Building from the ground up: Pursuing innovative trade unionism

BWI's Global Conference on Innovative Unionism commenced on 4 October 2022 bringing together affiliates from different parts of the world to showcase innovative strategies, actions and approaches to effectively respond to the swiftly changing world of work. 

The conference was opened by Union to Union General Secretary Maria Nyberg: “Trade union and workers’ rights have to be equal everywhere and for this, we need to continue our collective campaign and fight – when the companies try to push back and not uphold the rights of workers, we unite to push them forward, to hold them accountable. The innovation lies in Organising Beyond Borders, Learning from Each Other and Continuing the Collective Struggle.” 

Vincent Lebohang Ramabulo, Chair of BWI’s International Youth Committee, and hailing from NUM-South Africa, welcomed the delegates and urged them to learn from one another and discuss both their successes and challenges on trade union organising. He emphasised that the COVID-19 pandemic brought a new dawn for the BWI and its affiliates who have been pushing forward innovative changes in the realm of organising workers. 

The first panel, “Back to Basics: Organising-Recruitment for Sustainable Trade Unions,” was moderated by Jakob Wagner of BYGGNADS-Sweden. He noted that the BWI affiliates stood up to the challenging times and were at the forefront of many struggles despite the extraordinary challenges of the pandemic. Examples on building a solid membership base from Tunisia; strategic organising of power infrastructure project sites in Indonesia; organising experiences from the KLABIN MNC in Brazil; outreach efforts for workers and establishing social dialogue in Croatia, and building the trust of migrant workers in trade unions in Denmark were some of the experiences shared during the session. 

The discussions affirmed that while adopting innovative approaches and new technology have been helpful, especially in the context of the pandemic; establishing the appropriate connection with workers on the ground is where the real strength lies. Issues such as violence against women and their psycho-social impacts were also discussed and asserted to be placed higher on the BWI affiliates’ agenda. 

The second panel, “Enforcing Labour Standards 1: Remedies and Possibilities of Labour Clauses” was moderated by Julius Cainglet from the Federation of Filipino Workers (FFW) in the Philippines. The session drew attention to the rich experiences of BWI affiliates that are ensuring accountability of different national and international labour clauses.

Cases of invoking labour clauses from forest certification (FSC) in Ghana; IFI-funded infrastructure projects in Pakistan; Social Protection for construction workers in Dominican Republic; Local Government Clauses in Denmark; Responsible Contracting Policy and also reviewing OECD guidelines on MNCs were cited. Gunde Odgaard, Panelist from BAT KARTELL, Denmark remarked “Labour Clauses are only an instrument to help the trade unions to do their work – it can be and it is only a medium – the real work of implementation has to be undertaken by the trade unions – the contractor, company or the Government would never be able to do it alone – trade unions have to ensure accountability.”