1. The theme of the forthcoming Congress is ³Building a united global trade union movement in construction, wood and forestry." Why is this so important?
From a global perspective, most workers in our sectors live in poverty, work in highly exploitative, informal, conditions and are unable to enjoy their basic rights. The need for employment is so desperate that workers are obliged to accept arduous working conditions and low wages if they are to survive in the competition for jobs.
We regularly receive reports from our affiliated unions in construction and forestry regarding deteriorating working conditions. An important indicator of this worrying trend is the rising rate of fatal and serious injuries.
This is perhaps the most visible and painful consequence of exploitative employment policies and labour practices in our sectors, with increasing subcontracting chains, time pressure and cost cutting. We are calling for trade unions to react when someone is injured or killed at work and to make sure that prevention measures are adequate before work continues.
Global competition is being used by companies as an excuse to outsource, and by governments to sell out on their responsibilities. This is very definitely a race to the bottom, and now more than ever before, trade unions have to take account of the international dimension, in order to organise and represent workers effectively and to secure minimum global standards in our sectors.
We must push in every arena for compliance with International Labour Standards (ILS) and with national legislation, most importantly on the Right to organize and to bargain collectively. That¹s the basic minimum we expect from clients and employers in our sectors from the World Bank to local companies and departments of Public Works. Voluntary initiatives are also welcome where those are in advance of legal minima, and we are actively engaged in developing and implementing those through our Framework Agreements.
Our ability to deal with the huge challenges we face, such as, informal work, subcontracting chains, migration and relocation of companies depends on our capacity to reach out to millions of unorganised workers.
Our founding congress on the 9th of December will give construction, wood and forestry workers greater influence over governments, employers and international institutions, in order to push for stable jobs, fair wages, safe work and respect for trade union and human rights.
2. At the previous IFBWW Congress in Copenhagen in 2001 a comprehensive strategic plan was adopted. What has been achieved in the past four years?
Our strategic plan has a rights based approach. Our basic tools are the Standards of the International Labour Organisation as applied in our sectors to defend trade union, employment and human rights.
There is nothing in the Internationally reconised Labour standards that any reasonable person, or employer, could object to. These are minimum standards, which are considered to be of universal application.. Failure to respect them, we believe, is a symptom of exploitation, corruption and greed.
We have a number of transversal programmes of activities with our affiliated trade unions, which are designed to promote the practical implementation of basic rights. For example, equality of opportunity for women, the elimination of child labour, improving health and safety and welfare conditions, and Social Security campaigns. These global programmes of activities have been instrumental in implementing the strategic plan, and have given focus to our lobbying activities at the World Bank, in Forestry Certification schemes and in the International Labour Organisation.
We have also signed more framework agreements with companies who agree to implement ILS in their operations wherever they are in the world. The most recent of these are with Lafarge, Veidekke, Impregilo and Stabilo.
Training is an essential element of our work with affiliates. We support training of more than 5,000 union organisers annually and this is improving the capacity of trade unions in recruitment, Institutional participation, collective bargaining, campaigns and in developing their own education programmes.
We have established active Regional and sub-regional networks in both wood and forestry and in construction. The focus is on promoting sustainable development and decent work around the globe. Trade unions have an essential role in promoting democracy, reducing poverty, reducing accidents and ill health, and reducing the environmental impact of our sectors, in particular, deforestation.
We've been pushing to improve the quality of jobs in construction, and to improve standards in infrastructure development. We want to see social costs and costs of prevention of accidents taken out of competition in tendering and contract documents. Until clients, principally governments, accept these costs and standards as mandatory components of the contract, construction contractors will not implement them.
We have organized several tripartite national meetings in construction, and globally with the International Construction Contractors Association. We all agree that the lowest price culture in construction is damaging social performance in the industry. Labour clauses in construction contracts are of course very closely linked to our Collective Bargaining Agreements, and we have seen encouraging progress in several countries where our affiliates have negotiated agreements.
In 2003, we launched CHILD LEARN, a non-profit company in India, established to manage schools built and run by our trade unions. We have been able to provide education and child care to around ten thousand children who would otherwise have been working in quarries and brick kilns.
Finally, we have run several successful solidarity campaigns and, with that in mind, our Information Technology Programme has trained some 500 trade unionists in basic computer skills, the Internet, email and other networking tools.
3. Which highlights do you expect in Buenos Aires?
The big highlight is having all our delegates meet together from all over the world, and having this extraordinary opportunity to exchange experiences. We will debate together how to shape our future work as well as discussing some important resolutions put to Congress by our affiliated organizations.
The trade union march on the evening of the 7th of December is sure to be memorable. We will march through the centre of Buenos Aires, calling for respect for the rights of workers and their families in our sectors.
The real and lasting highlight, however, will be the creation of our new organisation at the Building Workers International (BWI) founding congress on the ninth of December.
4. Why is it so important to set up a new federation?
For some time, we have been working closely with the World Federation of Building and Woodworkers Unions (WFBW). This cooperation has been principally in the areas of the International Labour Organisation, the World Bank and in our Framework Agreements. It is now time for us to establish a united global organization for the building, building materials, wood and forestry workers worldwide as a response to the need for greater international solidarity and to the challenges of globalization.
The BWI will have 12 million members and greater impact in campaigning, promoting policies, exerting political pressure, negotiating at the global level and engaging in international social dialogue.
5. What role do you see the BWI playing in the future?
The BWI's mission will be to defend and advance the interests of building, wood and forestry unions through national, regional and international action.
We see that our affiliated Trade Unions are facing similar problems wherever they are in the world. Unemployment, poverty, temporary and informal work all undermine social and labour standards in our sectors. The BWI strategy will be based on negotiating for sustainable development, by that we mean stable jobs and good working conditions.
The unions´ main mission is to challenge exploitative labour practices and dangerous working conditions and to negotiate improvements in our sectors.
The BWI will further strengthen our global networking so that our regional structures become more engaged in regional social dialogue. We will develop our capacity to monitor the compliance of multinationals on framework agreements and initiate negotiations with MNCs in the regions.
Finally, we will focus on campaigning through the development of a communication and media programme to strengthen our work on the promotion of human and trade union rights, the elimination of child labour, International Workers Memorial Day on the 28th of April, banning Asbestos and international solidarity campaigns.
6. What kind of support has the IFBWW had from the Argentinian trade union movement?
We are very grateful to our affiliates in Argentina who are doing a fantastic job in helping us prepare our last IFBWW congress and our founding BWI congress. They are not only involved in the logistics of our congress but also in inviting national dignitaries to speak at our congress. Their assistance is of great help to take up the challenges set by congress so that we meet or hopefully exceed our affiliates¹ expectations in the next congress period.
