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Nicaraguan Young Trade Unionist, Karina Gomez,
carried out a speaker tour of UK in June 2009 
Nicaraguan trade union activist, Karina
Gómez, was in the UK between the 6th and 19th of
June speaking at events around the country. She talked about her
experiences as a trade union organiser in the Federation of Self Employed
Workers (CTCP), the informal sector workers’ union. She became involved in the
CTCP when organising the July 19th
Union of young workers, having worked in a street café for many years. In
December Karina was elected to the recently established CTCP youth
committee. She has been very active in health promotion and literacy
campaigns and is a member of Sandinista Youth. Karina has been invited to the UK by
NSCAG as part of the Linking Young Trade Unionists Project.
PROGRAMME: ***BENEFIT CONCERT,
PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES***
MANCHESTER Monday 8th June 7.00pm
UNISON NW Youth- UNISON offices, Arena Point, 1 Hunts Bank, Manchester,
M3 1UN following their young members meeting.
Please contact Matthew Egan on is 0161 661 6706, 07841 047 894 or at
m.egan@unison.co.uk
LIVERPOOL Tuesday 9th June 7.30 pm
NSCAG/UNISON evening of discussion on youth work, trade unionism and
activism at El Rincon Latino, corner Roscoe/Oldham Street, Liverpool, L1 2SU
For more information please contact Mark Jackson on 07722 061 551 or at
jazjackson28@hotmail.com
LONDON, BRIXTON JAMM Saturday 13th June 7pm til late
RMT BENEFIT CONCERT for Nicaragua- Karina Gomez guest speaker, live acts
Oggie, The Ace, Red Venom and Melody Boytoy and On the Decks Dirty Needlez
DJs from www.flavourradio.com Skelly B and Locky Stylez with MC Flowz- 7.00
pm until late RMT Young Members Present a Nicaragua Benefit Gig @ Brixton
Jamm For further info and tickets (£5 in advance or £7.50 on the door)
contact NSCAG on 020 7561 4836 or see following link:
http://www.brixtonjamm.org/events/2009-06-13
Karina Gomez also participated in meetings with CWU, RMT, UNISON, UNITE, SERTUC and other
organisations in Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Liverpool, London and
Manchester including:
CWU conference 7th June, Bournemouth
UNISON conference 15th- 18th June, Brighton
FURTHER INFORMATION
See the following link for recent article in Central America Report on
informal
sector workers in Nicaragua and the work of the CTCP:
http://www.central-america-report.org.uk/?q=content/nicaraguas-informal-workers-reap-rewards-organisin
For more information about the Linking
Young Trade Unionists Project please see the following link:
http://www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/NSCAG/youth_unionists
THE FNT AND CTCP
FNT National Workers Front (Frente Nacional de Trabajadores)
Our partner unions in Nicaragua are all affiliated to the National Workers
Front. The FNT was formed in 1990, after the election of the Chamorro
government, with the initial purpose of being a political body which would
give a voice to workers on a national level. It operates as a national
federation and includes the main ‘Sandinista’ trade unions. Seven different
unions are affiliated to the FNT, representing workers in health, education
(including higher education) the public sector/civil service, industry and
manufacturing, agriculture, and now the informal sector.
CTCP Informal Sector Union (Confederación de Trabajadores de Cuenta Propia)
The latest union to be affiliated to the FNT is the Informal Sector union.
Formed in May 2002, it now has over 39,000 members made up of five trade
union federations, which represent workers at traffic lights; lottery
sellers; shoe shiners; street sellers and tricycle taxis. 70% of employment
in Nicaragua is within the informal sector.
The union believes that although the labour relations between employers and
employees in the informal sector are quite different to traditional labour
relationships they do exist. Suppliers of the goods they sell or owners of
the equipment they use tend to be the same people: local businessmen;
magistrates; politicians and so on. It also falls to local authorities to
grant (or otherwise) licences, eviction notices and other types of
permissions. As these labour relations are more invisible than relations in
traditional sectors the creation of an informal sector union has required
the development of new ways of organising and providing services.
The union's current priorities include: developing and strengthening
organising work; education and training for members (many of whom have had
no access to formal education); improving health and safety in the
workplaces, the provision of a mutual health service; the development of
revolving loan funds for members and reducing the number of child workers in
the informal sector.
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