LABOR 4 SYND; < ie Tviano™ < ©) ~ ie) e) % a qe Nv RDA \9 By MIKE PHILLIPS BERLIN — The 11th World Trade Union Congress ended Sept. 22 ona strong note of unity and commitment to make the next four years a time to promote united labor action in the fight for peace, economic progress and in defence of trade union rights. Sandor Gaspar, president of the World Federation of Trade Unions, the host for the global labor gathering, closed the six-day assembly with a call to action. “This congress has seen the emergence of positive processes for the international trade union movement ...’ Gaspar told the 1,014 participants drawn from every corner of the world. ‘‘ But we can better serve the interests of working people if we implement the program developed here.” There probably has never been a more representative gathering of the global trade union movement. The parti- cipants represented some 432 trade union organizations from every continent. They spoke for more than 296 million workers. In fact, since the WFTU’s formation in 1945, such global congresses have been the only gatherings where unionists from the capitalist, developing and socialist Delegates represented some 432 trade unions from five continents. They spoke for more than 296 million workers... worlds can meet to map out international strategies based on class struggle policies directed against the transnationals and their governments. In an encouraging new development, the All China Federation of Trade Unions sent a greeting to the con- gress. It was the first contact the Chinese trade unions have had with the WFTU since they left the organization during the 60s. Action for Peace and Jobs Supplemented by some 17 resolutions and appeals and 19 amendments, the policy document adopted by the congress embodied an action program for the inter- national trade union movement focusing on the fight for disarmament and peace, including the demand for a total ban on weapons testing, the fight for trade union rights, jobs and the right to work, and acomprehensive program for achieving a New International Economic Order, (NEIO). The congress’ demand for the NEIO calls for a moratorium on the foreign debts owed by the developing countries to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other global imperialist institutions; full eco- nomic and political independence for these countries, including the right to develop whatever trading patterns and relations that serve their national interests; and the implementation of national economic development poli- cies based on democratic, agrarian reform, and public ownership of natural resources and the key instruments for controlling the economy. = § 5 y German Democratic Republic leader Erich Honecker opened the 11th Congress with an appeal for trade union unity in the struggle for peace and disarmament, and an impassioned celebration of the crucial role played by the Free German Trade Union Movement in building social- ism in the GDR. 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 15, 1986 TRIBUNE PHOTOS — MIKE PHILLIPS Global labor unity needed for peace and union rights) Backgrounder Mike Phillips - The latter would include, ‘‘the right to regulate and monitor the transnational corporations so that these op- erations will conform with the social and economic ob- jectives of national development strategies,’ the enforcement of international labor standards in “Free Trade Zones’’ and ‘‘Export Processing Zones”’. Debt and the War Budget Stephan Shalayev leader of the All Union Central Council of (Soviet) Trade Unions, (AUCCTU), drew the congress’ attention to the fact that, ‘there is a close link between the trillion dollar debt of those (developing) countries, and the more than one trillion dollar increase in U.S. military spending over the last ten years.” No previous congress had seen such unanimity from all quarters on the need for global trade union action to_ stop the arms race and to fight to shift wasted resources to solving pressing human problems. For the developing countries the fight for disarmament was tied to the struggle for the NEIO and resolving the debt crisis. The trade unions from the socialist world spoke eloquently of their governments’ actions, led by the USSR, in striving for a weapons testing ban, and the elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth by the year 2,000. They also spoke of the burden the U.S.-led arms race places on their economies, acting as a break on the fulfillment of their social and economic goals. Peace wasalso at the centre of the contributions to the congress-made by participants from the capitalist coun- tries. Ernie Boatswain, assistant national secretary of the Building Workers Industrial Union, leading a high- powered delegation representing top leaders of the Au- Quebec labor speaks Canada’s 16 participants were drawn equally from Quebec and English-speaking Canada. Pierre Dupont, leader of the Metalworkers Federation of the Confederation of National Trade Unions presented the Quebec participants’ greetings to the congress attacking such neo-conservative mea- sures of the Bourassa government as its move to deregulate the construction industry and its attacks on Quebec’s anti-scab laws. Free trade, Dupont .- said not only threatens to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, but, ‘‘for French-speaking Quebeckers the’ risk is heightened of the destruction of our language. The trade union movement is united in its resistance to this imperialist plan.” A call for TU unity WFTU’s Zakaria pledged the federation’s readi- ness to meet the leaders of both the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labor, ‘‘at any time and any place’’ to mobilize the world’s 500 million trade union members into action for peace. He noted how the ICFTU’s Oslo congress, the Baden congress of the WCL and other regional congresses have taken peace and disarmament positions that are, ‘‘similar — if not identical — to those taken by the WFTU.” Regrettably, he added, the three bodies aren’t able to sit together to discuss ‘‘how to mobilize our forces to press our demands for disarmament and an end to the arms race, to ensure jobs and bread for all and to lift the terrible burden of the arms race from the shoulders of the working people. The 11th Congress called on Reagan, Gorbachev and UN Secretary General Perez de Cuellar ‘‘to spare no efforts to put an end to the arms race, for the safeguarding of humanity from destruction and for the transfer of what is being spent now on armaments to peaceful purposes.” United Electrical Workers president Dick Barry brought the Canadian perspective to the congress, focusing the need for the unions to demand greater control ove the design and application of new technology in the } | workplace. b stralian trade union movement, detailed the many-sided struggles being waged in Australasia in the fight to make | the Pacific a nuclear weapons free zone. 4? Coordinated Fightback Like the vast majority of participants, Boatswail } noted the positive impact the Soviet testing moratorium and its thrice-repeated extensions have had in enhan the prospects for achieving the peace and disarmameé goals in the region. a International solidarity, particularly in defenc Nicaragua and in support of the freedom fight ragi South Africa also occupied a prominent place on t congress agenda, as did the need for a coordinated glo fightback strategy in the capitalist countries to coun! the transnationals’ attack on trade union rights andt very existence of trade unionism in the capitalist wo The global, neo-conservative drive for a ‘‘union fi environment” ran like a common thread through The global, neo-conservative drive for a ‘‘union fi environment”’ ran like a common threat through contributions made by participants from the capitalist countries and several developing nations as well. _ British Trades Union Congress leader Ken Gi ported on the Thatcherite war against the miners and |, printing trades. France’s CGT reported on the employel Ip drive to oust its most militant activists from the factories U.S. steelworkers reported on the battle against massi concessions by 40,000 United Steelworkers memb who've been locked out at U.S. Steel, (now called USX). since Aug. 1. ae Unity was seen on the need } to halt the arms race and to — shift wasted resources to solve pressing human problems. .. The Australians reported on the special conference } planned this month by their Trades Union Congress develop a battle plan directed against the ‘‘New Right and Canada reported on the country-wide fight ag inst free trade, privatization and deregulation and the all oul mobilization in support of picket line struggles again the neo-conservative agenda at Gainers in Edmon | and other crucial battles throughout the country. — WETU general secretary Ibrahim Zakaria’s propo for establishing an International Centre for the Protec tion of Workers Rights and Trade Union Freedoms Wa welcomed by many of the congress participants. Its function would be to strengthen the class solidani between all workers especially those in the capitalist ane developing worlds, sponsor global campaigns in defe of workers’ rights, emphasizing the right to work, against violations of International Labor Organi conventions, and provide legal help to trade unions workers victimized by repressive regimes.