IFWEA MONTHLY BULLETIN

March 2004

IFWEA Executive Meeting, Manchester, 5-6 March

The Executive Committee elected at our last General Conference last October held its first full meeting in Manchester in March. The meeting focused on the implementation of the strategic plan and resolutions adopted at the 2003 General Conference, and included substantial discussion on new project initiatives and regional development. The Secretariat was able to report that IFWEA’s budget, which has been the subject of enormous concern in recent years, now looks secure for 2004. A summary record of the meeting will be circulated to all affiliates shortly.

Distance Learning in Latin America

Following the International Study Circles project, a number of new exciting distance learning projects have been launched in Latin America, involving Programa Laboral de Desarrollo (PLADES), partner trade unions and IFWEA-affiliated NGOs in the region, focusing on labour rights, union organisation, technical skills in communications and other subjects. Details are available at www.plades.org.pe.

Global Network 2nd Stage Funding

Global Network, the project undertaken by IFWEA in partnership with Solidar to promote constructive engagement in processes of globalisation, has successfully gained further grant support from the British Department for International Development (DfID) for a second stage of activity, enabling national, regional and global workers’ education activity. Further details of how IFWEA affiliates can benefit will be circulated in the coming weeks. More details on Global Network activity can be found at www.solidar.org/doclist.asp?SectionID=25.

GFTU Support to International Trade Union Education Conference

In the same DfID funding round, the General Federation of Trade Unions (UK) secured further support towards the IFWEA international conference on trade union education and globalisation, following the successful gathering in Manchester in July 2002. The conference, due to be convened later in 2004, will also launch GFTU’s new education programme on globalisation with British trade unions.

International Labour Conference

IFWEA has accreditation at the forthcoming International Labour Conference, being held in Geneva from May 31 (details available at www.ilo.org). IFWEA affiliates wishing to attend the conference as part of the IFWEA delegation are asked to contact Anne Webley at the Secretariat (anne.webley@ifwea.org) as soon as possible to arrange credentials.

Organising Workers in the Informal Economy – Conference Reports

As reported in the February bulletin, IFWEA was represented at an international conference on organising in the informal economy, held in Ahmedabad, India in December 2003. A full report of the conference is now available here.

Meanwhile, the first Congress of StreetNet was held in Seoul, South Korea on 16-18 March 2004. Details (in English, French and Spanish) are available at www.streetnet.org.za.

Trade Unions & NGOs

IFWEA members may be interested to see the most recent issue of the journal Development in Practice, dedicated to a discussion on trade unions and NGO relations in development and social justice, with Alan Leather (PSI) as guest editor. See http://www.developmentinpractice.org/abstracts/vol14/v14n01.html  for details.

New Address for IFWEA Secretariat

The IFWEA Secretariat has a new home:

IFWEA
Surcon House
Copson Street
Manchester
M20 3HE

Phone: +44 161 445 9272
Fax: +44 161 445 3625

College Co-operative

We were very sad to have to leave our former office in the GMB National College, a residential trade union college in Manchester that many IFWEA affiliates know well from many international conferences and seminars in the last ten years. The GMB trade union, faced with major financial difficulties, decided to close the college at the end of February. The former staff at the college are now negotiating with the union to take over the building as a workers’ co-operative, and have huge support from the local community, the local and national trade union and co-operative movement, and from many in the international workers’ education movement. The co-operative venture also has the full support of the IFWEA Executive Committee. For news of the campaign, and details of how to give support, please visit http://www.nationalcollegecoop.org.uk/

Forthcoming Meetings
 

Dave Spooner
General Secretary

This Monthly Bulletin is produced from the IFWEA Secretariat.

Contributions and news from affiliates and fraternal organisations are most welcome. Please send all items to bulletin@ifwea.org.

International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations (IFWEA)
Surcon House, Copson Street, Manchester, M20 3HE
Phone: +44 161 445 9272, Fax: +44 161 445 3625
President : Joao Proença (ugt@mail.telepac.pt)
General Secretary: Dave Spooner (dspooner@ifwea.org)