19/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington from 22 to 24 April, a new report from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) describes the successful campaigns by trade unions in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America against the imposition of measures in their countries by Bretton Woods institutions. The report, Fighting for alternatives: Case studies of successful trade union resistance to the policies of the IMF and World Bank, speaks, among others in Europe, of the case in Croatia where, according to the ICFTU press release, five trade union federations put aside their differences to present a united front against a joint IMF/World Bank proposal for a reform which would have made it easier to sack workers, and the one in Bulgaria, where national action led to the cancellation of a reform programme for education recommended by the Bank and a proposal from the IMF which would have led to a reduction in workers' wages.