01-25-06,8:53am

UNI global union plans to enroll 900 unions world-wide into a programme to force big corporations to improve their behaviour. The aim is to sign up multinationals to observe labour and other rights wherever they operate in the world.

UNI is the world's biggest grouping of individual trade unions. It covers the skills and services sector - the fastest growing part of the world's economy - and is launching at its World Congress in Chicago (August 22-25) as 'UNI global union'.

UNI will also unveil plans in Chicago - for a global organising initiative to help national unions reverse membership declines and grow unions for workers in the new economy, like call centres and mobile phone companies.

Unions in well organised countries will take the lead to help organise workers in the same company in other countries - in a global campaign coordinated by Swiss-based UNI across 12 service industries*.

'Whole sectors are increasingly dominated by an ever smaller number of multinationals,' said Philip Jennings, UNI General Secretary. 'To tackle these global companies and the global labour market created by offshore outsourcing we need global unions - and global unions like UNI have to be at the heart of organising.'

Up to 1,500 delegates in Chicago will put the spotlight on the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, and debate a programme to step up organising in its stores around the world to win union rights for its workers and end a downward spiral in wages and conditions.

'These corporations often have bigger turnovers than substantial countries - they are too important to be allowed to operate without enforceable standards,' said Philip Jennings. 'They have got to stop cheating on their workers and guarantee labour rights and decent work as determined by the International Labour Organisation.'

UNI has signed global agreements with a number of major companies - including Carrefour, H&M, ISS and Telefónica - and expects to sign several more in the months to come.

These agreements guarantee labour and other rights wherever companies operate around the world - and give unions the opportunity to organise and to talk to global managements should things go wrong.

UNI has just become a stakeholder in UN agency the Universal Postal Union and talks are well advanced on an Understanding that would promote social dialogue between postal employers and unions worldwide and give greater transparency in the world trade round on services (GATS) which includes postal and courier services.

UNI wants unions to monitor the behaviour of the companies they deal with and whistle blow if things go wrong. 'Workers are major stakeholders in companies and it's their jobs that are on the line when the Enrons, the WorldComs and the Parmalats hit the buffers.'

UNI has exposed companies that are worker friendly on their home base but are anti-union when they go abroad.

UNI is helping coordinate action by unions in Europe and the USA, for example, to end union busting in the UK and the USA by T-Mobile (a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom) and to open the door to recognition in Group 4 Securicor's US security subsidiary Wackenhut.

UNI already coordinates global organising initiatives in call centres, helped launched the first democratic union in Indonesia - ASPEK - which now has 130,000 members and is backing new organisations for workers in India's fast growing IT and back office processing sectors.

* UNI - Union Network International - has 900 affiliated unions representing 15 million workers in 150 countries. It covers skills and services: commerce, finance, post, telecoms, property services, graphical, IT and business, media and entertainment, tourism, hair and beauty, electricity, social insurance and private health.

For further information please contact: Philip Jennings, UNI General Secretary +41 22 365 2100 Philip Bowyer, UNI Deputy General Secretary, +41 22 365 2100 Noel Howell, UNI Press Officer +41 79 446 2703 (mobile)