Bastun - Baltic Sea Trade Union Network

 
"Road to Recovery" Trade Union High Level Meeting

1_web_high_level_family_photo.jpgThe Baltic Sea Trade Union Network (BASTUN) held a High Level Meeting on 26 November in Vilnius, Lithuania. The meeting was a platform for the trade union movement of the Baltic Sea Region to exchange information, discuss and identify and define strategic goals and political priorities for the future trade union work in the Baltic Sea Region.


The main aim was to find out, how trade unions in different countries could work even more effectively together towards sustainable labour markets.

The high level meeting was part of BSLN project and organised to provide a forum for 65 trade union decision-makers and representatives from 24 affiliates to the Baltic Sea Trade Union Network and/or the Council of Nordic Trade Union, 4 Nordic trade union federations, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Pan European Regional Council (PERC) to discuss the future of trade unions in the Baltic Sea Region.



Content of the High Level Meeting

The outcomes of the meeting can be divided into the three following parts. The content will be used for the preparation of Strategy 2020 for the Baltic Sea Trade Union Network, which will be approved in autumn 2010. The trade unon strategy will be made use of within the BSLN project.




1 Trade Union "Road to Recovery"

2_web_wanja_speeking.jpgThe economic crisis is affecting the whole trade union movement in the Baltic Sea Region. This can be seen when looking at development in terms of GDP, unemployment and increasing number of poor people. Governments have taken measures that are not always helping the situation especially in the Baltic States (tax increase, cuts in public sector, welfare services, pensions, salaries etc.).

The trade unions' road to recovery is a combination of many actions. Politically it is important that trade unions continue to influence and act together. The trade union movement is willing to take responsibility for recovery measures if they can get something back. Trade unions can work through tripartite and collective agreements and social dialogue. Relevant partners are governments, employers and EU as well as other actors in the Baltic Sea Region.

 
The following strategic points were concluded: 

  • Baltic Sea Region and its labour markets should be seen as a regional entity in Europe.
  • The economic stimulus must be continued in order to reach economic growth.
  • More global, regional and national regulation, reforms of economic structures, especially in finance sector.
  • Instead of cuts, more public investment in infrastructure, own research and innovation.
  • Focus on green jobs, need for binding agreements in Copenhagen Climate Summit.
  • The basic trade union and human rights must be safeguarded also in time of crisis (ILO conventions).
  • Active organizing is a strategy for trade union recovery from crisis.
 
 

2 Organizing for the Baltic Sea Region

3_web_christer_speaking.jpgPowerful trade union movement is a precondition for true democracy, growth, development and social balance in the labour markets. It is important to see how strong unions can be achieved in order to reach these goals.





 
The following strategic points were concluded: 

  • Trade unions must be active in social dialogue in order to have as much influence as possible. Trade unions’ interest is that employers are a well organized social partner. In addition, it is important to have close relations with governments and promote tripartite cooperation.
  • The most important precondition for trade union influence is strong membership basis. One must recruit new members and take care of the old ones.
  • Sufficiently high union density is a precondition for economic resources and representativeness, which make unions respected as social partner by employers and politicians.
  • Union organizations cannot be led top down, but instead, they must be based on true democracy, in which members can influence decision making. Strong trade unions are visible, transparent and open organizations.
  • Unions must all the time strengthen their organizational and political competencies. They must have insight in all relevant areas of the society, in order to be able to argument for own political standpoints with employers, politicians and other experts.
  • Unions must be able to work together in solidarity. There are many common goals that cooperation can be based upon. Instead of fighting existing members, trade unions should cooperate to organize as many as possible. Young people should be especially focused on.
 
  

3 BASTUN and International Cooperation in the Baltic Sea region

International trade union cooperation is one of the preconditions for strong trade unionism. BASTUN is a tool for trade unions to work internationally in practice and to achieve common goals, develop cross border structures, organize joint projects, identify joint policies and exchange experiences.

 
The following strategic points were concluded: 

  • Trade unions cannot accept putting trade unions in different countries against each other in the Baltic Sea Region.
  • Social dumping in terms of cross border mobility of labour must be avoided.
  • Trade unions must work together for political and organizational interest representation in the Baltic Sea region.
  • Trade unions can use strategic joint projects to strengthen cross border cooperation
  • Baltic Sea Labour project is an example of strategic project to develop trade unions’ work and social dialogue, but also to strengthen trade union influence in terms of labour market issues. Trade unions can, for instance, in the framework of the project, develop joint strategies for themselves and/or together with parliamentarians and governments.
  • Possibility for the following strategic and long term projects should be examined: 1) Labour think tanks for economic/political policies, 2) “Organizing Academy” for trade union growth.
 
 

               

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