Union TV goes global
11th June 2009
In a feature to be screened on the Community Channel (Sky 539),
Union TV will highlight how British, American and Canadian workers
are joining forces to create the first global union – Workers
Uniting.
Politicians and corporations, notably in the UK and USA, promote
the virtues of one global economic model at the expense of all
others. This is a model based on privatisation and unfettered
capitalism. 57 per cent of the world’s wealth is currently owned by
1 per cent of the population. Unite, the UK’s biggest union, and
the USW, the largest private sector union in the USA and Canada,
have signed an agreement creating the first global union.
The world's first international union is bringing workers
together from both sides of the Atlantic to campaign for jobs
justice. USW members from America are sharing their
experiences of working in the private health sector with the UK's
Unite union which is dealing with the privatisation of elements of
the NHS. In education USW members from Canada are working with
Unite as well as workers in the paper and pulp industries.
Workers Uniting is building its organisation to bring unions
from other countries into the fold. The union will be working
closely with unions from Australia on a submission for the
Copenhagen climate change conference in December. The strategy will
focus on protecting the planet and our member’s jobs and their
standard of living at the same time.
Workers Uniting will also be reaching out to trade unionists in
Columbia where activists are regularly murdered for opposing the
exploitation of workers by multinational companies. Companies
that sponsor the suppression of trade unionism with the gun are
using their political influence to negotiate a free trade agreement
between Canada and Columbia. If successful, hundreds of thousands
of jobs will be lost in Canada and Columbian trade union members
will continue to suffer. Workers uniting will be campaigning
to oppose the deal throughout this year.
Workers Uniting represents three million working people from
every industrial sector in Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada and
the Caribbean. The agreement to form a global union was initiated
by the leaders of the two unions in response to the challenges of
globalisation. In particular, the casualisation of employment
and reductions in pay and conditions for millions of working people
in North America and Europe.
ENDS
Notes: Community Channel Sky 539, will be shown at 4.30pm and
10.30pm on 11th and 12 June.
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