[ifwea-bulletin] Re: FW: Please help me! This is confidential to
you.
Katherine Peet
kmpeet at gmail.com
Sun Mar 16 03:20:56 GMT 2008
CONFIDENTIAL to the two of you:
I have just sent the following to our Administrator and President - thanks
for your help. Our AGM is 13 April.
Best wishes,
Katherine
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
from Katherine Peet <kmpeet at gmail.com>
date 16 Mar 2008 15:12
subject Re IFWEA for the AGM
IFWEA conference 2007 and why stay in IFWEA.
The following excerpts (in italics) from the IFWEA conference and associated
seminar may help explain why I recommend that we stay a member of IFWEA -
basically as an act of solidarity with developments they are leading.
The IFWEA member in India who hosted the conference in December 2007 was
thanked for their traditional welcome and acknowledged for their outstanding
activities in informal economy organising, they were praised for the example
they have set in the world in their fight against social exclusion and
poverty.
The keynote address focused on the current global economy and levels of
unemployment, poverty, inequality and social deregulation. Emphasis was
placed on the need for workers' education to promote decent work,
solidarity, equality, peace and democracy along with alliances of trade
unions, civil society organizations, NGO's and all local, regional and
international forces in promoting a fairer society, decent work and decent
life.
Asia-Pacific region
The regional delegate reported that the Asia-Pacific region has experienced
some of the most significant challenges in the period under review. The
labour movement as a whole has been under attack poised by neo-liberal
corporate strategies and repressive political development.
The IFWEA office for the next year would be hosted by the LRS in South
Africa and by 2009 a separate office at Community house in Cape Town.
Seminar on Workers in the Informal Economy
This was held in association with the Conference.
A 4 year education plan was produced with the key priorities being:
* Political economy training around globalisation and its impact
Informal work and the global economy
Worker rights and human rights
Building organisation - how, why, different models(include
cooperatives)
Developing skills for income generation
Self organisation
Organise for decent work
International conventions
Role of the state (police, courts etc)
Understanding trade union organisation: Principles and values
Understanding the legislative environment
Negotiation skills
Common problems and how to overcome them
Campaigning skills/strategies, including dealing with the media
Leadership/management training
Marketing information/skills
How is this being done in the United States?
There is a new economic education program that tries to help workers
understand the impact of neo-liberal policies (we don't call them
Neo-liberal, we call them the corporate agenda). This story is geared to
American workers but in fact a version of this story could be developed for
every country. This program is being delivered by top leaders as well as
leaders and rank and file members from across the labor movement who have
been trained to conduct classes. There are many versions.
Free trade, off shore work exploitation, privatization, deregulation and tax
cuts for the wealthy, has caused economic instability. When what is needed
is fair trade, rebuilding manufacturing, work justice, quality service,
public investments and fair taxes from a good government..... By holding
elected officials accountable and by demanding corporate accountability
these issues can be checked and resolved.
In addition we need to be aware that this last conference produced a new
IFWEA secretary Sahra Ryklief and president Susan Schurman - they are both
great women - I have met them both. I am sure they will be interested in
knowing what we are doing and that they will draw us in to the IFWEA agenda
- for example the next phase of the IFWEA initiative to build a network of
methodologies and resources We may be able to access them for our purposes.
Finally I would like to add that no other international organsiation brings
together labour/worker educators in unions, NGOs and public sector
organisations around the common mission of offering education for democracy
building, human rights and poitical/economic consciousness raising. The
current major emphasis on organising the informal economy and linking that
to organising in the formal economies is a particular strategic direction
that no other organisation is tackling, as far as I know.
Let's renew our membership.
Katherine
--
87 Soleares Ave
Christchurch 8081
Phone 03 384 1281
Fax 03 384 6281
On 12/03/2008, Sahra Ryklief <sahra at lrs.org.za> wrote:
>
> Hi Katherine,
>
> I'm Sahra Ryklief, the newly elected General Secretary. We met in Belfast,
> at my first IFWEA conference in 1996. Just to add to what Sue has given
> you, besides the Informal economy work, we also have a very active global
> network of NGOs and trade unions co-ordinated by IFWEA affiliates in South
> Africa; Peru and the Philippines who work together to build links between
> trade unions, ngos and campaign groups on trade and human and labour rights
> issues; and IFWEA is also in the second phase of building a network of
> education institutions who are sharing methodologies and resources developed
> through working with film and radio as a means of education. If WEA NZ is
> interested in linking up with any of these networks I can give them the
> details.
>
> We would also be interested in knowing what WEA NZ is doing, so that we
> can draw it into any future liaisons or activities planned. In April I will
> have a student assistant working with me for six months to develop an online
> IFWEA database of the main activities of all its affiliates. In recent years
> we have had a drop in resources to keep communications at optimum level, so
> those organisations t hat have not been part of the active networks have
> been sitting in the doldrums, as it were. Sue and I have set it as our task
> to turn this around, not that we have any additional resources except the
> affiliation fees, but maybe we can draw on our affiliates more than in the
> past. Necessity is the mother of invention, is it not.
>
> So please do your best to keep WEA NZ in the fold, and also to look at
> ways that we can draw on its participation and support, over and above
> paying the affiliation fee, in the future.
>
> In solidarity
>
> Sahra Ryklief
>
> *From:* Sue Schurman [mailto:schurman at dceo.rutgers.edu]
> *Sent:* 11 March 2008 02:04 PM
> *To:* Katherine Peet
> *Cc:* Sahra Ryklief
> *Subject:* Re: Please help me! This is confidential to you.
>
> Hi Katherine,
>
> Of course I do remember you. It is nice to hear from you and find out
> what you're doing.
>
> I don't fully understand the email that you forwarded. Did the WEA of NZ
> just get a membership dues invoice from IFWEA?
>
> If so I can tell you that I was recently elected president and a
> magnificent women from the Labor Research Service in South Africa was
> elected General Secretary along with a good group on the Board. We are very
> focused on building membership in IFWEA and, through rebuilding membership,
> rebuilding our resources through which to do programming.
>
> I hope that we can persuade you and your organization to remain affiliated
> as we undertake this task. Let us know what we can do to convince your
> decision-makers on this point.
>
> At some point we hope to visit as many of the member organizations as
> possible and invite member organizations to attend seminars and so forth.
>
> Please stay in touch.
>
> best,
>
> Sue
>
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 11:27 PM, Katherine Peet <kmpeet at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Susan
>
> You won't remember me but I was deeply for several years and went with the
> IFWEA de;legation to the Hamburg CONFITEA conference in 1997. Dan Gallin and
> Aaron Barnea were around in those days.
> I know Karoly and linked with Jorma, SEWA in those times. I also know of
> you through Rutgers.
> My contribution was in building links between Workers Education and NGOs
> committed to Social Justice. SEWA was a particularly useful case study.
> I am still involved with our national WEA and would like to be able to
> keep us in the IFWEA membership family.
> Do you have a bright idea about how to respond to the request I have had
> below?
> I will let our Administrator know that I will follow up befor our
> national AGM in late March.
> I look forward to hearing from you!
>
> In solidarity
> Katherine Peet
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *FWEA Administrator* <admin at wea.org.nz>
> Date: 10 Mar 2008 16:06
> Subject: FW: IFWEA 2008 Affiliation Fee
> To: Katherine Peet <kmpeet at gmail.com>
>
> Hi Katherine, some news from IFWEA plus the sub invoice. In recent years
> we have paid $500 NZ, about 167 pounds, would you make a recommendation to
> the next GG meeting about payment?
>
> We hear very little from them, just about nothing about our region - would
> you like to contact them re just what can we expect form the region, or I
> can - let me know your preference please.
>
--
87 Soleares Ave
Christchurch 8081
Phone 03 384 1281
Fax 03 384 6281
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