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ITALY: Union representatives of Fiat workers in Italy, Poland, Brazil, Serbia, Spain and Turkey met with the International Metalworkers' Federation and European Works Council in Turin, Italy today to initiate discussion about negotiating an International Framework Agreement with the Italian automaker. Organised by Italian metalworkers' unions FIM-CISL, FIOM-CGIL, and UILM-UIL together with the IMF, the meeting is a first step in ensuring that workers' fundamental rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining, as well as the prohibition of child labor and forced labor are respected throughout the Fiat Group. For more information about IMF International Framework Agreements go to: <a href="../IFA">www.imfmetal.org/IFA</a>

Italian autoworkers are calling for a "globalisation of rights" for the more than 185,000 workers employed by Fiat Group worldwide.

Unions press for IFA with Fiat

Financial capital has come to dominate productive capital. Short-term speculative investment has gained the upper hand at the expense of long-term investment in job creation, skills development, research and innovation, and sustainable development. The current food, fuel and financial crises, are neo-liberal policy failures, that have drastic consequences for working people and the poor, and that are now dragging the world economy into a severe recession. Over the past few years the globalisation of finance has taken on a new dimension with the proliferation of novel speculative products that escape monitoring and regulation. Speculative funds are fed by banks and institutional investors such as insurance companies, mutual funds and pension funds. Some part of private equity assets also come from sovereign wealth funds with huge resources at their disposal, and with a deliberate lack of transparency as to their political and economic objectives, as well as to their practices and investment strategies.Never before has the influence of private equity and hedge funds on markets and enterprises been so strong.  Many of them are located in tax havens, which deals another blow to already declining public income from corporate taxation. The financial economy based on short-termism and high rates of return is increasingly disconnected from the real economy with devastating consequences for workers.Today, hardly any company is immune from takeover by private equity funds. In most cases, these funds take control of enterprises without any industrial plans, and for the sole objective of boosting share prices and extracting maximum returns over a short period. The potentially high short-term gains attract institutional investors, including pension funds. Thus workers who have put their retirement savings in these pension funds find themselves unwittingly involved in speculative finance that is destroying jobs. Many workers have already watched their savings dissolved by corporate scandals.    The instability of the world's financial markets is not just a problem due to a few speculators - the whole system requires new rules.

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

Since the IMF Congress in 2005, metalworkers and the whole trade union movement have been confronted with an increasingly hostile political, economic and social environment. Corporations have led globalisation to maximise the global reach and profits of their operations with the support of governments and international institutions by promoting neo-liberal policies, which feature deregulation of capital and labour markets, privatization of public services and assets, a reduction in employment growth in many regions, an erosion of social security systems and the frequent denial of worker and human rights.  Even today, a large proportion of the world's metalworkers do not enjoy the fundamental right to have a union.While the world economy has grown and created vast amounts of wealth, the divide between rich and poor has widened.  Ever more workers have been faced with deteriorating working and living conditions, job insecurity and an erosion of their rights. Capital has gained huge profits, while the purchasing power of most workers has fallen or at best stagnated.

The global economy is in the throes of a unique crisis. The ideology that unbridled greed for profits is the driving force behind human progress has been discredited. What we need is a new approach where politics and economics serve the development of society and quality employment. The current crisis is not only the result of misjudgements and misguided developments in the market, or the result of overheating financial markets. It is entirely the result of the ideology of an unrestrained market and economic and political policies directed at maximising  short term profits.  On a positive note however, while undoubtedly the next four years of the International Metalworkers´Federation work will be tough and difficult, the current economic situation also provides us with a real opportunity to create a new international development model that rivals that of neoliberalism and is based on regulation, fairness, equality, sustainability and decent trade union and labour rights.Therefore, the fundamental mission of the trade union movement is more than ever to improve workers' wages, working and living conditions, and to ensure that workers and workers' rights are respected. The mission of the IMF is to work towards the achievement of these goals in metal­working and related industries by working with its  affiliates and on the global level.Today, corporate-led globalisation is still massively infringing on the rights of workers. The policies promoted by employers, most governments and the international institutions they dominate have resulted in increased economic inequality, precarious employment and a reduction in the bargaining power of working people around the world. Recognizing that union building/organising and collective bargaining are at the heart of our work, metalworker unions must organise and mobilise union members to challenge the neo-liberal agenda of corporations and most governments, and ensure working people have a fair share in the wealth generated through economic growth. The goal of the IMF is to support, coordinate and strengthen the activities of its affiliates to:<ul><li>Improve workers' wages, working and living conditions;</li><li>Organise new members into democratic workers' unions throughout the world;</li><li>Build and strengthen national metalworking unions;</li><li>Ensure that internationally recognized Core Labour Standards are applied in every country and that national laws are changed to reflect these standards; </li><li>Defend and protect workers' rights; </li><li>Fight for safe and healthy working conditions;</li><li>Make women's rights, interests, and representation one of the highest priorities;</li><li>Struggle for sustainable economic growth that protects the environment and improves social conditions; </li><li>Strengthen the power and unity of trade unions to build a counterweight to the power of transnational corporations (TNCs), including their power over the allocation of employment and investment; </li><li>Struggle for fair trade, social justice and the elimination of poverty; and</li><li>Support and build solidarity with countries and governments who promote progressive policies aimed at delivering fairness, equality and social sustainability.</li></ul>It is clear that trade unions cannot achieve these goals only at the national level.  National initiatives must be complemented with international action in order to be successful For this reason the role of the IMF is to:<ul><li>Unite national metalworking trade unions in a global union structure capable of mobilising its membership in solidarity at all levels wherever and whenever required;</li><li>Bring unions together to share information, overcome conflicts of interest and build common strategies;</li><li>Coordinate solidarity and support for affiliates during major disputes or when fundamental workers' rights are infringed;</li><li>Provide information on developments that affect the activities of metalworker unions; </li><li>Actively voice the concerns and interests of metalworkers in effective and innovative ways that involve and mobilise trade union members and bring the IMF into the daily activities of affiliate unions; </li><li>Direct resources and solidarity support towards building strong national unions in countries where unions are weak or non-existent;</li><li>Support trade union education that tackles core trade union activities such as organising, collective bargaining, defending workers' rights and international solidarity;</li><li>Coordinate an international strategy for building unionism in TNCs and their suppliers at the sectoral and enterprise levels.  Challenge the power of TNCs by developing the capacity to bargain collectively at the international level - based on a case by case mandate from the affiliates and by such means as sharing information and experiences among affiliates  and building on the work of negotiating, implementing and monitoring International Framework Agreements (IFAs);</li><li>Expose and challenge governments that violate fundamental trade union rights or interfere in the functioning of independent trade union bodies;</li><li>Represent the interests of metalworkers in international bodies which take decisions affecting jobs and employment conditions, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO);</li><li>Work with other Global Union Federations (GUFs), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD to pursue closer cooperation and action in the interests of affiliates; and</li><li>Build, whenever possible, dialogue, alliances and joint actions with appropriate political and social organisations. </li><li>Affiliates of the IMF will make significant contributions to the attainment of our goals by:</li><li>Strengthening their political influence, capacities, and resources through organising and collective bargaining at the national level;</li><li>Sharing information and actively communicating with the IMF and other affiliates at the national, regional, and international level;</li><li>Engaging in the regional and global structures of the IMF;</li><li>Supporting each other during disputes or when fundamental workers' rights are violated;</li><li>Participating in international actions and international networks organised through the IMF; and</li><li>Giving visibility to international trade union action by incorporating IMF co-ordinated activities in day-to-day trade union work. </li></ul>Ultimately, to achieve our goals, the IMF must go beyond simple coordination and become a truly global trade union organization that is able to counteract social and economic challenges and is based on the principles of independence and democracy following the mandates given by the decision-making bodies.

In the process of developing a new Action Programme we see the strengths of the International Metalworkers' Federation. We find that the things that unite us are much greater than the things that divide us.  In the borderless world of today, we share common experiences, challenges and an analysis of the situation facing workers globally. This common ground helps the IMF family to decide upon the direction we will take in order to tackle the problems metalworkers confront every day. The fact that this Action Programme was adopted in the midst of a global economic crisis is not insignificant. But we didn't need the global crisis to understand that the neoliberal model that used to dominate the world was destructive to workers' rights and social development. This IMF Action Programme adopted at the 32nd World Congress puts increased emphasis on concrete action and what IMF affiliates can accomplish together through global solidarity. In order to maximise our influence we need to mobilise the forces of the whole IMF family.We have to invest more resources in organising everywhere.  We will systematically target transnational companies that are reluctant to allow workers to exercise their fundamental rights.The campaign against precarious employment becomes solidified in this document.  The Programme recognises that we need to say and do more on the question of sustainable development and combating global warming. Building trade union networks in transnational companies offers a possibility for exchange of information and joint action to make sure that enterprises behave well wherever they operate.  Union building programmes help us strengthen trade unions where they are weak.This Action Programme contains exciting and challenging new commitments for IMF affiliates to respond with real and effective action to build stronger unions and when workers' rights are violated.  If we work together to implement this Action Programme, we can achieve our mission. In solidarity,Jyrki Raina, IMF General SecretaryJune 2009

PREFACE

GENEVA: Union Roadshow: Organisning EPZ workers in Indonesia hit the big screen this year at the third annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival. The film, produced by the International Metalworkers' Federation, was one of fourteen films selected to be shown.&quot;It has always been extremely difficult for unions to organise EPZ workers, with employers and even governments crushing unionisation attempts,&quot; said Jenny Holdcroft, IMF's Director of Equal Rights and EPZs and one of the film's producers. &quot;But in Indonesia, unions are helping workers to move from temporary contracts to permanent employment. Wages are increasing and so is union membership.&quot;The video showcases the successful organising strategies that Indonesian unions are using to organise EPZ workers. The IMF is hoping that the lessons learned in Indonesia may inspire unions in other parts of the world to intensify their efforts to organise EPZ workers.Other films screened at the festival include a Bollywood meets 1970s horror flick health and safety training video for Indian mine workers; a satire on U.S. immigration policy; the story of Palestinian migrant workers living in an abandoned mall outside of Tel Aviv; and the festival's winner for Best Labour Film Short, Abandoned, not forgotten: the plight of Burma's migrant fishers which exposes the brutal treatment of migrants working in Thailand's billion dollar export fishing industry. The event took place on June 16 and was hosted by all global union federations, the ITUC and TUAC. For more information visit the festival website at: <a href="http://www.labourfilmshorts.org/">http://www.labourfilmshorts.org/</a>.Union Roadshow can be viewed online here.<object></object>

The third annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival debuted fourteen films made by, for and about unions.

IMF&#039;s Union Roadshow screened at film festival

KAZAKHSTAN:  The Joint Global Health and Safety Committee of ArcelorMittal met in Kazakhstan during the first week of October to assess conditions at the local facilities and discuss the implementation of the global agreement on health and safety that was signed on June 3, 2008.In 2008, five fatalities occurred in ArcelorMittal&#039;s Kazakhstan steel plant and a further 38 in the local coal mines making it the most hazardous operations of the company.The committee met with local union representatives and management and toured the steel plant and a nearby coal mine as part of its visit. The committee noted that some improvements have been made at the site, such as the establishment of a local union health and safety committee and an equipment modernisation program, but that overall the rate of change could be quicker. At the conclusion of the visit the committee recommended that:• The company improve the availability and standards of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE);• The company fund union to union health and safety training program; and• Local management and unions carry out joint projects to improve working conditions.ArcelorMittal Termitau, founded in 1950 and acquired by the company in 1995, is one of the largest integrated steel plants in the world. It was previously government owned and run and employs approximately 55,000 people.The Joint Global Health and Safety Committee of ArcelorMittal was established through a global agreement on health and safety and is made up of union representatives from Latin America, United Steelworkers, European Metalworkers&#039; Federation, International Metalworkers&#039; Federation and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&#039; Unions and senior company management representatives. While meeting in Kazakhstan, the trade union members of the committee prepared a survey to be filled out by union leadership at every plant globally to assess the current situation and levels of implementation of the global agreement on health and safety. At the next meeting, to be held in Brazil in November 2008, the committee will plan its activities for 2009 and also consider proposals for the company&#039;s global health and safety day.

Global committee working to improve the health and safety at ArcelorMittal operations in Kazakhstan and around the world.

ArcelorMittal & Unions sign Groundbreaking Global Agreement on Occupational Health and Safety

Health and safety a priority at ArcelorMittal in Kazakhstan

AMERICAS: In a joint statement released on October 7, trade unions from the Americas demand that their governments and trade negotiators engaged in the World Trade Organization&#039;s Doha Round of negotiations focus on sustainable development and fair and equitable trade, should the collapsed talks be resumed.The statement was made in response to the current international financial crisis, which the unions argue, &quot;dramatically confirms that the deregulation and economy financiarization-based policy leads us nowhere but to failure.&quot;The statement was jointly signed by the leaders of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA-CSA), national trade union centres in North and South America, and includes regional representatives of several Global Union Federations, including the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation.The unions also call on trade negotiators to fulfil the International Labour Organisation&#039;s Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, which calls upon all international and regional organizations to promote decent work, &quot;as trade and financial market policy both affect employment.&quot;In a series of joint statements on the WTO negotiations in recent years, unions have warned about the potential risks to employment, labour rights and sustainable development posed by the current proposals on industrial, agricultural and service liberalization.A full copy of the statement in English and Spanish can be seen on the IMF website.

Trade unions from North and South America release joint statement on the international financial crisis and the WTO.

Trade union statement on financial crisis and WTO

International financial crisis and the WTO

Precarious work is rapidly becoming the biggest obstacle to the respect of workers rights. Every day, more and more workers find themselves in precarious jobs where they have no right even to join a union, let alone to bargain collectively with their employer. Some are formally excluded because basic rights are denied in law. Others have rights on paper, but no rights in fact because laws are not enforced. And others are too afraid to exercise their rights because they could lose their jobs at any minute.We want to see Conventions 87 and 98 applied to all workers, but what we are seeing instead is that whole categories of employment are effectively being excluded from the reach of these conventions.That is why we have come today to bring our message to the International Labour Office, to say that much more needs to be done to recognise how precarious workers are being denied their fundamental labour rights. This understanding must then be spread across all ILO programs to ensure that labour standards are applied to precarious work.The IMF shares the concerns expressed by my colleagues from other GUFs. The IMF is seeing more temporary, more casual, more part-time and more contract jobs than we have ever seen before. Stable employment and good jobs are being eroded at a frightening rate. In fact, what we used to call atypical work is fast becoming typical.Last year we surveyed our affiliates and ninety per cent of the unions that responded said that precarious work in the metal sector had increased during the last five years.They said that employers use precarious work to evade their obligations to provide social security and pensions, maternity and family leave, overtime payments, vacation and holidays, and occupational health and safety. And wages of precarious workers are much less than for permanent workers - in a third of cases reported in our survey, wages were more than 50% less for precarious workers, compared with the permanent workforce.Ninety percent of unions that responded to the survey said that workers in their country feel less secure as a result of changing employment relationships. In an increasing number of workplaces in the metal sector, precarious workers make up more than half the total workforce. The electrical and electronics industry and the automotive industry are currently the most affected, but the other metal sectors are rapidly catching up.Our affiliates also confirmed our understanding that precarious work disproportionately impacts young workers, women workers and migrant workers.Women are especially affected by precarious work. Their jobs tend to be more precarious in general, with less security, lower pay, fewer benefits and weaker social protection than men. The chance to find regular employment further decreases if you are a younger or migrant worker. Women are overrepresented in precarious work throughout the world. Access to full-time permanent jobs for women has always been low but now it is reducing even further.Precarious work makes a large contribution to the pay gap between men and women.  In Japan, women part-time workers earn only 54 per cent of the hourly wage of regular women workers, a gap which has widened in the last decade.  In Korea, 70 per cent of women workers are precariously employed, earning only 43 per cent of the salaries of regular male workers.Some of you may be familiar with the complaint that IMF and our Korean affiliate KMWU took to the Committee on Freedom of Association about anti-union acts against falsely subcontracted workers.  What you may not know is that in the Kiryung Electronics factory, which was cited in the complaint, only 5 per cent of the workers are permanent employees and they are all male.  Nearly all the precarious workers are women earning 47 per cent less than their male colleagues.  There is nothing new about low pay for women and for other groups of workers. But, in the past low-paying, bad jobs at least had the chance of leading to better jobs and better futures. Now, precarious work has cut off that route, ensuring that far too many workers remain on the margins of society no matter how hard or how many years they work. Workers and their families are denied both justice and opportunity.Rest assured - we are not sitting back while all this is happening. Metalworking unions are responding concretely on multiple fronts. They are using collective bargaining to convert precarious jobs to permanent and to guarantee equal pay for similar work. They are helping precarious workers organise themselves into unions and fight for their rights. And they are campaigning for legislative and political change to ensure social security protections and protection against dismissal. But our unions are facing an uphill battle and they need the support of the ILO. The best hope for precarious workers to improve their situation is to unionise. Yet precarious workers the world over are systematically being denied freedom of association. These are some of the comments made by unions responding to the IMF survey:&quot;In the precarious jobs the workers do not have the right to be part of a trade union - they will be dismissed on the spot.&quot;FGME-UGTT, Tunisia&quot;Union structure, which has been defined by legislation, divides trade union representation. An outsourced worker will generally be represented by another non-metalworker trade union with less bargaining capacity.&quot;CNM-CUT, Brazil&quot;New labour legislation prohibits organising precarious workers into trade unions.&quot;BML, Bangladesh&quot;When irregular workers organize a union, the employer fires the unionised workers by ending the contract with the intermediary contractor, and keeps contractors that are non-union. KMWU, South KoreaThe rapid increase in precarious work is of grave concern to IMF affiliates all over the world.  That is why we have embarked on a global campaign to raise awareness of the impact of precarious work on families, communities and even on countries. The campaign is about <ul><li>Stopping the massive expansion of precarious work</li><li>Making the wages and conditions of precarious workers equal to those of regular workers</li><li>Getting workers hired directly by their employers, and</li><li>Restricting non-permanent employment to cases of legitimate need.</li></ul>Already we have seen massive mobilisations. In Jakarta on 14 August, more than ten thousand workers took to the streets to protest the precarious employment practices of Singaporean, Japanese and Korean companies in front of their respective embassies. The President of FSPMI Indonesia said that, &quot;If precarious work is not controlled it will lead to the destruction of unions and exploitation of workers.  We will carry on fighting this issue no matter how long it takes.&quot; The FSPMI is far from the only union for which precarious work threatens the very survival of stable employment and collective bargaining. The IMF campaign has resonated with our affiliates all over the world and is shaping up to be one of the biggest and most significant campaigns in our history. This is an important issue to working people, regardless of the country they come from. Precarious work not only strips workers of basic human rights, but compromises workplace health and safety standards, erodes working conditions and wages, and places an enormous stress on workers and their families. This is of serious concern to the IMF and the international labour movement. We can and must play a role in stopping the assault on good, permanent jobs. The ILO has a long tradition of making and applying standards and is capable of addressing the problems generated by precarious work. With the will, and internal policy coherence, it can keep faith with its constituents and with its mission. We come here to ask you to recognise the damage that the explosion of precarious work is doing to workers, and to any reasonable prospect of building decent societies, and to integrate this into ILO priorities. We have some ideas for your consideration. First, we are calling upon the ILO to research all the different ways that precarious workers are prevented from joining trade unions and bargaining collectively. Our affiliates tell us that government legislation is the biggest obstacle to organizing precarious workers, but we know that there are many other barriers as well. Armed with this information, we want to see the ILO taking action in conjunction with all its constituents to ensure that Conventions 87 and 98 are applied to all workers, including precarious workers.The Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation is an important tool for addressing the injustices of precarious work. Globalisation of investment and trade has brought jobs to countries that badly need them. But instead of spreading regular employment more fairly throughout the world, the impact has been to undermine full-time permanent work where it does exist. Transnational companies are increasingly favouring insecure employment, driving down wages and conditions for all workers, and contributing to the growing gap between rich and poor. But insecure employment and reduced wages will not lead us to stable development. That is why we join the Director-General in calling for policy coherence. I probably don't need to remind you of the top employment rating the World Bank's Doing Business report gives to Belarus, a country that has been condemned by this organisation for restricting workers rights, and has forced all its workers into fixed term contracts, effectively abolishing permanent employment. The policies of the IMF and the World Bank must not undermine efforts to create a sustainable and fair globalisation, by weakening labour protection and effectively promoting precarious work. Putting resources into implementing the Social Justice Declaration will go a long way towards confronting the pandemic of precarious work.Another vital tool is the Employment Relationship Recommendation. Many precarious workers find themselves forced into unclear or disguised employment relationships which deprive them of the protection they are due. These can be addressed through more vigorous promotion of the Employment Relationship Recommendation, not forgetting that even where precarious workers are employed directly or on unambiguous contracts, there is a widespread failure to accord them their rights. The employment relationship is the basis for labour law and its protection. As such, it is vital for the respect of ILO standards.In 2009 the ILO will be putting a strong focus on collective bargaining through a meeting of experts, a high-level tripartite meeting and an ACTRAV symposium on collective bargaining. For the union movement, collective bargaining holds the key to both determining the circumstances under which non-permanent or outsourced employment is justified, and ensuring that wages and conditions of precarious workers are equal to those of regular workers.Collective agreements can ensure equal treatment for all workers, whatever their legal status. This is both to protect the precarious workers and to prevent employers from using worse pay and conditions to undermine regular employment. Precariously employed workers, including agency staff, must receive the same pay and benefits as regular employees, so that employers have no incentive to use them as cheap, disposable labour. The best prospect for achieving this is through reaching collective agreements at industry level. But as we know, the vast majority of precarious workers are excluded from collective agreements. The rise of precarious employment has also made it more difficult to identify and bargain with the real decision-makers. Clearly much more needs to be done to tackle precarious work through collective bargaining. For this reason, we believe it is essential that each of the ILO meetings on collective bargaining specifically addresses precarious work. Precarious work undermines collective bargaining, but at the same time collective bargaining can be used to prevent violations of workers' rights through precarious employment.As I have mentioned already, IMF affiliates report that legislation is often the biggest barrier to organising precarious workers. In Bangladesh, like in many other countries, an agency worker is not allowed to join the same union as the directly employed worker next to them.  Improvements can be made to the coverage of labour laws, to extend protection to a wide variety of non-regular workers.Legislation can be used, as it has been in Argentina, to define the responsibility of the principal employer to agency workers. It can be used to legally oblige employers to offer equal conditions of employment to their indirect employees. This is why we want to see the ILO working with governments at country level to revise legislation to make sure that labour standards are applied equally to precarious workers.Our final plea is for national labour inspection to be strengthened. Legislation is not always inadequate - often the problem lies with lack of enforcement. Even when labour laws do offer protection to precarious workers, it is only through effective labour inspection that abusive use of precarious employment can be eliminated.Yes, precarious work is a challenge for workers in trade unions. But it is even more of a threat for workers without unions. Precarious work is not only eroding many hard fought gains, it is slamming the door in the faces of millions of workers and depriving them of any say over their working lives. They are living under a fear which robs them of their rights, their dignity, and their futures. Precarious work is also a challenge for governments. The lack of good labour laws and good enforcement is most keenly felt not by the most privileged, but by those for whom reaching even the bottom rung of the ladder is a daily struggle. Employers are also beginning to learn the price that they are paying for precarious work. Some would welcome a more stable environment, rather than see precarious work make their enterprises precarious too.  Companies want to minimise risk, but simply shifting risk to workers will not guarantee sustainability - in fact, it may make strong growth and steady progress impossible.We are here today to ask the ILO to strongly reaffirm its own mandate, based on an understanding of the growing threat to labour standards that precarious work represents.What happens to the ILO and all that it stands for if labour becomes, once more, a commodity? What does that mean for the one international body that exists to further workers' rights, protections, and social justice? Can the ILO afford to stand on the sidelines rather than look for comprehensive solutions? Is this the kind of work and the kind of lives that any of us want?On behalf of the Global Unions, thank you for your attention. We look forward to a vigorous and productive discussion. &#160;

Speech to GUF/ACTRAV forum at the ILO on "Towards Social Justice: applying labour standards to precarious workers"

Precarious work -- what needs to be done?

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA &amp; HERZEGOVINA:  The IMF started implementation of a two-year occupational health and safety project for its affiliates in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. A planning meeting had been held earlier this year in Belgrade, Serbia to identify the problems and work out a programme that would meet affiliates&#039; needs and help them develop their own capacities.This project targets the steel and non-ferrous sectors and aims at training health and safety shop-stewards and promoting health and safety at the workplace. Generally in this region awareness about health and safety risks is low, accidents are frequent and labour inspection is weak or non-existent. Non-compliance with legal provisions is another major problem that workers and trade unions are confronting continuously.The first phase of the project was carried out in Sarajevo, Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina at the end of September. It focussed on the legislative framework and the relevant European and international instruments concerning occupational health and safety, including international framework agreements (IFAs) which contain provisions in that field. Experts from the International Labour Organisation, the European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education, and Health and Safety, as well as from Spain participated. The next step will deal with risk analysis and prevention techniques. Health and safety material in the local language will also be produced.This project is carried out in cooperation with the IMF Spanish affiliate MCA-UGT and the Trade Union Institute of Cooperation for Development, and with the support of the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation.

Kick off of the IMF health and safety project in the steel and non-ferrous sectors  in the Balkans.

Improving health and safety in the Balkans

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