[DEBATE] : Re: Fwd: cornell sponsored international conference on labour struggles this weekend in new york

[ezuern at slc.edu]

fyi -

getting settled in here in Amherst - will try calling soon....

> http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/news/020206_GlobalUnionsConference.html
>
> First-of-its kind New York City conference to look at labor's responses to
> globalization
> NEW YORK -- At an unusual international labor conference in New York City,
> Feb. 9-11, trade unionists and scholars will strategize about the role of
> the labor movement in a globalized world.
> "Global Companies-Global Unions-Global Research-Global Campaigns," which
> takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Times Square, is being
> co-sponsored by Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).
> "This is a big event -- the first of its kind, with 500 academics and
> labor leaders from all over the world," said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director
> of the Labor Education Research program at the ILR School and a chief
> organizer of the conference, which has attracted so much attention it is
> already oversubscribed.
> "Given the globalization of companies, finance and labor markets, the
> labor movement recognizes that union organizing and bargaining campaigns
> and strategic research must become global as well," said Bronfenbrenner,
> stressing that the plenary speakers are prominent labor leaders.
> Among the labor movement's heavy hitters at the opening plenary session on
> Feb. 9 are Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer, AFL-CIO; Harris Raynor,
> international vice president, UNITE HERE; Berta Luján, Mexico City
> comptroller with the Partido de la Revolución Democrática and former
> national coordinator of Authentic Labor Front, Mexico; Cedric Gina, second
> vice president of National Union of Metal Workers, South Africa; and Guy
> Ryder, secretary, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Harry
> Katz, dean of the ILR School, is also a panelist, and Bronfenbrenner is
> chairing the discussion.
> The Feb. 11 closing plenary session features Ron Oswald, general
> secretary, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant,
> Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations; Neide Fonseca,
> president, Inter-American Trade Union Institute to Promote Racial Equality
> and the secretary of social policy for the National Confederation of Bank
> Workers, Brazil; Chang Hsu-Chung, president of the Chunghwa Telecom
> Workers Union, Taiwan; and Hassan Yussuff secretary-treasurer of the
> Canadian Labour Congress. The session will be chaired by Kenneth Zinn,
> director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research.
> The conference also includes more than 200 workshops on such topics as
> "Transnational Union Strategy, Environmental Movements and Corporate
> Responsibility" and "Working Off the Clock: Testimony From Former Wal-Mart
> Employees in the U.S." One workshop participant is José Bové, who opposes
> the industrialization of food production and its impact on small farmers.
> Bové was jailed for dismantling a McDonald's restaurant in France several
> years ago and faces another prison term for destroying genetically
> modified corn in Brazil. He and others also are taking part in a
> pre-conference conversation Feb. 9 starting at 9:30 a.m. that is free and
> open to the public (the conference is not). Plenary sessions are open to
> the media).
> Conference Background
> Unions around the world continue to operate in an ever-more complex and
> rapidly changing corporate environment. Given the globalization of firms,
> finance, and labor markets, the labor movement recognizes that union
> organizing and bargaining campaigns and strategic research must become
> global as well.
> It is to address these challenges that we invite you to an international
> conference of scholars and trade unionists in New York City in February of
> 2006. Specifically, the conference would allow us to:
> 1.      Share and learn from recent union initiatives in strategic
> corporate
> research and strategic global organizing and bargaining campaigns in order
> to more effectively take on multinational companies through global
> comprehensive campaigns.
> 2.      Expand our collective knowledge and understanding of the changing
> nature of corporate ownership structures, practices, and strategies for
> the world's largest multinationals.
> 3.      Lay the groundwork for building a sustainable global network of
> unions
> and academics to continue to work together to effectively engage
> multinational corporations worldwide.
> Conference Format
> The conference will feature interactive workshops, paper presentations,
> and panel discussions involving both academics and trade unionists. The
> workshops and panel presentations will discuss and analyze experiences of
> global campaigns and the type of corporate research needed to support
> those campaigns. In addition to the in-depth analyses, the workshops will
> help develop the global networks of union campaigns directors and
> strategic researchers. Trade unionists responsible for conducting global
> campaigns and researching employers, as well as academics who study labor
> strategies in the changing global economy, should attend this conference.
> A call for papers and presentations has been sent out to unions, labor
> federations, labor related NGOs, and academics from around the globe to
> solicit both written papers and reports and oral presentations from a mix
> of union and academic presenters. A collection of selected papers from the
> conference will be published by Cornell University Press in a volume that
> will be edited by Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University.
> Strategic Corporate Research
> Effective corporate research is critical to the ability of unions to
> organize and bargain in the changing global economy. The conference will
> feature in-depth strategic research on a limited number of key
> multinational corporations from diverse sectors and industries. These
> company reports, along with shorter summaries on the access points for
> information on multinational corporations for each of the countries
> represented at the conference, will be posted on the research section of
> the website prior to the conference and be available to all those who have
> registered for the conference.
> A team of researchers from universities sponsoring the conference, with
> input from unions on the planning committee, are preparing in-depth
> reports on a number of multinational companies. To date the list of
> companies include Wal-Mart, Kraft Foods, Siemens, Exxon Mobil, Suez S.A.,
> Alcoa, SSA Marine, Bouygues, Starwood, and Sanofi Aventis.
> Researchers will present and discuss the most effective methods for
> understanding and mapping the structure and flow of corporate power at the
> target companies. During the conference the target companies will be used
> both to model strategic corporate research methods and to help build and
> strengthen lasting cross-border networks among unions, scholars, and NGOs
> working with these target multinationals.
>
>
> --
>
> I shall remain an impossible person so long as those who are now
> possible remain possible."— Mikhail Bakunin, letter to Alexander
> Herzen
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