29 November, 2012From 26-30 November, young trade union members from the textile, chemical, mining and metalworking sectors of Latin America and from IG METALL and IGBCE in Germany are attending a training course that forms part of an international trade union exchange programme for young workers who are members of IndustriALL affiliates.
As part of their political and financial support to IndustriALL affiliates in Argentina and Brazil, IndustriALL Global Union, FES and Germany's IG METALL launched an international trade union exchange programme for young workers in Latin America and Germany, at Praia Grande, Brazil, 26-30 November.
The activity forms part of a project organised by the IndustriALL Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean and was attended by about 40 young workers representing affiliated trade unions in the metalworking, textile and chemical sectors in Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
The programme aims to promote an exchange of experiences about the living conditions and trade union movement in the respective participating countries.
At this first five-day meeting, participants learned about collective bargaining, youth and gender policies in IndustriALL's Brazilian affiliates and union networks in transnational companies.
Delegates also visited the offices of local unions, Red TVT (the television station run by the ABC Metalworkers Union, affiliated to CNM/CUT) and Força Sindical's national office. They also visited a lorry assembly plant and a chemical factory to discuss union organisation at company level.
Fernando Lopes, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Regional Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean and Marino Vani, Assistant Secretary for the region, welcomed participants to the meeting along with Joao Cayres, CNM/CUT's General Secretary and Joao Carlos Gonçalves, Força Sindical's General Secretary.
Further meetings of the exchange programme will be held in Argentina and Germany in 2013 and 2014. The objective of these meetings is for young workers to learn about international trade unionism, trade union organisation, structures, actions and policies and collective bargaining.