ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 136
A dossier of weekly information published by the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
June 14, 2005
INTRODUCTION:
Miron Cozma has just been freed, on Tuesdaay June 4, at 6 :30 PM. He
has written a message on the occasion of his release from prison.
" I am adressing everybody throughout the world who through their
solidarity campaign that has been organized for years, have contributed
to my release today and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We are
all brothers. My best wishes to you all."
At the 12th Annual Conference of the ILC " For the Defense of the
ILO Conventions and the Independence of Unions ", which met in
Geneva last June 12, the campaign for the liberation of Miron Cozma
again occupied a very important place.
In this issue, we publish the summary of the discussion of the 12th
Conference, as well as certain documents concerning he the international
campaigns that the delegates decided to support and lead.
You will find the intervention of Tibériu Cozma, a unionist and brother
of Miron Cozma; the complaint filed by the National Federation of
Workers of Bangladesh; the appeal of the workers of the occupied
factories in France to the ILC ; an appeal of union leaders and activist
from around the world launched at the Conference for the Liberation of
Imprisoned Workers in Iran and for the Ratification of Conventions 87
and 98 of the ILO; and a message from Gene Bruskin, co-convenor of USLAW
in the United States.
As well as the proposals made at the Conference, the ILC Bulletin will
publish a full report on the conference, its discussions, as well as all
of the information at our disposal.
Publicize the ILC Bulletin. Subscribe !
***********
To contact us:
ILC International Newsletter
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France
**********
IN THIS ISSUE:
p. 1 : Introduction
p. 2-3 : ILC Conference" For the Defense of the ILO
Conventions and the Independence of Unions "
p. 4 - Romania: Message from Miron Cozma, on the occasion of his
release
- International Campaign for the Libertion of the Miron Cozma,
presentation by Tibériu Cozma
p. 5 - Bangladesh: Complaint filed to the ILO
p. 6 - Brazil : Appeal to the ILC from the ocupied factories of
Brazil
- Colombia
p. 7 - Iran : Appeal for the defense of workers' rights in Iran.
p. 8 - United Staes : Message from Gene Bruskin to the ILC Geneva
Conference concerning trade union rights .
- Subscriptions
**********
12th International "Conference for the Defence of ILO Conventions
and the Independence of Trade Union Organizations "
(June 12, 2005, Geneva)
The twelfth ILC Conference for the Defence of ILO Conventions and
the Independence of Trade Union Organizations took place in Geneva on
June 12, 2005, three months after the Madrid Conference.
Delegates from 24 countries were present:
Algeria, Germany, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Ivory
Coast, Spain, United States, France, Gabon, Guinee, Haiti, Italy,
Lebanon, Mauritious, Romania, Senegal, Swizerland, Syria, Togo, Ukraine,
Venezuela
The delegate from China was not given a visa. The delegate from Pakistan
was not able to attend the conference. Two delegates from Great Britain
who, due to the union calendar of their country, were not able to attend
but sent messages.
On the podium were present Luc Deley (who chaired the conference); Tibériu
Cozma, unionist and brother of Miron Cozma ; Tafazzil Hussain, president
of the National Workers Union of Bangladesh; Daniel Gluckstein,
coordinator of the ILC ; Hacène Djemane, General Secretary of the
International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU) ; Norbert
Gbikpi-Benissan Tetevi, General Secretary of the National Union of
Independant Unions of Togo; Marcela Maspero, Coordinator of the National
Workers Union of Venezuela (UNT).
Luc Deley opened the conference with a reminder that this twelth
conference of the ILC organized on the occasion of the annual ILO
sessions marked twelve years of continuity in the combat for the defense
of the ILO norms and conventions. To concretely illustrate the
significance of the worldwide offensive to lower the cost of labor, he
repeated the example given by a unionist:
"Yesterday, I saw construction site with German workers who were
working on a Saturday, even though the collective agreements of the
building prohibited this. The workers live in the cellars of the
building that they are working on." He explained that that was the
concrete content of the extension of bilateral agreements between the EU
and Switzerland, concerning the "free circulation of people."
The conclusion of the Conference's declaration reads, "The ILO is
at the crossroads. The debate is now open. These debates will continue
in relation to the preparations of the UN summit and in relation to the
agenda of the international trade union movement."
-----
The Campaigns Decided at the Geneva ILC Conference
Venezuela:
The international campaign supporting the Open Letter of the UNT to
the Workers Group of the ILO has helped make it possible, at the moment,
for the complaint filed by Fedecamaras not to be successful. The report
of the meeting of the ILO Commission on Norms, which met at the 93rd
Conference of the ILO and, among other isses, examined the case of
Venezuela, will be sent internationally. The international campaign will
be advanced at the next Congress of the UNT, which will take place at
the end of July, and will continue until November 2005, when the
complaint will be re-examined by the Committee of Trade Union Freedoms
of the ILO.
Romania:
The campaign for the liberation of Miron Cozma: On Tuesday June 14,
the District Attorney in Craiova could decide to free Miron Cozma, but
if he is not freed, the campaign will continue. A complaint was filed by
the National Meridiana Union Federation to the Committee of Trade Union
Freedoms of the ILO.
Bangladesh:
Campaign in support of the complaint filed to the Committee of Trade
Union Freedoms of the ILO by the National Workers Federation of
Bangladesh concerning the violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
Iran:
An appeal of union leaders and activists from throughout the world
was launched for the ratification of ILO Conventions 87 and 98, for the
immediate release of the imprisoned workers who were jailed for
excercising their right to collective bargaining, to strike, to
demonstrate, as well as for the cancellation of all proceedings against
them by the Iranian authorities.
Burundi:
If it becomes confirmed that the president of the Burundi Trade
Union Confederation is genuinely concerned about having participated in
the general assembly of the ILO, an international campaign will be
launched.
Brazil:
"The workers of the occupied factories need your help. - End
the threats against the occupied factories and end the prison threats
against Serge Goulart! - For the nationalization of the occupied
factories!"
There was also a proposal for a campaign aimed toward youth concerning
the dangers inherent in the report submitted to the discussion at the
93rd annual session of the ILO titled, "A decent job for
youth." The current deregulation offensive against
collective-bargaining rights is directed at the youth, who are being
subjected to the generalized drive toward casual labor.
-----
Minutes of the discussion
The 12th International Conference for the defense of the ILO
conventions organized by the ILC was held in Geneva on June 12, 2005,
three months after the Madrid conference. Delegates from 53 countries
unanimously asserted: "The working class movement must be loyal to
itself, it must be able to benefit from and control its own
organizations."
We discussed information that can help the debate in the international
working class movement as well as in each country. The working class
movement is now confronted with plans aiming at its integration into the
"new world governance." The Commission for the Social
Dimension of Globalization that was set up by the ILO has issued its
recommendations "for a new world governance that would be fair and
would take into account universal values and human rights, which should
be implemented with all the partners: the governments, the parliaments,
the corporations, the members of civil society, the trade unions, and
the international organizations."
The question should be asked: Isn't there a real danger that workers'
organizations could find themselves co-opted within this so-called
"new world governance"?
The agenda of the next UN summit includes an assessment of the
implementation of the Millennium Declaration. It has to be recalled that
this Millennium Declaration had received the support of all the main
international institutions, the UN, the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO,
the EU, and of many heads of state.
The report preparing the UN summit has the objective of promoting the
development of the private sector against the public sector with the
help of civil society. It suggests that the states should make the
infrastructure built by nations in the context of public services
available to private multinationals. The millennium report aims
explicitly at handing over to civil society the services that had so far
been provided by the state.
In his statement introducing the current reform to the UN, Secretary
Genera Koffi Annan explained: "States however, cannot do the job
alone. We need an active civil society and a dynamic private sector.
Both occupy an increasingly large and important share of the space
formerly reserved for states alone."
The logic of the shrinking responsibility of the states translates into
what is called "corporate social responsibility." The
responsibility of states -- just as the precise and constraining norms
in the form of laws, collective agreements, and the conquests that
became laws in the national framework -- are all replaced with the fact
that multinationals are both judges and actors when they determine the
way in which they assume their "social responsibility" on the
basis of references to principles. Are we not right to consider that the
weakening of norms and ILO conventions fostered this process, this drift
towards the alleged "corporate responsibility"?
When Bill Clinton, in 1998, went to the ILO yearly session in order to
defend the Charter of Fundamental Rights, he knew what he was doing. He
proposed to replace the constraining norms, conventions that had to be
ratified by nation-states with a system in which it was enough to
acknowledge 'bona fide' principles without any constraining or binding
obligations.
This process weakens simultaneously the sovereignty of nations and the
recognition of the fact that the interests of the workers and those of
the employers are different. This process is now threatening the very
existence of the ILO as an institution. In our conference, we discussed
the statements to the effect that the ILO would now have to transform
itself into a social component of the WTO.
Can it be envisioned that the organized framework of the ILO -- where
representatives of the governments, the employers, and the workers have
a seat, an arrangement that thereby recognizes the existence of distinct
social classes and nation-states -- be transformed? Can it be envisioned
to replace it with civil society and the NGOs? This would threaten the
universal basis of political democracy.
As we meet in this ILC conference, we declare: A social class cannot
transfer to another class the responsibility for its defense. To
"corporate social responsibility" we counterpose the political
responsibility of states and governments within the framework systems
rooted in political democracy systems and based on the recognition of
the independence of labor organizations
To the integration of the working class movement into the millennium
project, we counterpose the responsibility of workers' organizations. It
is up to them to defend their existence, to claim their rights, to
defend the specific interests of the working class.
To the policies that dismantle nations over the world, which feed wars
and conflicts and shake the whole framework within which the rights,
conquests, and gains have been won, we counterpose the struggle for
peace, sovereignty, and unity of the nation. To the policies of plunder
and the destruction of the peoples we oppose the struggle for the
unconditional cancellation of the debt.
On the international level the following two logics are antagonistic:
- One logic aims to transform the working class movement into a social
component of globalization. It stresses corporate social governance --
instead of norms, rights and codified guarantees.
- Another logic is the time-old position of the working-class movement,
which states that the working class has no other solution but to fight
oppression and exploitation, to organize itself as a class, to defend
its organizations, and their independence.
These two logics are opposed to one another.
One, in the name of a new world governance, aims to impose a
supranational, totalitarian, and corporatist order destroying the
nations and the social gains of the working class.
The other asserts that political democracy implies the right to
political and trade union freedom of organization, which recognizes the
existence of antagonistic interests in a society that is divided into
two antagonistic classes.
We say: The normative systems of the ILO, the ILO conventions
themselves, are part and parcel of the constitution of political
democracy. We must defend them. It is high time that we returned to
strict conventional systems. It's a question of the survival of our
civilization. The ILO is at the crossroads - the debate is now open.
These debates will continue in relation to the preparations of the UN
summit and in relation to the agenda of the international trade-union
movement.
As we do not seek to be a substitute for any existing international
organization, we intend to be part of this debate by publishing the
minutes of the conference, the minutes of our discussion and all the
information that has been provided in the bulletins of the ILC.
The need to defend system of conventions of the ILO is illustrated by
the campaigns that we decided to support or to launch at our conference:
- Venezuela
- Bangladesh
- Romania
- China
- Iran
**********
ROMANIA
Last Minute!
Miron Cozma freed!
Message from Miron Cozma:
" I am addressing everybody throughout the world who, through
the powerful solidarity campaign that has been organized over many
years, have contributed to my release today -- and I thank you from the
bottom of my heart. We are all comrades in struggle. My best wishes to
you all."
-----
Campaign for the Liberation of Miron Cozma
Speech by Tiberiu Cozma at the ILC Geneva Conference in Geneva on June
12 (just two days before the release from prison of his brother Miron
Cozma)
Dear Friends,
I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak again at this
annual conference organized by the ILC in defense of the ILO conventions.
We are here to express yet again the desire of the Romanian workers
and unions to fight in an organized manner side by side with the
international labor movement for the defense of union rights. The
destructive offensive of globalization, day after day, destroys more and
more jobs and liquidates whole industries on every continent. The only
means to resist this offensive are independent workers' organizations
that try to, and often suceeed in, stopping or at least delaying the
implementation of the plans of those who, whether in Washington or
Brussels, are trying to establish a new world order.
In this context, the ILC has clearly worked to support, for the past 14
years, the organizations of the workers and has led important concrete
campaigns, like the campaign for the liberation of my brother, Miron
Cozma, a union leader who has already spent 8 years in prison.
The only "crime" of my brother was having tried to correctly
and democratically represent the interests of the members of his union.
Very often, these interests are antagonistic to the interests of
businessmen, the political class and the politicians. To deprive the
miners of their only voice, the Romanian powers threw Miron Cozma in
prison under a political pretext.
Whether they are of the right or the left, the governments that have
governed in Bucharest since 1990 have considered that it would be better
for them if Miron Cozma was in jail, in truly degrading and inhumane
conditions.
In this context, a campaign was launched many years ago that has since
become more and more powerful and which has resulted in important
protests on the national level. Thousands of unionists and workers,
hundreds of union and political organizations, local political
representatives, in Romania and more than 50 other countries have
demanded the release of Miron Cozma and the end to the proceedings
against the mining leaders - amongst them is Constantin Cretan, who is
present here and who on June 22 will receive the result of the
proceedings in the High Court.
The Campaign Has Produced Results
At the end of his Presidential term, Ion Illescu, in December 2004,
pardoned Miron Cozma -- but only a day later, he caved into internal and
particularly external pressures and rescinded the pardon.
The cancellation of pardon is unprecendented and, in Romania, it was
attacked in court, with good chances of success.
On Tuesday June 14, the District Attorney of Craiova will be able to
free my brother, which could represent the biggest success ever of the
ILC activists in Romania and Eastern Europe. With the release of Miron
Cozma we would win back to our side an organizer who has spent 8 years
in prison precisely because he wouldn't betray his comrades, because he
wouldn't betray his cause, because he wouldn't play political games: an
activists who understood what workers solidarity means, and what the ILC
means.
Victory seems near. Nevertheless, it cannot be excluded that the
politicians in Bucharest will put on new pressures on the Court to keep
Miron in jail for more years, in the name of what they call the
"social peace." To definitively liquidate the miners unions,
to end all the resistance to the privatization of the energy resources
-- a demand of the EU -- it is possible that the government will
continue its policies of intimidating a union leader.
In the case of Miron Cozma, a complaint signed the by National Meridian
Union Federation was filed the Committee on Union Freedoms of the ILO.
It was not registered for formal reasons -- it is a sign that the
Romanian unionist won't be intimidated.
For four days, there was a general strike on the Romanian railroads.
It was the first strike considered legal since 1990!
Another sign that resistance is growing is that the unions are
fighting the modifications of the Labor Code, modifications that under
the form presented by the government would return labor relations in our
country to the year 1800. These modifications are part of the pressure
of the EU, which have been categorically rejeceted by the working class
of France and Holland. The surveys show that close to 80% of workers in
France voted against the constitutional treaty!
The workers have shown that they understand their interests.
The workers can resist but in order to do so they must organize!
Long live international workers solidarity!
**********
BANGLADESH
Complaint against the violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and the
against the freedom to organize filed by the 'BANGLADESH JATIYO SRAMIK
FEDERATION (National Federation of Workers in Bangladesh) to the ILO
committee of freedom of Association
To Mr. Juan Somavia
Director General International Labor Office
Route Des Morillons,
4 CH-121
Geneva 22
Switzerland
COMPLAINT AGAINST THE VIOLATION
OF CONVENTIONs 87 & 98 AND
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
Dear Mr. Somavia,
I am writing to lodge a complaint with the Committee on Freedom of
Association on behalf of the Bangladesh Jatiyo Sramik Federation against
the violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98. Whereas, the government of
Bangladesh has already ratified these conventions.
In all the "Export Processing Zones," the formation of trade
unions is banned by a decree, which is a clear violation of the
conventions in this respect. Hundreds and thousands of workers (mainly
female) are deprived of their legitimate and legal rights in the EPZ.
Trade union bodies and various organizations have mounted pressure and
staged relentless demonstrations against this inhumane decree.
The companies in the EPZ subject workers to untold miseries and
repression. The employers use the workers as slave labor. Minimum labor
standards are not maintained in the area. Workers do not have weekly
holidays, or any other leave. There are no fixed working hours. All
existing criminal and repressive laws of the country are applicable in
the "Zone" except the trade union and labor rights laws.
Bangladesh has many good labor laws and Factory Acts -- such as the
industrial Relation Ordinance 1969 and Employment of Labor Act. But
those are forbidden in the "Zones." Police arrest the workers.
There even was a police action, including shooting bullets at the
agitating workers.
Whenever there is any uprising of workers, the country's police go into
action to quell the same. The owners lodge complaints with the police
and the police recognize the offence (however false) against the workers
under the existing law of the country. Only the trade union and workers'
rights laws are not applicable in the zones. This is simply a double
standard, which deprives the workers of their legitimate rights
including human rights. This is also clear violation of ILO conventions.
Here are some examples of police actions.
A) On April 10, 2005 two hundred workers were injured, 20 by bullets as
police used batons and opened fire to quell a violent demonstration by
the workers of a garment factory at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone in
Savar. The trouble broke out at about 10:30 am when 1600 workers of
"Honorway Textile & Apparels" found their factory locked.
In the early morning the workers came to the factory to resume the work
as usual but they found the factory was still closed. It was done
without any prior notice; the workers then went to the office of the
General Manager pf BEPZA to know the reason of the unannounced closure.
The authority instead of giving satisfactory answer called the police.
The workers became violent and the police opened fire indiscriminately.
The authority filed a case with the local police under the country's
law. Dozens of workers were arrested by the police and many of them are
women.
B) There are dozens of such cases of police action including death by
police gun shots.
When local trade union bodies and international organizations including
the overseas buyers pressured, the authority promulgated some
"Law" for creation of "Labor Welfare Committee" and
"Labor Association". This new law is worse than the law
banning trade union rights. There are many discrepancies and
self-contradiction in the "face saving" law. Some of the
contradictions are as follows.
As per this law, the workers can form a "Welfare Committee."
But the formation of these has been made difficult in the law. For
example, the welfare committee section clause 6B says that, to be an
officer of the committee, the candidates have to have had permanent job
in the factory for at least six months. In reality, the workers do not
have any appointment letters nor are their jobs ever made permanent. A
similar anomaly exists in clause 6C also.
As per this law workers can form "Workers Associations" only
after November 1, 2006. There are similar anomalies in this
section also. The workers are demanding appointment letters and the
permanent status of their jobs.
This law of "Welfare Committee" or "Sramik Sangha"
(Workers associations) never fulfills the aspirations and demand of the
workers. The workers want the implementation of the law of the country
in the EPZ. They want the implementation of the ILO conventions in the
EPZ.
1 would therefore request the "Committee on Freedom of
Association" to look into the matter and to urge upon the
authorities in Bangladesh to allow normal trade union rights of the
workers of Export Processing Zone and ILO conventions.
Yours Truly,
Zakir Hossain,
General Secretary
**********
TO THE INTERNATIONAL LIAISON COMMITTEE OF WORKERS AND PEOPLES
THE WORKERS IN BRAZIL'S OCCUPIED FACTORIES ARE ASKING FOR HELP
Dear comrades,
To prevent the closing down of their factories and the elimination of
their jobs, the workers at Cipla, Interfibra, Flasko, Flakepet, and
recently Profiplast, have been forced to assume the administrative and
financial control of these plastic companies in Joinville, Sumaré and
Ipavi, in Brazil. Since the moment they took them over, the workers have
been demanding the nationalization of these factories.
These workers are fighting to save their jobs. They have at every
juncture risen up against the bosses' attempt to transfer onto the
shares of the companies and thereby, by transforming the companies into
cooperatives, making them agents of capital. Right from the start they
hoisted the banner of resistance for the nationalization of these
factories and demanded that the Lula government should take
responsibility before the people and the nation by nationalizing the
occupied factories.
For two and a half years, the workers have been fighting to obtain the
nationalization of the factories. Right from the beginning, a full and
intense discussion took place on that question (cooperatives vs.
nationalization) within the Brazilian working class movement. Today the
struggle of these workers has won over the sympathy of many regional
conferences of the CUT, the National conference of the Confederation of
the unions of the Brazilian chemical industry workers (CNQ/CUT) and warm
greetings from the National Conference of the CUT.
The workers have won the support of Municipal Councils, Legislatures,
deputies and senators. They held two "National Conferences in
defence of employment, rights, land reform, and the Brazilian
industry". One of them took place in Joinville and brought together
thousands of participants, while another one was held at the CUT
headquarters.
However, considerable pressures have been exerted till now on this
movement whereby the workers occupy and control their factories. The
pressures are aimed at altering its nature and destroying it.
What sort of pressures?
- There is pressure to lead the workers to transform the companies into
cooperatives or to take responsibility for them by changing them into
"self-managed" factories in such a way that, like small
businessmen, they would receive thousands of reales from the schemes
launched by the government in the name of a "Solidarity-based
economy."
- There is pressure from the former bosses to the effect that the
workers should declare themselves owners and receive the shares handed
over to them.
- There is pressure from the multinationals (Warco and Star, from the
United States) whose objective is to buy the companies, to liquidate
them and thus broaden their control over the market.
Because they are loyal to their class, to the fight in defense of their
jobs, and to Brazilian industry and national sovereignty, these workers
have refused all such false solutions and have stuck to their demand for
nationalization as the only long-term solution capable of saving jobs
and the Brazilian industry.
They are fully aware that their present situation is transitory and that
they will secure victory only if they are helped by their class
organizations. It is for this precise reason that a delegation from the
Councils of the Occupied Factories attended the ILC World Conference in
Madrid last March. For this same reason, it is urgent to broaden the
international campaign for the nationalization of factories, which will
also help strengthen the domestic national campaign.
What is at stake in this struggle is the future of the workers and their
families, and they have no prospect other than nationalization. Should
the present situation persist it would represent a permanent threat for
the jobs and would expose the workers, in their struggle for survival,
to the everyday pressures of self-management, cooperation, etc. Hence
the necessity to reinforce at once both at the national and
international levels the demand that the Lula government should
nationalize the factories.
This fight to preserve employment, as well as all the working class
rights that go with it, is directly connected with the defense of the
ILO conventions, with the international struggle of the working class
for its own survival and with the fight which, ever since the first
International was founded, it has waged against the regime of the
private ownership of the big means of production.
We are therefore launching this appeal to the ILC comrades, so that
through their relationships with the organizations of the international
working class movement, they might organize an international campaign of
support to the just struggle of the workers at Cipla, Interfibra, Flasko,
Flakepet and Profiplast in order that that the Lula government should
nationalize the occupied factories.
Such a campaign is all the more necessary at the moment since an unusual
wave of legal proceedings introduced by the ministries of the Lula
government is threatening to close down the factories and imprison the
leaders. What is needed is an immediate action from the working class
movement to help resist that destructive pressure, which is in itself a
direct consequence of the harmful action of imperialism as it breaks up
the nations and destroys the working and living conditions of the
peoples.
Serge Goulart,
Coordinator of the Councils of Occupied Factories, Brazil
-----
Here is an example of a motion to be sent to the Lula government and to
the judicial powers, to be widely replicated:
STOP ALL ATTEMPTS AT CLOSING DOWN OCCUPIED FACTORIES!
WITHDRAW ALL THREATS OF IMPRISONMENT AGAINST SERGE GOULART!
NATIONALIZE THE OCCUPIED FACTORIES!
Unusual proceedings have been undertaken by the Ministries of the Lula
government and have received the support of federal judges: the purpose
is that Cipla, Interfibra and the other factories should be declared
illegal. By using means that had never been used before, not even
against the criminal owners who evaded taxation and robbed the workers
for more than ten years, a decree has been passed to the effect of
seizing 20% of the receipts made by Cipla/Interfibra since the factories
were first occupied in 2002. (The decree also includes an enforcement
order dated 06/04/05).
Furthermore Oziel Francisco de Souza, the federal judge, specifies that
Serge Goulart, coordinator of the Councils of Occupied Factories, is
responsible for the deposit of the assets which have made illegal the
payment of wages and the purchase of raw materials. In case he does not
comply, he will be liable to imprisonment.
Thousands of jobs are at stake.
For two and a half years, the workers of the occupied factories have
insisted on the only solution: that the Lula government should
nationalize the factories to save the jobs. Although in two and a half
years the ministries of the Lula government have not made the slightest
gesture in favor of the workers of these factories, they now hasten to
collect the debts owed by the former owners and threaten the workers and
their leaders.
A solution is urgently needed. We therefore support the demand of the
workers and urge the federal judges to suspend the proceedings and
President Lula to meet the workers so that the will of the workers of
the factories be implemented. We also demand the withdrawal of all the
threats of imprisonment against the coordinator of the factory
committee, Serge Goulart.
Motions should be sent to:
Luiz Inàcio Lula da Silva - President of the Republic
Palàcio do Planalto - Praça dos Três Poderes
Brasilia/ DF- CEP 70350- 900 or
<?color><?param 0000,0000,00FF>protocolo@planalto.gov.br
<?/color>To the Federal Judges
Federal Judge: Dr. LEONARDO CASTANHO MENDES
Deputy Federal Judge: Dr. OZIEL FRANCISCO DE SOUSA
Director of Secretariat: Bel. ROSAN LUIS DA SILVEIRA PERES
Address: Rua do Principe, 123 - Centro CEP: 89201-001
Telephone: (47) 433- 9079 - PABX
E-mail: <?color><?param 0000,0000,00FF>SCJOIEF01@jfisc.gov.br
<?/color>Please send copies to <?color><?param
0000,0000,00FF>impresa@cipla.comb.br
<?/color>Informaçoes: (47) 30269140 - <?color><?param
0000,0000,00FF>impresa@cipla.com.br<?/color> - Antônio Hélio
Pereira e Silvia Agostini
**********
Appeal for the Defense of Workers' Rights in Iran
We, the undersigned, trade union activists and leaders, Meeting in
the 12th conference of the ILC for the defense of ILO norms and
conventions and the independence of trade union organizations on Sunday,
June 12, 2005 in Geneva, were informed of the situation of workers and
their rights in Iran.
Whereas the Iran Labor Code of 1990 stipulates that Labor
councils must have their function, role, and statutes written down by
the Labor and home ministry,
Whereas the Labor councils are ruled by one single national
organization, that is to say the House of Labor, under control of the
government,
Whereas the amendment of the Labor Code of 2003 also subordinates
the set up of trade unions to the fact that the trade union rules are
submitted to the ministry's control, as well as all collective
bargaining contracts,
Whereas there exists no right to strike and even the tolerated
forms of stoppages at work and in the public sector, while the State is
the main employer (40% of the Labor force),
Whereas workers' rights do not concern export processing zones,
that is to say Special economic zones;
Whereas the February 2000 Act establishes that Labor laws do not
apply to firms with five employers or less (3million workers concerned),
Whereas this rule was extended in 2003 to workshops employing ten
workers or less (400 000 work shops out of 450000)
We register the workers resistance to these rules expressed in strikes
and demonstrations and the suppression of these legitimate protest
actions, especially in the textile industry struck by the total
liberalization of that sector:
In April 2003, workers of the Behshahr Chintz Making factory went on
strike to get their wages paid, and rallies gathering 30,000 workers
were brutally attacked by the police that made use of tear gas.
At the end of January 2005, the strike of textile workers of Sanandaj
was suppressed, several workers were laid off and others arrested.
Seven trade unionists in the town of Saqez have been arrested as they
celebrated May 1st and are still in jail.
Whereas the International confederation of Free trade unions
has lodged a complaint before the ILO Committee on Freedom of
Association concerning several serious ad repeated violations of
workers' elementary rights in Iran,
We, trade unionists and trade union leaders from all over the world
decide to launch an international campaign raising the five following
points:
1 - Is it not a breach of Articles 2 and 3 of ILO Convention 87,
which stipulate respectively that Workers and employers, without
distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and,
subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, to
join organizations of their own choosing without previous
authorization" (Article 2) and "Workers' and
employers' organizations shall have the right to draw up their
constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full
freedom, to organize their administration and activities and to
formulate their programmes" (Article 3)?
2 - Is it not a breach of Article 3 of Convention 87, which
stipulates that "the public authorities shall refrain from any
interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful
exercise thereof" (Article 3.2)?
3 - Is it not a breach of Article 1 of Convention 98, which
stipulates that workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts
of anti-union discrimination in respect of their
employment" (Article 1.1) "Such protection shall apply more
particularly in respect of acts calculated to: (a) make the employment
of the worker subject to the condition that he shall not join a
union or shall relinquish trade union membership; (b) cause the
dismissal of or otherwise prejudice a worker by
reason of union membership or because of participation in
union activities outside working hours or, with the consent of
the employer, within working hours" (Article 1.2)
4 - Is it not a breach of ILO Convention 87 when trade unionists
are sent to jail because of their activities?
5 - Is it not a breach of ILO Convention 98 when the authorities
take upon themselves the right to decide which organizations can be
recognized and thereby choose who has or does not have the right to
negotiate?
We strongly demand the immediate release of the workers jailed
because they defended their right to freely negotiate collective
contracts, to strike, to demonstrate and the cancellation of all charges
against them by Iran authorities,
We call for developing and strengthening the campaign for the
ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98. Iran
authorities must ratify these conventions 87 and 98 and implement them.
This is the necessary condition for the existence of Labor rights in
Iran.
Iranian workers as workers the world over must have the right to set up
the organization they choose to defend their own interests.
First endorsers: Djemam Hacene, ICATU, General Secretary; Saad
Farouk, ICATU; Algeria: Sidi Saïd Madjid, UGTA, General
Secretary; Hanoune Louisa, MP, Workers Party's General Secretary;
Tadjouk Amar, trade unionist; Germany: Frey Henning (*), Ver.di /SPD;
Schüller Klaus (*), TRANSNET/ SPD; Gerhold Karheinz (*), Ver.di /SPD;
Bangladesh: Tafazzul Hussein, President National Federation of
workers in Bangladesh (BJSF); Belgium: Giarocco Roberto, MDT;
Brazil: Turra Julio, CUT, executive director; Burundi:
Nkunzimana Paul, STUB, Chair EC; Côte d'Ivoire: Yao K. François,
SYNASEG, General Secretary; France: Gluckstein Daniel,
coordinator International Liaizson Committee of workers and peoples;
Doriane Olivier; Schidlower Marie-Claude, ILC's Working Women
Commission; Barrois Jean-Pierre, Workers Party; M Chalard Emmanuel (*),
trade unionist; Marquiset J.Charles, trade unionist; Pepers Véronique,
trade unionist; Moutot Dan (*), Workers Party; Shapira Daniel Workers
Party; Simonnin Michèle (*), trade unionist; Girod Jacques (*), trade
unionist; Constantin Pierre (*), trade unionist; Paris Jacques (*),
trade unionist; Hébert Patrick, trade unionist; Gabon:
Mombo-Houelet Camille, FLEEMA/CGSL, General Secretary; Guinea:
Fofana Ibrahima, SNECEA/CNTS/FC, General Secretary; Italy:
Varaldo Lorenzo (*), UIL-Turin EC member; Daniele Gabriella: CGIL -Turin
delegate; Lebanon: El Husaini Khadigé, CGTL, trade unionist;
Mauritania: Kane Moktar, USLM, General Secretary; Romania:
Cretan Constantin, Liga Miron Cozma, President; Senegal: Ba Fatou,
SUTAS, General Secretary; Niang Doudou Fall, SMTMPS/CNTS/FC, General
Secretary; Spain: Garcia-Cano Pablo (*),: Fed. Metal. CC/OO;
Gonzalez Eva (*), Working Women Commission; Alcover Vicente, FSP-UGT.;
Switzerland: Anor Alexandre PS/ MP; Gindrat Michel PS/ SSP; Anor
Albert (*),SSP/VPOD; Anor Catherine (*), SSP/VPOD; Perruchono Eric (*),
SSP/VPOD; Schlüssel André (*), SSP/VPOD Heranz Antonio (*), SSP/VPOD;
Heranz Sylviane (*), comedia/ PS; Casagrande Marco (*), SSP/VPOD; Girodo
Simone (*), SSP/VPOD; Hofer Daniel (*), SSP/VPOD; Barriera Gabrielle
(*), SSP/VPOD; Robert Max, SSP/VPOD; Jaussi Rudy (*), SSP/VPOD Meylan
Georges (*), SSP/VPOD; Togo: Gbikpi-Benissan Tétévi, UNSIT,
General Secretary; Ukraine: Kulik Vitali, Union Borotba,
secretary; Mishin Andreiy, Union Borotba, co-secretary.
(*) in a personal capacity
***********
Greetings from Gene Bruskin to June 12 ILC Meeting in Geneva in Defense
of Trade Union Rights
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
I send you greetings to your yearly ILC meeting in Geneva and wish you a
successful and fruitful gathering.
More than two years ago, USLAW joined forces with the ILC and the
International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions to promote an
international campaign against the occupation and for labor rights in
Iraq. Exactly two years ago, Amy Newell, then national organizer for
USLAW, was among you in Geneva to promote this campaign.
More recently, other USLAW officers, including myself, joined you in
Geneva to press our case before the International Labor Bureau, where we
demanded that full labor rights be implemented and enforced in Iraq
based on the fundamental ILO Conventions.
From what we have heard through the international trade union movement,
the ILO responding to our requests and to requests from unionists in
Iraq and the world over, has prepared a Draft Labor Code for Iraq that
takes up the essential questions that we had raised in our various
meetings in Geneva; particularly the right of workers in all sectors,
public and private, to organize and join the unions of their own choice,
and to have the right to collective bargaining -- both of which are
codified in ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
But from what we also have heard, the authorities in Iraq have yet to
decide what course to take in relation to labor rights; the ILO Draft
Labor Code, as far as we can tell, is still on the shelf.
For our part, we in USLAW reiterate yet again what we said in our joint
appeal with the ILC and ICATU; namely, that the full labor rights
enshrined in the ILO Conventions must be ratified, implemented and
enforced in Iraq today. There cannot be a general reference to labor
rights; these ILO rights must be written into Iraq's national labor
legislation and enforced. The labor movement in Iraq and internationally
can accept nothing less.
That is why USLAW calls upon all the labor delegates gathered in Geneva
to remain vigilant about this question and to continue to insist that
the official labor organizations in your own countries keep the pressure
on to demand full labor rights in Iraq, as well as an end to the
occupation so that the Iraqi people can determine their own fate and
control their own resources on their own, without outside interference.
Again, our best greetings to all,
In solidarity,
Gene Bruskin,
Co-Convener,
US Labor Against the War
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