Ambet Yuson speaking at the Swedish Electricians' Congress
“We are not an insurance company, we are a fighting organization,” said Jonas Wallin who was re-elected as president at the Electricians’ Unions Congress in Sweden on the 29th of May.
He spoke about eleven promises that members of the union should commit to, including never to sell their labour to cheap and never accept poor working conditions.
He spoke about eleven promises that members of the union should commit to, including never to sell their labour to cheap and never accept poor working conditions.
Per-Håkan Waern was re-elected as vice president and Pontus Boström newly elected as 2nd vice president of the union.
At the BWI's general secretary Ambet Yuson who was invited to speak at the congress praised the unions’ deep engagement for global solidarity – including support to Palestinian Migrant workers in Israel, and support to unions in Moldova, Ukraine and Nepal.
In his speech he mentioned a report from the Electricians’ Union about how the privatization of the Swedish electricity market has affected working conditions and led to an increase of work place accidents.
“De-regulation and privatization often boost precarious work and expose workers to human rights risks. The privatization of the Swedish electricity market is a recent demonstration of that sad truth,” said Ambet Yuson.
"We need to have a counterbalance to global capital. Global solidarity and global collective action is what is needed," he said.
International guests from BWI affiliates in Moldova and Israel were also attending the Congress as they have both had a close cooperation with the Swedish Electricians in the past couple of years.
Among the decisions taken so far at the congress is a noll tolerance of buying alcohol for membership money and a commitment to lower the membership fees.