ITC-ILO/ACTRAV Course A3- 00220: Trade Union Training for GUF – Building Global Solidarity Network

ITC-ILO/ACTRAV Course A3-00220:Trade Union Training for GUF –Building Global Solidarity Network Course Orientation ACTRAV-Turin

Aims of This Session • To get to know with each other; • To clearly understand the objectives and expected outputs of this course; and • To grasp participants’ expectations to the course and make fine-tunings tothe course timetable.

Activity: Paired Interview Purpose:To get to know with each other, and to identify the common areas of participants’ interests. Activity: • Make pairs (two persons make one team); • Interview your partner about him/herself: • Name (nickname), country, and organization • Trade union (GUF) experiences and current responsibilities • Expectations to this programme (on IT issues) • In the plenary, introduce your partner to the group.

Background of the Course (1) • The advancement of globalization and the development of world-wide computer communication systems; • The systems use e-mail, e-mail mailing lists, computer conferencing and web sites, bring together people in global networks for corporate, social and political activities; • They can be very effective for organizing people on a global basis;

Background of the Course (2) • The international labour movement has used computer communications for various activities, but more can be (and should be) done;and • By developing solidarity networks based on computer communications the movement can dramatically increase its influence on the effects of globalization and other issues.

Development Objectives This Course is aimed atcontributing to development of global solidarity networks: • For international and national trade unions, central federations, works councils and other labour organizations plus particular groups such as labour educators, researchers and gender equality officers • To enhance communications and strengthen labour organizations at all levels.

Immediate Objectives By the end of this course, the participants will be able to: • Deepen understanding on computer communications and their effective use for trade union work; • Obtain practical knowledge for building and developing solidarity networks through their hands-on experience with Solidarity Communications (SoliComm); and • Gain access to the training materials they need in order to use and teach computer communications.

SoliComm SoliComm can be used for; • providing free email for unionists; • creating email list services for organizations wanting to send email to large groups; • computer conferencing for distance education and meetings via the Internet; and • web-site hosting for labour organizations that want to create web sites.

Time-Table of this Course Day 1: Issues and Agenda for GUFs in A/P region • Priority issues and agenda for each GUF in A/P region • Potential areas for joint actions • Effective ways and means for joint actions Day 2: GUF Needs for Computer Communications • Current communication situations within/among GUF(s) • Problems, difficulties and needs of GUFs Day 3 & 4: Hands-on Experience with SoliComm • E-mail system and mailing list • Online Conference and websites Day 5: GUF Strategy on Computer Communications • The ideal computer communications system for GUFs

Activities No. 1 • What are the priority issues and agenda for actions of each GUF in Asia and the Pacific region? • What are the common issues and agenda for actions of GUFs in Asia and the Pacific region that can best be addressed by organizing joint actions? • What are the possible, appropriate and/or necessary ways and means of joint actions for GUFs in Asia and the Pacific region?

Activities No. 2 • What are the computer communications situation of GUFs in Asia and the Pacific in terms of: • Communications between headquarters and regional office(s); • Communications between regional office(s) and affiliates; • Communications between/among GUFs in the region. • What are the problems, difficulties, needs and/or requirements of GUFs (from the regional perspective) in further improving and promoting computer communications?

Activities No. 3 • What would be the best (or better) solutions for computer communications for GUFs, globally and regionally? • What would be join initiatives and actions to be taken by GUFs in building and promoting global solidarity networks?

Reports The Report should contain: • a brief description of the history and regional structure of the GUFs; • a synthesis of the major labour issues they are confronted with in the region, especially in a view to the negative impact of globalization and GUFs driving forces; • communication patterns and use / availability of trade union networks; and • communication pattern between GUFs in the region / strategies and major actions of the GUFs. It should not be more than 5 pages.

Evaluation • End of the Course Evaluation • Post-Course Evaluation • Implementation of Work Plan and After-1year-Ealuation Questionnaire

Course Website http://training.itcilo.org/actrav/courses/2004/A3-00220/ • Database of all the relevant materials of the course; • A hub for networking of the participants

Any questions or clarifications? • About Objectives and Goals of the Course? • About Contents of the Program? • About … anything?

Let’s enjoy the programtogether! ACTRAV-Turin

ITC-ILO/ACTRAV Course A3- 00220: Trade Union Training for GUF – Building Global Solidarity Network