The participation of the trade union movement in the process of South-South cooperation and triangular marked the discussions on Wednesday (29 August) during the seminar organised by the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) and CSA (Trade Union Confederation of Workers from Americas), with CUT support.

For Artur Henrique, Deputy International Relations and coordinator of the Institute for International Cooperation of the CUT, it is the role of the union movement to appropriate the theme, play and influence all the processes involving cooperation between countries. “We have to do a counterpoint to the bureaucratic model of cooperation that takes into account only the enhancement of trade and profitability with exploitation of workers and demand commitments and counterparts to ensure decent work, freedom of association, collective bargaining and respect for human rights.”

One goal of the workshop is to establish a common agenda with rules and principles, so that the international trade union movement can put pressure on their respective governments to ensure a fair and sympathetic cooperation, which brings real progress for the people of both parties.

“This is a big challenge, since all international relations are guided by interests. From this conception, the union movement must build its principles, taking advantage of every opportunity to influence the direction of policies that governments have been implementing, “said Kjeld Jakobsen, former leader of the CUT and consultant in International Relations.

Victor Baez, Secretary General of the CSA, recalled that the current situation presents recent democratic processes, except in Honduras and Paraguay, which opens a larger space for union participation. But it was not always so. “We’re in a different situation experienced in the 70s and 80s, where cooperation was restricted to union struggle for democracy. Today, we fight for the consolidation of democracy and the advancement of a sustainable model, “he said.

“Regardless of the rise of progressive governments, does not mean that we will automatically have open a cooperation to unionism. It is also important to strengthen the political union cooperation at national, continental and worldwide, with more training and formation of social actors, which also allows us to compete with government cooperation model, “added the head of the CSA.