"World's metal never sleeps"

Helsinki (31.08.2009 - Juhani Artto) The headline is taken from a recent column* written by Jyrki Raina, the Finn who in May was elected as the new General Secretary of the International Metalworkers' Federation. In the column he refers to the struggles which the IMF has recently been involved in, from Thailand to Russia and from South Korea to Mexico. No doubt the huge organisation, embracing 25 million rank and file members, and organised in 200 trade unions in over 100 countries, never sleeps.

But just how effective is this organisation and that of its umbrella organ, the IMF which has its head office in Geneva in Switzerland? "I was elected to the post since a large majority of IMF's affiliated unions want to have a more effective and more visible global federation", Raina writes.

"The agenda is clear. We are endeavouring to create union networks within multinational companies. We promote organising and labour rights and strengthen trade unions in developing countries", Raina says, adding to the list fight against atypical forms of work.

"However, currently the number one goal is to recover from the economic crisis back to economic growth."

In the IMF the affiliated unions do not agree on everything. Raina does not try to hide it but states: "Every now and then expectations and goals contradict one another".

When multinational companies plan to close factories and cut jobs, national unions -naturally- defend the factories and jobs in their own countries. The challenge for the IMF and other global unions and the union networks within multinational companies is to combat the employers' "divide and rule" efforts head on and early on.

*Published in Ahjo (15-2009), the magazine of the Finnish Metalworkers' Union