Dear all,

First of all welcome all into the "Labour and Globalization" group organized in the WSF process website (www.wsfprocess.net).

• We remember you that this is a space created after the assembly "Labour and Globalization" held in the WSF of Nairobi the 24th of January 2007.
• Also we remember you that the assembly ended with an appeal for the creation of a Global network on Labour in the WSF process.

• the willing to give more centrality and visibility to the labour issues in the WSF process;
• the conviction that for scaling this gap, it is necessary to facilitate the emerging of a new and enlarged concept of labour; and, finally and connected, that
• it is necessary to strengthen the communication and the relationships among trade unions, new social movements and centres of research engaged on issues related to the labour.
• The full text of the appeal is anyway available in the web space of the group in various forms.

you also find (clicking here) the instructions for joining the group "Labour and Globalization" as a new participant.

• You can send them to people you would like to invite in the group and that still aren't registered.
• If you are having technical problems, don't hesitate to contact me (marco.berlinguer@transform.it) or Pierre George (pierregrg@gmail.com).

Proposals

This email is sent from Italy collectively by all the structures that promoted the assembly in Nairobi and that created a common space of coordination labelled "Lavoro in Movimento".
The content of this email is the result of a discussion we started in that framework.

With this email we would like to share with you some basic proposals we thought about the network we are starting to build.

Consider it as a proposal and of course any further comment and proposal will be welcomed.

you can post comment on the mailing list

you can post comment under each of the general or 1 to 6 points below by replying

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1) Establishing a framework of communication

• We consider first of all the network as a space of communication, exchange of information and experiences, and of promotion of debate.
• Technically, to allow this, we proposed in the assembly to use the www.wsfprocess.net website and within it the group "Labour and Globalization".
• We are facing several problems with this website: it is complex and it needs the registration to be accessible, visible and actively used, so it is not open to the general public. But it has been set up to help the WSF to become a process and not only an event.
• So, for now we propose to maintain this as our first common space of communication. We'll see in the future if it will be necessary to set up other tools as an alternative or preferably, as a complement.
• Anyway, despite the difficulties, we already have 132 people and about 80 organizations inscribed in the group and in this mailing list.

• CLICK HERE TO GET TO COMMENT ZONE

2) Articulating the initiative

• We think that it is important to develop a global common network, but also that is necessary to articulate this initiative.
• This can be done geographically in order to enlarge and spread the network in specific local, national, regional contexts with all their particular conditions.
• But we can also spread the network on a thematic basis to follow urgencies, needs and attitudes of each of us.
• Finally it can mean to articulate the network in different social ambits and circuits, like informal workers, trade unionised workers, centres of research, land workers, precarious workers, women movements, etc.
• So we suggest that each of us contributes in this aspect of developing the network, enlarging and rooting it in specific conditions.
• In this way, through these initiatives, shared through the communication framework of the global network, promoters of different projects will be able to find partners.
• At the same time, such initiatives will allow to all us to accumulate collectively knowledge, relationships, proposals in specific areas of the wide field that we can consider part of our mission.
• CLICK HERE TO GET TO COMMENT ZONE BELOW

3) Enlarging the network

• This remains a basic task. The global dimension and the enlarged concept of labour that we have made part of the mission of our network requires a continuous enlargement.
• The enlargement of the network should also be connected with the idea of building a map of the actors that we are and those that we would like to include in our common space.
• This is an idea we launched in the appeal of Nairobi.
• To do such a map would be also a tool for connecting and knowing ourselves and for giving a concrete grounding to our strategic reflection as a network.
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4) Organizing meetings at International level

• We suggest to use all the opportunities to meet at the International level to intensify the exchange of knowledge, experiences and to arrive progressively to elaborate common bases of work.
• This means that we should use the opportunity offered by International meetings and gathering of social movements.
• But we also propose in the future to organize specific meetings of the network.
• In this sense we also discussed the possibility to host a meeting here in Italy at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next.
• And we also received a similar proposal by the IG Metall in Germany.
• CLICK HERE TO GET TO COMMENT ZONE BELOW

5) Exchanging strategic reflections

• the labour in the context of globalization,
• the role of the trade unions,
• the alterglobalist movement,
• the crisis of political and democratic systems,
• the relationships with the governmental institutions, emerging economic and democratic alternatives etc.
• CLICK HERE TO GET TO COMMENT ZONE BELOW

6) Promoting initiatives in our opinion

• it is clear that we are a network and not a subject. And our network is already very diverse in its composition and it's going to become even more varied as it grows.
• So we have to guarantee an environment in which the diversity and the autonomy of each group is guaranteed and respected.
• So, the first objective remains to establish a space through which to exchange information, experience and debate.
• To create such a space is already a great advance. But it is clear that each of us also can promote proposals and initiatives by the network.
• It is then up to each group and individual to react as they feel appropriate: ignoring, criticising, or joining and supporting it.
• So in our conception, it remains that each organization maintains its own independence and that the network can't be seen as an actor.
• But also that it is in the nature of this network to create an opportunity of communication and when possible convergence, between trade unions and other subjects and social movements on the common interest of reinforcing the position of the labour in the globalization.
• CLICK HERE TO GET TO COMMENT ZONE BELOW

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So, these are our first proposals.

Soon we'll send you further information about a meeting of presentation of the network we held a week ago in Lisbon during the preparatory assembly of the next European Social Forum.

We hope you all in good health and energetic attitude
All the best
Marco Berlinguer
Lavoro in movimento

We'll be happy to hear any comment from you and to see the network taking life from now on.

You can make inputs in the mail list

You can post comments below in each of the following items

• General
• 1) Establishing a framework of communication
• 2) Articulating the initiative
• 3) Enlarging the network
• 4) Organizing meetings at International level
• 5) Exchanging strategic reflections
• 6) Promoting initiatives in our opinion

click in "reply" here to make your direct comments and input - else "reply" to another comment