Workers Uniting on Union TV

The creating of the first global union Workers Uniting is the subject of a special TV programme on the Community Channel (Sky 539), known as Union TV which highlights how British, American and Canadian workers are joining forces to create Workers Uniting.

According to the Workers Uniting press release "Politicians and corporations, notably in the UK and USA, promote the virtues of one global economic model at the expense of all others. This is a model based on privatisation and unfettered capitalism. 57 per cent of the world’s wealth is currently owned by 1 per cent of the population. Unite, the UK’s biggest union, and the USW, the largest private sector union in the USA and Canada, have signed an agreement creating the first global union.

The world's first international union is bringing workers together from both sides of the Atlantic to campaign for jobs justice. USW members from America are sharing their experiences of working in the private health sector with the UK's Unite union which is dealing with the privatisation of elements of the NHS. In education USW members from Canada are working with Unite as well as workers in the paper and pulp industries.

Workers Uniting is building its organisation to bring unions from other countries into the fold. The union will be working closely with unions from Australia on a submission for the Copenhagen climate change conference in December. The strategy will focus on protecting the planet and our member’s jobs and their standard of living at the same time.

Workers Uniting will also be reaching out to trade unionists in Columbia where activists are regularly murdered for opposing the exploitation of workers by multinational companies. Companies that sponsor the suppression of trade unionism with the gun are using their political influence to negotiate a free trade agreement between Canada and Columbia. If successful, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost in Canada and Columbian trade union members will continue to suffer. Workers uniting will be campaigning to oppose the deal throughout this year.

Workers Uniting represents three million working people from every industrial sector in Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada and the Caribbean. The agreement to form a global union was initiated by the leaders of the two unions in response to the challenges of globalisation. In particular, the casualisation of employment and reductions in pay and conditions for millions of working people in North America and Europe."

The programme on Community Channel Sky 539, will be shown at 4.30pm and 10.30pm on 11th and 12 June.

As soon as it gets posted on the Workers Uniting website we'll let you know.