Open World Conference of Workers

In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights

Progress Report From ILC Coordinator and OWC Continuations Committee Member Daniel Gluckstein

[Following is a copy of the letter sent on November 2nd by Daniel Gluckstein to the OWC Continuations Committee and to all participants in, and supporters of, the OWC campaigns.]


Paris (France), November 2nd, 2000

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings to everybody. Last September 22, the OWC Continuations Committee voted to co-sponsor the International Conference Against Deregulation and For Labor Rights For All, which will be held in Germany in the fall or winter of 2001. That meeting gave me the mandate to contact labor officials throughout Europe to build support for this International Conference.

With this letter I wish to inform you about what has been done in Europe to implement all the decisions taken by the OWC Continuations Committee last September.

1) On the International Conference Against Deregulation and For Labor Rights for All

We made contact with leaders of the German labour movement in order to discuss with them about the organisation of this international conference.

Oskar Lafontaine, former Minister of Finance in the German government and one of the leaders of the Social Democratic Party, has just sent me the following letter, through his secretary. It states:

"Attention Daniel Gluckstein,
c/o International Liaison Committee

"Dear Mr Gluckstein,

Oskar Lafontaine thanks you for your letter dated October 12th. In his interviews, in his presentations on TV and in his writings, his statements all go in the same direction as your demands. He wishes you full success in your efforts and sends his warm greetings. With our friendly feelings."

On October 21st, in Paris, Walter Jonischkeit, a trade unionist of the Public Services Employees Union (OTV) from Duisburg, spoke at the end of the demonstration in front of several thousand people. He explained that since 1992, 450,000 jobs had been done away with in the general public services. He presented the work being done in his union to prepare a conference against deregulation in Frankfurt. He welcomed the idea of holding an international conference on this issue in Germany.

We also received a message from Uli Hoffmann, National Secretary-treasurer of the Public Services Employees Union (OTV) in Germany, which was addressed to the demonstrators On October 21st. It stated:

"In the name of the National Executive Committee of the OTV, I send you the greetings of our members. Workers all over Europe must act together to protect our living and working standards. We must also act to defend the social gains of the citizens of our countries. Together, we must keep running high quality services for all and even improve them.

"We wish you full success in your action and we are happy to act together with you for a democratic and social Europe. Friendly greetings."

I wish to inform you that after these exchanges, I have been invited to participate in a series of meetings that will take place on November 26th in Frankfort (Germany) and 27th in Berlin, with several labour officials, to discuss with them the preparation of this International Conference Against Deregulation. I will, of course, let you know the results of these discussions.

2) On the mass protests across France on October 21st

Let me add a few words about what happened in France on October 21st. The initiatives organised on that day brought together thousands of workers, youth and trade unionists behind our banners.

In Paris, several thousands of workers marched behind a long banner which read, "French delegation to the San Francisco Open World Conference: The struggle against deregulation is international." (I will send you the pictures).

But even in smaller cities and towns in different parts of France, important gatherings took place regrouping workers from different tendencies, all united by a common practical struggle to defend their rights threatened with destruction. At the centre of the 30 demonstrations that took place on October 21st in all the main cities of the country following the call launched by the French delegation in San Francisco, was the struggle against all attempts to dismantle workers' rights.

The demonstrations targeted, in particular, the laws which the government intends to present to the parliament in accordance with the dictates of the European Union.

One of these laws seeks to re-establish night work in industry for women -- which has been banned in France since 1892. The European Union is ordering an end to this ban.

Another law -- also proceeding from a European Union directive -- reintroduces child labour at the age of 13. In addition, there is a concerted effort to alter French labour laws so to authorise lay-offs of pregnant women. This is a clear example of the meaning of the revision of ILO Convention 103. Using this alteration, the French government intends to insert into the law the same changes. The weekly newspaper of the French Workers Party published the European Union and French government's documents, which had been carefully hidden by the media.

The growing opposition -- which one can witness by the impact of the campaign launched by the French delegation in San Francisco, as well as the thousands of endorsements on an Open Letter to Members of Parliament calling upon them to vote against the draft laws, has already obtained its first results. On the night of October 3rd-4th, in the Senate (one of the two House of Parliament), Senators who had been informed by us of the problem -- in spite of the fact they belong to parties that are part of the governmental coalition -- rejected the law proposed by the government. They said that if the European Union intended to re-introduce night work in industry for women in the name of equality between men and women, then, in the name of this same equality, they propose to ban night work for men and women. The government refused and thus suffered a defeat on that point.

In a meeting which took place on October 21st before the demonstration, the members of the French delegation to the San Francisco Open World Conference decided, on the basis of this information, to call upon all workers to multiply delegations to the members of the Parliament so as to deliver petitions which state: "Do not vote to reintroduce child labour, do not vote for the return to night work for women!"

Dozens of members of parliament have already received these delegations, and some of them have declared they would not vote for these proposed draft laws. I will keep you informed of the developments of this significant struggle against deregulation. We have taken the decision to call for a new demonstration on November 30th, the day when the Parliament will be voting on the reintroduction of night work for women.

3) On the other agreed-upon OWC campaigns

I also want you to know that we have received the joint appeal from Labour for Mumia and the San Francisco Open World Conference Continuations Committee for sending a new labour international delegation on December 11 to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington DC, to demand from Janet Reno that a federal inquiry be opened on the violation of the constitutional rights of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Black American activist and trade unionist on death row for the past 18 years.

We have already started taking in France all the necessary measures to broadly associate trade union and political figures to this delegation. This is also the case in Spain and Britain. We have circulated that appeal all over the world through the network of the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia, a committee that was formed at the October 15, 1999, Paris rally preparing the San Francisco Open World Conference. The Paris rally was chaired by Brother Baldemar Velasquez.

To conclude, here are some additional pieces of information about the international campaign against deregulation.

You will remember that at our last meeting, we received an appeal from Russian trade unionists calling for a solidarity campaign with their struggle against the new Labour Code presented by the Putin government. The campaign is developing. In France, for instance, a trade union delegation went to the Russian embassy in Paris.

Russian activists who are engaged in that struggle have sent us a very important appeal signed by railway workers from different sectors of the Russian railways notifying us that in the city of Murom (an important junction in central Russia) will be held a European and international conference of railway workers against the privatisation of railways. The appeal reads as follows:

"Appeal launched by the Rail workers of Murom (Russia)
to the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples

"We, the undersigned rail workers of Murom, working in the Russian region of Gorky, call on you to ask you to organise an international conference of rail workers, to take place in Murom in April 2001.

"Mr. Putin, the President of Russia, has just publicly approved a plan devised by his adviser, Mr. Greff, to convert the Russian rail network into a joint-stock company.

"Faced with this plan, we, rail workers from Murom, want to learn about all the consequences of this kind of conversion which, as we know, is taking place everywhere in the world. We want to pool our efforts in order to be able to resist this situation.

"They are trying to trick us and to convert the public network into a joint stock-company as quickly as possible, with privatisation following soon thereafter.

"To achieve this objective, the media here in Russia keep repeating that we need to do things the Western way, the West will help us. After the conversion into a joint-stock company, we are told we will have access to Western investment to help us 'modernise our railways'.

"From what we have heard of your experiences, we guess that 'modernising' will really mean the closure of lines deemed to be unprofitable, the slashing of jobs and the reduction of spending on safety.

"They are turning to the bankers from the West; we are turning to the rail workers from the West. They are united, we too must be united!"

signed/ V. Chernikov, Depot Committee - E. Galaktionov, Driver - A. Zakabuklov, driver - V. Nikitin, driver - V. Demidov, driver - N. Lukin, Assistant driver - N. Zhukov, Depot Security."

This proposal coincides with yet another bloody accident in Great Britain due to privatisation, which puts profit as a higher priority than the working conditions of railway workers and the security of the public.

Alex Gordon, a British RMT trade unionist, sent the following message to the demonstrators in France of October 21st :

"This very week, on Tuesday 17th October another terrible train crash involving the death of 4 passengers took place on Britain's privatised railways. ...

"The trade unionists who demonstrate today in London are calling for the criminal prosecution of the Directors of private rail companies who knowingly reduced safe levels of maintenance in order to line their pockets with profit from the publicly subsidised railway network. ...

"An immediate end to plans to privatise the London Underground system must be announced by the government and the proposed fragmentation of the Underground must be stopped. ...

"Railway trade unionists must unite with organised rail workers throughout the countries of the European Community in order to halt privatisation of rail networks throughout Europe, which is the policy of the European Commission. ...

"Re-nationalise the Railways!"

We also received a message from Geoff Martin, a leader of Unison (the main public service trade union in Britain) for the greater London area:

"Comrades, my apologies for not being with you today but I am speaking at a major conference in London aimed at repealing the anti-trade union laws and reclaiming workers' rights. ... Our government now wants to privatise the London Underground.

"We know that privatisation and deregulation is not unique to the UK--- it is a global phenomenon, and it will take international trade union solidarity to fight it off. ... Sorry I can't be with you but hope to meet up with my comrades from all over Europe and the rest of the world very soon."

Andy Gillchrist, general secretary of the Firemen's Union (FBU), also sent a message in his personal capacity.

On October 21st, the Paris demonstrators were linked with the London workers by the slogan of the subway employees: "Private firms out of the subway network."

In Europe and in France, just as everywhere, there are those within the trade union movement, like the "European Confederation of Trade Unions," who go along with deregulation in the name of globalisation. But many trade union organisations, like the railway trade unionists of Great Britain, believe that their trade union should be on the side of the fight against deregulation.

That's the case in Denmark, as Per Sorensen, president of the Construction Workers Union of Copenhagen, explained in his speech at the end of the October 21st demonstration in Paris.

Brother Sorensen explained how his union and others led the campaign against the "single European currency" -- which is in fact a tool for implementing the plans to lower the cost of labour. He pointed out how that campaign -- in spite of the fact that all the main Danish political parties and institutions were lined up for a "yes" vote -- was so successful that it led to a "No" vote by the majority of the Danish people on the referendum of the question of the single currency.

It is also the case in Switzerland, where the Swiss federation of trade unions has launched an appeal to demonstrate on November 4th, for the defence of workers' rights, against the privatisation policies and all attempts to dismantle workers’ rights.

Therefore I feel that the elements on which an International Conference Against Deregulation and For Labor Rights For All can be built have started to be gathered. Not only in Europe, but on a world level.

For instance, we have received the report of a symposium of African trade unionists on the tragic form of the globalisation policies imposed by the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank and the multinationals on their continent.

We have also received a contribution to this discussion from an elected trade union officer of the Hyundai trade-union of South Korea. He writes

"Dear Sisters and Brothers,

"I'll briefly describe the current situation in Korea. Under the so-called democratic people's government, Mr. Kim, the president, confirmed that by next February they intend to accomplish the reform concerning the labour market. This is part of a larger reform project involving the financial, banking, and other sectors.

"The government and management are beginning to say indirectly that they could shorten the work time from 44 hours a week down to 40 hours a week in return for abolishing or shortening the monthly paid one-day leave or annual paid leave. And they are trying to abolish a woman's menstrual holiday. Besides, they are trying to worsen the labour-related laws, and they will launch a second structural adjustment of the bank and financial system.

"We, the KCTU -- Korea's militant democratic union, as you know -- have decided to carry out an all-out struggle, including general strike, in opposition to the government's policies based on neo-liberalism. The struggle will start as early as the ASEM conference, which will be held 20 October in Seoul.

"My question is: We know that in France your government has introduced the same kind of law. Could you tell us what were the consequences for the French workers; could you send us testimonies of your experience with the reduction of working time and the flexibility of the labour market? It would be very important for us -- Korean workers -- to know in detail because it will help us in our struggle to defend workers' status and conditions against deregulation.

"If you return my question with an e-mail reply, it will be very helpful to confront the government and capital's brutal offensive in Korea. Thanks."

signed/
Jeong Kap-deng.
President, Hyundai Workers Unions

As you can see, this Korean unionist informs us that the Korean workers are faced with a new law which, under the cover of reducing the legal work time, will be used to introduce flexibility and lower the cost of labour -- very much like the so-called "35 hours week" law in France.

Therefore we have agreed to organise a correspondence between these Korean activists and French workers to discuss these problems on the basis of their experiences and thus help the workers from both countries to efficiently resist deregulation.

In anticipation of receiving news and information from you, I send you, brothers and sisters, my fraternal greetings.

Daniel Gluckstein,
coordinator,
International Liaison Committee


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