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Mega-unions eye united front on
globalization
By Stefania
Bianchi
BRUSSELS - An international conference in
Japan next week will debate the creation of a new world
trade-union organization to counter what labor groups
see as a globalization movement tipped too far in favor
of multinational corporations at the expense of working
people.
Under the banner "Globalizing
Solidarity: Building a Global Union Movement for the
Future", the 18th world congress of the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to be held in
Miyazaki, Japan, will consider the unification of ICFTU
and the World Confederation of Labor (WCL).
ICFTU is the world's largest trade union,
representing some 148 million workers in 152 countries.
The WCL comprises 144 trade unions from 116 countries,
with more than 26 million members mainly from developing
countries.
The new international trade-union
organization would also aim to bring other trade-union
groups together.
Tanzanian President Benjamin
Mkapa and Finnish President Tarja Halonen will be among
the speakers at the conference beginning on Sunday. The
two leaders have come together already in the World
Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization set
up by the International Labor Organization, ILO.
The trade unions' initiative is intended to
protect labor rights in the face of globalization and to
counter the growing clout of multinational corporations.
"We are seeking to transform globalization and
reach out to millions of unorganized workers," ICFTU
spokesperson Barbara Kwateng said on Wednesday. "That
means we have to look at our own working methods and our
own international structures because these have not
always been adequate in meeting the tasks we face."
The economic and political climate has made the
case for unification "much stronger", she said. "Both
the ICFTU and WCL see that the duplication of effort is
unnecessary and at times damaging. Therefore we are
seeking to rectify this."
Besides considering
the merger, ICFTU says the six-day conference will "set
in motion changes which will determine how international
trade unionism functions in the future".
Other
issues to be debated are international labor standards,
equality, peace and security, plans for trade-union
action to combat AIDS, and elimination of child labor.
ICFTU will also launch trade-union involvement
in the Global Call to Action against Poverty (G-CAP)
campaign. The campaign, which will run throughout 2005,
will focus on combating poverty and will be led in
conjunction with other civil-society organizations.
The main focus of the campaign will be trade,
aid and debt, Kwateng said. But it will also seek
"explicit references to the respect for workers' rights"
in trade agreements.
"Essentially, the campaign
aims to show how decent jobs and labor standards are key
drivers and agents of poverty reduction and
international development," she said. "Making more
progress on the Millennium Development Goals is one
element in the campaign."
A new ICFTU report
"Behind the Brand Names" examining the working
conditions and violations of labor rights in export
processing zones (EPZs) will be released during the
congress. The study features case studies on EPZs in
countries such as Bangladesh, China, Haiti and Mexico.
Opponents of the merger have said that the WCL's
roots are different from those of ICFTU, Kwateng said.
"However, the reality is that the WCL and ICFTU share
common principles." She said consolidating the two
unions will give the enlarged trade union more clout
when dealing with institutions such as the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, and the
European Union.
"The congress is to determine
whether this will go ahead and our affiliates will vote
for or against a resolution which endorses the merger,"
Kwateng said. "Nothing is set in stone as yet. It all
remains a proposed merger to be democratically decided
by delegates from the ICFTU's 231 affiliated
organizations."
(Inter Press
Service)
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