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NUMSA leadership has never shied away from criticizing South Africa democratic government led by African National Congress (ANC), the ruling majority party, and Irvin is no different. He believes some of the ANC's strategic decisions were erroneous. While he does not deny the victory the democratic breakthrough represents, Irvin believes ANC government needs to take responsibility for South Africa's growing inequality and the fact that infrastructure, education, water resources and health systems remain unfairly distributed across the societies of South Africa.In 1995 South Africa was granted membership in the World Trade Organization, and according to Irvin it cost South Africans many jobs as liberalization of trade destroyed industries. &quot;Under the ANC government, exchange control was removed with the hope that the capital will come and make investments. Instead the capital took money from the country and invested it in stock exchange speculations and no real investment happened in productive sectors of the economy,&quot; says Irvin.The fall of apartheid removed legal differences between the rights enjoyed by white and black South Africans, but &quot;access to those rights for people is determined by their economic position in our society,&quot; says Irvin.As South Africa grapples with the impact of the global financial crisis, Irvin is also critical of the double standards of government and business and their &quot;casino&quot; attitude to the economy. For years NUMSA has been calling for nationalisation in the interest of South African people, to no avail. However, now when the banks are in crisis, government and business have been willing to nationalise debts. Meanwhile profits remain private. Opposing this approach and calling for new solutions will be a priority for NUMSA under Irvin's leadership, along with other long-standing campaigns including opposition to the spread of precarious jobs and the AIDS pandemic. Maintaining continuity following recent changes with NUMSA is also important to Irvin. He points out that the new leadership elected at the recent National Congress are all long time NUMSA members and officials. Emphasising statements made at Congress, Irvin says, &quot;our responsibility is that our union should stay united and consolidated.&quot;<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19222&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Profile of Irvin Jim Download pdf file with illustrations >>

Confronting the legacy of apartheid remains vital for South African workers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Text and photo / Alex IvanouIn 1991, on only his second day at work, Irvin Jim&#039;s fellow workers at Firestone Tyres nominated him as their union representative. Irvin laughs as he recounts the shock of company management when a general meeting was called to elect the young rubber worker. Aged only 23, Irvin turned down the nomination that day but within three months had taken on the role of shop steward, and was well on the path to becoming one of South Africa&#039;s most senior trade unionists. In October 2008, Irvin was elected General Secretary at the Congress of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). Despite his smiling manner, Irvin immediately conveys the impression of a person who has his own views and convictions and is ready to defend them. Irvin&#039;s rapid ascension within the union was assisted by the skills he gained as a student activist in South Africa&#039;s youth movement in the late 1980&#039;s. Following the fall of the apartheid regime in 1994, Irvin became the NUMSA regional chairperson for the Eastern Cape region. He was at that time the youngest member of the NUMSA Central Committee and remained Regional Secretary until his election to the leadership role last year.The fight against the apartheid regime has been a central theme for both Irvin and the union he now heads. NUMSA was formed in 1987 as a result of a merger between four unions to unite different sectors into a single metalworkers&#039; union. The IMF played a key role in the creation of the union and continues to work closely with NUMSA, which represents southern Africa at IMF Executive committee meetings. &quot;Politically and economically we&#039;ve been a very fortunate country, a country that succeeded to win solidarity with the people of the globe,&quot; says Irvin. &quot;The biggest challenge now is to ensure that the very same globe appreciates that the legacy of apartheid has not been dealt with.&quot;<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19224&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

The new leader of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa brings a long history of activism to combat old and new challenges.

Organizing women and bringing them into leadership positions is central to the IMF Action Program. In 2005, the Congress voted to expand the Executive to 25 seats; six are reserved for women and are to be equally distributed among the regions. The plan also set a 20 percent target for women's participation in the Central Committee and Congress, and called for holding a Women's Conference in conjunction with the Congress. Regional structures such as the Latin American Gender Council, East Asian Women's Committee and the Macedonian Women's Section have been set up. In Brazil and the Dominican Republic, the increasing role of women is changing union cultures. The ILO recently recognized the Canadian Auto Workers' (CAW) historic struggle for gender equality. In some cases, progress is directly linked to the crucial task of organizing more women. Women are the predominant workers in EPZs the world over, and in Indonesia, the IMF affiliates' success in EPZ organizing are largely due to strong advances in bringing women into leadership positions.Global labor at a turning pointRight now, the world is mired in the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As the IMF repeatedly underlined, neo-liberalism was a disaster waiting to happen. Deregulation, privatization, weakening of social safety nets, neglect of public investment, and hostility to worker and human rights by many national governments, the Bretton Woods institutions, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), led to the stagnation of living standards for the popular classes and enormous riches for a few. The basic elements of the crisis were growing indebtedness and unregulated financial speculation in a now global financial market. The current crisis is a disaster for the world's poor and working people. Declining production, even when mergers and bankruptcies can be avoided, will bring unemployment and loss of incomes to billions of workers. Union membership is bound to decline in the short run and will have to be rebuilt.Nevertheless, there is a bright side to the debacle. For decades, unions swam against the stream, but now the failure of neo-liberalism is obvious to all but those who will not learn. Leaders of banks and industries - the former cheer-leaders for neo-liberal &quot;reforms&quot; - now beg for government hand-outs. Deficit spending is advocated even by conservative experts and public ownership is on the rise. This is a great opportunity for the IMF, international labor, and its progressive allies. Although the current crisis is economic, its roots are political. Discredited policies can be reversed by a new push for respect of core labor standards not only nationally but in world trade, by demanding the rebuilding of social safety nets, stricter environmental safeguards (including a switch to clean energies), re-regulation of finance and industries, and effective economic intervention by government that will counteract depression even as it improves infrastructures and promotes sustainable industries and services. The future IMF must seize this opportunity and meet these challenges.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19220&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Download the pdf file of the special report with illustrations >>

IMF - The last twenty years

In Latin America, unions began to see the fruits of their decades-long struggle against dictatorships. Together with political and civil society allies, unions ultimately succeeded in electing progressive governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela. At its 1989 Congress, the IMF had 19 regional affiliates, but none in the economically powerful Brazil and only three medium-sized organizations in Mexico. By 2005, the IMF counted 35 metalworking unions, including the two largest in Brazil, and seven significant unions in Mexico including the powerful mine workers (SNTMMSRM). This positive turn in Mexico was largely due to an increase in IMF activities after 2000. Nevertheless, much work remains to be done there - a conservative government and a majority corporatist union movement still inhibit the formation of independent unions.The Asia-Pacific Region saw strong economic development during the last twenty years. For unions, particularly metalworkers, there were some important successes. There were affiliations in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal, but most notably, the large metalworkers' organization in Korea (KMWF, now KMWU) and important unions in Indonesia (FSPMI and Lomenik-SBSI) joined the IMF. In 2000 the IMF expelled the Thai union and assisted in the formation of a new independent union called TEAM. Through workshops organised annually since 2003 for the then Vietnam National Union of Industrial Workers (VNUIW) the IMF has consolidated its relationships with the successor organisation, the Vietnam National Union of Workers in Industry and Trade (VUIT), which has recently applied for affiliation to the IMF.The IMF's engagement with China began with a 1994 fact-finding mission which was followed by a high-level mission to China in 2000 and 2006. After a long process of discussions, a small meeting with the Chinese Machinery, Metallurgical and Building Materials Workers' Union (CMMBMWU) was organised at the beginning of January 2009 and a joint workshop on collective bargaining has been planned for April 2009. Nevertheless, these gains cannot obscure the enormous obstacles that independent unionism faces in Asia, including China. However, the IMF is committed for the long term, and persevering efforts are necessary to make further progress in the future. In India, independent unionism is relatively weak in the private sector, and a number of important unions linked to Communist parties are not yet prepared to follow their counterparts in Europe and the former Soviet Block and join, or at least work with, the IMF. In cooperation with its affiliates, the IMF has launched a number of projects, which include union-building among shipbreaking workers and targeted educational activities. The IMF is also working with Indian unions to advance organising in fast growing sectors such as steel and automotive industries. Nevertheless, strengthening and uniting metalworker unions in this rapidly developing part of the world remains one of the key challenges confronting the IMF.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19216&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19218&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

IMF - the last twenty years

Post Cold War Union BuildingUnder new leadership, the IMF immediately addressed these challenges. By December 1990, a &quot;Plan of Action&quot; identified Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary as key transition countries and focused on preparing them for the role independent unions play in democratic market-based societies. In 1991, seminars were held in the target countries as well as Romania and Bulgaria, and in December the first IMF conference in Eastern Europe took place in Brno, Czekoslovakia on the issue of migration. Starting that year, millions of metalworkers in Central Europe began to join the IMF, and by the time of the centenary congress in 1993, metalworking unions from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania were IMF members. The Slovenian metalworkers became members that same year. By 1997, IMF affiliates in this region by-and-large took over responsibilities for their own programs. The first IMF office opened in Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest in 1997 and efforts turned to South-eastern Europe, where the rebuilding of cooperative relations after years of war and ethnic conflicts was a priority. Affiliations, mostly in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, soon followed. IMF attention then turned to the former Soviet Republics and the Baltic states. Plans for a Project Office in Moscow were developed and implemented over several years. A new milestone was passed with the affiliation of unions in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine in 1999. In 2001, the IMF Executive was enlarged to include a representative from Central and Eastern Europe. By 2004, the 12 regional affiliates the IMF counted in 2001 had grown to 19, including a first affiliation from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan). Since 1989, strong metalworking unions have been built throughout the former Soviet Bloc, but many challenges remain. Entrenched regimes still regard independent unions with hostility, particularly in Belarus, where the Lukashenko dictatorship tries to crush them. Economic difficulties persist in many countries, and even where there has been some progress, metalworkers' gains are sure to be threatened by the deepening economic crisis that began in 2008.Eastern and Central Europe was not the only world region where the IMF and the movements it had assisted, progressed. In South Africa, combined international and domestic pressures forced the apartheid state to release Nelson Mandela, who was elected to lead the country in 1994. South African metalworkers were already well represented in the IMF in 1989, particularly by the huge NUMSA, but in the rest of Africa, there were only 13 affiliates and none in Mozambique, Angola or Nigeria. That number grew by 2005. Excluding South Africa, there were 24 affiliates in Africa, including important unions in Mozambique and Angola as well as countries on the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, despite this membership growth and a few bright spots, there was no significant economic development in post-colonial Africa.<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19215&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td><td> </td><td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19217&amp;mwId=19189">forward &gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

The details of the national collective contract are key to recruitment. With shrinking membership figures, it will be more difficult to maintain the collective contract, Inga-Lill points out adding, &quot;for that reason we must explain what a collective contract is. Many young people think that pay and overtime compensation and other working conditions are determined by law and not through negotiations between the unions and employers' organizations. &quot;The more workplaces lack members, the more difficult it is to defend conditions. For that reason there is a clear connection between membership and the ability to defend working conditions.&quot; Back to Snap-On in Bollnäs where Stefan Halvarsson, chairman of the IF Metall branch, is not satisfied that almost all metalworkers at the plant are in the union. He also participates in the union's organizing and recruiting project. &quot;We travel around to workplaces, and many people think it's fun when we come. They are happy to see us. Often it's a matter of showing yourself. And listening. We also get an opportunity to explain why we're here. We can inform people about the value of being in the union,&quot; Stefan says. The Swedish trade union movement is confronted with new challenges. For Stefan it is self-evident that the fate of the Swedish trade union movement is part of the global movement. He is chairman of the Snap-On company's European Works Council and through it he has close contacts with other European unions. Stefan is also participating in the start-up of a union project with the metalworkers' union in Namibia. &quot;International cooperation has been becoming even more important. Bollnäs and our plant are a part of the world - that has become ever more obvious in recent years, says Stefan. &quot;It is important to organize more people, both here in Sweden and around the world.&quot;<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19213&amp;mwId=19189">&lt;&lt; back</a></td><td> </td><td><a href="../main/index.cfm?n=103&amp;l=2&amp;c=19197&amp;mwId=19189">beginning</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Feature: Download pdf file with illustrations >>

Swedish Unions revive recruitment efforts

BRAZIL: Affiliates of the International Metalworkers' Federation who participated in the IMF Central Committee in Brazil adopted a number of resolutions focusing on trade and workers' rights.A resolution on the IMF Working Party on Trade, Employment and Development called for affiliates to support African trade unions and NGOs in their campaign against Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that are to replace the Cotonou Agreement with ACP countries. The resolution, adopted by the IMF Central Committee, noted that the European Union is continuing to push toward a liberalisation of the markets without an evaluation of its impact on affected communities. For resolution text, click <a href="../main/index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=17001">here</a>.Central Committee delegates adopted a resolution in support of the Mexican Miners' and Metalworkers' Union's (SNTMMSRM) struggle to fight the Mexican government and Grupo Mexico's joint-effort to take control of the union. The resolution denounced the enormous political persecution SNTMMSRM members and leadership have faced and called on affiliates to take collective action in solidarity. For resolution text, click <a href="../main/index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=17002">here</a>.The United Auto Workers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, United Steelworkers and Korean Metal Workers' Union put forth a resolution opposing the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement and the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement and calling for the immediate release of imprisoned workers in Korea. Central Committee delegates fully supported the resolution. For resolution text, click <a href="../main/index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=17003">here</a>.Indian affiliates put forth a resolution calling on the Indian government to ensure that it puts in place a fair, transparent and just law on land acquisition in response to the government's recent move to set up industrial zones, displacing tens of thousands of rural people in India. The resolution was adopted by the IMF Central Committee. For resolution text, click <a href="../main/index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=17004">here</a>.SPMK Kosovo presented a resolution in support of Iron Pipes Plant workers in Ferizaj 1 Urosevac who were dismissed under a privatisation plan employed by Kosovo Trust Agency. The resolution, which was adopted by the IMF Central Committee, called for workers to return to work and for Kosovo Trust Agency to dialogue with the union representing Iron Pipes Plant workers. For resolution text, click <a href="../main/index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=17005">here</a>.A resolution in support of workers at the Ford automotive assembly plant in Vsevolojsk, Russia who are fighting for improved wages and working conditions was adopted by the IMF Central Committee. The resolution demands that the company cease any form of intimidation or force against the workers and enters into good faith negotiations with the union. For resolution text, click <a href="../main/index.cfm?n=47&amp;l=2&amp;c=17000">here</a>.All resolutions were adopted in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on November 29, 2007.

Resolutions focused on trade and workers' rights in Russia, Kosovo, Korea, Mexico, India, Canada, U.S. and Africa.

Resolution on IMF Working Party on Trade, Employment and Development

Resolution on Mexican Workers

Resolution on Korea-US FTA and Canada-Korea FTA and Imprisoned Workers

Resolution for the Protection of Livelihood Rights of Displaced Rural Peoples in India

Resolution on Workers at Iron Pipes Plant in Kosovo

Resolution on Ford Workers in Russia

IMF Central Committee adopts resolutions

BRAZIL:  More than 50 delegates participated in the International Metalworkers' Federation's Women's Workshop on Precarious Work in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil on November 26.Delegates considered a report on activities of the IMF Equal Rights Department regarding Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and women workers in the electronics manufacturing industry. The meeting put a focus on the issue of precarious work in Brazil, where Brazilian women represent the majority of precarious workers in the country.Carol Landry from the United Steelworkers Canada, Hyewon Chong of the Korean Metal Workers Union and Francia Sosa of the National Federation of Miners and Metalworkers (FENATRAMIN) in the Dominican Republic were part of a panel reporting on precarious work in their respective countries and strategies their unions have taken to address this important problem. Hyewon reminded delegates of the enormous challenge precarious workers face to improve their situation. "Once you fall in, it's almost impossible to climb out and get permanent work," she said, noting that precarious workers are by definition robbed of the tools to change their lot, the right to strike and the right to collectively bargain.The workshop examined why women are more likely to be in precarious work and possible union approaches to improve conditions for women precarious workers specifically. Delegates put forth list of recommendations to be considered at the IMF Central Committee meeting taking place in the following days. Proposals to be considered include:<ul><li>Unions should take action to reduce the double burden of domestic work on women, one of the reasons for women's over-representation in precarious employment.</li><li>Actions should be taken to improve the work-life balance in regular employment, to reduce precarious employment.</li><li>Unions should do their own gender analysis of precarious work. Strategies on precarious work should emphasize Decent Work and incorporate gender and race.</li><li>Since women are often employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that lack capacity to implement gains for women, union need to insist on bargaining with the principal company.</li><li>All Central Committee proposals must take into account gender.</li><li>IMF should develop a women's manifesto pointing out the various ways that neo-liberalism has affected women in the metal industry.</li><li>Precarious labour has a feminine face and all IMF documents need to show that understanding.</li><li>Precarious work means precarious lives and social insecurity leading to increasing violence against women. This must be emphasized in the IMF's campaign against precarious work.</li></ul>

IMF delegates put forth proposals on precarious work for consideration at IMF Central Committee taking place November 28-29.

Proposals of women's workshop to the CC

IMF holds Women&#039;s Workshop on Precarious Work

USA: Schweitzer-Mauduit paper mill in central New Jersey has invested $700,000 to change over from using deadly bulk chlorine to bleach their paper, to a safer process thanks to the United Steelworkers (USW).The union's success protects 240 members in the plant, and the surrounding communities where dangerous 90-ton railcars of chlorine rolled through town to the plant. According to the company's own "worst case scenario" report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a terrorist attack or major accident releasing the chlorine could have endangered up to 1.1 million people within a 14 mile radius.Chlorine exposure burns the eyes and skin, and breathing chlorine can be fatal. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory estimates that should a mass chlorine release take place in a populated area, up to 100,000 people could be killed or injured within the first 30 minutes.Steve Green, President of USW local 1482 commented in the press that the union worked closely with community residents to push for safer technology in the plant. "Both the union and community had concerns. The union repeatedly urged the company to eliminate the hazard. Fortunately, they responded positively," he said.

Up to 1.1 million workers and residents are safer thanks to the union's efforts.

US Steelworkers get paper mill to end bulk chlorine

SOUTH AFRICA: The International Metalworkers&#039; Federation hosted a regional workshop in South Africa in June to bring together African affiliates, trade experts and IMF secretariat and regional staff to discuss the impact of Chinese trade and investment in southern Africa.The workshop&#039;s aim: to provide metalworker unions, especially those in SADC countries, with an opportunity to learn from experts about the reality of China&#039;s expansion, particularly, though not exclusively, in Africa; compare trade union experiences in different regions; and collect information on and analyse the fast growing Chinese presence in SADC countries with attention to the repercussions on the regional integration process and the impact of Chinese investments on employment, workers&#039; rights and development.The meeting served as an opportunity for trade union leaders in the region to share their experiences and better understand an increasingly complex situation of foreign investments and trade that have direct repercussions on the working and living conditions of their members. Major points of discussion included:<ul><li><div>Violations of fundamental democratic rights - human, workers&#039;, and trade union rights in China and by Chinese investors abroad.</div></li><li>Cross-sector and cross-regional strategies and case studies.</li><li>Precarisation of employment conditions. Are Chinese employers accelerating this problem?</li></ul>Delegates put forth the recommendation that affiliates must commit to organizing all kinds of casual workers for the survival of the trade union movement, recognizing that the increasing phenomenon of casualisation of work will erode their membership unless they are able to reach out to these workers.

Affiliates discuss cross-sector and cross-regional case studies and strategies.

IMF holds meeting on Chinese trade and investment in Africa

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