The global union movement came together in Washington, D.C., last week to kick off a joint initiative to help workers at multinational companies join unions.

Members of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Council of Global Unions met with U.S. union leaders to discuss support for international organizing campaigns. Much of their help is directed at the United States, where workers’ rights now lag far behind other industrialized nations. They also met with senior officials of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The two-day meeting featured a presentation on Deutsche Telekom and subsidiary T-Mobile. While Deutsche Telekom respects workers’ rights in its home country of Germany,  T-Mobile workers in the United States and other countries face management campaigns of intimidation and harassment because they want to form a union and gain collective bargaining rights.

Participants also discussed organizing initiatives at various companies, including Saint-Gobain, DHL, IKEA, Wal-Mart and Securitas.