The draft programme for the GLI 2013 International Summer School is now available to download here. GLI welcomes all comments and suggestions on the draft programme, and interested participants should submit these to gli-uk@31.172.241.170. A brochure is also available for circulation within the Trade Union movement and affiliated organisations.
All non-UK participants in the GLI 2013 International Summer School are invited to the Durham Miners’ Gala, taking place in the city of Durham, over the weekend immediately after the summer school.
If your Trade Union or organisation wishes to participate in the ISS 2013, please do contact us at gli-uk@31.172.241.170. As places at this years International Summer School are limited and allocated through participating unions, we suggest that individuals interested in a place at the Summer School get in touch with their trade union. Young activists are particularly encouraged to attend.
The second GLI International Summer School – the event to debate and question what are, and what should be, the politics of the international trade union movement.
8-12 July 2013, Northern College, UK
The Big Picture – The New Capitalism
Financialisation, the banks and the state.
Global Unions – Global Politics
What are the political challenges facing the international trade
union movement?
The Politics of Organising
New trends in trade unionism; the future workforce; politics, organisation and education.
Our Common Purpose
Do we share the same perception of the world?
Trade unionists throughout the world are organising and fighting hard to defend workers’ livelihoods and rights against unprecedented attack from financial markets, corporations and governments, in the context of economic, ecological and political crisis. There are some causes for optimism: a new international agenda for strong industrial organisation, evidence of increasing corporate vulnerability to well-organised and targeted campaigns, and a new generation of activists emerging from unions and movements for democracy and climate justice.
Yet there is a political vacuum. Union members want an international political alternative to neo-liberalism and corporate capitalism, but little emerges beyond rhetoric. Many of the formal institutions of the international labour movement have retreated into a bland, lowest common denominator of politics, shy of even basic principles of social democracy, let alone any mention of democratic socialism. But this is precisely the time when radical political solutions – and a new sense of political direction for the international trade union movement – are needed.
Up to 90 participants – delegations from national unions and global union federations, invited trade union activists, labour movement researchers and educators. Invited participants and discussion leaders include:
Sharan Burrow, International Trade Union Confederation; Alana Dave, International Transportworkers Federation (ITF); Plamen Dimitrov, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB); Jennie Formby, Unite the Union, UK; Dan Gallin, Global Labour Institute, Switzerland; Susan George, Transnational Institute, Netherlands; Leonard Gentle, International Labour Research & Information Group (ILRIG), South Africa; Cedric Gina, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA); Sam Gindin, Socialist Project, Canada; Károly György, National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions (MSZOSZ); David Hall, Public Services International Research Institute; Peter Hall-Jones, New Unionism, New Zealand; Han Dongfang, China Labour Bulletin, Hong Kong; Gary Herman, National Union of Journalists, UK; Tony Higgins, FIFPro; Vicky Kanyoka, International Domestic Workers’ Network, Tanzania; Boris Kravchenko, All-Russia Confederation of Labour (VKT), Lefteris Kretsos, University of Greenwich, UK; Khalid Mahmood, Labour Education Foundation, Pakistan; Nasir Mansoor, National Trade Union Federation, Pakistan; Josua Mata, Alliance of Progressive Labor, Philippines; Roger McKenzie, Unison, UK; Jim Mowatt, Unite the Union, UK; Nalini Nayak, SEWA, India; Ann Orjebu, Industri Energi, Norway; Rosa Pavanelli, Public Services International (PSI); Vasco Pedrina, Unia, Switzerland; Krastyo Petkov, GLI Bulgaria; Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers’ Alliance, USA; Fátima Aquado Queipo, Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO), Spain; Peter Rossman, International Union of Foodworkers (IUF); Ashim Roy, New Trade Union Initiative, India; Dave Spooner, Global Labour Institute, UK; Lara Skinner, Global Labor Institute, USA; Elizabeth Tang, International Domestic Workers’ Network; Bala Tampoe, Ceylon Mercantile Union, Sri Lanka; Liv Torres, Peoples Aid, Norway
Northern College 
Wentworth Castle, Stainborough
Barnsley,
South Yorkshire
S75 3ET
Phone: 01226 776000
www.northern.ac.uk
There is no fee, and food and accommodation are provided free of charge, although unions are encouraged make a financial contribution. Participants are responsible for their own travel expenses.
This handbook is a resource for those organizing informal workers in any sector, though it is based on the organizing experiences in (mainly) four groups: domestic workers, home-based workers, street/market vendors and waste pickers. It draws on the themes, ideas and information generated at a WIEGO Organizing Workshop, together with additional background materials, case studies and analysis.