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A dossier of weekly information published by the ----- Introduction A Communiqué of the ILC: No to the new European Treaty! "On the night of October 18-19, the 27 European heads of state adopted a new European treaty, called the "Lisbon Treaty." Two years and a half after the rejection by the French and Dutch people of the draft European Constitution, the leaders of the European Union have adopted a treaty that maintains the essentials of the past draft treaty. No to the new European Treaty! Abrogation of all the treaties! Abrogate the Maastricht-Amsterdam treaty, defend and reconquer the rights and guarantees contained in the legislations of each of Next February 2 and 3, a European conference of delegates of the signers of this appeal will take place, with the goal of helping to, "solidify in each of our countries and on a European level, one single united front of all the workers and their organizations to reconquer the democratic prerogatives founding the sovereignty of the peoples" and to help to "preserve the existence of our union organizations." Great Britain: In the framework of a discussion in the workers' movement, a correspondent sent us a contribution concerning the fusion between two trade unions. United States: Elections for city council are taking place in New Orleans. Malcolm Suber is the candidate of the Reconstruction Party. Peru: The Popular Assembly that met in Lambayeque adopted a "Manifesto to the Nation." It is an appeal to all the workers of the city and countryside, to the whole nation, to support this manifesto and work to build popular assemblies throughout the country. Ecuador: Activists fighting for the creation of a Workers Party have written all the delegates to the Constituent Assembly: "To defend national sovereignty, it is necessary to win back all workers' rights, to renationalize the oil, mining, electrical, and telecommunications. Through this we can have the resources to develop the country." South Africa: Ten years after apartheid, it is necessary to fight for a "real Black republic." An interview with Lybon Mabasa, leader of the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA). Switzerland: "No convention, no construction workers!" Carrying this slogan over 6,000 construction workers went on strike in mid October in Switzerland in order to recuperate their national collective bargaining convention terminated by the Swiss Society of Entrepreneurs (SSe). Bulgaria: The teachers have been on strike for several weeks, eight months after the entrance of Bulgaria into the European Union. Romania: The European Commission has recently demanded the liquidation of the Tractorul factory, in the workers' bastion of Brasov.
----- Table of Contents p.1: Introduction ----- Contact: Informations internationales *********************
Two logics colliding Further to the TGWU - Amicus merger the press quoted Amicus revealing that last year it had signed agreements with USW - American United Steelworkers and the German engineering union IG-Metall. USW spokesman Wayne Ranick said that "the agreement is going to define a process that's going to move us in the direction of a global union". In a recent interview Derek Simpson added "anyone who believes that the merger between Amicus and T&G is the last word in trade union amalgamation must think again... since global companies are not controlled by the current structure of the trade union movement, which is confined within national boundaries, we need to build an international trade union... if trade unions remain based within single nation states, they will be powerless to deal with the scourge of global exploitation... we want a trade union movement that can take on the multinationals. No national union can do that." This logic aims to go beyond, to break with the current forms of organisation of the labour movement. The international labour movement is presently based on national unions, grouping within one or several national confederations - according to national history specificities - which themselves group on the international level into international trade union organisations. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is based on this system. Let's recall that the ILO is a tripartite organisation grouping representatives of national unions, member states and employers - whose function is to codify precisely quantified binding conventions and labour standards which, once ratified by nation states, must be transferred into national legislation. The ILO does not integrate trans-nationals, but the nation states and the employers that the workers are confronted with. The present logic behind the organisation of the international labour movement and the existence of the ILO lies in the recognition of the existence of two social classes with antagonistic interests. The plan would be to break with the current framework deriving from the acknowledgement of class struggle whose form is national and whose international content is embodied in the ILO with its system of binding conventions and labour standards. Should the current architecture of the labour movement disappear, the ILO and its system of binding conventions and labour standards would follow suit. Meanwhile, in the name of global governance that the labour movement is invited to join, the organisations of globalisation - the WTO among others - question the existence of the ILO and its system of binding standards by proposing to replace this normative system with a new system of non-binding codes of good conduct called Corporate Social responsibility. To go beyond the nation states to establish a direct dialogue with transnationals? Our last conference held in Brighton opposed, and rightly so, the suppression of 19,000 jobs at Land Rover. A delegate declared - and I share this view - that the only way to save the 19,000 jobs is to nationalise Land Rover. But if our unions address the management of the trans-national instead of the British government, any struggle for the nationalisation of Land Rover becomes impossible. How could the management of a trans-national nationalise a national company!! And this also applies to health and safety, working conditions and wages, which are determined by national regulations and collective agreements based on ILO standards. To break with the current architecture of the labour movement based on national unions and the ILO with its system of binding standards and conventions? We have the honour in our union - TGWU - to have constantly put the struggle to repeal Thatcher's anti-union laws on top of our agenda. The ILO committee on labour standards has repeatedly recalled in its yearly report that if the British government enforced ILO conventions - notably Conventions 87 and 98 - the anti-union laws would actually be repealed and trade union rights restored. The struggle for the repeal of the anti-union laws therefore goes along with the struggle to get ILO conventions transferred into our national legislation. The number of workers in Britain who are covered by collective bargaining agreements has fallen to 30%. In the absence of a collective agreement, the employer will always be free to dictate the price of labour. The struggle to get more workers covered by collective bargaining agreements comes down to the struggle to get ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, which the UK ratified in 1949, become law under the labour government. This also applies to the whole set of ILO conventions providing for more protection in the building industry.
Corporate social responsability and codes of conduct? Multinationals like Asda, Tesco and Primark adhere to Corporate social responsibility. These three firms have made public commitments to working towards the payment of living wages in their supply chains in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the national minimum wage still rests at £7 while even Tesco itself agrees that the figure should be £ 22 per month. Why? Because this is the difference between the enforcement of ILO conventions that would provide living wages to Bangladeshi workers and vague and imprecise declarations of intent by Asda, Tesco and Primark, whose only real "social responsibility" is, at the end of the day, to make more profit.
These are the few reflections I wish to submit for discussion. Henry Mott, TGWU. *********************** COMMINIQUE OF THE ILC No to the New European Treaty! On the night of October 18-19, the 27 European heads of state adopted a new European treaty, called the "Lisbon Treaty." Two years and a half after the rejection by the French and Dutch people of the draft European Constitution, the leaders of the European Union have adopted a treaty that maintains the essentials of the past draft treaty. This is a true attack on democracy. Just like the rejected draft of the European Constitution, the new Lisbon treaty confirms and accentuates all the articles of the previous treaties (Rome, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice), particularly: - The article on the domestic market and the free circulation of goods, peoples, services, and Capital, in the name of which all the European privatization directives concerning public services (post offices, telecommunication, electricity, gas, railways) are then transposed into all the European countries; - The Article on the prohibition of state aid, which outlaws all subsidies for public services or public enterprises, and which prohibits any (re)nationalizations; The Article on excessive public spending, in the name of which, throughout Europe, the governments have strangled all the public budgets, brutally cut health care expenses, and raised the retirement age. Like the reject draft European Constitution, the new Lisbon treaty strengthens the supranational character of the institutions of the European Union, particularly: - By giving the president of the European Union a mandate that can
last up to 5 years, instead of the current semester rotation; Just like the rejected draft European Constitution, the new Lisbon treaty aims to negate all sovereignty to European nations and their peoples, to go all the way in the dismantling of all the social and democratic conquests that exist. Against this attack on democracy, militants of 12 countries of Europe have launched an appeal to say: No to the new European Treaty! Next February 2 and 3, a European conference of delegates of the signers of this appeal will take place, with the goal of helping to, "solidify in each of our countries and on a European level, one single united front of all the workers and their organizations to reconquer the democratic prerogatives founding the sovereignty of the peoples" and to help to "preserve the existence of our union organizations." *************************
October 22, 2007 City council elections in New Orleans: Malcolm Suber runs to promote the Reconstruction Party in New Orleans The United States is falling deeper into a economic, military, and political crisis. The interests of U.S. imperialism, confronted with the "subprime" loan crisis, demand the deepening of the pillaging of peoples and the dismantling of nations and, thus, the continuation of the war in Iraq. In this situation, the candidacy of Malcolm Suber, Black working class activist, for the city council of New Orleans, has received an important echo and has been supported by leading activists in the Black movement on a national scale.
Thus, in a recent debate, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, the three main Democratic candidates, "refused to promise the removal of the American troops by 2013, the end of their first term." The Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, plays the same game and "took back an amendment to the last financing bill, which would have demanded that Bush ask for Congress's permission before launching any sort of attack on Iran." This financing bill, passed virtually unanimously, which gave $115 billion extra to the war, adding to the estimated $1 trillion taken from the U.S. social budgets to finance the war.
It was in this situation that a first candidacy of the Reconstruction Party was launched in New Orleans. Malcolm Suber, Black leader of the PHRF (People's Hurricane Relief Fund), is one of the dozen candidates for municipal council. This first candidate to promote the Reconstruction Party, putting at the center the question of the right to return, opens up a path for Blacks and all the oppressed who were abandoned and subjected to ethnic cleansing in August 2005 by the Republicans and Democrats at all governmental levels.
Despite the media boycott, the events of Malcolm Suber's campaign have been met with a significant popular response. In posing the question of independent candidacies (including for the 2008 presidential elections), this candidacy opens a way forward for the workers and the youth. This first step taken by Black activists on the path of independent organization is a step made in favor of all the exploited sectors, thus posing the need for a step forward toward the construction of a party of the entire U.S. working class: a Labor Party. Correspondent ------ The Platform of Malcolm Suber The City of New Orleans is in crisis with half of our residents displaced more than two years after Hurricane Katrina and a growing population of homeless people. I bring strong leadership, honed by decades of community organizing and social justice advocacy, to overcome the injustices faced by New Orleanians who are struggling to rebuild and return home. My "Six-Point Platform for the Recovery of New Orleanians" is for the people, not the special interests of developers and political insiders. As your City Councilperson-At-Large, I will dedicate myself to protecting our right to return home with dignity, equity, and justice. I will support federal legislation to re-open public housing developments so that tenants can return home and have assistance in improving their homes. I will also work to expedite the necessary tasks needed to end the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's management of public housing developments in order to return public housing to local governmental control. Š. I will fight for the re-opening of Charity Hospital and improved medical services for veterans. Š I will introduce an ordinance that recognizes the right of workers to organize labor unions and collective bargaining. Š I will work to ensure that the education of our children and young adults is a right, not a privilege by conducting an investigation of the wholesale termination of public school faculty and staff that dismantled the public school system following Hurricane Katrina. Š I will fight for adequate federal reimbursement of repairs to our sewage and drainage system and other local infrastructure. I will fight for federal support to establish Category 5 hurricane protection for the people of New Orleans. ***************************
The Popular Assembly that met in Lambayeque addresses the nation to call for a National Popular Assembly On October 14, 2007, in Lambayeque, in the north of Peru, a popular assembly with delegations of a hundred departmental and national organizations, took place. This assembly was facilitated by the secretary of the regional union of the CGTP, Erwin Salazar, and the national president of the CGTP, Carmela Sifuentes. There were also representatives from the national peasants confederations that were at the head of the national strike on July 10 and 11, 2007 against the Free Trade Agreement (TLC), as well as several federations and representatives of the Coordination for a Workers Party, which participates with others in the activities of the ILC in Peru. We are publishing below the manifesto to the nation that was adopted at this conference. Manifesto to the Nation
Is it possible to turn this situation around? Yes, it is possible! The struggle and demands of the peoples of Venezuela, Bolivia, and most recently Ecuador demonstrate that it is possible to advance toward the reconquest of national sovereignty. This is the path to follow in Peru. This is the path to escape the crisis. This is what was expressed in the miners' strikes, in the struggles of FENDUP, SUTEP, healthcare workers, agricultural workers, and in the general strike of July 10 and 11, called by the CGTP and the peasants' confederations. How to help overcome the obstacles to unify the nation? How to unify the struggles of different workers federations, defense fronts, and departmental popular assemblies? The history of our struggles gives a response: The immediate convening of a National Popular Assembly. The CGTP and the peasant confederations, which had the power to call the strike of July 10 and 11, have a historic responsibility: they should organize a National Popular Assembly in the face of the deepening of the crisis that is leading the nation to catastrophe, particularly through the implementation of TLC. It is with this perspective in defense of national sovereignty that a Sovereign Constituent Assembly should be called, which takes all powers and which mandates a government responsible to it, a Constituent Assembly that abrogates the Constitution of the dictatorial regime of Fujimori, a Constituent Assembly that decrees: Rupture with the United States! We can on all the workers of the cities and countryside, on all the nation, to support this manifesto and to fight to build popular assemblies in all departments, to materialize the National Popular Assembly." Chiclayo (Lambayeque), October 14 2007 (The signature of the hundred present delegates follows.) ********************** SOUTH AFRICA (AZANIA) Ten years after the official fall of apartheid, what is the balance sheet of the demands that the Black majority has fought for? Has the situation of Black majority improved?
ILC: What are the main features of the situation in South Africa/Azania today?
Mabasa: Today there is a new situation. We have a government with a majority whose faces are not Black. But it is a situation where unemployment is even greater than during the apartheid regime, where the present division of land actually is much worse than it was under the apartheid regime.
We have consistently called for the cancellation of the apartheid debt, which is the major instrument that is used to implode economies of countries, particularly of African countries. We have stood up against ethnic cleansing, which, like religion, has been wielded as a weapon against peoples throughout Africa. Today we are told, for instance, that people in Darfur are fighting because one group is Muslim and the other Africans belong to other religions. But we know that these are the same machinations by the powers-that-be that are being used everywhere to turn peoples against each other.
ECUADOR Excerpts from an open letter to constituent deputies The activists who are fighting in Ecuador for the establishment of a workers' party and who are participating with others in the activities of the ILC, have led a campaign these last few months through a letter addressed to the candidates to the constituent assembly to assume all powers, dissolve the institutions of the oligarchy and renationalize all institutions privatized since 1997. After the results of the election at the Constituent Assembly, the signatories to the open letter issued an invitation for a national meeting on October 27 in Quito in order to address the constituent deputies: "On September 30, 2007 at the election for a Constituent Assembly, with an overwhelming 60% majority, the people of Ecuador voted for the candidates to the Alianza Pais, lista 35, and expressed their confidence in President Rafael Correa. Through this vote the people want to see their aspirations satisfied, the defense of the sovereignty of their country, the unity of the country, independence in the face of imperialism, and their demands concerning healthcare, education and work met. This victory is situated in the framework of the continuity in the result of the presidential election of November 26 won by Correa and the referendum of April 15, 2007 which with 82% of the vote for a Constituent Assembly " Alianza o Acuerdo Pais", the party of President Correa allied to various social and labor organizations, workers and peasants, according to reports has a majority of nearly 80 members in the Assembly of over 130 members. From an electoral point of view we consider it the clearest expression that the Ecuadorian people want an end to the corrupt institutions of the oligarchy, agent of imperialism, and that the Constituent take the power in order to accomplish the deep changes which the country needs in order to have the majority rise from under development and poverty. Now that you are supported by the popular vote, we again address you, the members of the Constituent Assembly, in order to demand your commitment to the defense of the unity of the country, for the satisfaction of the demands of the exploited and the oppressed. For the defense of the sovereignty of our nation, it is vital to recuperate the privatized corporations, reconquer the rights of the workers that were suppressed and renationalize our oil, mining, electric and telecommunications resources. We can thus obtain the resources for the development of our country." We address the workers, youth, leaders and activists of the labor and popular movements, who have discussed and signed this open letter with us, directed to the initiative of the movement for a workers' party, we invite you to organize in order to demand that the candidates who have been elected and who claim to defend the interests of the country, the fight against imperialism and the defense of the workers, to honor the proposals made. The Oil belongs to all Ecuadorans After the election of the Constituent Assembly held on Sunday, September 30 in which President Correa and his party, Alianza Pais won the elections, the reform on the law of hydrocarbons was decreed on October 4. Adopted in 2006, the law currently in force fixes the terms of contracts with the oil multinationals that exploit the Ecuadorian reserves and 'share' the benefits between the state and the oil companies. It fixes the price per barrel of oil at $24 dollars. The current price of crude oil per barrel on the world market oscillates between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel. The law guarantees the multinationals 50% of the surplus, giving them super profits. Correa's decree is designed for distribution of 99% for the states and 1% for the oil companies that would give the state 830 million dollars annually. Correa has called the multinationals for a meeting on October 8 in order to advise them of his decision. Their representatives did not attend. It is obvious that this decree is a measure designed to recuperate the sovereignty of the country over its energy resources, a measure supported by the workers and the people of Ecuador and the workers of the entire world. ************************
6000 construction workers on strike! The unions are threatening to impede the renewal of free circulation within the European Union "No collective bargaining agreement, no construction workers!" Carrying this slogan over 6,000 construction workers went on strike in mid October in Switzerland in order to recuperate their national collective bargaining convention terminated by the Swiss Society of Entrepreneurs (SSe). Since October 1 this convention, one of the most important in the country that contains numerous gains such as minimum wage, limitation of working hours, protection in the case of accidents or illness , is no longer in force. It covered over 100,000 masonry and civil engineering workers and was a reference for other construction branches regulated by specific CCT. In view of this denunciation, the Unia union as well as the Christian minority union Syna, made an on site consultation in September: 84.5% of the 36,000 bricklayers agreed with the strike in order to subject the SSE that conditioned negotiations to a greater flexibilization of working hours. With over 100 annual extra hours they already have, they wanted to add 80 negative hours. This would allow workers to labor 11 or 12 hours a day in summer, with all the repercussions this could have on security and health. Warning strikes After the massive demonstration held on September 22 in Zurich in which 17,000 workers participated and in view of the refusal of the bosses to negotiate, Unia launched a movement of warning strikes. These started on Friday evening, October 12. The first surprise strike paralyzed the largest construction site in Europe for 24 hours. This is the "the Swiss building site of the century" covering the new Alpine cross country railroad (NLFA) in the Gothard. 600 miners who were constructing the tunnels stopped working. On Monday, October 15 over 4,000 construction workers-over 80% of the masons in the canton-deserted the construction sites in Geneva. That same day in the Neuchatel canton, around 100 construction sites were abandoned; there were 400 workers on strike. In Bern, another 700 workers went on strike. These strikes were marked by the strong determination of the workers who fear the lowering of their wages and deterioration in labor conditions that are already hard enough. A new strike will take place on November 1 in Zurich and the movement will widen if the outcome of the meeting planned for November 5 between the unions and the bosses ends in a standstill. The European integration at work This unprecedented attack against labor conditions of the masons is part of the strategy of the policy for integration of Switzerland into the European Union. Greater flexibility, lowering of wages is the order of the day throughout Europe. It is interesting to note that the SSE announced the termination of the CCT last May, ten days before the entry in force of free circulation throughout all European countries as of the 15th. Two years earlier, faced with resistance from the workers, the SSE had set aside its demand for greater flexibility and passed an agreement of partial renewal of the CCT with the unions in order to avoid a setback in the extension of free circulation for the new members of the European Union that was to be voted on several months later. Two years after this agreement, the SSE returned to the charge in order to break the gains, but also to get the unions to toe the line. The president of the SSE, Werner Messmer, declared that the principal reason for the termination of the CCT on the subject of flexibility was that he expected a 'modern' and submissive attitude from the unions. Dumping is installed When the Swiss United Union (USS), the confederation of unions had, against the advice of workers and unionists, given its support in 2001 to the bilateral agreements with the European Union-on the free circulation of persons as well as the extension of free circulation to the new members of the European Union in 2005-in exchange for "accompanying measures" against wage dumping, it notes that wage dumping is already a fact. In construction, before the conventional gap, one out of four companies did not apply the minimum wage nor did one out of three temporary companies. The case of European immigrant workers working in Switzerland for less than half the minimum wage is legion. For example: 11 German carpenters worked in Switzerland this Spring for hourly wages of 5.8 to 7 euros, that is to say less that 12 Swiss francs when the wage set by the CCT for carpentry was 27.35 francs! In Zurich, the state comes to the rescue of contractors The conventional gap in construction reinforces wage dumping. The bosses of other branches will in turn denounce the CCT and demand of minimum wages. On the other hand, the "accompanying measures" are based on the CCT arranging minimum wages. Without the CCT, these measures are without effect. In Zurich it is the tripartite canton commission that implemented these measures that officially launched the signal for dumping by decreeing on October 2 that masons under 30 without professional qualifications could only receive the 90% of the wage foreseen by the former CCT in the future! "No convention, no free circulation" Following the strikes, the USS held a press conference that without a convention in construction that "offered the same level of protection as before," and without the increase in accompanying measures, the unions would not support the third phase of free circulation, that is to say the extension of free circulation into Bulgaria and Romania, and the renewal of the free circulation agreement that could be subject to a referendum in 2009. "No convention, no free circulation!" underlined the co-president of Unia, Renzo Ambrosetti, following the press conference, explaining that the "unions have been the determining political force in the controlled opening process in the European Union." The bosses and the SSE are the ones who in a large measure profit from bilateral agreements and the free circulation of people. He noted that 'many workers want the Swiss labor market to open1 since an uncontrolled opening would be fatal to wages structured over the years. If we let the companies active in Switzerland voluntarily exploit those who seek employment in European countries at low wages, who would have a proper wage and secure work? Defense of the convention Whether there is control or not, the 'opening' is presently a factor of leveling out of labor conditions. The fight of the masons to reconquer their convention, a shield against the policy orchestrated by the European Union, concerns all the country's workers. Only the defense of the CCT and the masons and the break with the policy of integration to the European Union will permit the conservation of the gains obtained over decades by Switzerland's workers. **********************
Eight months after the entry into the European Union Thousands of Bulgarian teachers are in the third week of their strike for a 100% increase in their wages. The minister replied 'that teachers who earn on an average of 125 euros a month at the beginning of their career, are not the worst paid in the region and there are too many of them!' "Do not speculate on poverty!" This is what Finance Minister, Plamen Oresharski, said to the unions participating in the negotiations. He said that the average monthly wage of teachers was 472 levas (around 235 euros), which was above the average wage in the country. The teachers were not interested in his budgetary arguments. On October 5 the unions had rejected the proposal by the Minister of Education, Daniel Vltchev, suggesting a 32% increase for 2008 including a deferred payment. Earlier on the leader of the teachers' union, Ianka Takeva, quit the negotiations between union representatives. "Don't let yourself be fooled; the limits of the 2008 budget have already been set!" Excerpt from Vseki Den and Novotine *********************
Three weeks ago the European Commission demanded the liquidation of the Tractorul factory in the labor center of Brasov. Last September 25, the European Commission opened a formal enquiry in view of the rule of the CE treaty relative to State aid that was given in the framework of the privatization of the tractor manufacturer Tractorul and its transfer of assets to Flavius Investments SRL in July 2007. The Commission also asked Romania to suspend the granting of any illegal aid until it has ruled on the compatibility of the aid. The Romanian authorities had placed certain conditions for the privatization, particularly the maintenance of operation over ten years and the reintegration of the former workers at Tractorul. The Commission must verify if these conditions led to a lower sale price and if the privatization contained an element of state aid. This means that the European Union considers it illegal that the Romanian government obliged the new owner, Flavius Investments SRL to guarantee that the workers could keep their jobs for ten years. Flavius Investments, like other foreign private investment groups that have pillaged the companies that we have built over the last 50 years could, thanks to the European Union, get rid of thousands of workers, close the factory and invest elsewhere after having profited from the privatization!
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Open World Conference of Workers