International Confederation
calls for workers’ rights

In early September, when the
World Trade Organization was
having its ministerial meetings in
Cancun, Mexico the International
Confederation of Free Trade
Union's general secretary Guy
Ryder, accompanied by some 150
trade unionists from around the
world, held a meeting in Cancun
to reinforce the collective

demand

p- that the
world trade
body clear-

ly put the issue of workers’ rights
on the agenda. Ryder said “the
negative downward spiral of
lower labour standards will con-
tinue as governments compete
against each other for foreign
investment by offering cheaper
labour, tax breaks and other con-
cessions.” The ICFTU delegation
released a report on Export
Processing Zones (EPZ’s) which
are growing at a rapid rate
around the world, especially in
China where workers are paid as
little as $1.20 per day and any
hint of an independent trade
union is snuffed out by force.
Even EPZ’s in Central America
and other parts of Asia are now
losing out to their Chinese coun-
terparts. The report calls into
question what are the benefits
from EPZ’s, which leave host
country workers in squalid living
conditions, which are void of
basic social services such as
health care and education. The
report notes: “By its very nature,
EPZ investment is precarious,
and likely to leave the country at
a moment's notice if a cheaper,
more compliant workforce is on
offer somewhere else.”

IFBWW successfully has

sought global agreements
The Geneva-based International
Federation of Building and Wood
Workers has been very success-
ful in influencing European-
based multinational corporations
to agree to
respect the
rights of
their work-
ers in third
world coun-
tries and commit to the core
conventions of the International
Labour Organization, which
include: not using forced, bond-
ed and/or involuntary labour;
eliminating workplace discrimi-
nation; not using child labour;
respecting freedom of associa-
tion and free collective bargain-
ing; paying living wages; not
forcing excessive hours of work;
providing decent working condi-
tions, skills training and ele-
ments of social security. The
multinationals covered by these
type of agreements, so far,
include IKEA furniture of
Sweden, Faber-Castell pencils of
Germany, Hochtief construction
of Germany, Skanska construc-
tion of Sweden and Ballast
Nedam construction of Holland.
The IFBWW claims a heightened
public awareness of globaliza-
tion issues has made these types
of agreements possible with
considerable consumer support.

FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

= Workers in Chile built on previous protests (above) to build momentum

for a national work stoppage.

CTF unions take part in general strike

Forest workers in southern
Chile joined a broad coalition

to protest labour policies
For the first
time since 1986,
Chilean trade
unionists and coali-
tion supporters
conducted a gener-
al strike in the
South American nation. On August 13,
workers from north to south walked out
to protest the government's labour and
trade policies which they say is making
life tougher for the average citizen.
The largest protests were held in the

capital city of Santiago de Chile, but the
job action was felt nation-wide.

Sergio Gatica, president of the National
Confederation of Forest Workers of Chile,
says that the government of Ricardo
Lagos has broken its promises to reform
the country’s labour code in a way that will
allow real freedom of association and free-
dom of collective bargaining. The goy-
ernment has also signed a free trade
agreement with the United States and
supports a Free Trade Agreement of the
Americas, moves that the union move-
ment says will only lead to more repres-
sion of workers’ rights as standards are
lowered to draw international invest-
ment. The government is already push-

ing for more “labour flexibility” to force
workers to work even hours.

“In Chile we say that people live to
work, not work to live,” says Brother
Gatica. “Sixty, seventy or more hours of
work a week without overtime pay is not
unusual in our country and workers do
not have protection when they try to
object to the conditions
they face.”

Transportation work-
ers and construction
workers played a major

role in the shutdown, as

t did municipal workers,

) 8 | professional associa-
tions and health care-
workers. Among the
demands presented during the day of
protest was a call for decent employment
and living wages with social security ben-
efits for all, including pension reform and
a universally accessible health care sys-
tem. The demands also include controls
over the extraordinary hours of work
being demanded by employers and pro-
tection for workers by the establishment
of independent labour tribunals. A free,
universal education system is also an
important demand along with the halt of

privatization of public services and state-
owned enterprises.

Workers also demand justice and pun-
ishment for those who have committed
human rights violations and for reform of
the country’s undemocratic constitution.

“A lot of the demands that working
people in Chile are speaking out for are
just fundamental rights, fundamental
building blocks in the fight for democra-
cy,” says IWA National Third Vice
President Joe da Costa, officer responsi-
ble for the union’s International
Solidarity program. “These are the
themes that come up time and time again
in the educational courses that our union
helps the CTF put together.”

“We stand in solidarity with the CTF
and other Chilean workers and support
peaceful means of protest ,” he adds.

Sergio Gatica

Protecting civil rights
for all of the citizens

IT’S THE KIND OF PROJECT that
has drawn together organizations and
individuals of all political persuasions —
from former Conservative Minister of
Foreign Affairs Flora MacDonald, for-
mer federal NDP Leader Ed Broadbent
and former Liberal Solicitor General
Warren Allman — to non-governmental
organizations, labour
unions, church
groups and civil
tights advocates.
It’s a project called
the International
Civil Rights
Monitoring Group
(ICRMG), which was
established in 2002
to monitor the appli-
cation and evolution of Canada’s security
and anti-terrorist laws. In the aftermath
of the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, the Federal government passed
Bill C-36 (Anti-Terrorism Act), drawing
criticism for its wide-reaching scope and
potentially abusive application.

To keep an eye on the application of
the new law, labour, headed by the CLC,

Ed Broadbent

FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
= Unions are concerned about their
solidarity work in foreign countries.

the CAW and the United Steelworkers of
America, has joined a broad-based coali-
tion, some members of which represent
immigrant and refugees groups in
Canada, to support the ICRMG. Labour
unions that negotiate tax-deductible soli-
darity funds and which do international
solidarity work can potentially lose their
charitable status if they associate with
parties the federal government deems to
have security concerns over. Important
projects in places like Colombia, Angola
and the Middle East could be reduced
because of fear of being in the proximity
to organizations labeled by host govern-
ments as terrorists. Unions are also con-
cerned about the general and broad way

that terrorism could be defined as affect-
ing labour’s right to lawfully protest and
picket, at home and abroad.

Bill 36 amended 20 laws in Canada.
In October of 2002 it formed a data
bank on every Canadian who leaves the
country by air travel — a data bank that
the group says could be integrated into a
Big Brother system to be shared with for-
eign intelligence and security organiza-
tions. It amended the Citizenship Act to
possibly revoke the citizenship of natu-
ralized Canadians without consultation,
disclosure of evidence, independent
review or ability to appeal a decision.

“This is pretty serious stuff,” says TWA
national third vice president Joe Costa,
the officer responsible for the union’s
International Solidarity program, which
supports the ICRMG’s efforts. “Canada’s
Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects
all of us with ‘the right to the equal pro-
tection and equal benefit of the law with-
out discrimination and, in particular,
without discrimination based on race,
national or ethnic origin, and colour...””
he notes. “We understand the preoccu-
pation about security threats and real ter-
rorism threats,” says Brother da Costa,
“Dut it’s at times like these that we need

to ensure that all our rights are protected.
It’s easy for them to go out the window.”

16 ] THE ALLIED WORKER NOVEMBER 2003