In a meeting held on 13 and 14 February and facilitated by Jorge Almeida and Laura Carter of IndustriALL’s regional office, union leaders agreed on the workings of the national council as well as on its terms of reference. The national council builds on the loose coordination that existed previously between affiliates in the country.
The National Council will be a forum for affiliates to coordinate their respective action plans, to organize joint activities and solidarity action, to promote unity and to facilitate their involvement within IndustriALL.
The affiliates agreed in principle to a series of ground rules to build unity and strength from the ground up and will formalize the agreement following consultations with their respective national centers. They also agreed a dispute resolution mechanism to resolve several existing inter-union workplace conflicts.
The affiliates recommitted themselves to IndustriALL’s rules and action plan and shared ideas on how to build union power in their sectors.