The Cooperation Network of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) held a workshop in São Paulo on “Trade Union Cooperation Effectiveness in South America”, from 19 to 20 October 2015.

The meeting was attended by members of the TUCA Trade Union Development Cooperation Network from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay and Chile, as well as representatives from the European trade unions DGB Bildungswerk (Germany) FGTB and CSC (Belgium), CFDT and CGT (France), CGIL and ISCOS/CISL (Italy).

The meeting provided an opportunity for more in-depth discussion of the growing weight of South-South and triangular development cooperation in South America, at both government and trade union level. The general secretary of the TUCA, Víctor Báez, said, in this respect: “The effectiveness of cooperation – be it North-South, South-South or triangular – depends on the development model we want to promote, and who benefits from that model. If we are clear about that, South-South cooperation has great empowering and anti-systemic potential in terms of rebalancing the historic asymmetries between the North and South.”

On the subject of trade union development cooperation, the participants shared information about the projects being implemented in the Southern Cone and Andean countries, with a view to developing synergies between projects at national level and ensuring coherence with the priorities identified by the TUCA.

Trade union cooperation in the sub-region was examined in relation to the Trade Union Principles on Development Effectiveness (drawn up by the TUCA cooperation network, TUDCN, and approved by the General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation in 2011) and the TUDEP assessment tool. Based on this analysis, mechanisms were identified to achieve more effective cooperation in the sub-region, based on political transparency, dialogue and coordination between trade union cooperation agents.

Source: CSA

 Read the narrative report (in Spanish)