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A 22-member delegation from the United Steelworkers (USW) union, including union leaders and supporting staff, participated in a conference that was held in New York City, hosted by Cornell University. The conference addressed Global Companies and Global Unions, with an emphasis on Global Research and Global Campaigns.
“More and more of our employers have become global corporations,” said USW International President Leo Gerard. “We can’t kid ourselves. To continue maintaining our high standard of living, we can’t solely bargain contracts locally. We have to deal with multinationals on a global basis.”
The conference focused on several global corporations, including Alcoa and Exxon Mobil, which are two of the USW’s largest employers.
“We’ve already formed six global alliances with unions in other countries and we’re reinforcing our cross-border networks in dealing with these employers,” Gerard said. “Our delegation will analyze the experiences of our union’s global campaigns and those of other trade unions, and determine the type of corporate research needed to support those campaigns.”
USW International Executive Board members that attended the conference were Jim Robinson of Gary, Ind., who chairs the Alcoa bargaining team; Gary Beevers of Port Arthur, Texas, who leads negotiations at Mobil Exxon; Don Langham of Mobile, Ala., and Jim Pannell of Nashville, Tenn., who heads the union’s National Oil Bargaining Program.
The USW is sponsoring union representatives from several countries where our global employers operate. They include Harold Brewster of the Suriname Bauxite Mine and Metalworkers’ Federation; Adonis Bernardes of Brazil’s Sindicato dos Metalurgicos de Santo Andre ; Fernando Lopes of Brazil’s CNM/CUT; Gino Govender, South African labor research and education institute; Kemal Ozkan from Turkey’s Lastik-Is; Pedro Wasiejko of Argentina’s SUTNA; Peter Akpatason, Nigeria’s National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers; and Peter Esele from the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
Also attending at the invitation of the USW were Jamie Clements, Australia; Wolfgang Kicherer, Germany; Gianni Alioti, Italy; Abdullah Karacan, Turkey; Kumumba Okugbawa, Nigeria; Nicholas Eremiokhale, Nigeria; Williams Akporera, Nigeria; Gift Obulor, Nigeria; Okorie Oluchi Ume, Nigeria and Osakwe Godfrew Chukwudifu, Nigeria.
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GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
