Globalisation of World Labour

Paddy Crumlin, MUA national secretary 25 Jun 2010 MUA national secretary addresses the International Trade Union Confederation World Congress in Vancouver, Canada today. The ITUC represents 176 million workers in 156 countries and territories and has 312 national affiliates, with Sharan Burrow, former ACTU President now elected ITUC General Secretary.

Paddy Crumlin, Mich-Elle Myers and Dean Summers, MUA with Sharan Burrow ITUC general secretary and outgoing general secretary Guy Ryder

Sisters and Brothers, Greetings and solidarity from the Australian Council of Trade Unions

My comments on Part 2 to those aspects directed at concretely building our organizational capacity.

Specifically my comments are directed at the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the council of global unions formed with the express focus of strengthening our structural partnership.

The report can be broadly described as good news and bad news.

The good news is that it has structure and funding – so it will be durable.

The bad news is – it hasn’t done much illustrated by the wonderful euphemism in the report  “Much more progress remains to be made”.

So if we are honest this new structural partnership under current commitments won’t do much, but it won’t do much for a very long time.

Brothers and Sisters the Washington conference on organising recognition and union rights developed a two pronged strategy.

1.       Promote organising methodology and understanding

2.       Assist in translating that understanding and skill to concrete and specific outcomes

This in essence reduces our conversation over the last 3 days on dealing with the challenges Guy and Sharan so articulately posed.

Can we successfully prosecute campaigns in real and practical terms for a new form of globalisation, NOW – THE PEOPLE.

A globalisation of inclusion not exclusion.  A globalisation that is not ageist, sexist, racist. The divisions imposed on us by the elitist and exclusive globalisation that dominates our contemporary lives.

Their globalization brought us to the brink of collapse and will keep us peering into that abyss of economic financial and material crisis until effectively dealt with.

We have been driven to this precipice by elitism and self interest at best and greed and criminal negligence at worst. These are the characteristics of the new world order, order unencumbered by any real empathy for the suffering and dislocation and poverty that are the waster products of it’s machinations.

Our  globalisation is concretely anchored in organising strategy reinforced by the partnership between the sectoral industrial responsibility of the GUF’s and the strategic responsibilities of the ITUC. Both operate regionally, sub regionally and nationally. The points of intersection are many and varied, that is why we need  structure.

For analytical reasons

To minimize duplication

To enhance resource utilization

To communicate more effectively

And to act together more coherently.

The global council of trade unions is not a place in Brussels; it is a conversation in every region in every country. It is both top down and bottom up.

It is not a hall of towering rhetoric but a process nurturing new trade union structures and attitudes fuelled by objective review of outcomes and actions promoting our work plans, the work plans of this new growth model.

It is only a new growth model if it sees capital differently including not only its regulation but its opportunities through workers capital and other mechanisms.

It is only a new growth model if trade union density goes up instead of down.

It is only a new growth model if doing a little for a long time is not acceptable. There is only the proposition of doing lots by many today and every day.

That unambiguous commitment to our new trade union globalization brings us back in 4 years measuring how far we have come and not despairing on how far we have to go.

Now on this day La Fete Nationale De Quebec a traditional day of renewal let us make this declaration.

Now

We – The People.

It is our day. Let us seize it

Go to the ITUC WEBSITE for more Congress reports

ITUC Congress debates global employment crisis and the call for stronger regulations of the financial sector

23 June 2010: As the ITUC’s Congress moved into its second day, the state of the world economy and the global employment crisis continued to be heavily debated. Leaders of some important international organizations were invited to take part in this debate. First out was Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark became the first woman to lead the UNDP in April 2009.

Clark echoed the concern expressed by many Congress delegates that the momentum for substantial financial regulatory reform seemed to have weakened and that the plans of some countries to exit rapidly from fiscal stimulus policies “has significant implications for employment growth”. Furthermore, said Clark, “It cannot be assumed that job creation will flow automatically from a resumption of growth. Often employment figures are the last indicators to move when growth recovers.” She put forward the ILO’s Global Jobs Pact as the path countries should follow to restore employment levels and support decent work.

Later in the afternoon, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization gave speeches and took part in a panel discussion where they, along with ILO Deputy Director General Kari Tapiola, responded to delegates’ comments and questions.

Strauss-Kahn spoke of the positive impact of economic stimulus policies to prevent an even deeper recession, and stated that countries not beset by deep financial problems should maintain planned fiscal stimulus this year, given that the recovery has been very uneven. However he stated that some countries unable to finance additional debt were obliged to begin reducing their fiscal deficits now.

Even if trade unions and the IMF did not agree on the economic strategy governments should adopt, Strauss-Kahn stated that the IMF appreciated unions’ proposals made on behalf of working people and that the Fund had made efforts to ensure social safety nets were maintained to protect the most vulnerable and agreed with the need for more progressive taxation. He also announced that the IMF and the ILO would hold a joint conference next September in Oslo on the theme of employment creation.

Strauss-Kahn also spoke of the global trade union movement’s support for a financial transactions tax (FTT). Noting that the IMF had expressed its preference for a different kind of financial activities tax based on profit and compensation, he agreed with the ITUC that a substantial contribution from the financial sector is justified to pay for the cost of the crisis and to dampen overly risky behaviour in the financial sector. He stated that the specific choice between the FTT and another type of tax is “a technical discussion” that needed to take place.

Pascal Lamy of the WTO agreed with trade unions’ advocacy of stronger regulation on the financial sector, which had caused the global crisis, and observed that the global trade union movement had played a valuable role in pushing for greater coherence among international institutions. He invited trade unions to play an even stronger role in favour of regulation and coherence in the future, both on the national and international level.

Tapiola of the ILO added his concerns that, in recent months, employment has received less attention than fiscal considerations in some countries: “From our point of view, there is no recovery until there is a recovery of employment.”

In support of Global Social Justice and World Public Services Day: ″Global Justice Now!” say 1500 rally activists

24 June 2010: About 1,500 trade union activists called on world leaders to move towards global justice at a rally held outside the Vancouver Convention Centre today. Delegates and guests to the ITUC Congress were joined by many local Canadian trade unionists, who together called for in-depth reform of the global financial system, including the introduction of a financial transaction tax. Rally speakers from all five continents also emphasised the critical role that public services play in our societies, and cheered in support of World Public Services Day, which is celebrated on June 23 every year. As Mody Guiro of the CNTS Senegal said: “Trade unions want strong public services at the service of the people and social security for all.”

The ITUC is convinced that, after decades of injustice, it is now the turn of workers and citizens to enjoy the benefits of globalisation. Workers and taxpayers bailed out the banks during the financial crisis. In return, they are now losing jobs and access to education, healthcare and other critical public services.

“We insist that G20 governments increase economic stimulus to create more jobs. The 34 million workers who have lost their jobs since 2008 need public services,” said Barbara Byers, Executive Vice President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Seventy million children around the world are still denied basic education, yet governments are cutting education budgets. This is plain wrong,” declared Susan Hopgood, President of Education International. “This is not only about public service workers but about all of us and our societies. This is about a commitment to collective values,” added Peter Waldorff, General Secretary of Public Services International.

Daniela Aleksieva, President of the Pan-European Regional Council Youth Committee talked about the importance of decent work for young adults and added: “It’s time to act now, because tomorrow depends on today.” Trade unions believe global social justice is the only equitable path forward from the crisis. “We have some clear messages to deliver: Now the People! No to austerity measures! Yes to jobs! Yes to a financial transactions tax,” said ITUC president Sharan Burrow, alluding to the past three days of discussions at the ITUC World Congress. The world is at a tipping-point between one future which can offer decent work, sustainable and balanced development, improved living standards and respect of human rights and another which would plunge millions into unemployment, poverty and helplessness, with all the dangers as well as suffering that would bring, Congress discussions indicate.

At the midday rally, short and intense solidarity messages were delivered from all over the world: “Now the people. Always the people. We want justice, we want parity,” were the rousing words of Thampan Thomas, President of Hind Mazoor Sabha India.

Global Union Federations Demand New Priorities from G8, G20 Summits

Meeting in Toronto on 19 June, 270 national trade union leaders from 50 countries put forward a stern Declaration to the G8 and G20 that a radically changed global social order must occur, one prioritizing security of employment and preservation of the environment. The Declaration, pointed at the G8 and G20 summits this week in Toronto, came from a “Triple Crisis of Sustainability” forum, a meeting of union leaders representing 55 million workers from industrial and manufacturing sectors.

The Declaration was a joint undertaking of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF). It was done with local cooperation by five trade unions representing industrial and other workers in Canada: Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the Power Workers Union (PWU), the United Steelworkers (USW), and the International Association of Machinists (IAM).

Gianni Alioti, Federazione Lavoratori Metalmeccanici, FLM, Italy

At the core of the Declaration is a demand that finance and political ministers put in place a stringent global financial governance system, introduce an international financial transaction tax, and reach an ambitious and binding agreement on greenhouse gas emissions at Cop16 in Mexico later this year.

The 10-point Declaration also calls for guarantees that fundamental workers’ and trade union rights be respected in trade and investment deals; that sustainable development be made a criteria in trade and investment agreements; and that thorough assessment and assurance of social, economic, and environment well-being is contained in trade agreements. The full Declaration can be found here.

“Industrial workers have a central role to play in building a future that lifts people out of poverty while protecting the environment,” states the Declaration. “Through industrial and political action, our three global federations demand that the world’s leaders take decisive actions to solve the economic, social, and environmental crises.”

Regarding the timing of the Declaration, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, “The global economy is still on life-support and continued stimulus is needed. Re-regulating markets, a move to full employment, and a set of social stabilizers to reduce a rapid slide into poverty by hundreds of millions of people is essential.”

IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina

Added IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina: “Industry is the locomotive of national economies, as a provider of good quality jobs with decent wages and working hours, and the right to join a union. We need to limit precarious work by legislation and collective agreements, and develop industrial policies for sustainable development both in industrialised and developing countries.”

Geneva-based ICEM has 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, and represents 20 million workers. The IMF, also based in Geneva, represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers from more than 200 unions in 100 countries. The Brussels-based ITGLWF covers 217 trade unions in 110 countries.

For more, contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, dick.blin@icem.org, +1 416 361 1000 Ext. 3344, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile); or Alex Ivanou, IMF Communications, aivanou@imfmetal.org, +41 22 308 5033.