ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 72
A dossier of weekly information published by the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
March 30, 2004
**********
Table of Contents
Presentation
Campaign for labor rights in Iraq.- Against ethnic divisions, the role
of the Union (newspaper of the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq).
European Bulletin:
European Conference June 12, in Geneva proposal
Appeal for a national conference "Put Labour Back in the
Party" -- Great Britain.
"A damn is broken" excerpt from Tribuna Libera, Italy.
Anger of families at the official funeral ceremony for the victims of
March 11, 2004. Spain.
After two regional elections, two communiqués from the Workers' Party
(excerpts). France.
One thousand delegates to the conference "Save Chittagong, Save the
Country", Bangladesh.
March 8, 2004 on the situation of the women workers in Thailand,
Indonesia, and South Korea correspondence from Rubina Jamil.
******************
Presentation
Our first report in this issue is correspondence from a
representative of the ILC about the conference held March 18 in
Bangladesh to "Save Chittagong, Save the Country." One
thousand delegates gathered against privatization and the plunder of the
country's resources. In addition to representatives of the dockworkers'
union, there were delegates from railways, the textile industry and most
notably unionists from India and Pakistan, as well as ILWU Local 10
Executive Board Member Clarence Thomas from San Francisco (see page 7).
Chittagong, the main port of Bangladesh, is threatened by privatization.
The American multinational Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) is out
to take control of this port. SSA is the same enterprise that headed the
attempts by employers and the U.S. government to break the dockworkers
union, the ILWU, on the West coast of the United States and now controls
the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
In the framework of the campaign "Against the occupation, for labor
rights in Iraq," we publish excerpts from the discussion that took
place between the delegation that went to Geneva and representatives of
the steel workers and watchmakers' unions of Geneva (FTMH), as well as a
copy of the newspaper of the Union of Unemployed in Iraq (UUI)):
"The Voice of Iraqi Workers" (see page 2).
In issue No. 69 of the ILC International Newsletter we published the
"Appeal of elected militants of the Swiss Socialist Party and
unionists to a European meeting in Geneva on April 24 and 25,
2004."
The coordinator of the ILC proposed that this conference be held on June
12 in Geneva, the eve of the 13th Meeting for the defense of the ILO
conventions (see page 3).
The Swiss initiators agreed with this proposal and the European
Conference will meet on June 12 in Geneva.
Support the European Conference.
Support the initiatives of the ILC.
Support us financially by subscribing to the ILC International
Newsletter.
**********
IRAQ
Campaign "Against the occupation and for Labor Rights in Iraq"
"Against ethnic divisions, the union must gather the workers based
on their economic identity."
In the tradition of welcome and solidarity of the Swiss workers'
movement in regard to international workers' organizations, a meeting
took place on March 15, 2004 between the delegation of the campaign
"Against the occupation and for labor rights in Iraq" and
those of the Steelworkers and Watchmakers union (FTMH) of Geneva, in the
offices of this federation. We publish excerpts from the discussion
below.
Khadje El Husaini, trade unionist from Lebanon: "I represent the
International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions. I would like to thank
the ILC and the American union coalition USLAW for permitting this
meeting and this discussion. The unification of the workers' movement
against the ethnic divisions is very important. In view of the dangerous
period that we are living today, we must declare our solidarity against
the tyrannical current that confronts Iraqi workers. If one speaks of
working conditions, living conditions, if one speaks of unemployment,
these are the points on which workers rely regardless of their origin.
The role of their union is to gather the workers based only on their
economic identity.
Falah Alwan: "The principal bulwark against ethnic division, is the
existence of union organizations that unite workers whatever their
language or religion. There will not be a division if the workers are
free to constitute organizations of their choice.
At present, regardless of their ethnic origin, what is important for the
workers is the condition to see change, to be able to live according to
their needs, to defend their working and living conditions. The fact
that there is unemployment, these are the points that unite workers
regardless of their origin. It is the role of the union to gather
workers based on their economic identity.
*********
Iraq
The Voice of Iraqi Workers
Newspaper of the union of the unemployed in Iraq (UUI)
The Voice of Iraqi Workers, the newspaper of the union of
unemployed in Iraq (UUI) reports in an exhaustive manner the activities
of the delegation that was received by the ILO on March 15, in Geneva,
publishing the delegation's report the memorandum adopted and and the
dossier constituted by this delegation in support of its demands that
the ILO conventions and workers rights should be respected in Iraq.
The Voice of Iraqi Workers reveals the conditions in which the
pseudo Iraqi government named "provisional authority",
entirely under American control, rejecting the right of the Iraqi
workers to organize freely, is seeking to legalize an "official
union" that would function, in essence, as a "state
union" under the oppressors' heel. In addition the newspaper
carries information on the recent strike of bank employees in Baghdad
and the teachers' strike in Mossul.
**********
EUROPE
For Peace, Democracy and Workers' Rights!
For the Free and Democratic Union of Free Nations of Europe
We published in ILC International Newsletter 69 an appeal "By
elected militants of the Swiss Socialist Party and unionists to a
European Conference in Geneva, April 24 and 25, 2004."
We publish the letter from Daniel Gluckstein, Coordinator of the ILC, to
the initiators of this appeal proposing that the European Conference be
held on June 12, 2004 in Geneva on the eve of the "13th meeting in
defense of the ILO conventions" that will meet on June 13, 2004.
Luc Deley, member of the Reception Committee to that conference advises
that the Swiss replied in agreement to the change of date of the
European Conference. The European Conference will meet on Saturday, June
12 in Geneva.
-----
Daniel Gluckstein
Coordinator of the ILC
To the militants and elected officials of the Swiss Socialist Party and
unionists that initiated the appeal for a European conference on April
24 and 25, in Geneva:
Dear friends, dear comrades,
We received your invitation to a European Conference on April 24 and 25
through Luc Deley, of our European liaison office, that is addressed
"To all militants, to all unionists, to all those that whatever
their ideas, are dedicated to the defense of social rights, public
services, democracy, to peace among peoples."
We answer favorably to your proposal. We will communicate your appeal to
all the members of the European Liaison Committee constituted at the
European meeting last September in Paris.
The events that occurred these last days in Spain, following the
terrorists attacks that saw millions and millions of Spaniards search
for the truth, stand up against Aznar, one of the three responsible for
the war in Iraq, then remove him, and bring into power the Spanish
Socialist Party, this Sunday, March 14, confirms that the workers and
the peoples have the capacity to take their fate into their own hands.
It confirms that some political solutions are possible that are in
conformity with democracy, peace, social rights, within the framework of
the exercise of sovereignty of the peoples and nations. And it seems to
us that it reinforces the experience, which you refer to in your appeal
and the necessity to "confront the experiences, and look together
for solutions."
We are hereby communicating to you the results of the international
delegation received at the headquarters of the ILO last March 15,
"Against the occupation and for the labor rights in Iraq".
This information includes the memorandum submitted to the ILO
headquarters insisting especially on the need for sovereignty of the
Iraqi people on the application of ILO conventions, particularly ILO
conventions 87 and 98.
The international delegation appeals to the international workers
movement, to the worker delegates of the next annual conference of the
ILO and proposes that each of the components of the delegation present a
report to the 13th Annual Meeting, (Sunday, June 13) "for the
defense of the ILO conventions, initiated by the ILC."
Also it seems to us that it would be politically, materially and
economically advantageous to have the European Conference meet on the
eve of this meeting, on Saturday, June 12, 2004.
We can meet at your convenience before this date, in order to discuss
together the organization of this conference.
Fraternally yours,
Daniel Gluckstein
**********
GREAT BRITAIN
APPEAL FOR A NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Where is Blair leading the party? Put Labour back in the party!
The millions of working people, trade unionists and electorate of the
Labour Party -- many of whom demonstrated in the streets against the war
in Iraq and who have felt great anguish over the fate of Labour under
Blair's thumb, have looked with great interest at the recent
developments in Spain.
They have seen how, in the aftermath of the heinous terrorists attacks,
the Spanish workers threw Aznar out of office, electing a representative
of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), who had called for withdrawing
all Spanish troops from Iraq.
A question is therefore posed: Aznar did what he was doing because he
represents the right wing, the reactionaries. So how then can it be
possible for Labour in Britain to wear Aznar's shoes? Does not Labour's
pursuit of Aznar's policies lead to the destruction of Labour?
Don't the events in Spain place on the order of the day the demands by
MP Kelvin Hopkins, who said it is time to put workers' rights and
democratic socialism back into the party, renationalising the rail
system, reestablishing pensions, and returning Labour to the Labour
Party?
This is the purpose of the Appeal "Where is Blair Leading the
Party? that is reprinted below:
-----
In view of the seriousness of the situation we are facing, T&GWU
ROSA 6 / 1045 branch, Rochdale, is addressing this appeal to every trade
union branch, every Labour Party branch, every affiliated trade
unionist, every Labour Party member and Labour Party voter.
On the eve of the last Labour Party conference, Tony Woodley General
Secretary of the T&G made a statement that Labour must be put back
in the party.
Yes, we want the party to do what it was set up for and to actively
defend the vital interests, aspirations and demands of the organised
working class and working people as a whole.
At the TUC and the Labour Party Conference the trade unions reaffirmed
this statement by expressing the wish of the vast majority of members
and affiliated trade unionists to reclaim the Labour Party by restating
their demands for the repeal of the anti-trade union laws, for the
renationalisation of the railways, and saying no to privatisation.
The recent debate on tuition fees showed massive opposition from the
majority of the population to the government's plans, which go against
the publicly-stated positions of university staff and students and their
unions.
We think that, now more than ever, we must all organise, we must discuss
the situation that we are facing in order to wage the fight to reclaim
the Labour Party, to put Labour back in the party.
This is why we are sending you this appeal.
Labour party members and voters, affiliated trade unionists, labour
elected representatives, we all have the same question in mind : where
is Blair leading the party?
The questions we are asking are:
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to support the invasion and
occupation of Iraq?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to maintain the anti-trade
union laws introduced by Thatcher?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to transpose the European
directives leading to the destruction of permanent employment contracts
and the general spread of short-term and fixed-term contracts?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to comply with the
Maastricht criteria, which demand huge cuts in public spending resulting
in massive privatisation of public services and in the ongoing
destruction of the pensions, education and healthcare systems?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to maintain the
privatisation of the railways imposed by Thatcher, which on 14 February
added yet again to the death toll among railworkers and rail passengers,
by complying with a European Directive that imposes privatisation and
forbids the renationalisation of the railways, and to continue with the
deregulation of the buses, which was imposed by the Tories under
Thatcher?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to keep local authorities
under funded and with no autonomy in local affairs, thereby penalising
public services and the local population?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to introduce the
regionalisation of fire services, putting into question the
fire-fighters' collective agreement, and thereby endangering the
population's safety?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to increase university
tuition fees, thereby furthering the marketisation of higher education
on a global scale and preventing access to higher education for
thousands of young people?
- Is it the Labour Party's historic purpose to introduce variability of
tuition fees from one university to another, thereby organising the
regionalisation of the universities and the dismantling of the national
framework for higher education, involving the destruction of the
national framework for collective wage negotiation for university staff?
We all know that the answer is NO !
The Labour Party must return to its true purpose: that of being a party
which actively defends the vital interests, aspirations and demands of
the organised working class and working people as a whole. Labour must
be put back in the party.
This is also why , now, more than ever, we need to keep the link between
the Labour Party and the trade unions. We need trade union branches that
have let their affiliation lapse to renew it, in order to be able to put
forward the demands of our members, in order to rally our forces so as
to ensure that the party carries out the role it was set up for.
We think it would be a grave mistake for trade unions to disaffiliate
from the party. That would be renouncing the fight to put Labour back
into the party.
We fully support Unison's opposition to the introduction of state
funding for political parties that would result in severing the historic
link between the party and the unions by which the party should be the
political and parliamentary representation of the trade union movement.
We are launching this appeal to every trade union branch, every Labour
Party branch, every affiliated trade unionist, every Labour Party member
and Labour Party voter: let us organise a national conference which will
seriously and reasonably seek to answer the question of how to defend
the Labour Party as a tool for the working class, to say no to
Maastricht and the European directives that are organising the
privatisation and destruction of everything the Labour Party and the
trade unions have won through struggle over decades.
This appeal is not intended to oppose any other initiative aiming to
organise the fight to reclaim the Labour Party. We call without
exception on all those who agree with the principles laid out above.
Let us rally our forces, let us organise. For the unity of the party,
Labour must be put back in the party!
********************
FRANCE
After two regional elections, two communiqués from the National Bureau
of the Workers Party
March 22, 2004
Indisputably and despite all official commentaries, it was the
rejection that dominated the first regional elections on March 21. In
the climate of a fierce campaign deploying all the media and the
official propaganda, and blaming all abstentions for all the ills, the
recorded votes during the first election were 24,091,533 out of
40,670,934 registered voters. Over 15.5% of registered voters gave up
participating in the election of the regional councils-and to this we
add over 4 million (official estimation) of potential voters who did not
even enroll.
Deliberately ignored by media, boycotted, "benefiting" all in
all from 2 minutes and 45 seconds of television during the campaign,
slandered, constrained by the Secretary of the Interior to present their
candidates on a "grid of political nuances" (therefore making
its existence as a political party disappear), the Workers Party
presented candidates in 383 cantons across France. These 383 candidacies
were financed by a collection, cent by cent, of the sums necessary for
the campaign. The Workers Party refuses all public financing.
A total of close to 1,000 public meeting were organized for the
candidates.
258 new members joined the Workers Party during this election campaign,
recruited from January 1 and March 21, 2004, with dues payments
centralized to the national treasury of the Workers Party (2). New
sections were constructed. In the departments and localities where the
Workers Party didn't have any representation, means were obtained to
encourage militants to develop a section.
In total, over 2,000 new subscriptions arrived at the administrative
office of Informations Ouvrieres (Labor News).
This March 21, a total of 53,135 voters supported the candidates of the
Workers Party (61,372 if one includes the cantons were the Workers Party
faithful to its policy of unity, supported some candidates), 53,135
workers, mothers, youths, who knowing the reason, voted for the
candidates of an honest independent workers party and who are ready to
act with us whatever we propose. And this at a time when all the
political parties in France, except the Workers Party, voted for the
European Union, for regionalization, and when the Workers Party fights
to defeat these destructive plans of "regionalization." 53,135
who, advised of our appeal not to vote in the regionals, have expressed
their agreement in their vote for the Workers Party.
It is undoubtedly a very significant result. To find, canton by canton
these 53,135, to invite them to come to debate with the Workers Party,
to draw a balance sheet of the situation and define together the
organized means of combat: this must be the priority of every section.
(Excerpts)
*****
March 29, 2004
On the even of the first round of the regional election (March 21),
the Workers Party had emphasized in its declaration: "It is the
rejection that dominates."
Eight days later, on the eve of the second round of the regional
election (March 28), all political commentators, whichever side they
belonged to, took up this formula of their own accord, and all repeated:
there is rejection.
The results of March 28 through the size of their rejection nakedly
revealed the veritable crisis of the regime that shakes the entire
country: What was rejected?
It is necessary to say it clearly: what were rejected on March 28 are
the counter reforms that in all domains question the rights and
guarantees and threaten the very bases of democracy. (Š)
It is the rejection of all counter-reforms that ensue from the
directives of the European Union.
April 2002: elimination on the first round of the presidential election
of the candidate of the Socialist Party.
March 2004: elimination of the rightist coalition of the presidency of
22 out of 23 regions.
No one can be mistaken: the electoral earthquake of March 28 can't be
described as a simple "change in power."
Since 1980 every time there is a vote the voters are unhappy and every
time they express their discontent against the power in place,"
declared Mr. De Robien, minister and head of the list beaten in Picardy.
It is a fact: in 2004 as in 2002, all political parties associated with
the ruling circles, whatever their stripes, were rejected; that is to
say the counter reforms that are rejected.
It is a reality that Jack Lang understands well -- spokesperson for the
PS in the regionals, when he declared on hearing the results of the
second round:
" We are in a shitty situation, the country is in dire
straits." (Le Monde. March 30, 2004).
And yet everyone says it is necessary to continue.
Yet the evening of March 28, most political commentators hastened to
declare: we must follow the counter-reform route."
First of all, the setting up of regionalization.
"To withdraw the reforms would be to condemn our country to
immobilization." Declared Alain Juppé, mentioning among the
"necessary changes", "adaptation of health care
insurance."
"The reforms cannot be abandoned. Those who would resign themselves
to do this would be seriously guilty before the country," declared
Francois Bayrou.
But on the left some hold similar expressions: "The French are not
immobile but they want the reforms to be elaborated with them,"
declared Dominique Voynet. Meanwhile for Francois Hollande, fist
secretary of the PS, "The PS and the left will go toward agreed
reforms, negotiated, but with the base of collective guarantees -- that
is the difference between right and left."
The collective guarantees? But who remembers the privatizations and
de-regulations put into place by the government of the Plural Left,
where did they include collective guarantees?
How do we understand: would the difference then be in the manner in
which they pass the counter reforms? Shouldn't we rather speak of the
contents?
Everyone says: it is necessary to continue but trying to include the
population, the workers, their organizations. Š
There is no solution without putting into question the existing
institutions.
Let us repeat it, the crisis of the regime that was forcefully expressed
will not find a way out without challenging and overturning the
institutions themselves that appear today to be worn-out, at the end of
their tether.
What government will guarantee the end of the infernal cycle of counter
reforms? Š
A government that would dare to break from the yoke of the European
Union and overturn the institutions of the (Fifth) Republic.
It is the yoke of the Europe of Maastricht that is the cause of these
policies.
Although all pretend to ignore it, it is the policies of the European
Union relayed through the different governments, which were massively
rejected on March 28. Three days before the election, the presidency of
the European Council meeting in Brussels on March 25 and 26 had
concluded the need to lock the "European Constitution" from
now until next June.
All workers know the content of this "Constitution": it is the
acceleration in all areas of the destruction of rights. The summit in
Brussels did not hide this: "The balance sheet is mitigated. It
agrees to accelerate the rhythm of reforms to the level of the member
states while accentuating reforms in the fields of employment, health
and pensions.Some structural reforms are necessary. The modernization of
the social security systems plays a fundamental role. It is necessary to
reduce the non-salary costs of labor (the contributions to social
security for example -NDR) and to promote flexible working forms. And,
concerning Europe as well as France, a single formula, to better
integrate union organizations. The tripartite social summit already
closely associates the social partners. It is now necessary to reinforce
their role. The governments must not be the only ones. The European
Council invites the member states to create partnerships for the reform
with the social partners, civil society and public powers."
Is it not meaningful that on the day following the vote of March 28, the
European Commission, through Klaus Repling, general manager of economic
affairs of the Commission said: "The reforms in certain sectors
such as health are a priority, one cannot postpone them."
Everyone understands it: to follow the road of the European
Constitution, to follow in the setting of the European Union and its
pretended "Parliament" is to accelerate the march towards
chaos.
The Maastricht Treaty must be repealed.
Democracy is the sovereignty of the people.
Democracy requires that the people, who election after election under
various forms, have expressed a growing rejection against the so-called
reforms dictated by Brussels should be able to obtain what it wants.
Democracy requires that the end of the crisis be found through a
sovereign constituent assembly gathering the duly elected
representatives of the population in order to recast an authentic
Republic that in its content and in its institutional shape allows the
popular sovereignty to impose itself, in other words to exercise
democracy.
The time has come to win back democracy
The time has come to put an immediate end to all counter reforms
The time has come to remove the yoke of the European Union!
**********
ITALY
"A dam broke!"
(Editorial of Tribuna Libera, March 2004)
A damn broke!" It is in these terms that the secretary general
of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) commented on his electoral
victory. It is a fact: a dam broke under the immense pressure of the
millions and millions that took to the streets (one in five Spaniards)
expressing the aspiration of all people (see the report of our
correspondents).
A dam broke under the immense pressure, expression of the aspirations of
all for peace, fraternity, the rupture with a policy of destruction of
the conquests pursued over eight years by the Aznar government.
Yet all had been organized, after the atrocious attacks at the Antocha
train station to construct the 'sacred union' to support Aznar. But the
72 hours during which the millions of Spaniards had time to think, to
react, were sufficient. This movement of the masses, this intense search
for the truth, that was reflected in organizations particularly in those
of the workers, came to one conclusion: between the war agitators and
the partisans of withdrawal of the Spanish troops in Iraq (theme of the
PSOE campaign) there is no identity. This is how the immense uprising
against the horror of the attacks on Thursday, broke the dyke of the
"sacred union."
In Italy, many politicians ready to take advantage of the dramatic
events in Madrid, immediately called for demonstrations of unity between
the government parties and the opposition to affirm that on such an
occasion, there are no separate interests between workers and the
government. "Confindustria" (employers): Everything should
take a back seat: Pension reforms, schools, and privatizations, in order
to combat terrorism.
This "sacred union" can be found in the exact application of
the Maastricht treaty and the directives of the European Union its most
complete realization: whether it is on the right or the left, all claim
the destructive plans required by Brussels and continue on the same
route. And what should we say about the Communist Revoundation, which is
ready to reach an electoral agreement with the Olive Branch coalition
who has placed in the center the policy of the European Union and
supports the intervention in Iraq, that makes D'Alema say: "It is
not serious that those who were with me in the government, when we sent
troops to Kosovo, do not want to pay the salaries of the soldiers in
Iraq. I will not go to the demonstration on March 20." On the other
hand Fassino participates invited by Bertinotti: "let him come, a
big movement doesn't need to exclude."
A beautiful "sacred union à l'italian": from the right that
openly supports the war, in the center, on the "moderate
left", that does not go to the demonstration and whose leader is
Prodi, president of the European Union, who dictates to Berlusconi what
measures to be taken, to those who demonstrate in order to say that
sending troops is just, while next to them are those who want the troops
returnedŠwhile they prepare an election agreement!
One finds everything but not one who says, "break with the
Maastricht Treaty", "No to regionalization". Not a single
one who says clearly and simply "defense of public services, no to
all agreements that would destroy them."
But the broken dike in Spain indicates the matter is not settled. Those
in power still fear the peoples uprising.
We say: immediate withdrawal of the troops from Iraq, end all military
occupation, for the labor rights in Iraq, for the right of the Iraqi
people to sovereignty, to decide their own future!
Wasn't it for the immediate withdrawal of the Italian troops in Iraq
that a million Italians demonstrated on March 20 in Rome?
To all those who long for a "break in the dam" in Italy, to a
policy of peace, defense and recovery of rights, we say: prepare with us
the national conference on April 24, eve of the feast of liberation.
Fifty-nine years ago another people, our people, rose up and opened the
road to liberty, to the conquests of workers. Only the break with
Maastricht and the defense of the unity of the Italian nation, the NO to
regionalization, can preserve these social conquests inseparably bound
to the unity of the Italian Republic, from North to South.
- Correspondent.
**********
SPAIN
The anger of the families at the official funeral for the victims of
March 11, 2004
Defeated but still in office, the government of Aznar organized on
March 24, at the Cathedral of Almudena in Madrid, the state funerals
that he wanted in "honor of the victims of March 11". It was
the occasion for the catholic hierarchy, very quiet since the defeat of
Aznar, to return center stage and in this manner "gather"
around Zapatero, the new president, and all the grandees of this world.
In the face of this new manipulation by the defeated government, the
reaction of the different families was in many cases, very lively. Many,
like the mother of a 20-year old man killed on March 11, refused to
participate. "It would have been very difficult to be present at
this ceremonyŠI feel incapable of finding (myself) face to face with
Aznar, Blair and Powell. My son is as innocent as those who are killed
by the bombs in Iraq." Or as the family of Rodrigo Cabrero Pérez:
"It's like selling our pain. They told us the queen would be
present, as well as other personalities. "So what? What for?"
Over half the families involved did not attend the funerals.
Among the participants one heard: "Fortunately Aznar did not
approach us, I don't want to see him, nor Blair. They are responsible
for the death of my husband. We went to all the demonstrations against
the war that nobody wantedŠIn the end it is always the people who
pay."
At the beginning of the ceremony a relative stood up and shouted in the
vast silence: "Aznar, you are responsible!"
Powell met with Zapatero for ten minutes. He registered the words of the
future head of the Spanish government: "Withdrawal of the troops
before June 30 if the UN does not take control of the situation in
Iraq." Powell promised to make a proposal on the role of the UN.
All the presidents and prime ministers declared they respected the
decision to withdraw the Spanish troops.
But the offensive of imperialism and the francoist apparatus continues
against Zapatero's commitment. The Wall Street Journal (24/03/04),
published an op Ed article in which Aznar continues to declare:
"Withdrawing the troops would amount to giving in to the
terrorists' blackmail."
Over these last few days the CEOE (employers) who campaigned for Aznar,
declared their support for Zapatero with the object of applying the
"necessary reforms". The principal managing directors of the
Spanish multinationals: Telefonía, Repsol-IPT, BBVA, Endena, Bank of
SantanderŠfollowed suit.
All the forces of reaction and capitalists reassembled in order to push
Zapatero into not changing the policy, that is to say, respect the
Maastricht criteria, apply the directives of the European Union,
subordinate himself to NATO and the demands of the Bush administration.
Will Zapatero stick to his guns? On the eve of March 14, workers and
youths who voted for him warned him: "Don't fail us." The
aspirations of workers and peoples are clear: they want the new
government to change the policies and govern to the satisfaction and the
demands of the majority.
- Correspondent.
**********
BANGLADESH
One thousand workers from all over the country assembled in Chittagong
to "Save Chittagong, Save the Country."
(Correspondence from a representative of the ILC to this conference
in Chittagong)
On March 18, one thousand delegates from all over the country assembled
in Chittagong, the southern port of Bangladesh for a national conference
to "Save Chittagong, Save the Country."
(For more information see ILC International Newsletter # 54 of November
25, 2003, #57 of December 16, 2003 and #65 of February 10, 2004.
We were in Chittagong, the main port of Bangladesh on the Gulf of
Bengal. A port that is central for Bangladesh, as well as neighboring
countries.
This port is threatened today with being privatized and sold to an
American multinational.
One thousand workers were gathered. 700 of them were from Chittagong,
delegated by the Chittagong Port Workers' Union and other transportation
unions such as the railways, the textile union, journalists. Others came
after a long bus journey from the main cities of Bangladesh, from the
capital Dakha, from Khulna in the center of the country and Dinajpur, in
the north, etc.
One thousand delegates were gathered in a national conference to
"Save Chittagong, Save the Country". The government's plan is
to privatize this port.
Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) intends to buy it. The company
plans to construct a new terminal that would be its private property.
Representatives of the Port Workers' Union, railroads, textile industry
and the National Committee for the safeguarding of Bangladesh's energy
resources explained how the defense of the port of Chittagong was
inseparable from the struggles led by all sectors against privatization
and the looting of the country's resources.
The conference also heard from unionists from India and Pakistan,
calling for the unity and fraternity of the peoples of the sub-continent
against the policies of privatization that have struck them and the
attempts to pit one against the other. "Whether we are Hindu,
Christian or Muslim, we are above all workers," declared Gutzar
Chudhary, Secretary General of the APTUF trade union federation of
Pakistan.
One of the salient moments of this conference was the speech given by
Clarence Thomas, delegate from the ILWU Local 10 in San Francisco,
(International Longshore and Warehouse Union). He recalled that tSSA,
the company that wants to acquire Chittagong, does not act only as the
enemy of the rights of the people of Bangladesh and an enemy of workers'
rights, but that it acts in the same manner in the United States. It is
the SSA that had headed the employers and governments' efforts to break
the dockworkers' union on the West Coast of the United States; it is the
SSA that plans to construct new terminals in Texas to suppress existing
ports where workers are unionized. It is the SSA that controls the port
of Um Qasar today in occupied Iraq.
He concluded by saying that "An injury to one is an Injury to All!
Let us save Chittagong together." The delegates stood and cheered
him. "Today it is the voice of the American workers that we have
just heard," the Mayor of Chittagong said in his speech. (See
below).
In 1997 the SSA decided to seize Chittagong, benefiting from the open
support of the U.S. government. The American ambassador during the
Clinton administration, as well as the ambassador representing Bush,
have not hesitated to resort to open pressures and attempts at
corruption. The Mayor of Chittagong recalled he was himself the object
of such a bribery attempt.
Since that time the workers of Chittagong, first the dockworkers,
increased their demonstrations and strikes. The government was obliged
to suspend the application for the privatization plan after a three-day
strike in July 2001.
The ambassadors of the United States threatened the government of
Bangladesh: American investments will not continue if SSA doesn't get
the right to build the terminal, they insisted.
The 50,000 workers who depend on the port for employment continued their
struggle. The Mayor of Chittagong, Mohiu Ddien Chowdhury, opposed the
sale of Chittagong. 22 union organizations and associations united to
defend the port and convened this conference.
It is in this situation that the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, under
intense pressure from the dockworkers' union, declared in May 2003 that
some of the clauses in the agreement with SSA were illegal.
At the conference a dockworker declared: "We had the audacity to
bring a complaint against the power that pretends to dominate the world.
We returned with a first victory."
As many participants explained, in particular Shariat Ullah, secretary
of the Chittagong Port Workers Union, "This conference is necessary
to develop an action on a national scale."
It is what Tafazzul Hussein said in his final speech in the name of the
Democratic Workers Party of Bangladesh (affiliated to the ILC) that had
called for this conference.
----------
Report on the speech by the Mayor of Chittagong:
What marked the first part of this conference was the speech by the
Mayor and the intervention of Clarence Thomas, representative of ILWU
Local 10. The mayor, after speaking about the new maneuvers against
Chittagong, (construction of a port whose capacity would be limited)
declared:
"I greet Clarence Thomas. I thank him for everything he is doing
for our city. I salute him as a representative of the American people,
which I do not confuse with the American administration and system I
condemn that system. The United States today wishes to control the port
of Chittagong so that they can control our entire sub-continent. They
have taken over Afghanistan and Iraq. And they want more. They conquer
countries in order to destroy them."
[We will publish the conclusions and decisions taken at the Chittagong
conference next week in this ILC International Newsletter.]
**********
Women Workers' Situation in Thailand Indonesia and South Korea.
March 8, 2004 -- International Women's Day
For the Rights of Working Class Women!
The role of women in South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, have been
exploited by multinational corps from outside, and from union leaders
inside their countries. They have been prevented from joining/forming
unions.
Workers organized in S. Korea, multi-nat'l corps moved to other Asian
countries to exploit cheaper labor. It would be interested in knowing if
the formation of unions is a factor in the events happening now. Also,
what role women in the unions (or outside of unions) played in this
development.
It is certainly true that in Asia, as elsewhere, women workers are among
the most exploited layers of the working class. Forced to accept low
paid jobs with very poor working conditions and safety standards, they
are usually the first to be dismissed. Often even the minimal conditions
established in law are openly flouted by employers and not enforced by
governments.
However, just as there is a general paucity of information on the
conditions facing the working class as a whole, so there is little
detailed information on the position of women workers in Asia.
The Kader toy factory fire in Thailand on May 10, 1993 was the worst
industrial fire in history, killing 174 women and 14 men, and injuring
many more. Along with Richard Phillips, I went to Bangkok to investigate
the blaze, its causes, the role of the government, unions, NGOs and to
examine more concretely the implications of the globalisation of
production in Asia.
Thousands of mainly young women workers were employed at the Kader
factory just outside Bangkok, carrying out tedious jobs such as hand
painting plastic molded toys for export to the US, Australia, Japan and
Europe. None of the four buildings had fire escapes, alarms, sprinkler
systems, fire hoses or functioning extinguishers. The walkways between
the buildings were sealed off.
When the fire first broke out in building number one, the workers were
instructed to continue working. When they started to flee it was too
late. The building itself was shoddily constructed and collapsed very
quickly. One of the two small exits jammed shut as the building frame
began to buckle. It was here that 182 workers died, trapped and overcome
by noxious fumes.
Workers spoke of long hours, forced overtime, and harsh overseers. But
perhaps the most chilling part of their testimony was that they regarded
Kader, not as a sweatshop, but as one of the better places to work.
There were many other factories, they explained, with worse conditions
that failed to pay even the minimum wage--about US$1 an hour at that
time.
Such conditions are not confined to Thailand. In Sri Lanka Free Trade
Zone (FTZ) and Tamil tea estate workers, many of whom are women. Both of
these layers of workers are compelled to live and work in appalling
conditions.
Most of the FTZ workers are young rural women who come to the city
looking for work. They work long hours for low wages and live in very
cramped dormitory-style accommodation. Every aspect of their life is
rigidly regimented. They are barred from taking any form of strike or
industrial action.
Oppressive conditions, for men as well as women workers, are clearly
widespread not only in Thailand and Sri Lanka, but throughout Asia. The
economic crisis of the last six months has resulted in a drastic decline
in the living standards of working people across the region. But the
information available is sketchy.
As far as the trade unions are concerned, the proportion of women
workers who are members is low. Women are often in those sectors of the
economy--Free Trade Zones, small sweatshops, etc--where workers, either
legally or de facto, have no right to organise or strike whatsoever.
But the issue is more complex than whether or not women workers have
been excluded from trade unions. Around the world, all sections of the
working class, men as well as women, have suffered as a result of the
betrayals of the trade union bureaucracy. The situation in Asia is no
different.
In the countries name--Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand--most of the
trade unions are little more than arms of the state apparatus. The
military-backed regimes, which existed in South Korea and Thailand until
the late 1980s, and continue today in Indonesia, used the unions as a
means for holding down wages and conditions, and preventing any
independent struggle by the working class.
At the Kader factory, for instance, there was a company-based union
linked to one of Thailand's six union congresses. It had done nothing to
change the appalling safety conditions, even though there had been
previous fires and obvious hazards existed--inflammable chemicals and
raw materials. Following the 1993 fire, none of the unions or union
congresses initiated any campaign to improve safety standards in
Thailand.
The failure of the trade unions in these countries to defend even the
most basic rights of women or other oppressed layers of the working
class points to more fundamental issues. The globalisation of
production, which has led to the explosive growth of the working class
in Asia, has completely undermined the basis of trade unionism itself,
which was always limited to attempting to secure reforms within the
strictures of the nationally regulated economy.
It is not only the state-run and company unions that have sold out the
working class, but the so-called independent unions as well. The most
graphic example is in South Korea where the Korean Confederation of
Trade Unions (KCTU)--the mass, unofficial union movement which emerged
in the 1980s--has just accepted sweeping changes to the country's labour
laws. For the first time in decades, corporations will be able to
legally carry out mass retrenchments. As a result, joblessness is set to
rise to two million by the end of the year. I have commented on these
issues in more detail in a recent article on the WSWS entitled:
"The capitulation of the South Korean unions".
The issue raised by your second question underscores the incapacity of
the trade unions to defend the interests of the working class. The South
Korean working class only won its very modest gains through the unions
in the 1980s and early 1990s while the country's economy remained highly
protected and was expanding. Now that the IMF is demanding the complete
opening up of South Korea to global finance capital the unions have
caved in to the government and big business.
The trade unions, not just in South Korea, are all driven by the same
divisive nationalist perspective--to make their "own"
capitalist class "internationally competitive." The South
Korean union leaders have responded to investment moving offshore by
accepting the demands of the IMF for higher productivity and lower
labour costs.
The same process has been taking place internationally. In Australia,
the trade unions, both under the Howard Liberal government and previous
Labor governments, have been the principal means for carrying out a
wholesale restructuring of industry and the destruction of jobs and
conditions.
Workers are being pitted against their class brothers and
sisters--country by country, region by region, and even factory by
factory--in a never-ending drive for greater productivity and profits.
The end product is the complete automisation of the working class.
In Asian countries the young women, who have been drawn from rural areas
into the factories and sweatshops of the cities and free trade zones,
form a large and decisive layer of the emerging working class. As a
particularly oppressed layer, women workers have in the past played an
important role in the revolutionary battles of the working class. They
will do so again in the struggles ahead.
The economic crisis in Asia is certain to produce social explosions. But
the crucial issue is one of revolutionary leadership. If such movements
are not to end in defeat it is necessary to build socialist parties to
mobilise the entire working class across national and other divides in a
unified struggle against the profit system.
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