Construction and Woodworkers International
The Construction and Woodworkers International (BWI) is one of the global trade union federations . Internationally, this trade union federation also appears under the names Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), Internationale des travailleurs du bâtiment et du bois (IBB), BTI and ICM.
organization structure
The BWI unites 356 member unions from the construction and building materials industry, the wood industry, forestry and related industries with around 12 million members in 127 countries.
The organization is based in Geneva . The BWI also has regional offices and project offices in Panama and Malaysia, South Africa, India, Australia, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Argentina, Peru and Brazil.
The federal chairman of the German IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU), Klaus Wiesehügel , who was re-elected in 2009, was elected as the first president by the founding congress . At the 2013 World Congress, Klaus Wiesehügel did not run again after he had previously given up his position as IG BAU federal chairman. His deputy Luc van Dessel also did not run again due to age. Only the other deputy, Per-Olof Sjöö, ran again. The current Bureau of BHI was founded in 2013 from the President Per-Olof Sjöö (GS, woodworkers union in Sweden) and his two deputies Dietmar Schaefers (Deputy National Chairman of the IG BAU , Germany and Chairman of the Standing Committee building of the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers EFBWW ) and Pierre Cuppens (General Secretary of the ACV-CSC Construction and Timber Union, Belgium).
With the elections of its general secretaries, the BWI set an example in the international trade union movement several times: with the Swede Anita Normark as founding general secretary (until her age-related retirement in 2009), she elected a woman for such a position for the first time and with her successor, Filipino citizen Ambet Yuson ( Since 2009, re-elected in 2013), she elected a representative of a developing country to such a post for the first time.
For the first time in the history of the international trade union movement, Ambet Yuson, a Filipino citizen, was elected as the new General Secretary, after Anita Normark did not run again for reasons of age.
The national member associations are organized in five regions. Since 2013, Walter Schiavella , General Secretary of the Italian trade union FILLEA-CGiL , has headed the Europe region as regional vice -president .
Emergence
The BWI was founded on December 9, 2005 by the previous member unions of the International Federation of Construction and Woodworkers (IFBWW) and the World Association of Construction and Woodworkers (WVBH) at a joint world congress in Buenos Aires.
With the founding of the BWI, the historical split of the international trade union movement into "free" (unified and social-democratic-oriented) and "Christian" (connected with religious tendencies) was overcome for the first time.
The integration of the communist-oriented trade union international of building and woodworkers (UITBB) in the process of unification to BWI did not succeed. Nevertheless, the BWI includes the construction and timber industry unions of the French CGT, the Spanish Comisiones Obreras (cc.oo) and the Italian CGIL, as well as most of the ex-communist construction / timber unions in Central and Eastern Europe, which joined the former IFBWW in 1990 were, meanwhile, many former members of the UITBB.
The foundation of the BWI was an important step in preparation for the merger of the similarly shaped international associations of trade union umbrella organizations, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ICFTU and the World Association of Workers WVA, to form the International Trade Union Confederation .
Goals and main activities
According to its own statement, "BWI's mission is to promote the development of trade unions in the construction and timber industry worldwide and to promote and strengthen workers' rights in connection with sustainable development."
In addition, she includes u. a. Framework agreement with multinational corporations in their industries and influences international government organizations such as B. the World Bank with the aim of recognizing the minimum labor standards of the ILO .
It organizes solidarity among its members and helps develop its member unions through educational work.
Important activities in recent years have included a. the commitment to a global asbestos ban, the fight for fair working conditions on construction sites for the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa, the commitment to sustainable management of the forests in compliance with minimum social standards, the establishment of several schools for child workers in developing countries and global solidarity campaigns in favor of persecuted people Union activists.
financing
The BWI finances its worldwide activities both from membership fees and project contributions from its member unions as well as from project funds from third parties, such as the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation , the SAH ( Swiss Workers' Relief Organization) and the Dutch aid organization FNV mondiaal. The membership fees of the BWI are staggered taking into account the respective income in the different countries. Member unions from the industrialized countries currently pay 2 SFr annual BWI dues for each of their members.
literature
- Michele Ford, Michael Gillan (2015) The global union federations in international industrial relations: A critical review. Journal of Industrial Relations 57 (3): 456-475
- Hans-Wolfgang Platzer, Torsten Müller, The global and European trade union federations: Handbook and analyzes of transnational trade union politics, Berlin (Ed. Sigma) 2009, half volume. 1, 403 p. Table of contents , there in particular p. 227–260
- Torsten Müller, Hans-Wolfgang Platzer, Stefan Rüb (2010), The global trade union associations face the challenges of globalization. In: International Politics and Society Online: International Politics and Society. - 2010, 3 ( PDF, 17 pp. , Accessed on February 24, 2018)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ BWI Impact 2014 - 2017 (as of December 2017), accessed on March 27, 2018
- ↑ Page "About BWI" , accessed 11.1.18
- ↑ www.kosa.org ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
