A successful and
unprecedented Conference
As the Conference came to an end,
Sirel
sought the opinion
of some of the event's leading participants.
Héctor
Ponce
ATILRA General Secretary
The
enormous recognition and praise we received
reaffirms our commitment
“We feel serenely happy, and this feeling is
motivated by the feedback we've received from the
various organizations that visited us. We're
delighted that they were so pleased they felt they
had to personally express their satisfaction to us.
And they weren't just pleased with how they were
received and treated and by how well organized the
Conference was; they were impressed by the quality
of the event.
This is largely due to the fact that anyone wishing
to speak at the Conference was allowed to express
themselves freely, and also to the participation of
the various players involved in the dairy industry.
For the first time ever, a meeting of dairy workers,
represented by our labor organizations, gathered to
listen to the views of industrial operators, dairy
farmers and the government, which have given us
their perspective on the future of the dairy sector
in this part of the world.
We're also very grateful to Ron
Oswald, general secretary of
the IUF, and to Gerardo Iglesias,
head of the IUF's Latin American Regional
Office, for believing that we could successfully
organize this Conference.
The approval of the proposal to create a Global
Dairy Department within the IUF
was a perfect way to wrap up the Conference and will
be a great solution for bringing together all the
work being done in this field.
Only the IUF can
properly channel this global movement of dairy
workers and continue to actively develop strategies,
pursuing objectives that prioritize the
strengthening of ties among labor organizations
around the world, which is especially important in
light of the current consolidation of the process of
globalization.
The invitation we received from Ron Oswald at
the Conference to present this proposal to the
IUF’s International Executive Committee is
a great honor for us, but it is also a great
responsibility. An honor because ATILRA is
an organization that in the past lost too much time
over issues that are no longer worth discussing, but
which for some years now has worked very hard. We
have gotten back on track with our efforts inside
and outside the organization, and the enormous
recognition and praise we received in this
Conference reaffirms our commitment and sense of
responsibility.
We are confident that we will rise to the occasion.
Arturo Jorge Videla
National Dairy Undersecretary
Concern for today and for the long term
This Conference has been highly successful, among
other things because it has enabled a gathering of
all the players involved in the chain of production.
It has also been important because it allowed
workers from many parts of the world to share their
opinions and views with each other and develop
common strategies together.
I have drawn many things from this Conference, but
right now I would just like to point out two
important conclusions: one is -and I've mentioned
this to Héctor Ponce- that the dairy
producers who participated and spoke at this event
should be members of the IUF, they should be working
with the IUF, especially here in the MERCOSUR
region.
The other has to do with Argentina and the
fact that having achieved this common space for
communication and exchange between labor unions,
producers, industrialists and the government
constitutes a very rare instance of participation in
this country.
The time is right for us to start addressing the
long-term future of the sector. This should generate
a synergy that will put us, as a sector, among the
countries that are better organized in this area.
Neuza Barbosa de Lima
Vice President of the IUF's Latin American Executive
Committee
This Conference should serve as an example for all
This is an unprecedented and very important event.
And it is particularly important because ATILRA,
the Argentine organization that hosted the event,
gathered everyone who is involved in dairy
production. This has to serve as an example and be
an incentive for other countries to engage in
similar dialogues.
The Conference has also been very interesting
because all the presentations were excellent, and
they've contributed to strengthen our work agenda
and make it more focused on concrete actions.
Lastly, as Vice President of the Latin American
Secretariat of the IUF,
I feel proud of our regional office. We have shown
the world that we can achieve much more, that our “Farm
to Fork”
organization strategy is yielding results, and this
was clearly demonstrated at the Conference, where we
were able to attract and involve small producers
with whom we share common problems and the same
great challenges, one of which is defending
Food Sovereignty.
Sebastián Serena
Agro-Food Federation│General Workers’
Confederation of Spain (UGT)
We have to press forward and strengthen
international
coordination
We want to congratulate ATILRA for
its organization of the event, and the IUF,
especially its Latin American Regional Office,
because we believe it provides the perfect space to
debate on the global dairy sector.
Over these past days we were able to see that the
problems Argentina faces
are no different from those faced by Germany,
France, Spain and New Zealand.
This leads us to the following conclusion: we
should continue to move forward with a global trade
union strategy that will help us solve these
problems.
In his presentation, the representative of
Argentina's small dairy producers highlighted
the real problems faced by the sector, and mentioned
something that is very important: dairy production
is an activity that allows rural populations to stay
on the land, maintains an environmental balance, and
is very necessary because the dairy sector is a
strategic industry for any country.
We have to keep moving in that same direction, and
commit ourselves to further the international
coordination efforts that were initiated at this
Conference.
Ron Oswald
IUF General Secretary
Together we can achieve more…
The participation of such a large number of trade
unions and so many delegates has made this the most
inclusive Conference we've ever had in the IUF's
dairy sector. I think we can now say that there are
several members determined to make significant and
concrete progress in the sector on a global level.
I've felt extremely supported by the efforts of our
Latin American Regional Office,
Rel-UITA,
and by the entire region. Their work has been
critical, and it was decisive in making this
activity possible.
What I've heard from most of the delegates that
participated in the Conference is that it has been
an enormous success and the discussions have been
very relevant. Many felt inspired and are encouraged
by ATILRA's
work and by the strength exhibited by
this trade union, which is probably one of the
strongest dairy trade unions in the world.
The challenge we have before us now is to make the
Conference not an end in itself but a beginning. We
have to start building a new structure, a global
organization of dairy workers within the IUF
that can take on the great challenges we have before
us, addressing environmental issues, global warming
and other crosscutting issues. And this requires
that trade unions and producers come together to
face these challenges, which is something some are
already doing.
We have to join together to address such delicate
issues as trade, quotas and subsidies, as well as
the changing nature of the industry and the growing
influence of transnational corporations in the
sector. That's
what prompted everything we've been saying these
past two days: in sum, that we must organize to take
on these large companies.
The Conference was in itself a great challenge, as
it demanded a lot of work, but now we face the even
greater challenge of accomplishing our goal, as
successfully as we accomplished this Conference.
Key affiliate organizations expressed their
commitment to get to work and achieve this, and with
the efforts and support of the Latin American
Regional Office, and naturally of the General
Secretariat, we will work together to attain it.
