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ILC Intern@tional
Newsletter
Number 26
May 12th 2003
Weekly
information dossier published by the
International Liaison Committee -ILC,
Please contact : International Liaison Committee -ILC, c/o Parti des
travailleurs - 87, rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 7510 Paris France
phone : (33 1) 48 01 88 28 fax : (33 1) 48 01 88 36
e-mail - eit.ilc@wanadoo.fr
**********
Contents:
- Introduction
- Geneva: Meeting in defence of ILO conventions
- China: Two workers' delegates sentenced
- Burundi: Unionist Paul Nkunzimana threatened
- International conference in defence of public education: Contributions
from Mexico and Peru
- Martinique: in defence of unionist Jacqueline Petitot
- Pakistan: Report, bulletin of APTUF and WWO on May 1st
- Germany: Schröder faces opposition within his own party
- Subscription information
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Presentation
Two weeks ago we published the call from the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples for the Conference in Defense of the
Conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and in Defense
of the Independence of Labor Organizations.
This conference will be held on June 15th in Geneva, on the occasion of
the 91st annual conference of the ILO.
More than ever, with the defense of the norms and the conventions of the
ILO today directly threatened in every country, we must preserve the
rights and collective guarantees for workers throughout the entire world.
Week after week, the ILC International Newsletter will publish
documents sent to us in the framework of the preparation for this
conference, as well as the state of the financial campaign that is being
developed to ensure its success.
**********
Invitation to ILC Meeting in Geneva in Defense of ILO Conventions (June
15, 2003)
Hosting Committee
c/o Luc Deley - Ch. J-E Gottret
1255 Veyrier (Switzerland)
tel/fax : (41) 22 784 24 21
email : deley@infomaniak.ch
CCP 30-340450-9
Invitation to the Conference in Defence of ILO Conventions
and in Defence of the Independence of Workers' Organisations
Sunday, June 15th, 2003
From 11 A.M. to 6 P.M.
Geneva
Centre Postal de Montbrillant
Ellenberger Conference Hall
40, rue de Montbrillant (near the railway station of Cornavin)
May 12, 2003
Dear friends,
Dear sisters and brothers,
The hosting committee of the 10th International Meeting in Defence of
ILO Conventions, In Defence of the Independence of Workers'
Organisations was formed this 10th of May at the office of the Socialist
Party of Geneva with the participation of Daniel Gluckstein, coordinator
of the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International (ILC).
Meeting together one month before the conference, we have discussed
the difficult problems which workers and trade unionists are facing in
Switzerland, but also in Europe and in the whole world.
Our conference takes place this year in a special situation. The labour
movement broadly stood up against the war unleashed by the United States
against the people of Iraq. Today, the question of the future of Iraq is
posed: either direct administration by the United States or the
re-establishment within the framework of democracy of certain basic
norms of international law. Iraq, since the early 1920s, had ratified 57
conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Does not the
restoration of democracy mean, for instance, the implementation of ILO
Convention 98 on the freedom of association and collective-bargaining,
which had been ratified by Iraq in 1949?
Everywhere war is a means used to accentuate the undermining of
democratic freedoms as well as the rights and guarantees won by working
people through bitter struggles.
In this situation, a new offensive is being focused against the norms of
the ILO. Multinational corporations and governments in their service
want to jettison the binding norms of the ILO -- which have the value of
a law for the countries that have ratified them -- and replace them with
voluntary "codes of good conduct." We have already witnessed
the fact that these codes of good conduct signed by multinationals are
nothing but a hoax. They are but "recommendations," and the
firm's subsidiaries are not committed to observe them. It is that type
of agreement which is now supposed to replace the whole process of
ratification of the international conventions of the ILO.
In a world hit by deregulation and privatisation, workers need more than
ever to be able to rely on their rights codified in national laws; they
need more than ever to rely on their trade union organisations.
That is why the defence of the ILO framework and of the norms which have
been inserted in it are an urgent task.
We believe that all those questions require a collective exchange of
information and experiences so that, in common, we can prepare together
a plan of action in defence of working people's rights.
We invite you to take part in this conference and to support it.
We thank you in advance for the interest and the support you will
give to this initiative -- and we hope to meet you in Geneva on Sunday,
June 15th, 2003.
The hosting committee:
Alexandre Anor, member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist
Party of Geneva; Fabienne Blanc-Kühn, member of the Executive
Committee of the Federation of Metal and Watch Workers (FTMH); Alain
Charbonnier, leader of the Socialist parliamentary group in the
Parliament of Geneva; Jean Clivaz, former chairman of the railway
workers trade union; Luc Deley, member of the leadership of the
public services trade union (SSP) of the Geneva area; Simone Girodo, Working
Women's Commission of the ILC; Josiane Hausser, Women's Socialist
International; David Hermann, secretary of the UNIA-Actions trade
union (services sector), Geneva; Rudy Jaussi, chairman of the SSP
industrial services group of Geneva; Vincent Leggiero, member of
the leadership, transport workers trade union (SEV-TPG); René-Simon
Meyer, trade unionist; Max Robert, teachers' union (SSP); Jacques
Robert, deputy chairman of the Building trade unions (SIB);
Christine Sayegh, member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist
Party of Geneva; Pascal Sprüngli, deputy chairman of the Air
Traffic trade union (SSP).
The meeting was supported by:
Michel Alain, chairman of the employees committee of Charmille
Technologies; Charles Beer, state councillor; François
Courvoisier, former Socialist MP; Laurence Fehlmann, deputy
chairperson of the Socialist Party of Geneva, MP; Dominique Hausser, chairman,
Socialist Party of Geneva; Doris Schüepp, general secretary of
the national trade union of Public Services (SSP).
********************
China
Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, two of the labor representatives of
Liaoyang, have been sentenced to 4 and 7 years in prison!
Freedom for the imprisoned workers!
On Thursday, May 9 of 2003, the court in Liaoyang met and gave
its verdict at the detention center.
The accused were not given the right to speak and their lawyer was not
allowed to meet with them because of the quarantine caused by the
epidemic of atypical pneumonia (SARS).
In total, the "trial" did not last more than an hour, while
outside 300 police held at a distance the 300 workers and laid-off
former employees from Liaoyang who had come to support their
representatives.
Only the children of Yao and Xiao were able to watch the verdict, as the
rest of the room for the audience was reserved for officials and police.
After the trial, they were detained by the police, and were released
only later in the afternoon.
Xiao´s wife was hit by one of the policemen. She was driven to a
hospital unconscious. She was taken away at one o'clock in the afternoon.
Yao and Xiao Yunliang, two of the delegates for the laid-off workers
from the Ferro-Alliages factory in Liaoyang (a province in Liaoning),
were arrested a few days after the demonstrations on March 11th and 12th
of 2002, in which several thousand workers marched for their demands (back
pay, overtime, and investigation into corruption by the heads of the
company).
They were illegally held in a detention center without a trial until the
15th of January, the date on which, for four hours, a parody of justice
occurred in which the district attorney not only accused the two
defendants of "illegal demonstrations" over a labor
conflict, but also of "intention of subversion" for
their contacts with the foreign press and supposed "hostile foreign
forces."
Here is what the China Labour Bulletin has to say about all this
(www.china-labour.org.hk):
"China Labour Bulletin is disturbed by these long, unjustified
sentences that have been given to men whose only fault is to have tried
to peacefully defend the legitimate rights of the workers of Liaoyang.
"These sentences occur two months after the administrative council
of the ILO, of which China is a member, called on the Chinese
authorities to free all of the Liaoyang workers still detained and to
withdraw all charges against them. Not responding to this demand from
the highest levels of the ILO, the Chinese government has demonstrated
once again its disdain for universal law."
Han Donfang, director of the Bulletin, explains: "The social
disturbances are growing rapidly throughout the country and will only
stop if the Chinese government attacks the fundamental causes of this
agitation and responds to the demands of the workers. In imprisoning and
condemning a few peaceful labor representatives, the government is doing
nothing but maintaining the reputation of a state that denies the most
fundamental rights to its citizens, in the name of whom the country is
being run."
China Labour Bulletin demands that the Chinese government grant
immediate and unconditional freedom to Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang.
With shock and anger we learned that on Thursday, May 9th, the
Liaoyang court convened to announce its sentencing for Yao Fuxin and
Xiao Yunliang and after one hour, pronounced the verdict: 7 years in
prison for Yao Fuxin and 4 years for Xiao Yunliang. The accused did not
have the right to speak. Their lawyer was not able to be present because
of the quarantine imposed by the epidemic that is devastating China.
The unfounded accusations of "intent to overthrow the government"
and of "collusion with hostile foreign forces" were maintained,
even though these labor representatives never spoke or acted, in March
of 2002 or on any other occasion, with anything but the interest of the
workers of Ferro-Alliages in mind.
To write petitions, to establish demands, to organize and to demonstrate
to fight for their rights, are actions that have their origin in the
formation of the labor movement. The International Labor Organization (ILO),
a tripartite organization of which governments, employers and workers
are a part, has recognized and codified these rights for many years now
in conventions 87 and 98. China is a member of the administrative
council of the ILO, but it refuses to ratify these conventions. At the
end of March the ILO demanded that the Chinese authorities withdraw the
accusations of subversion against the Liaoyang representatives. The
answer from the authorities was staggering: prison for the unionists!
We oppose this denial of justice!
Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang should be freed!
We say to the workers of Liaoyang: your struggle for your rights to be
recognized and for your demands to be satisfied is known by workers
throughout the entire world. We went to Liaoyang in May of 2002 to meet
with you, but the police stopped us. Thousands of unions and union
members in all countries have taken positions since March of 2002 in
defense of your representatives because it is about the fundamental
rights of all workers.
On July 10 of 2002, in twenty countries, delegations of unionists sent
messages to the embassies of your country. This was not enough.
Therefore, we will continue our efforts so that Yao Fuxin and Xiao
Yunliang will be freed.
We say to the Chinese authorities: Hu Jintao, new President of the
Republic and secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party, you have
declared that democracy must be reinforced at all levels and applied to
the well being of the masses. In the National Popular Assembly, at the
beginning of March, the former Minister of Labor declared that the
situation for Chinese workers was terrible and that this would last a
long time; the former Prime Minister said that if the social problems of
the laid off and unemployed workers were not paid attention to, social
disturbances and social instability could be expected.
Given these conditions, why is the government sentencing the
representatives from Liaoyang, who had no other objectives than the
defense of the interests of the workers? Why are hundreds of laws and
regulations being modified for the benefit of the investors and the
multinationals, mainly American, that are being established in China,
and the workers left with no means to defend themselves?
The partial satisfaction of the demands of the municipality and of
Liaoyang and the court sentence for the leaders of the Ferro-Alliages
factory demonstrates that the fight of the laid-off Liaoyang workers was
legitimate.
You must free Yao Fuxin y Xiao Yunliang and ratify conventions 87 and 98
of the ILO to give the workers legitimate means to defend their
interests.
We say to union leaders throughout the world, to union members and
activists in the labor movement of all currents in all countries: again,
after the international day of action on July 10, 2002, we must rise up
and demand that the Chinese authorities free Yao Fuxin y Xiao Yunliang,
we must gather our forces against this denial of justice.
Chinese workers, and in particular those of Liaoyang, can count on the
workers of the entire world.
We call on you to send your statements to the Chinese embassies in your
respective countries.
For the delegation of unionists that visited Liaoyang in May of 2002,
Jean-Pierre Barrois
Paris, May 10, 2003
********************
Burundi
Defending Burundi University and public services is part and parcel of
the fight for peace and the defence of the nation.
Following the threats against Paul Nkunzimana, the International
Liaison Committee calls for support on the petition initiated by the
Free Union of Burundi University Staff (STUB) addressed to Didace
Nimagaritse, its Administrative Director.
In the framework of the International Conference against war, in defence
of Public Education due to be held on coming June 14th and 15th in
Paris, a union member working in the Burundi University sent the
following information to the ILC.
Since last February 6th, Burundi University staff (administrative staff
and technicians, librarian, limited contract staff members and
university social services management staff) have been on strike to
demand a pay raise and the implementation of the 2000 and 2002
agreements passed between their union (STUB) and the government.
The strike sprang from a recent measure taken to raise the sole wages of
teachers (70% for the top categories, 30% for the lower ones) at the
expense of the other staff members. The measure allegedly aimed at
"stabilising" teaching staff careers; it pushed up the
workload of an assistant professor and of an ordinary professor by at
least 30 hours.
The strike of the Burundi University staff breaks out at a special
moment of the country's socio-economic life. The Arusha agreement
reaches the end of the first phase; civilian populations are targeted by
armed groups bent on genocide throughout the country, massacres are
spreading. "Alternate" governance at the head of the state,
schemed by the so-called "peace agreements" see a "pro-Hutu"
seated in the presidential chair while the vice-presidential one is
occupied by a "pro-Tutsi"
Actually, the "new" government's policy is merely following in
the footsteps of the previous one: carving up the country, wreaking
genocide, against the backdrop of privatisations, of payment of the
external debt and ruin of social gains.
The negotiations on pay demands and status issues had not reached a
conclusive end in 2000 and 2002, for the defence of university social
services, and the defence of public university itself; they were taken
up from February 13th to March 13th 2003. Those negotiations between the
University management and STUB came to a failure as the university
management refused to give in on any part of the issue.
Faced with such a dead-end and because the STUB demanded it, the
Minister of Labour and Social Security set up a dispute-settling council
on April 3rd 2003. It published its conclusion on April 11th, meeting
the staff's main demands.
The general assembly of Burundi University staff convened on April 14th
agreed on the conclusion of the dispute-settling council. On April 18th,
the Burundi University management declared it accepted it but, actually,
it is launching a volley of provocations against workers and their union.
On April 14th, the University management published a slanderous paper
against Paul Nkunzimana, chairman of the executive committee of the Free
Union of Burundi University staff (STUB).
The result was to give new impetus to the strike with four further
demands: resignation of the Administrative Director, penalty meted out
to those who had brutalised the University Social Services (ROU) staff,
back payment of the strikers' wages, and re-instatement of the ROU staff
in their jobs.
On April 16th the professors joined the movement of the STUB and the
workers of Burundi University. The Chief Education Officer diddles,
tries to attack the union and the strike committee members. Being really
worried by the serious attack of Didace Nimpagaritse's Chief Education
Officer's attacks against Mr Paul Nkunzimana, 325 Burundi staff have
countersigned the "petition addressed to Recteur Didace
Nimpagaritse" initiated by the STUB; it ends on the phrase:
"Hands off Paul Nkunzimana, hands off the strike committee!"
Burundi is situated in the Great Lakes region of Africa; it was in the
frontline of the onslaught aimed at disintegrating and ruining African
nations. In 1994, scientifically schemed "ethnic" conflicts
resulted in a million deaths, while the UNO and the major powers looked
on. And yet, class struggle persists and continues to preserve any
segment of civilisation with trade unions acting in the worst possible
conditions.
In a country where war still prevails, where genocide is rife, defending
the University of Burundi and public services means fighting to
safeguard peace and the nation.
Sign and circulate petitions addressed to Recteur Didace Nimpagaritse
"Hands off Paul Nkunzimana, hands off the strike Committee"
Entente Internationale des Travailleurs et des Peuples
87 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris France
******************
Contributions from Mexico and Peru:
International Conference against war and in defence of Public Education
Against the political guidelines dictated by international institutions,
IMF, World Bank, European Union whose outcome is the complete
dismantlement of public education systems on every level, the
international conference in defence of public education and against war
has now entered an active phase of preparation in more than 35
countries.
Erwin Salazar is a professor at Lambayeque (Peru) university and
the secretary of the regional union of the CGTP (General Confederation
of the Workers of Peru) and Luis Vázquez is a professor at the
autonomous, national university of Mexico (UNAM) and a member of the
SITUAM union (Mexico). Those two teachers are explaining to our
correspondent how those political guidelines are implemented in their
countries.
Erwin Salazar: For years, governments have been cutting down
education budgets. Out of 250 000 primary and secondary school teachers,
70 000 are now casual workers. They earn a pittance: an average of 250
to 300 dollars.
The budget of education has been rolled back, just like all the other
state budgets (with the exception of army and police budgets). The
purpose is to enable the state to pay back the external debt to the IMF.
A "blueprint for an education outline law" has just
been introduced at the parliament. It provides for the privatisation of
education; town council would become responsible for education. The
State would no longer be responsible for education, therefore, it would
no longer be national. For fifteen years, the number of private colleges
has increased twofold, preying of public universities. All the
application fees have increased, all the services that used to be free
are now charged for.
Luis Vasquez: It is the same with us, all the social spending of
the national budget have been downsized in order to pay the debt, which
has monstrously inflated: 25% to 40% of the GDP are gobbled up by the
interests of the internal and external debt and the state's obligations
to financial institutions. Education is the first to be hit by this
devastating policy.
About primary and secondary education, the order of the day is
decentralising education. The purpose of this policy is to shift the
burden of education spending on federal states and town councils that,
in their turn pas it on to families. I could observe that the same
policy is being implemented with you too in France. Should the word
"globalisation" really apply, it is the policy of
counter-reforms that are imposed by international institutions and
governments.
The Mexican government strove to set up a "social pact" with
the leadership of the teachers' union (over a million members as every
teacher has to join). Thanks to this pact an Institute for Education
Rating has been created; it is composed of bosses, the Church, and those
parents' organisations that are duly recognised by the State. Officially
it should evaluate students, which up to now had been the Education
Ministry's responsibility. Therefore the State is giving up its
prerogatives in that field, which brings about the disintegration of the
national system of education. It has to be said that public, secular,
free tuition is a conquest of the revolution, it is a major cornerstone
of the Mexican nation. It has to be preserved.
In this reform, the government is trying to impose application fees,
limited duration of study years, to erase the automatic three years of
preparation to university. Due to teachers' and student's resistance, it
has not yet been completed. Another attempt under a different guise is
under way. But already this policy of "reforming" university
has made the number of students at the UNAM (Mexico, autonomous National
University) drop from 300 000 to 240 000.
How do people resist those policies?
E.S.: In Peru, in November 2002, there was a strike at the
university. It involved teachers, administrative staff and students. It
was a nation-wide strike. There were there national demonstrations in
front of the Government's Palace and of the Parliament; they demanded
the repeal of the bill, more money for the university, granting
permanent status to administrative staff and teachers who were on casual
contracts, wage raises for all the staff members, administrative and
teachers.
The action climaxed on November 29th , the day when education budget was
to be voted in Parliament the demonstrators occupied the Parliament. The
strike won the day: the bill was withdrawn, the budget was increased,
some staff members were granted permanent status (after seven years of
work) as well as a wage increase on an equal basis for all.
L.V. In Mexico, in primary education, some union locals regrouped
to form a National Confederation of Teaching Staff (CNTE). Next May, a
strike is called on the basis of demands: wage increase, repeal of the
projected Institute for Education Rating. In Mexico University, in
2001,there was a general strike of students against the
"reform" initiated by the Recteur [Chief Education officer];
it lasted nine months. Though many hurdles were set in its way, it
brought about a result: most of the projected reform was put aside and
not implemented.
Practical information
Application fee to participate in the Conference covering venue and
machines rental, files 150 _
Daily charges (including accommodation and meals)
One day: 40_
Two days 90_
Cheques should be made payable to CMO
Reception of delegates as of Friday June 13th 2003 in the afternoon
on the Conference Location:
JAL Mutatis, 25 rue du 8 mai 1945, 78260 Achères
Tel. 01 39 11 14 97 Fax: 01 39 11 75 19
For any information, mail to the Conference organising committee: confint.eg@wanadoo.fr
June 14th and 15th Paris International -Conference against war and
in Defence of Public Education
On the initiative of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and
Peoples, forty education union activists and union leaders of the United
States and forty of France have launched an international appeal to
prepare the conference. The appeal was written on March 21st during an
encounter of French and American activists held in San Francisco.
To receive the text of the appeal, write to ILC headquarter: Entente
Internationale 87 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris
LAST NAME/ FAMILY NAMEŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠChristian Name/ First
NameŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ..
CapacityŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ
AddressŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ..
Enclosed paymentŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ
(Cheques payable to CMO)ŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ.
********************
Martinique:
A shameful act of aggression
Dear comrades,
You will find here information on the physical assault sustained by
Jacqueline PETITOT, labour activists, unionist teacher and leader of the
group Alliance Ouvrière et Paysanne (Labour and Peasant Alliance) in
Martinique and the Caribbean.
In an interview she gave to "Informations Ouvrières", our
comrade explains how, on March 20th, at the end of an anti-war in Iraq
rally, she was assaulted by a political leader of the GRS (Revolutionary
Socialist Group), an organisation belonging to the same international
organisation as the French LCR (Revolutionary Communist League).
As a militant with over 30 years of anti colonial activism behind her,
as a black Caribbean woman, whose dignity was flouted, Jacqueline
PETITOT publicly asked that the assault be condemned because no violence
can be condoned within the working class and democratic movement, it
must be utterly rejected.
Numerous support motions and stands from Martinique and the Caribbean
arrived expressing indignation over the cowardly and shameful conduct of
Gilbert PAGO, leader of the GRS. Some of those stands and motions are to
be found further on.
We call on the ILC organisations and militants to publicise widely that
information and to ask that the action taken against Jacqueline be
condemned by asking militants and organisations of the working class
movement to endorse motions. None should be left aside, even the
militants belonging to the same international current as the GRS and
Gilbert PAGO.
We are quite confident that we can rely on you all to express their
active solidarity towards the leader of an organisation member of the
ILC; we are also quite confident that you will relentlessly fight for
working class democracy, utterly rejecting violence especially against
women but also against all the militants of the working class and
democratic movement without exception.
Paris May 1st 2003-05-13
Daniel Gluckstein
Co-ordinator of the International Liaison Committee of Workers
and Peoples.
Follow up with the first 456 workers, democrats, intellectuals
of Martinique and Guadeloupe
Have the appeal in condemnation of the aggression against Jacqueline
PETITOT massively signed
No to violence!
The signatories condemn the aggression of Jacqueline PETITOT by Gilbert
PAGO.
They unite with her to say:
NO to violence within the labour and democratic movement!
NO to violence against women!
YES to democracy!
Send your telegrams and messages to the support committee in
Martinique:
Lucien Gratté, tel/fax : 0596 62 32 19
e-mail: PETITOT.JACQUELINE@wanadoo.fr
Send the copies to:
Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples,
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis, 75010 Paris (France)
75010 Paris (France)
tel (33 1) 48 01 88 28
e-mail : eit.ilc@wanadoo.fr
********************
Interview with Jacqueline Petitot
- Jacqueline, you were assaulted during an anti-war rally. That is quite
unheard-of.
Quite right. It was at the end of an anti-war rally, on the square
in front of the town hall at Fort-de-France. One of the leaders of an
organisation that called for the rally assaulted me shamefully. I was
ending my speech when Gilbert PAGO, leader of the GRS (Socialist
Revolutionary Group), sister group of the French LCR, hurled insults,
spat in my face and violently slapped my face, shouting that I should be
banned from speaking in public. People recognised the action as an
assault, even some friends of PAGO's who wrote later in a document they
published, that "he might have been a trifle over reactive, which
we all regret".
It was quite evident that I was traumatised and upset as a woman and
black person, as a labour activist, and I filed a complaint. But, most
of all, I called on all the working-class and democratic organisations,
on all the militants, the workers and young people on the island, asking
them to condemn this shameful assault, to defend democracy, freedom of
speech, to stand against all violence within the labour and democratic
movement.
As I wrote in a public letter: my dignity as a militant, as a woman, as
a black person of the Caribbean, has been down-trodden, I will not
accept violence among those who claim they belong to the labour
movement. As every force is being rallied on the international level
against war, for peace, who, including within his own political
organisation, who could accept that Gilbert PAGO should resort to
ancient brutal methods to settle differences within the labour and
democratic movement? When he spat in my face, didn't he rather parallel
the shameful behaviour of white slave-owners than our black ancestors?
My dignity merely as a woman was brutally hit by this cowardly assault
of a pseudo-defender of woman's rights. I call on all, my numerous
colleagues, my friends, militants, leaders of unions and of parties in
Martinique, in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Let us all say together: NO
to violence within the labour and democratic movement! NO to violence
against women! YES to democracy!
- Many responded to your appeal.
As of now, 456 signatures have been collected in Martinique and
Guadeloupe. Among the signatories in Martinique, leaders of unions of
any current, SNES and FSU [teachers' unions - TN] (the union I am a
member of), SUD-PTT, SNUIPP CGTM, leaders of the MODEMAS, artists,
musicians, lawyers. In its press release, the SNES Martinique underlines
that this aggression was all the more out of place as those who
demonstrated on that day were calling for peace. Numerous leaders of the
UGTG of Guadeloupe also took a stand.
Indeed, it is an issue in which the whole labour and democratic movement
is concerned. What is at stake is not a party. No one can give violence
a free hand; the penalty would be to divide us and to give us up to the
bosses and the colonial state.
Interview by Jean-Pierre Raffi
("Informations Ouvrières" N° 58)
-----
Support motions from teachers' unions
Communiqué from the SNES
The SNES of Martinique strongly disapproves of the assault on one of
its leaders, Jacqueline PETITOT. It was the deed of Gilbert PAGO, a
political and educational leader, on Thursday March 20th 2003, in front
of the Fort-de-France town hall, during the demonstration against the
war in Iraq. The SNES insists on its commitment in this mobilisation.
However, the aggression on our comrade cannot be excused.
The aggressor's violent actions and words are totally incompatible with
the respectable positions he occupies on the professional and political
levels.
His aggression was all the more out of place as those who demonstrated
on that day were calling for peace.
The SNES strongly supports Jacqueline PETITOT.
Fort-de-France March 26th 03
Le Secrétaire Académique [district branch secretary - TN]
Alain ROBINEL
----------
Support motion of the Martinique FSU to Jacqueline PETITOT
(member of the département executive committee)
Jacqueline PETITOT is a well known member of the Alliance Ouvrière
et Paysanne, she has long been an active member of the SNES and FSU of
Martinique; she was the victim of a shameful and unacceptable
aggression.
One can only condemn the useless aggression by the executive manager of
the IUFM [teacher training college-TN] of the Martinique during a
peaceful rally on Thursday March 20th 2003, the more so as all those who
take a stand against imperialism have to unite and struggle for peace.
The FSU Martinique approves of the victim's judicial action as it can
deter all those who attack women and women activists during their
militant activities.
The FSU calls on all the teachers and staff members to sign the petition
and thus show their total, unfailing support to our colleague.
Fort-de-France March 27th 2003
Deputy Departmental secretary
Daniel OTHILY
MOTION OF THE SNES NATIONAL CONVENTION
The national convention of the SNES strongly disapproves of the
aggression sustained by one of its leaders, Jacqueline PETITOT; she was
assaulted by Gilbert PAGO a political and educational leader on March
20th 2003 in front of the Fort-de-France town hall during the
demonstration against the war in Iraq. The SNES strongly insists that it
is committed in this mobilisation.
The violent deeds and words of the aggressor are totally incompatible
with his respectable functions on the professional as well as political
levels. His aggression was all the more out of place as those who
demonstrated on that day were calling for peace.
The National Convention of the SNES emphasises its support of Jacqueline
PETITOT
Voted by the national Convention of the SNES in TOULOUSE
********************
Pakistan:
Bulletin of the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) and the
Working Women Organisation (WWO) on May 1st
Thousands of workers, including women and children under umbrella of
All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) and Working Women
Organization (WWO) observed may day and organized protest rallies,
marched on roads all over the big industrial cities (Karachi, Multan,
Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Quetta, Peshawar etc.) of country, to highlight
the workers rights with great fervor and enthusiasm, reaffirming their
pledge to continue their struggle for their just rights and complete the
mission of the Martyrs of Chicago. During current circumstances, May Day
has become the demand day for peace, dignity, protection and promotion
of workers rights
All major markets and industries, all over the Pakistan, where trade
unions exist remained closed on 1st May 2003, due to the public holiday
on account of International Labor Day, but unfortunately majority of
industries stayed working, and million of the working class people could
not be able to get off and participate in the May Day rallies.
In Lahore, a massive protest rally has been organized by APTUF and WWO,
which started from Shimla Hill (Press Club) and marched towards
Provincial Assembly Hall. In mid of the final destination, the rally
joined the procession of Pakistan Workers Confederation and collectively
arrived at Punjab Assembly. It terminated successfully in front of
Punjab Assembly after fiery speeches of leaders and worker rights
activists.
Children, women and laborers, wearing red caps, holding red flags and
banners inscribed demands, raised slogans enthusiastically "we
want peace, reject anti-workers laws, we want freedom of
association, down with capitalism, down with American imperialism,
abolish child and bonded labor, equal job opportunity for women workers,
implement ILO Conventions, equal remuneration for equal work".
Speakers, Gulzar Ahmed Chaudhary, Rubina Jamil, Aima Mahmood, Khursheed
Ahmed, Niaz Khan, Fazal-e- Wahid, and Nasir Chaudhary said that
International Workers Solidarity is needed to overcome the workers
problems all over the world. They urged to formulate labor laws
according to ILO conventions, end privatization of all industries as
well as public welfare schools. The jobless peoples including youth
should be provided with job opportunity, slavery of International
Monetary fund and World Bank should be ended, criminal cases against
labor leaders and peasants should be withdrawn, land reforms be enforced
and land should be divided among landless peasants.
Gulzar Chaudhary, General Secretary APTUF said that May Day came on
occasion, when the capitalist and fascist forces are severely attacking
on innocent peoples, as well as the working class. Though capitalist
system becomes visible as naked fascism and general people became more
aware about the tyranny of this brutal system. Gulzar Chaudhary pledged
raise voice the rights of workers, he urged the rulers to take practical
steps for the solutions of the problems instead of issuing only press
statements. He said that millions of peasants are working like slaves
and they have no right of formation of union and it is responsibility of
trade unions to raise their voices for those who are denying all the
rights and are working more than 14 hours a day. He urged Pakistani and
Indian government to hold dialogues with each other for the restoration
of peace and to spend budget on the public welfare schemes, instead of
utilizing it on weapons. He told that in this situation working class
should be united as a class and should devise a worker's political party
to emancipate from the clutches of the feudal and capitalist system.
Rubina Jamil, Chair Person APTUF, raised voice for social justice,
abolishing capitalism and feudalism system, stress to end discrimination
against women. She also stressed that the feudal system, capitalism,
multinational companies, civil and military bureaucracy are enemies of
the people. She also expressed her strong solidarity with workers all
over the globe agitating for sovereignty of people, and demanded to stop
aggression against workers, and to provide them fair wages and dignity.
She condemned the unemployment rate hovering a record high, which is the
reason of suicide and crimes. Aima Mahmood, Secretary Working Women
Organization said that today all over the world workers/children/women
workers are agitating against colonialism, now it is our moral duty to
organize women/men/children to fight against imperialist policies. She
demanded to end violence against women and paving way for more
opportunities for them in all walks of life, she also put stress on
workers that today workers especially women workers are facing fascism,
aggression and sexual harassment. She appealed to workers and trade
union representatives to bring their families out of houses to protest
jointly against poverty, unemployment and injustice,
Speakers demanded the government to provide job security, end of
contract system, equal rights for women workers, industry wise
registration of trade union, abolished anti labor laws, setting up labor
colonies and educational institutions for working children, formulate
law against sexual harassment against women, provide day care centers,
Speakers asked for reduction in non-productive expenditures of
executives, administration and ministers, and increase in funds for
education and health after cutting the defence budget.
In the end the mob raised slogans against the Government and employers
and dispersed peacefully.
Workers passed the following resolutions:
* Repeal IRO -2002 Immediately
* Lift ban on unions of Pakistan International airlines (PIA), Railway,
Banks, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and other institutions.
* Minimum wage must be RS. 7000 (US$ 115) for unskilled workers.
* Informal/home based worker's right must be protect by labor laws.
* Stop privatization, deregulation and contract labor system.
* Removed restrictions, imposed on trade union rights.
* Formulate laws for the protection of informal sector as well as
agricultural workers.
* Abolish abuse of contract, casual, child and bonded labor system.
* Cancel compulsory retirement ordinance 2000.
* Government should setup committee consisting of labor representative,
government officials, to ensure the implementation of labor laws in
industrial and commercial institutions all over the country.
* Social Security and workers welfare fund ordinance should be enforced
on all industrial and commercial institutions including carpet and
mining workers.
* Law should be formulate on sexual harassment against women.
* ILO Convention 100 and 111 should be implemented immediately.
* Government should utilize workers welfare fund for the construction of
hospitals, schools, and residential colonies for workers and their
children.
* Government should give unemployment allowance to all unemployed
people.
Let us join pledge to:
Unite and struggle together in solidarity against the ongoing offensives
of the capitalist globalization.
Long-live working class!
Long-live International Solidarity!
********************
Germany
"Chancellor Schröder confronts a tough and extensive
resistance"
(Excerpts from the German press)
Die Zeit, April 30
One man, one no.
The future head of IG Metall is the fiercest opposition to Schröder in
the unions. In other times, a peaceful harmony reigned between the two.
This man who currently challenges Gerhard Schröder more dangerously
than any other, nonetheless, at first glance has none of the threatening
attributes that his adversaries ascribe to him. Nonetheless, absolutely
indignant with Schröder´s Agenda 2010, he has threatened a "hot
month of May." He wants to block the government's package of
reforms at any price. He was even willing to organizationally support
the referendum of dissident Social Democrats, which would have put the
Chancellor in a serious fix, but in this at least he was stopped by the
board of IG Metall. Š "We do not want another chancellor,"
assures the vice-president of IG Metall, who in October assumed the
leadership of the most powerful German union, "we want another
policy." The alternative Stoiber/Merkel/Merz is not that
alternative for me, he says, but neither do we want an SDP that moves
increasingly closer to the CDU.
Š His rejection is of the Agenda is unbreakable. He is not popular, he
is even in agreement with Berthold Huber, the leader of IG Metall of
Stuttgart, that Zwickel would have preferred Peters as a successor. Š
Whether it be the "modernizer" Huber or the
"traditionalist" Peters, everyone at IG Metall understands the
Agenda as a break with the electoral promises and a disregard for the
interests of the poor. There are signs of mobilization, of pressure, of
struggle. The atmosphere from above is clear, above all among the middle
sectors of the unions. No one is calling for moderation. Š The more
Schröder, Clement and Scholz demand that Berlin apply the Agenda point
by point, the greater the need for hard slogans and determined
activists.
Š Conflict dominates. Consensus and accords are in the past, the pact
for employment, for example. Peters never expected anything big, Š
nothing more than a "debate about the future" that
Zwickel and his people had organized in IG Metall. ŠThis man still
lives entirely in the "industrial and organizational culture of
the 19th century," reproached his adversaries at IG Metall, one
of whom goes even further: "Jurgen Peters puts the organization
and its cohesion above everything else." Š The important thing
for him is that the "class enemy" fears him, and that those
who help this enemy in the red-green government should also tremble
before him.
Frankfurter Rundschau, May 2
The Chancellor challenges the massive protests
He refuses to amend the social reforms, hundreds of thousands
demonstrate.
The head of the DGB (German Federation of Trade Unions), Michael Sommer,
demands the Chancellor make substantial corrections in his Agenda 2010, "not
only changes in details." Schröder stays firm. He defended his
plan in the May 1st meeting in Hesse park.
In this much anticipated meeting between Sommer and Schröder, there was
no narrowing of the difference in positions. Sommer reproached Schröder,
saying that he has continued with the social dismantlement initiated by
Kohl, even though it has done nothing but increase unemployment. He
said: "I ask you: What makes you think it will be different this
time?"
Sommer demanded fiscal deductions for workers, a
"reasonable" fiscal contribution from capital profits and
wealth. Š Schröder, on the contrary, defended the cuts forecast in
Agenda 2010, which were made necessary by the aging of society and by
globalization. Š Amidst whistles and boos, he rejected the union demand
for joint programs.
According to the press agencies, Jurgen Peters, who spoke at the
demonstration on May 1st in Hannover, declared that Schröder´s reforms
are "the umpteenth gift to the bosses" and "the
umpteenth punishment for the workers." The boss of Verdi,
Bsirske, reproached the red-green government in Hamburg that presents as
a political reform what is in fact a "brutal social
dismantlement" and has demanded a program of 20 billion in
investments.
In Schwerin, tens of thousands of young people have demanded vacancies
for professional training. On a national scale, according to the DGB, a
million people participated in the demonstrations and meetings, double
the year before.
Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, May 2
Confrontation at the open air museum
Š The unions whose anachronism has frequently been reproached in these
times, have decided to hold their central party on May 1st at the open
air museum, with their half-timbered houses [medieval style
roofing-ed.], which might not have been such a great idea. Š
Nevertheless, without a doubt, the majority of the participants did not
come here to the lands of Tannus to distract themselves, but to
demonstrate to the chancellor and the president of the SDP what they
think of him. A deafening concert of boos met him when Schröder went
with the president of the DGB, Sommer, onto the stage behind which a
banner proclaimed the slogan of the day:
"Reforms yes, social dismantlement, no thank you!"
Š Schröder elected to go on the offensive: "He who only knows
how to whistle shows that he has his cheeks full, but not his
head!" Again, he caused a storm of indignation: "Traitor!
Criminal!," shouted a union member in the crowd, but the
speakers gave the voice of the chancellor the advantage. Unperturbed,
the guest of honor of the DGB explains a lesson that will have to be
transmitted to the party members throughout the country until the
extraordinary congress of the SDP.
Š In his speech, the president of the DGB, Sommer, said among other
things that the chancellor's Agenda would not create a single job, not
even the smallest of jobs, and that the DGB will prevent this from
happening; that a true reform would mean that all those who live here
would participate in the financing of the social State according to
their capacities. "He´s come to look for Oskar [Lafontaine], he
knows to do it!", shouts somebody in the crowd.
**********
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