3.1.3 Build unions through education, training and effective exchange of information

Training and Education

Where appropriate, the IMF will cooperate with the ITUC, TUAC, the ILO and union-friendly partner organisations to organise and provide education and training aimed at building strong national unions. The IMF Secretariat, with advice from the Executive Committee and the Regions, will prioritise this work to best meet the Action Programme objectives. Where there is cooperation with donor organisations, the primacy of the IMF objectives and the independence of the IMF will always be maintained.

Education and training for union building will include topics such as:

• Globalisation, the rise of corporate power and challenging neoliberalism;
• Organising;
• Collective bargaining policies and effective collective bargaining skills and structures;
• Health and safety issues;
• Equal rights;
• Introduction of new technologies;
• Skills development and life long learning;
• Internal and external communication strategies;
• Financial union management (including effective collection of membership dues and appropriate and transparent expenditures);
• Implementation, monitoring and enforcement of IFAs; and
• Other trade union topics that are of interest and concern.

Consistent with the principles outlined above in sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, the IMF will provide resources for union building projects on the condition that they:

• Build organisations independent of employer and government control;
• Enhance democracy within the organisation and encourage and enable members, particularly youth and women, to take part in the activities of the organisation. Projects should contribute to eliminating political, racial and gender discrimination;
• Increase the capacity of the organisation to carry out its own core union activities, building self-reliance, particularly in the area of education;
• Strengthen solidarity within the organisation, among unions in the country and/or region, and inside the IMF; and
• Support independent trade unions confronting and fighting repressive governments.

Information

• Information on the work of the IMF and its affiliates needs to be more systematically communicated. This information can help affiliates in the different regions to learn from one another and build up their strength.

The IMF will:

• Work towards establishing a more effective internal information system, using the IMF website, newsletters, the quarterly journal and other means of communication.

IMF affiliates will:

• Inform the secretariat about what type of information they are interested in; and,
• Provide the IMF with information about their activities.