IMF's Union Roadshow screened at film festival

GENEVA: Union Roadshow: Organisning EPZ workers in Indonesia hit the big screen this year at the third annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival. The film, produced by the International Metalworkers' Federation, was one of fourteen films selected to be shown.

"It has always been extremely difficult for unions to organise EPZ workers, with employers and even governments crushing unionisation attempts," said Jenny Holdcroft, IMF's Director of Equal Rights and EPZs and one of the film's producers. "But in Indonesia, unions are helping workers to move from temporary contracts to permanent employment. Wages are increasing and so is union membership."

The video showcases the successful organising strategies that Indonesian unions are using to organise EPZ workers. The IMF is hoping that the lessons learned in Indonesia may inspire unions in other parts of the world to intensify their efforts to organise EPZ workers.

Other films screened at the festival include a Bollywood meets 1970s horror flick health and safety training video for Indian mine workers; a satire on U.S. immigration policy; the story of Palestinian migrant workers living in an abandoned mall outside of Tel Aviv; and the festival's winner for Best Labour Film Short, Abandoned, not forgotten: the plight of Burma's migrant fishers which exposes the brutal treatment of migrants working in Thailand's billion dollar export fishing industry.

The event took place on June 16 and was hosted by all global union federations, the ITUC and TUAC. For more information visit the festival website at: http://www.labourfilmshorts.org/.