Grant no. 519-0321-A-00-6219-00 : cooperative agreement with the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD)

The project, a follow-on to AIFLD efforts in the rural sector under project 5190262, consists of activities in the areas of research, membership drives and political outreach, vocational training, administration, and institutional development. AIFLD will hire 13 organizer-activists to carry out an aggressive promotional and organizational campaign to increase the number and memberships of urban democratic trade unions, and will further support these unions by: holding courses and seminars for union leaders and members on politics, political tactics, and democratic ideology; supporting the unions" fact finding, publishing and other media activities, demonstrations, and rallies that contrast democratic and nondemocratic union ideology; assisting in advocacy activities regarding labor laws and regulations; providing specific support to the Salvadoran Confederacion de Trabajadores Democraticos; and supporting the local activities of regional and international democratic union organizations. To increase the job opportunities of union members, AIFLD, in conjunction with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen (BAC), will survey employment needs in the industrial sector and study the feasibility of establishing a craft training center. In addition, scholarship funds will be provided for the training of trade union vocational and craft school teachers. In continuing its rural sector activities, AIFLD will place increased emphasis on services and projects and less on budget support. It will: help campesino organizations, primarily Union Comunal Salvadorena (UCS) and Asociacion Cooperativas de Produccion Agropecuaria Integrada (ACOPAI) to develop income-generating projects and a small projects revolving fund; strengthen the management of 25 Phase I and Phase III cooperatives; assist Phase III co-ops by expediting titling and providing services such as credit, extension, and marketing information; and expand its literacy training program from 41 to 90 communities. To increase the economic self-sufficiency of campesino organizations, AIFLD will progressively decrease overhead support while encouraging increased support from regional cooperative organizations.