International: Unions fight private equity scams

Likened by some to a plague of locusts, private equity funds have emerged as major owners of companies in the IUF and other manufacturing and service sectors. The top global buyout funds now control more overseas assets, and employ more workers, than the traditionally ranked leading TNCs.

Trillions of dollars in recent years have gone into acquiring, restructuring and disposing of the companies, often with a catastrophic impact on employment and working conditions. With 2007 now being talked about as the year of the hundred billion dollar "deal", leveraged buyouts cast a long shadow over our sectors and the global economy as a whole.

Unions internationally are now responding and fighting back. The IUF has opened a new web site - Private Equity Buyout Watch - to strengthen our collective response. On the site, you'll find news of private equity developments and acquisitions in the IUF sectors, reports on union campaigns, organizing and bargaining strategies in response to leveraged buyouts, and updates on key developments in the campaign to contain and roll back private equity through political and regulatory tools.

You can visit the IUF's Private Equity Buyout Watch at www.buyoutwatch.info