networking takes place in Chennai on June 17 and 18, 2010.

At a workshop on communications and networking, metalworking trade unions in India examine how to strengthen communication capacity in the country.

Introduction to IMF Communications

Indian metalworkers build communications network

A key role of the IMF is to build effective solidarity and cooperation among affiliated unions present in metalworking TNCs to ensure an equal playing field for workers, which goes far beyond minimum standards. To achieve this, the IMF and its affiliates must actively engage workers in TNCs and their supply chains and give them an opportunity to actively participate in day-to-day trade union work and cross-border activities. Building relationships and strengthening solidarity on an ongoing basis with trade union representatives from different countries enhances the affiliates' ability to act jointly in crises, such as when the rights of workers are violated, during collective bargaining negotiations, when mass layoffs are carried out, or in the event of restructuring to prevent workers being played off against each other. The IMF uses global union networks and the IMF world company councils to build greater capacity for working together in defence of workers' interests across national boundaries. Whenever a TNC announces redundancies or a decrease in working conditions in a given country and the workers and their unions directly affected are actively resisting these changes, the IMF will coordinate solidarity actions involving all countries where that TNC operates. Solidarity actions will include among other initiatives: information campaigns targeting workers and the society at large; the commitment by all unions not to accept the transfer of production from the country in conflict to another one; protest demonstrations in the different countries of operation of the TNC, and wherever possible interruption of production and/or of supplies. In those solidarity campaigns a decisive role will be played by the home country trade unionThis is particularly important to build solidarity with workers in countries like China, where they strive for workers' rights and independent and democratic unions.  In this context, it is also important to engage with non-IMF organisations such as the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and its metal industry-organisations.  Another step is to institutionalise networks and IMF-world company councils in order to create representative, functioning, financially viable and organised global structures of workers' representation. In this respect, the IMF will resort to the experience made with company-related international cooperation in all regions.The IMF continues to seek to establish IMF world company councils in TNCs.  Whenever possible,   financing of such councils will be negotiated with TNC management without compromising union inclusion and control. Management should play a role in these councils through regular meetings and providing information about the company's situation, policy and investment.These IMF-world company councils shall be underpinned by union networks made up of the responsible trade union coordinators from different countries and / or local areas in which plants of the TNC are located. These networks shall assure that all unions can be part of the information exchange process.At companies such as Volkswagen, Daimler, SKF and Rolls Royce world employee representations/world works councils have already been established, which consist of employee representatives. They were negotiated with and are funded by the respective company.  Trade unions may be involved through an agreement or supportive trade union networks. IMF affiliates seek to engage with those councils to pursue IMF policies.The most important benefit of this company-related, national, regional and international cooperation is the fact that trade union representatives from the company level can exchange information and reach agreed positions.  In so doing, activities of national or local workers' representations may be coordinated internationally. Thus, the networks, world works councils and IMF-world company councils are a way of building solidarity and overcoming competition between workers in different plants of the same company.  The IMF will support and organise training measures that equip union representatives at company level and union officers in charge of TNC with international and intercultural competences. Here, the goal is to efficiently foster cooperation at the company level. The communication between company union representatives and their national trade union must be organised according to the practices in the respective country (e.g. by union officers in charge of certain sectors or companies).Trade union networks, world employee councils/world works councils and IMF world company councils have the potential to develop into negotiating bodies.  The IMF can support this where there is sufficient trade union strength and provided that it is mandated by the trade unions and trade unions are involved and clear IMF guidelines are adhered to.  Building on previous experiences and debates, guidelines for the work of company networks need to be discussed and defined by the IMF. Consideration should be given to focusing resources and efforts in a number of key companies balanced across different sectors and countries.Trade union networks, world works councils and IMF world company councils work within the broader context of IMF sectoral activities and must take into account the varying structures of production chains, and competition in the metal industries. Sectoral work brings together workers from companies that compete with one another to discuss developments and seek shared positions and joint strategies. These strategies should address management attempts to create competition between workers in the sector. The IMF's regional sector-based meetings improve coordination by combining company and sector-level forums for workers, in support of global level activities. Developing sectoral and regional work around consistent responses to  the challenges  facing the industry's workers  will be facilitated when it is done in concert with strengthening trade union links at the enterprise-level, based on an evaluation of the work done already. In some countries, potential leverage to engage TNCs is available to unions through workers' capital in the form of pension and retirement funds. IMF affiliates, particularly those in TNC home countries also have a variety of national means to influence corporate governance. These tools can be used to promote and protect worker and trade union rights across global production chains, to fight corporate corruption, and to push for greater social accountability by corporations.Global campaigns against TNCs that consistently violate worker and trade unions rights are essential to furthering the interests of workers. This requires the support of IMF affiliates, world councils, actions groups and networks, and making use of possible workers' capital and communication strategies.To achieve strengthened union solidarity and cooperation across sectors and TNCs the IMF will:<ul><li>Pressure TNCs to take responsibility for working conditions in their operations and in their supply chains and to remove barriers to freedom of association;</li><li>Build mutual understanding among affiliated unions present in metalworking TNCs to ensure an equal and level playing field for workers that goes far beyond minimum standards;</li><li>Develop a TNC network strategy, working methods and tools, based on a critical analysis of the current networks, councils and available resources in each of the major TNCs. The strategy will include guidelines, to be developed by the Executive Committee, for the work of company networks. These will cover the roles of home country unions, IMF and other affiliates, avoiding co-optation by the companies, building the role of national unions, and tools/protocols for communication and action. The strategy will focus resources and efforts on a number of key companies that are distributed across different sectors and countries;</li><li>Assist affiliates to form and coordinate global union networks at TNCs and/or the sectoral level through which employee representatives from the plant level and national unions can engage in a cross-border exchange of information and consultation on a regular basis;</li><li>Coordinate activities and develop training and information material to build mutual trust and solidarity under the motto &quot;United we stand - divided we fall!&quot;;</li><li>Develop networks for information exchange and action that aim to be efficient, timely, accurate and accessible;</li><li>Gather, analyse and distribute information on the metalworking industries, with particular focus on companies and industrial sectors where workers and members are concentrated, covering collective bargaining, technological changes, innovations on how production is organised, working time, pay and classification systems, and industrial actions;</li><li>Work through TUAC and the ITUC to further strengthen mechanisms to influence corporate governance and socially responsible investment plans of pensions and retirement funds; and</li><li>Work jointly with other GUFs, the ITUC, and TUAC to have structures of union representation in companies at the global level, together with rights to consultation and information, explicitly recognised by the ILO and in international laws and regulations. </li></ul>IMF affiliates will:<ul><li>Provide technical and political support to build and strengthen networks and for successful international coordination of information coming from the national and regional levels; and</li><li>Engage members at the national level to build mutual trust and solidarity to ensure an international approach towards worker and trade union rights when confronting corporate strategies including during transnational restructuring processes.</li></ul>

Preface

3. GLOBAL SOLIDARITY IN ACTION

3.3 Defend and protect workers rights

1. OUR MISSION

2. THE WORLD TODAY

2.1 Profits over people

2.2 Unemployment and job insecurity

2.3 Unions under attack

2.4 Fundamental workers´ rights denied

2.5 Spreading influence of Transnational Corporations

2.6 World trade system in disarray

2.7 An unsustainable future

2.8 Alliances, resistance and opportunities

3.1 Build strong national trade unions

3.1.1 Organise the unorganised

3.1.2 Strive for trade union unity at the national level

3.1.3 Build unions through education, training and effective exchange of information

3.2 Strengthening collective bargaining

3.3.1 Fight for trade union rights

3.3.2 Fight for Equal Rights

3.3.3 Fight for safe workplaces

3.4 Build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations

3.4.1 Strengthening union solidarity and cooperation across sectors and TNCs

3.4.2 Advance fundamental rights through International Framework Agreements

TNCs, in their pursuit of profits, exert enormous pressure on workers with little regard for democratic, labour and social rights. Employers, supported by many governments and institutions of international governance, seek to shift business risks onto workers and reduce their social, economic, and environmental obligations.To date trade unions have struggled to act as a counterweight to the enormous economic power and sophistication of TNCs. Cost reductions sought by TNCs frequently include a shift from secure to insecure forms of employment, fragmentation of collective bargaining, corporate restructuring, and abuse of human and workers' rights. This serves to heighten competition between workers and communities within and across nations and triggers a race to the bottom in standards.There is an urgent need for more effective international solidarity and cooperation among metalworkers in TNC and along the TNC supply chains to reverse these trends. The IMF has considerable scope to challenge this situation and a range of experiences to draw on, including strategies and activities to strengthen the solidarity between workers across sectors and TNCs. Nevertheless, better tools, a better exchange of information, and more mutual trust between workers need to be promoted by the IMF and its affiliates. This must be built on a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of union organisation and corresponding networks, councils, and the resources available in each of the major TNCs. This analysis will be undertaken by the IMF Executive Committee, informed by the IMF regional and sectoral structures.

All workers should enjoy equal rights irrespective of their sex, age, nationality, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or religion.  Yet metal industry employers in many countries, including highly industrialised ones, continue to discriminate with impunity against workers precisely on those grounds. The IMF will work with its affiliates to eliminate discrimination in the workplace in all its forms. Many workers throughout the world are subjected to discrimination that deprives them of their rights to freedom of association and collective bargain.  That is why IMF will focus its efforts on assisting affiliates to develop specific organising strategies, e.g. to improve unionisation rates among women, migrant and young workers, particularly in EPZs, where labour rights continue to be abused and trade unionism is repressed. There is a clear and urgent need for unions to assess whether new approaches must be adopted to meet the needs and aspirations of women, young people, and migrant workers -  groups that are underrepresented in metal unions, but that are entering the industry at an increasing rate.  Changes need to be made to union structures, cultures and practices that discourage such workers from becoming union members to ensure that equal rights are extended to all workers.According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, discrimination occurs if persons with disabilities cannot participate as fully-fledged members in society and if their human and workers' rights are violated.  In particular, with respect to elderly workers, many countries need to intensify their struggle against discrimination and social exclusion of older, disabled and health-impaired workers from the labour market and further training.Discrimination also means that women, migrant and young workers are over-represented in precarious employment. This reaches extreme levels in the case of migrant workers, particularly when dramatic poverty leaves them without protection against unprincipled and sometimes criminal organisations that exploit their vulnerability. The IMF will encourage affiliates to share strategies for making contact with and organising migrant workers, and improving their working conditions by including them in collective bargaining.The double burden of domestic work that is placed on women can force them into precarious employment situations, with adverse consequences for themselves, their families and communities.  The IMF will give priority to highlighting the disproportionate impact precarious work has on women workers and to encouraging measures to address it, focusing in particular on the gender pay gap and the gender segmentation that leads to women being denied access to better jobs.Women's representation at all levels of trade union organisation is still too low. Efforts by unions to organise women workers are hampered by structures that do not include women as leaders.  The IMF will continue to work with its affiliates to redress this imbalance and assist them to remove barriers to women's representation in their union structures and electoral processes. An emphasis will be put on the need to encourage greater participation by young workers in union structures. The IMF will:<ul><li>Assist its affiliates in leading the fight in the workplace against discrimination in all its forms;</li><li>Support organising activities of affiliates in EPZs and encourage the exchange of successful experiences between them;</li><li>Cooperate with ITUC and other GUFs, particularly International Textile, Garment &amp; Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), in addressing the lack of union organisation  in EPZs;</li><li>Assist its affiliates in eliminating constraints that hinder persons with disabilities to get equal opportunities at the workplace.  The IMF will also support programs that focus on issues concerning people with disabilities in all trade union and ILO activities;</li><li>Assist affiliates to identify and remove barriers to women's equal participation and representation in their unions;</li><li>Monitor and report on the impact of precarious work on women, migrant and young workers including encouraging affiliates to do their own gender analysis of precarious work and to take action to reduce the double burden of domestic work on women;</li><li>Ensure that measures taken to improve conditions for precarious workers take particular account of the needs of women, migrant, and young workers;</li><li>Provide opportunities for affiliates to share experiences and strategies for making contact with and organising both internal and external migrant workers; and</li><li>Raise awareness of the difficulties faced by young people in finding secure employment with good pay and working conditions, and support efforts by affiliates to respond.</li></ul>

Achieving and strengthening collective bargaining is the core activity of trade unions and remains the best instrument for improving wages and conditions, regulating the relationship between employers and workers and solving problems at the workplace. Its impact goes beyond the workplace and affects the living conditions and development prospects of communities. Collective bargaining should be increasingly used as a tool for trade unions to engage with communities and promote the broader interests of workers as citizens and consumers.Over the past decade the trade union movement has been attacked by employers, governments and their allies who are determined to weaken collective bargaining, thereby weakening the union movement. In particular, employers are eager to eradicate national, sectoral, and sometimes even enterprise-wide collective bargaining. Using the threat of outsourcing production and services, they push for more flexibility and other concessions. New forms of employment and work practices are imposed on employees, increasing stress and insecurity. In developing countries, foreign investors in particular demand deregulation of labour law and other regulatory changes, which have negative impacts on the development opportunities for these countries.  The IMF will work with affiliates to ensure that collective agreements continue to provide a framework for intervening on all work issues including decent wages and working conditions, including working time, work organisation, pace of work and health and safety. In the long-term, and as companies increasingly operate globally, collective bargaining at the international level, while respecting the rights of national unions, must be the goal of the IMF.  As a first step, an information and coordination system should be established. To develop and strengthen global and national collective bargaining efforts, the IMF will:<ul><li>Develop ways to exchange information on collective bargaining that build on the experiences gained at the regional level in Europe and elsewhere;</li><li>Build commonality for bargaining among affiliates at the global level, e.g. by developing global union positions on issues such as precarious employment and training;</li><li>Conduct cross-border negotiations with TNC with the involvement of functioning global union networks and an IMF coordinator, based on clear case by case mandates from affiliates.  In order to have a framework of action for these cross-border negotiations, the IMF Executive Committee will develop IMF guidelines with the support of the Secretariat, which will also describe the roles of the IMF coordinators.  Not only may IFAs be negotiated, but also topics such as health and safety and training;  access to information and other issues of common interest; and</li><li>Assist affiliates in building collective bargaining capacity at the national level. </li></ul> IMF affiliates shall:<ul><li>Provide information on collective bargaining experiences to others; and</li><li>Strive to remove legal obstacles to collective bargaining at the national and sectoral level.</li></ul>

<h3 align="left">Training and Education</h3>Where appropriate, the IMF will cooperate with the ITUC, TUAC, the ILO and union-friendly partner organisations to organise and provide education and training aimed at building strong national unions. The IMF Secretariat, with advice from the Executive Committee and the Regions, will prioritise this work to best meet the Action Programme objectives. Where there is cooperation with donor organisations, the primacy of the IMF objectives and the independence of the IMF will always be maintained.Education and training for union building will include topics such as:<ul><li>Globalisation, the rise of corporate power and challenging neoliberalism;</li><li>Organising;</li><li>Collective bargaining policies and effective collective bargaining skills and structures;</li><li>Health and safety issues; </li><li>Equal rights;</li><li>Introduction of new technologies;</li><li>Skills development and life long learning;</li><li>Internal and external communication strategies;</li><li>Financial union management (including effective collection of membership dues and appropriate and transparent expenditures);</li><li>Implementation, monitoring and enforcement of IFAs; and</li><li>Other trade union topics that are of interest and concern.</li></ul>Consistent with the principles outlined above in sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, the IMF will provide resources for union building projects on the condition that they:<ul><li>Build organisations independent of employer and government control;</li><li>Enhance democracy within the organisation and encourage and enable members, particularly youth and women, to take part in the activities of the organisation. Projects should contribute to eliminating political, racial and gender discrimination;</li><li>Increase the capacity of the organisation to carry out its own core union activities, building self-reliance, particularly in the area of education;</li><li>Strengthen solidarity within the organisation, among unions in the country and/or region, and inside the IMF; and</li><li>Support independent trade unions confronting and fighting repressive governments.</li></ul><h3> Information</h3><ul><li>Information on the work of the IMF and its affiliates needs to be more systematically communicated. This information can help affiliates in the different regions to learn from one another and build up their strength.</li></ul><h3> The IMF will:</h3><ul><li>Work towards establishing a more effective internal information system, using the IMF website, newsletters, the quarterly journal and other means of communication. </li></ul><h3> IMF affiliates will:</h3><ul><li>Inform the secretariat about what type of information they are interested in; and,</li><li>Provide the IMF with information about their activities.</li></ul>

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