Building and Wood Workers� International (BWI)

President for Latin America and Caribbean World Vice-President

Gerardo Martínez participates in the BWI - Building and Wood International that groups free and democratic trade unions with members from different sectors such as building, wood building materials, forestry, and related sectors. This new international Trade Union Federation was born in Buenos Aires World Congress in 2005, which was held by the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) and the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers Unions (WFBW).

318 trade unions from 130 countries participate in the BWI, and represent about 12 million of members. BWI�s head office is located in Geneve, Switzerland. It has Regional offices and Project Offices in Panama, Malaysia, South Africa, India, Australia, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Kenya, South Korea, Russia, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil.

BWI�s sovereign authority is the Congress, which is summoned every four years to establish priorities and the strategy for the following quadrennial period. In turn, the congress elects the world council that establishes the International Committee of Female Workers with the purpose of advising about policies, implementation and practices for promoting women effective participation and the development of positive action programmes.