When unions go on strike, engage in negotiations, collective bargaining, social dialogue, and social security, as well as campaign for workers’ rights and workplaces free of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), they do so as a collective. It is this collective that builds union power and where the strength of the union lies, argues Rose Omamo, the general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers (AUKMW), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union.
Some of the pillars that are key to building a strong union are workers unity and collective bargaining, says the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) which is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union. The union organizing strategy is anchored on fighting for the unity of workers, workers’ rights, and living wages. In that sense, the union is living up to its slogan: Divided we beg, united we bargain.