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ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 129
A dossier of weekly information published by the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
April 28, 2005
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France
PRESENTATION:
Following the issues of the ILC International Newsletter 123 to 128
that reported on the activities of the World conference held in Madrid
March 18 through 20, 2005, the newsletter now returns to its weekly
publication of documents and correspondence.
The ILC is composed of worker activists, trade unionists, elected
officials, from different currents of the labor movement. They
contribute to the exchange and distribution of information that is then
passed on and contributes to the widening of the necessary action and
the preservation of the independence of the labor movement.
The World Conference in Madrid that addressed these problems,
gathered delegates from 53 countries.
The wideranging debate, druing which 61 contributors spoke, required
exhaustive reports that quite naturally appeared in the columns of this
newsletter. This we have already done.
It is the work of the recordings of the speakers in their original
language, translators, editors, printers, a whole team of voluntary
worker activists that donated their time, their patience, their energy
so that these speeches could be published.
It is our firm will to publish all these documents within a brief period
that has given you the opportunity to obtain the indispensable material
to gain a better knowledge of facts for future action.
We invite you to order these newsletters from the ILC offices if you
are not already a subscriber.
In this issue we publish an invitation to a meeting of the ILC that
will be held in Geneva in June, for the defense of ILO conventions, for
the defense of the independence of labor organizations as well as a
first contribution to the debate.
You will also find in this issue:
… A report on a trip by a correspondent from Venezuela where the fight
for land and the construction of the UNT in progress.
… After the resignation of Berlusconi, a declaration from the National
Committee: "NO to the European Constitution, No to
decentralization."
… From France, an appeal following a meeting of 3,000 people organized
by the National Committee for the victory of the NO vote for the
referendum.
… From Bangladesh and Pakistan, information from trade union
organizations present in Madrid.
Support the fights of the ILC
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Pg. 1: Presentation
Pg. 2 & 3: EIT invitation to the 12th meeting in Geneva; a
contribution by Roger Sandri - "After Madrid"
Pg. 5: Italy, declaration of the National Committee "NO to
the European Constitution,
NO to decentralization"
Pg. 6: France, National Committee for the victory of the NO vote
Pg. 7: Bangladesh, Pakistan, contributions
Pg. 8: Summary of the three newsletters reporting on the
Conference in Madrid
* Subscriptions
********************
Invitation to the 12th Conference of the International Liaison
Committee of the Workers and Peoples "In Defence of ILO
Conventions, In Defence of the Independence of Labour Organisations"
Geneva, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 9am-5pm
Dear Friends and Comrades,
The next ILC Conference In Defence of ILO Conventions and the
Independence of Labour Organisations, which will be held for the twelfth
consecutive year during the ILO's 93rd annual Session, will hold a
particular significance.
You will certainly have been made aware of the Final Declaration of the
ILC World Conference held in Madrid last March, which was endorsed by
the delegates attending that Conference. If this was not the case, I
attach a copy of the text and invite you to endorse it.
The Madrid World Conference felt it was important to debate the dangers
that, based on the information available to us, today seems to threaten
the very existence of the International Labour Organisation, its
normative character and its system of Conventions, which we all know
constitute an international leverage-point for labour rights in each
country.
At our Conference held in Geneva in June 2004, we had already debated
this danger that is threatening the ILO, on the basis of our study of
the report by the World Commission on the Social Dimension of
Globalisation set up in 2001, which presented its report to the ILO's
92nd Annual Session in June 2004. That document sets as its goal the
elaboration of recommendations for "a new world governance that is
equitable and inclusive of the universal values and rights of man."
This "new world governance" is supposed to be "set up
with all the actors: governments, parliaments, corporations, members of
civil society, trade union organizations, and international
organizations."
Since then, we became aware of new elements. We deemed it necessary to
debate these at the ILC World Conference. The World Commission on the
Social Dimension of Globalisation details in its reports the meetings it
had with the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, the European Union and all
the Bretton Woods institutions. According to its statements, it received
support and approval everywhere it went. The report by the World
Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation was also debated at
the Congress of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
in December 2004, during which the decision was taken for the ICFTU to
merge with the World Confederation of Labour (WCL).
It was also debated within the framework of the World Social Forum
leading up to the Porto Alegre Social Forum held in January 2005.
In his closing speech to that Forum, in which the international trade
union organisations ICFTU and WCL took part together with the European
Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and several NGOs, Emilio Gabaglio, the
former ETUC General Secretary and co-ordinator of the merger process
between the ICFTU and WCL, declared his support for the next meeting of
that forum of the WSF, in Spring 2006, to be the founding congress of
the new global trade union federation.
Are we not justified in asking: with its special alliances and close
links, will this future unified global trade union organisation turn
itself into a non-governmental organisation that is specialised and
competent for discussing within the framework of the institutions of
globalisation?
Is there not a real danger that the workers' organisations will become
integrated into the so-called "world governance"?
We offer these questions up for debate by the world labour movement,
because the labour movement is being pressured on every side to give up
its historic mission to defend the particular interests of wage-earners,
acting solely on a class basis.
We feel it will be important to debate all these questions. What is at
stake is nothing less than the existence of the entire normative system
of the Conventions, and, its seems to us, of the ILO itself.
Over the coming days we will be sending you various documents and
contributions that will be up for discussion by our Conference.
We invite you to take part in our Conference, and propose that you book
this date. You can already register for the 12th Conference, and
contribute towards the organising costs and travel costs for those
workers and trade unionists who lack sufficient financial resources.
We thank you for your interest and support. We look forward to seeing
you in Geneva on 12 June.
Daniel Gluckstein
Co-ordinator of the International Liaison Committee of the Workers and
Peoples
********************
Contribution by Roger Sandri: "After Madrid"
The World Conference of the International Liaison Committee of the
Workers and Peoples took place in Madrid, Spain, on 18, 19 and 20 March
2005.
- The conference delegates spoke about their concerns and
preoccupations, faced with a world that every day is further scarred by
war, military occupation, direct threats to national sovereignty,
pillage, and by direct threats to the basic forms of democracy,
including the existence of the nation-state.
- As the Final Declaration points out: "The very foundations of
human civilisation are under threat. More than ever, the working class
needs to be able to use its own organisations."
- With the development of capitalist society and the capitalist mode of
production, every country, every nation-state, whilst adapting to that
development, saw its working class and peasantry being faced with the
system of exploitation and, following long and hard struggles,
organising in order to offer fierce resistance to the fate that had been
allocated to them.
Those hard struggles were to allow significant social gains to be made,
which today are being put into question in the name of the global
economy and globalisation.
Of course, the action movement was not uniform. The introductory report
of the Madrid Conference quite rightly referred to Marx's definition
regarding the class struggle, namely that it was international in its
principle and national in its form.
- We know that Marx laid great store by technological progress as a
means of setting up and consolidating international links and action.
During his time, being anything but a dreamer, he quite rightly
emphasised the importance of the invention of the railway.
- Today, a system like the internet fully supports that viewpoint,
providing its latest example.
- Since action cannot be separated from organisation, that viewpoint
must lead us to strengthen and refine international analyses, links and
activity, in order to avoid falling into the traps of globalisation and
the neo-totalitarianism that it generates. This is where the validity of
the Final Declaration of the Madrid Conference finds its full
expression.
- Regarding globalisation, it is recognised that the structures
associated with its construction are engagede in a process of
acceleration. The United Nations Organisation (UNO) is at the heart of a
process oriented towards the introduction of a "world
governance".
- The institutions of the UNO, including the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) are being called upon to be part of that process, one
which certainly and more quickly than one might imagine could lead to
the end of its original mission of elaborating labour norms, being
transformed into a simple transmission-belt for the UNO's socio-economic
apparatus and for the world multilateral system.
- At the level of international trade unionism, and this is in no way by
chance, we are witnessing a similar shift. The projects for a merger
between the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and
the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), likely to also integrate what
remains of the WFTU (World Federation of Trade Unions) are part of the
same process: that of promoting "civil society" as the basis
for a new form of self-proclaimed participatory democracy which, in the
absence of an independent counter-weight, leads fatally to
neo-totalitarianism.
- In practice, this globalising perspective finds concrete expression
most notably in the initiative taken by the IMF (International Monetary
Fund) to establish an official link with the NGOs (non-governmental
organisations), with the publication of a Liaison Bulletin.
- Still on the level of international trade unionism, anticipating
mergers between bodies, it is to be noted that the UNI (Union Network
International) is spearheading the process not only of trade union
unification, but of socio-economic globalisation.
- As early as 2000, as part of what the UNO calls its "Millenium
Goals", already programmed since Copenhagen in 1995, several
organisations have already undertaken various types of activity that
have nothing to do with the class struggle, but which take action over
"society's problems".
- At the level of international trade unionism, "Global
Unions" has been set up, grouping together the UNI, ICFTU, the
international trade union federations belonging to the ICFTU and the
Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).
- Global Unions, no doubt foreshadowing what could be the future global
reunited trade union organisation, has just undertaken within the
framework of the "Millenium Goals" to spread the "Global
Call to Action against Poverty".
- This declaration of 16 and 17 April 2005 was shared by Global Unions,
the IMF and the World Bank.
-On the practical level, the appeal suggests that 1 May 2005 [the
historic day for labour demands - Editor] should be the occasion for the
national trade union confederations associated with the NGOs to engage
in millenium action against poverty in the world.
- The UNI, which aims to form a world trade union, is inviting its
organisations to demonstrate on 1 May under a "white banner".
So the red flag is shown the door.
- With this simple example, one can measure the point we have witnessed
being reached over the last fifteen or so years, the starting-point for
the "Washington Consensus" set up under the guidance of the
World Bank as the world "Charter of neo-liberalism".
* * *
- As was noted at the Madrid Conference, there is resistance, especially
when the hard social current events reactivate the class struggle. In
France, with the preparation of the referendum on Europe, the phenomenon
of reaction goes far beyond the simple question of Europe.
- Hence, despite a certain degree of prevarication resulting from the
pressure exerted by the superstructures, it is more than necessary to
maintain and consolidate the organisational structures of workers' trade
unionism in order to safeguard the trade union democracy that is
required for debating the questions surrounding current events.
- The media's arrogant verbiage, fed by financial subsidies by the
bourgeoisie, holds forth on the weakening of workers' trade unionism,
therefore on its lesser role in the balance of forces between capital
and labour.
- Some trade union leaders at the international level feel the need to
sing the same tune, themselves considering their transformation into a
particular type of NGO that would be integrated with the institutions of
globalisation, under what is referred to as "multilateralism",
in the form of an enlarged Global Compact and the Bridge Initiative,
fulfilling the role of a "gangway" between the two sides.
- With a view to speeding up this process, some are taking initiatives
by creating organisations that are adjacent to genuine trade unionism,
through the setting-up of associations on an interprofessional basis.
- Our comrade Alan Benjamin (a member of the Continuations Committee of
the San Francisco Open World Conference) has pointed out to us that in
the state of Oregon (USA), two representatives of the AFL-CIO trade
union have proposed to increase the membership by organising workers in
"associations not tasked with negotiating". The question
therefore is: what can they be for?
- As part of the globalising process, as a premise for the merger
between the ICFTU and WCL planned for 2006 which, and this is no
accident, is due to be consummated in Porto Alegre in Brazil, some trade
union confederations are already envisaging reforming their
constitutions through a reduction in their super-structures.
- In reality, this is a question of a global approach consisting of
getting workers' trade unionism to commit to abandoning its class
character, and hence its defence of the particular interests of the
wage-earners, in return for taking up "society's problems" and
the general framework interests of a multi-trade "union-party"
with a global reach.
- Now it must be borne in mind that since its very beginnings, workers'
trade unionism rests on the trade link in its national and international
function.
- Through my own trade union responsibilities, I was notably a member of
the Executive Committee of the International Textile, Garment &
Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF).
- It is within these structures that labour action plants its roots,
starting with the grass-roots trade association, where class
consciousness linked to a wish for independence is forged.
- Following on from this, the need for workers' solidarity, at the
local, national and international levels, contributes to the setting-up
of horizontal organisations, strengthening the links between all
workers, whatever their trade.
- This class organisation par excellence has today become an obstacle to
the strategy of the global economy, of globalisation and its
counter-mark, the "globe-reshaping" movement. There is a need
for an information campaign.
- From this flows the need to distribute as widely as possible the Final
Declaration of the World Conference of the International Liaison
Committee of the Workers and Peoples, adopted in Madrid on 20 March
2005.
- Roger Sandri
********************
VENEZUELA
Travelogue of trip with UNT unionists
A correspondent from the ILC in Latin America, who has just spent
several weeks in Venezuela, has sent us his travelogue. We are
publishing some excerpts below.
The land occupations are multiplying in the interior of the country.
Captain Otaiza, president of the Land Institute, declares that three
million hectares of land owned by the large landowners are targeted.
This declaration has provoked a rabid response from the big landowners
and international interests, who own large tracts of land in Venezuela,
just like in the rest of Latin America.
In the National Assembly, the debates on the agrarian reform are over.
Earlier, there had been the passage of the articles that envisage "
the giving of land to all who are fit for agricultural work"
and that " all popular groups who are presently occupying land
should be allowed to keep this land." The opposition denounced
what it called the "legalization of land occupations throughout the
country," but their motion was defeated.
Currently, the biggest problem for millions of Venezuelans is the lack
of health services in the poorer neighborhoods (Barrio Adentro) and the
distribution of food subsidies. The national bourgeoisie continues to
pillage the country. In 2004, for example, the State's total budget for
education, health, and infrastructure was less than the amount of funds
allocated towards the payment of the internal and external debt (about
35% of the Gross Domestic Product).
Every day, the newspapers write about the protests and marches. One day,
it is the unemployed or the hospital workers. The next day, it is the
students and professors marching against the destruction of public
services. Another day, it is the unions of the national businesses who
are fighting against the corrupt bureaucratic leaderships who sabotage
production. It is like that every day.
In general, the protestors address themselves to Chavez, in whom they
have confidence, to resolve their problems. They think, "Somebody
must be hiding the truth from him."
As we are about to celebrate the three-year anniversary of the defeat,
imposed by the Venezuelan workers, of the attempted coup organized by
the bosses of Fedecamaras, the old political and bureaucratic leaders of
the CTV, and the American embassy, the burning question is more than
every the independent organization of the workers. The existence of the
National Union of Workers (UNT) is presently a great accomplishment of
the Venezuelan workers and activists. It is necessary to support and
help it become stronger, in order to give a voice to the workers in the
revolutionary process that is under way.
- ILC Correspondent
---------
Building the UNT
Seventy leaders of twenty unions met on April 6 in Puerto Cabello,
in the state of Carabobo (the main industrial region of Venezuela, a
region with most of the nationalized oil). They discussed their
affiliation with the UNT. Among them there were unions that were already
members of the UNT, even though they were not yet legally affiliated, as
well as unions that were still affiliated with the CTV (the other union
federation, whose corrupt leadership liquidated itself by actively
participating in the attempted coup- Editor's Note). Unions from
different political backgrounds and from different generations came
together to regroup to fight for their demands, against the attempted
coup in 2002, and against the oil boycott of 2003.
When asked, all of them responded that the UNT was very much their
union. "The moment of truth has come," declared Lopes, a
metalworker leader. "Of the one hundred unions in Valencia (the
capital of Carabobo), already seventy of them are with us. Soon there
will be the congress of the federation that will organize free and
democratic elections, just like decided at our national conference on
March 11 and 12.
"Yesterday, a unionist, recently arrived from the CTV, explained to
me that there was a possibility that the process of the election of the
leadership of the new union federation could re-use the old formulation
that the election is not for members but "for all of society."
I asked many of the unionists what they thought about that formulation,
and the response was clear: "No way! It's us, the union base, the
members, who must vote, decide, elect our representatives and make them
fulfill their mandate!"
"Do we have the force for that?" Lopes asked the meeting. They
quickly responded, "Yes!" and he continued, "So we are
going to be the vanguard and are going to organize the first regional
election of the UNT." Later, in response to the greetings from the
ILC Madrid Conference, the president of the meeting concluded by saying:
"We will do everything possible to guarantee that the nineteen
unions here make sure that the declaration issued by the conference will
be distributed at the entrances of all businesses. We have everything in
common with the workers of Latin America and of the whole world."
********************
ITALY
Declaration of the National Committee Against the European Constitution
and Decentralization
"Who believes that Prodi can provide for the needs of the
people?"
Regional elections took place in Italy on April 3 and 4. The
majority of the Berlusconi government took a severe blow, losing the
majority in 11 of the 13 regions in which voting took place.
Seventy-four percent of the voters voted to inflict this defeat.
All of the representatives of the "majority" were forced to
admit that it was a massive defeat. All of the newspapers noted that it
was a political earthquake of incontestable magnitude. Undoubtedly, this
"earthquake" is the expression of the workers' and the
people's will. They have not stopped fighting during the past three
years: three million workers defended Article 18, millions and millions
took to the streets against the war, and just in the past few days,
hundreds of thousands of workers from the public sector, from education,
from health care, from transportation, from Fiat, from all the
industries affected by the lay offs, have organized to say "Enough
of those policies! We want to defend our rights, our conquests, our
lives."
All of the acts that the workers are mobilizing against are the results
of the orders of the European Union; this "political
earthquake" expresses the rejection of the policies dictated by
Brussels. A new situation in Italy is opening up.
The Italian working class and the Italian people are confronted with a
major political question: who can believe for even a moment that the
hopes and needs of the population can be satisfied by a government of
Prodi, the former President of the European Commission, a writer of the
European Constitution, and leader of the opposition?
In this context, the "National Committee Against the European
Constitution and for the Withdrawal of the Reform of the Italian
Constitution" has decided, with the goal of strengthening
independent regroupment, to address itself to the workers, the
unionists, the activists of all origins, to submit to discussion the
following declaration:
"The majority of the population is against decentralization
and in favor of the defense of the unity of the country and of the
conquests won through the Resistance. The majority of the population
wants the annulment of the Moratti school reform; it wants to keep all
of the jobs at Fiat and in all industries; it wants the cancellation of
the retirement and labor reforms that have created precarity and job
flexibility, that have created a disastrous future for young people, a
future of unemployment.
But who can believe for a moment that Romano Prodi-who for five years,
as President of the European Commission, dictated the EU's policies to
Berlusconi- can satisfy the fundamental and legitimate demands of the
people?
Who can believe that these demands that are expressed so forcefully
in the strikes and marches and in the ballot boxes can be implemented by
the same Prodi who declares day after day that he plans to carry out the
policies dictated by the EU and its so-called "Constitution,"
policies of privatizations, of free trade, of the destruction of public
services, of precarity and job flexibility?
The majority of the population wants a government that responds to its
legitimate aspirations.
The majority of the population wants:
-The maintenance of all the jobs at Fiat, the ending of layoffs, the end
of job displacements to Iran
-The cancellation of the Moratti school and university
"reform"
-No decentralization, the withdrawal of the reform of the Constitution,
the defense of the unity of the Italian Republic
It is urgent that we kick out Berlusconi; it is urgent to find a policy
in sync with the interests of the workers than can open a way out. A
policy in sync with the interests of the workers requires a rupture with
the European Union, its so-called "constitution," and a
rupture with the policies- that have been rejected by the people- that
Prodi wants to continue. One last time, who can believe that Prodi can
satisfy the needs of the people? The day after the elections of April 3
and 4, is it possible to ignore this burning question?
The National Committee submits this declaration to be discussed by all
of the workers, unionists, and activists of all origins that are looking
for a way out for all of the working class and all of the
population."
-----
Metal Workers Strike Against Lay-offs
Now that the Berlusconi government is facing a major crisis after
the regional elections, the metal workers organized on Friday a strike
movement to protest against the government's economic policies.
The Italian metal industry is in a serious crisis; officially 134,000
jobs have been lost in the last four years. The call for strike came
from the three main union federations, the CGIL, CISL and the UIL, who
represent together about 12 million members.
According to the technical and metallurgic department of the three
unions, the rate of adhesion to the strike, the first in two and a half
years, was massive, more than 70% nationwide.
In an interview given to Tribuna Libera (the newspaper edited in Italy
by the members of the ILC), a worker at Fiat-Mirafiori clearly poses the
problems:
"The situation is difficult, we will need unity. March 11 was
important because it was a general strike and a march on Rome. Divided
strikes, of only a few hours, do us no good. Nobody has faith anymore in
those types of strikes. We need to show a stronger and united
signal." In reply to the question: "What do you think about
the current government and about a future Prodi government?" he
responds: "In order to end the lay offs, we need laws to prevent
them, that outlaw job relocations. This free competition is leading
people to poverty and despair."
One thing is sure: the "new" Berlusconi government will not
implement these measures. But who can believe that Romano Prodi, the
ex-president of the European Commission will implement the demands of
the workers, demands that require a rupture with the European Union.
********************
FRANCE
The National Committee for the Victory of the No Vote organized a
meeting on April 16 in Paris
Speakers from different currents, parties, and tendencies were there and
expressed their opinions
At a time when in France, according to the opinion polls, the movement
for a no vote is growing, Jean-Maurice Dehousse told the participants:
"You are representing the hopes of all of those who, throughout
Europe, cannot vote. Thus you must!"
Appeal Adopted at the Meeting
Let us make the no vote be heard
Present on April 16 2005 at the initiative of the National Committee
for the Victory of the No Vote, we are launching an appeal for
widespread mobilization. The upcoming weeks will be decisive. To save
democracy, it is imperative that the no vote carries the day. This is
the message that was expressed with force and diversity by the speakers
from varied backgrounds at our meeting:
Jean-Maurice Dehousse, ex-vice-president of the socialist group in the
European Parliament and former MP in Belgium; Marc Dolez, socialist MP
from Nord; Gérard Schivardi, mayor of Mailhac, general secretary of
Ginestas (Aude); Jean-Charles Marquiset, unionist; Daniel Gluckstein,
national secretary of the Workers Party; a high-school student
representing the Committee of Youth For the No Vote; a railroad worker
from the Committee of Acheres for the No Vote, representing 500 railway
workers.
Political democracy is being threatened by a "Constitution"
that would:
- destroy the sovereignty of people to decide their destinies for
themselves through their political representation
- outlaw, in practice, all progressive measures that a government could
take, measures that would be in contradiction with the injunctions of
the European Central Bank and the demands for privatization and
deregulation outlined in the "Constitution"
- put democracy into question by outlawing free choice and all sovereign
decisions of governments and peoples
Political democracy is in danger. The united, secular, indivisible
republic is in danger. All the social and democratic conquests won by
past generations are in danger.
We declare: you are against the Constitution, so on May 29, vote no,
and encourage others to vote no! Let us use universal suffrage, arm of
democracy, to defend it!
The surge of propaganda and lies of the supporters of the
constitution is amplifying. In the communes, the communities, the
neighborhoods, in the streets, in the businesses, everywhere we are
making the voice of the no vote be heard. The next weeks will be
decisive. Let's multiply our meetings, big and small. Let each one of us
become propagandists for the no vote.
On Saturday May 21, we invite you all to join us to honor the
"Sermon in the Plaza of the Republic" to mobilize for the
victory of the no vote.
On Saturday May 21, let the voice of the no vote be heard. Everybody,
with respect for different points of view and with respect for different
positions, with respect for democracy, let us all together make the no
vote's voice be heard. On Saturday May 21, the anniversary of the Paris
Commune, to save the Republic and democracy, we will protest at the Fédérés
wall, where 134 years ago the last combatants of the Paris Commune fell.
We will pay homage to those who died for democracy, sovereignty, social
progress and solidarity between peoples.
On Saturday May 21, we will assemble at the Fédérés wall for the
victory of the no vote. On May 29, by victoriously voting against the
Constitution, the French people will speak out in order to defend the
Republic, democracy, and social progress.
********************
BANGLADESH
350 workers die in the factories
The meeting of the Federal Executive Commission of the Bangladesh
Jatiyo Sramik Federation (BJSF) union federation took place on April 15
2005 at the office of the federation at 15 Purana Paltan Dhaka.
Beginning at 10 A.M., the meeting lasted until 5 in the afternoon, after
an hour-long lunch break. Of 31 members, 22 were present.
The president of the Federation, Tafazzul Hussain, presided. During the
opening, a moment of silence was observed in remembrance of the
clothing-industry workers who died in Narayangonj and Palashbari, and
for the premature death of the wife of comrade Hosneara.
The secretary of the Federation, comrade Zakir Hossain opened the
discussion with his report on the union's activities. Comrade Majibor
Rahaman de Dinajpur, comrade Rafiquzzaman from Chittagong, comrade
Akhbar Hossain de Demra, comrade Shahid de Dhaka and comrade Shamim Ara
presented the regional reports.
Comrade Tafazzul Hussain made a long report on the conference in Madrid
and translated the "Madrid Declaration" into Bangla. This
declaration, moreover, was co-signed by all of the participants. It
explained the situation of the labor movement on a national and
international level. Each member took part in the discussion and
expressed their point of view about the situation of the country and the
activities of the federation. It was decided that May 1 of this year
would be dedicated to the demand "Save the unions from NGOization!
Save our industries and save our nation!"
After an intense discussion, a resolution was adopted unanimously, that
notably underlines: "We condemn the infamous murder of 50 workers
in Narayangonj and more than 300 workers in Palashbari (it must be
remembered that of the 50 workers a large number of them were women who
were burned alive in the fire of the factory during the night of March
25 and more than 300 workers were killed in the collapse of a nine-story
building on April 12 in Pashbari Dhaka).
We demand that the government arrest the owners of these factories, who
should be severely punished for their negligence leading to the deaths
of many innocents. We also demand an indemnity of 200 000, 00 TK for
each one of the workers who met their death and 100 000, 00 TK for each
injured worker. We also demand punishments for the bureaucrats who were
responsible for supervising the construction of the building and for
supervising health and fire standards.
Under pressure from an un-ceasing struggle of the labor organizations,
the government of Bangladesh announced the creation of a so-called
"workers committee" in the "export processing
zones." Our demand was for the allowance of normal union activity
in the "export processing zones"(which up to the present was
illegal) in the framework of the existing laws. The present decision of
the government is worse than nothing. We denounce the government's
decision and we remind the authorities of our demand for the
authorization of unions in the "export processing zones." In
this context, we place our power with the President and Secretary of the
Federation to register a formal grievance with the ILO for violating
conventions 87 and 98 which were both ratified by the government of
Bangladesh."
********
The Federal Executive Commission of the BJSF condemns the decision of
the government of Bangladesh to privatize and sell off the remaining 22
jute spinning mills and 23 textile mills. Even if these mills are hardly
in a functioning state due to the negligence of the state, we think that
the government has no mandate to sell off the property of the people to
private owners. The members of our federation are called upon to prepare
a mass movement to save these mills from the claws of the corporations,
the World Bank, and the IMF. The CEC condemns and opposes the plan to
privatize the state-owned Rupali Bank under pressure from the IMF. The
CEC condemns the appointment of a foreign consultant to the Junate and
Agrani Back, which is the property of the state. The demands of the IMF
are destroying the nation of Bangladesh.
********************
PAKISTAN
Exploitation fuels resistance
Dear Friends,
I am informing you that the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation decided,
together with the railroad workers, to honor the memory of Muhammad
Tufail (who was the president of the railway union) on April 12 2005 at
1:30 PM in front of the workshops of the railroad.
Over 700 workers gathered together from different provinces for this
commemoration. I also am informing you that at 9 AM on April 12, the
railway police as well as local powers closed off access to the office
of the union of railway workers in Mughalpura. The workers were outraged
and began to shout protest slogans because they were being prevented
from honoring the memory of their former secretary general.
The Executive Commission entered into negotiations with the leadership
of the railroads. Nothing came out of these negotiations because the
Chief of the Division of the railroads is also an upper officer in the
army and he pure and simply ordered the police to prevent access to the
union office. While the workers were assembling, the police charged the
crowd with their clubs, in spite of the presence of official
representatives of railroad workers throughout the country. In spite of
all of these difficulties, the outraged workers denounced the brutality
of the public officials and the illegal aggression of the police. The
police tried to arrest the railways union officials and the leaders of
the APTUF but they succeeded in escaping. Later, at 4 PM, the
commemoration took place 5 kilometers from there, in the local office of
the APTUF.
The leaders not only denounced the illegality and brutality of the
public officials but also wrote a protest letter to the president and
the prime minister. They sent out a press release to all of the
newspapers and private television networks, but nobody covered the story
because the government strongly recommended to the newspaper that they
not publish anything about the railroads.
We live in a country where the military clique and the capitalists
restrict basic labor rights-they would like to go so far as outlawing
commemorations. You can imagine how difficult it is to organize
political and trade union activities. It is also clear that the
government will not authorize the May first demonstrations. The APTUF
has called an extraordinary meeting and created a commission in charge
of organizing meetings in all of the industrial regions of Pakistan.
The APTUF has decided to publish and distribute appeals to the workers
and to the people, and to also send this appeal to all of the political
parties and union federations.
Nasir Chaudhary (APTUF)
********************
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THREE BULLETINS REPORTING ON THE WORLD CONFERENCE
OF THE ILC (MARCH 18-20, 2005 IN MADRID
BULLETIN NO. 1
NO. 123-124
(March 22-29, 2005)
PRESENTATION -- by ILC International Newsletter Editors
FINAL DECLARATION OF THE MARDID ILC CONFERENCE -- Submitted to the
Participants by the Members of the Presiding Committee
(List of Presiding Committee members)
(List of Conference Participants Who Endorsed the Final Declaration of
the ILC World Conference)
Welcoming Message to the World Conference from Manuel Bonmati, General
Secretary for International Relations of the UGT Trade Union Federation,
Spain
Message to Conference from Louisa Hanoune, Member of Parliament in the
National Popular Assembly of Algeria and General Secretary of the
Workers Party of Algeria.
Message from Bill Fletcher, Jr., President of the TransAfrica Forum
(United States)
Message from Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer-Emeritus of the San
Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
Message from Ion Albu, Secretary General of the Trade Union
Confederation MERIDIAN of Romania
Message from the Trade Union Federation of Mine Workers of Bolivia
Message from Jean-Maurice Dehousse, Former Vice President of the
Socialist Group of the European Parliament (Excerpts)
Message from Peter Sorensen, former trade union leader of department
stores in Copenhagen, and sponsor of the fight against Maastricht and
against the European Constitution.
Message from the Workers Party (PT) of Brazil
List of Delegates from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Afghanistan, Iraq and Moldavia were unable to attend the World
Conference having been denied visas.
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
International Meeting for Women's Rights (March 17, 2005 in Madrid)
Appeal Issued by the Panelist of the Women's Rights Rally to the Women
and Trade unionists the World Over
Verdict of the Second Session of the International Tribunal charged with
judging those responsible for the deadly evolution imposed on the
workers and peoples in Africa, held on March 18, 2005 in Madrid
Report on the European Meeting held on March 18, 2005 in Madrid -- By
Luis González, delegate from Spain
Initiatives taken during the World Conference:
- For the release of Miron Cozma and five Romanian trade unionists -
Telegram to the President of Romania
- In defense of Constantin Cretan, trade union leader in Romania
- For the release of Hussam Khader, deputy of the village of Nablus
(Palestine)
- Support for the complaint lodged before the ILO by the Independent
Trade Union Federation of Djibouti
********************
BULLETIN NO. 2
NO. 125 -126
(April 4 - 11, 2005)
Introductory Report by Daniel Gluckstein, (Report prepared jointly with
Roger Sandri)
Introductory Presentation by Nancy Wohlforth - United States
First List of Presenters
Marcela Maspero - Venezuela
Cher Hared Hassan -Djibouti
Josep Calzada - Spain
Tafazzul Hussain - Bangladesh
Gotthard Krupp - Germany
Mamadou Ouattara - Ivory Coast
Jorge Martinez - Chile
Lybon Mabasa -- Azania
Tiberiu Cozma - Romania
Gene Bruskin - United States
Christian Marimoutou - Guadeloupe
Vissikou M. Senouvo - Togo
Gulzar Chaudhary - Pakistan
Alexandre Hébert - France
Clarence Thomas - United States
Serge Goulart - Brazil
Carmelinda Pereira - Portugal
Innocent Assogba - Bénin
Erwin Salazar - Peru
Trade unionist from Lebanon
Patrick Hebert - France
Julio Turra - Brazil
Gabriel Gaudy -- France
Jacqueline Petitot - Martinique
Nambiath Vasudevan - India
Camille Mombo Mouelet - Gabon
Alexandre Anor - Switzerland
Victor Hugo Zavaleta - Mexico
Philippe Larsimont - Belgium
Richard Tiendrebeogo - Burkina Faso
********************
BULLETIN NO. 3
NO. 127-128
Second List of Presenters
DARIA SOFRANOVA ( Russia )
GREGORIO TAVARES VALERIO ( Dominican Republic )
A CHINESE ACTIVIST ( China )
ALAN BENJAMIN ( USA )
YANNICK SIBELIN ( France )
LORENZO VARALDO ( Italy )
SANYAL CHANDAN KANTI ( India )
JOSE LIMAICO ( Ecuador )
VITALY KOULIK (Ukraine)
BENOIT ESSIGA (Cameroon)
MARKUS SOKOL (Brazil)
BLAS ORTEGA (Spain)
MARGARITA PAGARETE (Portugal)
JUNG SIKHWA (Korea)
ANDY GRIGGS (USA)
GERARD BAUVERT (International Committee Against Repression)
SAID MIMI (Morocco)
JEAN-PIERRE REDEJEKRA (Central African Republic)
RUBINA JAMIL (Pakistan)
STEFAN CHOLEWKA (Great Britain)
PAUL NKUNZIMANA (Burundi)
VOLKMAR SCHONE (Germany)
MARUTI GAWALI SURESH (India)
DIANA POP (Rumania)
IGOR NOLIKOV (Byelorussia)
RALPH SCHOENMAN (USA)
CHAN KA WAI (China - Hong Kong)
Concluding Statement by DANIEL GLUCKSTEIN, Coordinator of the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
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