Ninel Jansson (left) is president of Handels, Sweden and Jay Choi is UNI Apro Commerce coordinator, based in Seoul, Korea. Since some time already, they are working together on a project in Korea. The aim of this project has been to empower women workers in the fast changing commerce sector. 

Now, the project cooperation has been expanded to organising workers in the many multinational commerce companies which operate in Korea. 

This will be one of the key programmes for commerce trade unions in the whole Asian region, who are now trying to establish a strong presence in the large retailers and wholesalers. 

But also in Europe, the Americas and Africa, it is important that the Korean workers are successful. This will add to union strength in the companies concerned, which can be translated into better collective agreement benefits.

The cooperation between Handels, UNI Commerce and the Korean commercial workers shows how national, regional and global dimensions link closely to each other. This was one of the important messages from the Sydney Summit.

Presentations continue to be added. Participants who have manuscripts or translations into other languages that they want to be posted here are invited to e-mail them to us.

English:

• Ian Blandthorn - regional and global, challenges and approaches in the Asian-Pacific region
• Joe de Bruyn - The economic and social situation in Australia
• Simon Crean, leader of the Australian Labour Party
• Jörgen Hoppe - Corporate social responsibility
• Vesa Jussila - Commercial sales representatives
• Napoleon Kpoh - Multinationals: challenges, concepts and approaches
• Mitsuo Nagumo - Corporate social responsibility as a key to 21st century labour-management relations
• Kyochi Sato - Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Unions and its activities for car salespersons (pdf file)
• Bones Skulu - regional and global, challenges and approaches in the African region
• FAECYS: Report on the commerce sector in Argentina (web pages with large graphics)

Danish:

• Jörgen Hoppe - Corporate social responsibility

French

• Michel Enguelz - Carrefour, le dialogue social

Italian:

• Gianni Baratta - Social dialogue and collective bargaining with multinationals
• Antonia Francheschini - Relazioni sindacali in IKEA Italia
• Daniela Rondinelli - Corporate social responsibility, the Artsana case

Spanish:

• Angeles Rodriguez - Ahold in Spain
• FAECYS: Informe de Situación del Sector Comercio en Argentina (web pages with large graphics)

The Sydney Opera House

UNI Commerce will now step up its organising and trade union recognition work in the leading global retailers and wholesalers. World-wide cooperation and campaigning will ensure a trade union presence, which allows workers to seek decent wages, job security and good conditions. 

The Third Commercial Workers' Summit, held last week in Sydney, Australia, was a strong manifestation of trade union solidarity. One hundred commerce union leaders from all continents declared their intention to work together in order to build up a forceful trade union presence in their industry. The key priority will be to unionise the workers of world's leading retailers and wholesalers, which are expanding fast on a global scale. (Full story (23 April 2002)

The economic and social situation in Australia was presented by Joe de Bruyn

Joe de Bruyn, national secretary of SDA and president of UNI Apro, was the host of the Third Commercial Workers' Summit.

At the opening session of the Summit, SDA national secretary Joe de Bruyn made a much appreciated presentation of the economic and social situation in the host country. This made the participants' stay in Australia an even richer experience. We want to share Joe's presentation with you - it gives an exceptionally informative picture of what is happening in Australian society and working life.

Joe de Bruyn: The economic and social situation in Australia

English:

• Conclusions (doc)
• Summit programme
• Background report (pdf, 660 kb)
• Corporate social responsibility (doc)
• UNI Commerce draft policy document on corporate social responsibility, presented in Sydney by HK Handel

Danish:

• UNI Commerce draft policy document on corporate social responsibility, presented in Sydney by HK Handel - Danish

French:

• Conclusions (doc)
• Background report (doc)
• Corporate social responsibility (doc)

German:

• Conclusions (doc)
• Background report
• Corporate social responsibility (doc)

Russian:

• Summit programme (link)
• Background report (pdf, 817 kb)
• Corporate social responsibility (doc)

Spanish:

• Conclusions (doc)
• Background report (doc)
• Corporate social responsibility (doc)

Swedish:

• Conclusions (doc)
• Background report (doc)
• Corporate social responsibility (doc)

The UNI Apro Commerce steering group met just before the Sydney Summit. Ian Blandthorn, left, then reported on the region's activities, which are lead by regional secretary Christopher Ng.

The Asian and Pacific region is particularly strongly affected by the globalisation process in commerce. Almost all major retailers and wholesalers are now investing in China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and other countries. 

UNI Apro Commerce has not been slow in responding to these challenges. Organising efforts are on their way in most countries, with major projects being planned together with UNI Commerce.

Ian Blandthorn - regional and global, challenges and approaches in the Asian-Pacific region