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ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 80
A dossier of weekly information published by the International Liaison
Committee for Workers and Peoples
May 18, 2004
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ILC International Newsletter
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France
PRESENTATION:
In the framework of the International Campaign Against the Occupation
and For Labor Rights in Iraq, we publish a complaint presented by the
Federation of Labor Councils and Trade Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the
Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) to the Committee of Union
Liberties of the ILO (see pages 7 and 8).
The FWCUI and the UUI, that will meet a group of ILO representatives
on June 11 in Geneva call on all union organizations, all trade unionists
on an international scale, that they support their insistence to see
the application of ILO conventions 87 and 98 applied in Iraq and that
the trade unions that have been created there by the workers themselves
are fully recognized.
This document is available in the shape of a "recto.back tract"
"Support the demand of the Iraqi trade unionists" so that
it can be used extensively and permit the collection of the necessary
sums needed to help the Iraqi delegates to travel to Geneva.
The European Conference is actively getting ready as can be attested
by the first documents and contributions received from militants, trade
unionists, and elected officials from different countries.
This week we publish:
-An interview with Jean-Maurice Dehousse, European deputy of the Belgian
PS, that voted against the project of the European Constitution given
to The Workers' Tribune (Belgium) (see page 3);
-The mandate given by the delegation from Great Britain: "We will
run a campaign without reservations while calling on the members of
the party and the unions to say no to the European Constitutions."
(see page 4);
-The reply of the Collective of Socialist Workers (Spain) who having
learned of the appeal by the PSS and the USS to hold the conference
will be present in Geneva (see page 5);
-The appeals made by the Workers' Party (France), the POSI (Spain) and
the POUS (Portugal) to a common campaign in all European countries in
the framework of the European elections, for the free union of free
and sovereign republics of Europe (see page 6).
Those attending the Geneva conference are delegates from Belgium, Spain,
France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey
and Slovakia.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
p. 1: Presentation
pp. 2 -3- 4- 5- 6: European Bulletin
pp. 2 -3: European Conference June 12, 2004; 11th meeting for the defense
of ILO conventions, June 13, 2004, in Geneva
p. 4: Mandate of the delegation from Great Britain: No to the European
Constitution
p. 5: Collective of Socialist Workers (Spain) will be present in Geneva
*Interview with Carmelinda Pereira on the European Constitution (Portugal)
p. 6: Appeal from the representatives of three lists (France, Spain,
Portugal) for a common campaign to the European elections
p. 7 -8: Campaign "Against the Occupation For Labor Rights in Iraq"
Complaint presented to the ILO Committee of Trade Union Liberties
Appeal for support and signature
For peace, democracy and labor rights
For the free and democratic union of the free nations of Europe
References:
-The European Meeting "for peace, democracy and labor rights,
for the free and democratic union of the free nations of Europe"
was convened on the occasion of the meeting "for the defense of
ILO conventions and the independence of union organizations" that
met June 15, 2003 in Geneva on the initiative of the International Liaison
Committee for Workers and Peoples.
-The European Meeting was held on September 20 and 21, 2003, with delegations
from the following countries: Albania, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France,
Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland
and Ukraine. The Russian delegate was denied a visa and could not attend
the meeting.
-The European Meeting decided on the establishment of a Liaison Bureau
on the basis of the declaration submitted at the European Meeting. This
office will be organized as a correspondence committee that will publish
four pages every fifteen days in the ILC International Newsletter with
information on European institutions, and information sent by correspondents
from each country.
- The European Liaison Bureau:
Germany: Becker Henrich; Hening Frey; Belgium: Larsimont Philippe; Spain:
Luis Gonzalez; Manuel Arroyo Martin; France: Pierre Besse; Michèle
Delaine; Clarisse Delalondre; Olivier Doriane; Marc Gauquelin; Daniel
Gluckstein; Luc Lamy; Denis Langlet; Jean-Claude Loew; Jean-Charles
Marquiset; Véronique Pépers; Joachim Salamero; Aimé
Savy; Marie-Claude Schidlower; Gérard Schivardi; Daniel Shapira;
Michèle Simonnin; Great Britain: Charalambus Charlie; Cholewka
Stefan; Greece: Hélène Astériou; Italy: Lorenzo
Varaldo ; Ugo Croce ; Portugal : Carmelinda Pereira ; Romania : Constantin
Cretan ; Marian Tudor ; Serbia : Pavluvsko Imsirovic ; Jacim Milunovic
; Modrag Perovic ; Switzerland : Alexandre Anor ; Luc Deley; Grazziano
Pestoni ; Michel Guillot; Sweden : Sixto Iturra ; Robert Johansson ;
Ukraine : Vitaly Koulik.
EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
JUNE 12, 2004 in GENEVA
The European Conference will meet on Saturday, June 12 from 11 a.m.
to 7 p.m.
The meeting for the defense of the ILO conventions and for the independence
of trade union organizations will meet on Sunday, June 13 from 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m.
These two meetings will be held at the International Conference Center,
Ruede Varembré 15, Geneva.
On Tuesday, May 19, 2004 the welcome committee for the European Conference
of June 12 and the XI Meeting for the defense of ILO conventions and
the independence of trade union organizations was formed in Geneva.
The Swiss welcome committee was formed on the day after the elections
of May 16, when the Swiss people and the workers inflicted a defeat
on the parties of the bourgeoisie and the European Union institutions.
The Swiss voters rejected the 11th revision of the AVS (the retirement
system, the "fiscal packet" that would only have benefited
those well off and considerably reduced the resources for the confederation
and the cantons) and the increase of the VAT.
These elections took place during the time when public service employees
went on strike and demonstrated on May 4 and 14, 2004.
These elections constituted a point of support to reject all attempts
at deregulation in Switzerland. They also constitute a point of support
for those that oppose the policies of liberalization in Europe. It is
to inform on this situation and to have an exchange of ideas with militants
everywhere in Europe that are submitted to the application of the European
directives, that we have taken the initiative to call a conference next
June 12 in Geneva.
The welcome committee will meet again on June 4. They decided to publish
several contributions on the following topics: the lessons of the elections
of May 16, a contribution of the electricity workers' union, a contribution
on the strikes in progress in Geneva and another on the 'bilaterals'
signed with the European Union.
We offer all those that prepare and support the conference the first
contributions that we have received from militants, trade unionist,
elected officials from different countries, to prepare this conference
and to mandate their delegates.
*Belgium: The representatives of the FGTB who fight for the unity of
the FGTB, who will be present. Roberto Giarrocco, union delegate CGSP-Admi
(FGTB), former representative or the Young Socialists at the National
Bureau of the Socialist Party, member of the PS, member of "the
committee against social regression imposed by the European Union",
sent a message and questionnaire analyzing the project of the European
Constitution (see ILC International Newsletter #74).
This committee organizes a meeting for May 29. It will be introduced
by Jean/Maurice Dehousse, European deputy of the PS that voted against
the project of the European Constitution. We publish excerpts of the
interview that he gave to The Workers' Tribune (see page 3).
*Spain: the delegates that will be present in Geneva are the representatives
of the UGT, the CCOO, and elected officials.
The Collective of socialist workers, that have established a national
coordinating committee, decided to participate in the European conference
(see page 5). The delegates from Spain were also elected by the signatories
of a letter to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President
of the government of Spain, written and countersigned on the day following
the electoral victory of the PSOE (see ILC International Newsletter
#74).
*France: 27 delegates will be present: unionists, workers and elected
officials.
We received a message indicating that among these 27 delegates, 15 were
elected by an assembly of 300 unionists of the CGT and the CGT-FO, from
all professions, around a Manifesto of Alarm "for the defense of
the social security of 1945, founded on the deferred salary, for the
restitution of the 113,7 billions of employers' exemptions, for the
restoration of reimbursement for care and medication, the reopening
of all beds and hospital and maternity services." (see ILC International
Newsletter #76).
The government, which was massively rejected in the elections in March,
is presenting at this time even with its social partners a plan of destruction
of what constitutes the biggest workers' conquest derived from the liberation.
Other delegates were elected by employees, unionists of the EDF-GDF
who after the Berlin conference publish a newsletter of the electrical
workers and proposed to have a European conference of this sector.
Others were mandated by a conference of postal and telecommunications
workers against the transposition of the postal guideline, against the
closing of sorting centers and post offices, against the massive suppression
of jobs in telecommunications, a consequence of the privatization of
France Telecom.
The elected officials that prepare a national conference for the defense
of communities and public services will also be present.
*Great Britain: we received a message from Stefan Cholewka, editor of
The Link, T&GWU ROSA 6/1045, executive committee of the village
of Rochdale of the Labor Party and Anthony Richardson, bakers' union,
local union of the TUC of Wakefield, municipal counselor of Wakefield,
who will be present on June 12 and 13, who indicated they are leading
a national campaign appealing to members of the party and union members
to say no to the referendum on the European Constitution announced by
Tony Blair. (see page 4).
These militants also indicated they will participate in the 11th meeting
for the defense of ILO conventions convened on the initiative of the
International Liaison Committee for Workers and Peoples. "We think
that it is especially important to lead this campaigns that Iraqi workers
can join a union of their choice. We have seen the horrible photos of
the tortures perpetrated by the occupation forces in Iraq. The campaign
we lead in Great Britain for the immediate withdrawal of troops will
not be separated from the fight for the establishment of human and union
rights in Iraq."
*Italy: three delegates elected by a "National Conference for the
withdrawal of the 'reform' of the Italian constitution, for the rupture
with Maastricht, for the defense of the unity of the nation, historic
setting of workers' conquests" was organized on April 24, 2004
on the eve of the 59th birthday of the Liberation. (see ILC International
Newsletter #79).
*Germany: some delegates were elected at a conference in Halle, capital
of Land de Saxe-Anhalt (East) on April 17. This conference gathered
about 100 delegates members of the SPD and unionist from all over Germany
where the question "How to achieve social unity in all Germany?"
was debated. (see ILC International Newsletter #78).
The conference decided to continue the exchange and mutual information
and to use the SoPoDe newsletter for this, and to form correspondence
information circles in all cities that will participate in the publication
of the newsletter in order to assist that the will of the majority of
the SPD will be expressed to impose the indispensable change of course.
It is with enthusiasm that the conference also decided to send a delegation
to the European Conference in Geneva on June 12.
*Ukraine: two delegates elected by the 700 signatories of a letter opposing
the new code of work will be present. (see ILC International Newsletter
#76).
*Portugal: a representative of the UGT electrical sector will be present,
elected at a meeting that was held May 16 in Lisbon.
The participants at this conference are representatives of organizations
linked to the International Liaison Committee for Workers and Peoples,
that were present at the European elections, of the POUS of Portugal,
the POSI of Spain, the Workers' Party of France that called for a common
campaign in all European countries, participated in this conference:
"For the union of the free and sovereign nations of Europe. For
the defense of labor rights, public services, peace and democracy. No
to the Europe of Maastricht! Down with the European parliament and the
totalitarian institutions of Brussels!" (see page 6).
Delegations from Serbia, Turkey and Slovakia will also be present.
These delegates to the European conference on June 12, 2004 will participate
on the following day at the conference for the defense of ILO conventions
where the results of the two delegations to the headquarters of the
ILO;
" The first follows the delegation received on March 15 at the
ILO for the International Campaign Against the Occupation and For Labor
Rights in Iraq. A complaint will be presented to the ILO by Iraqi unions.
USLAW, the ICATU, Iraqi unionists, the International Liaison Committee
for Workers and Peoples and some Swiss unionists will be present at
this delegation and will report on it on June 13.
" The second delegation asks to be received in regard to the revision
of the recommendation 150. A representative of the ACTRAV received a
delegation in June 2003.
We invite you to pursue the exchange of information, that will allows
us to have a real exchange on June 12 and 13 and to define the best
means of defending the rights of workers, peace and democracy.
Interview with Jean-Maurice Dehousse, European deputy of the PS that
voted against the project of the European Constitution, given to The
Workers' Tribune, newspaper of the Defense Movement of Workers (MDT)
Belgium. (excerpts).
You voted against the Constitution. Can you explain your reasons?
Of 626 members of Parliament, only 492 participated in the election.
The resolution project was again amended and the final text was approved
by 335 votes against 106 and 53 abstentions, that is to say respectively
68%, 21.5% and 10.5% This important vote deserves to be analyzed.
First of all, all the groups of the European Parliament are divided.
In seven groups one finds partisans, opposers and abstainers. This is
the case with the Conservative group (PPE), the Socialist group, the
Liberal group, the Greens, the United Left, the Union of Nations for
Europe and the non-registered.
In the Europe of Democracies and Differences there were only votes against
and abstentions.
In the Center Left, the Greens consisted of 18 partisans: for (two Agalev
and Mrs. Frassoni); 69 against (two ecologists) and six abstentions.
For the Socialists, the large majority voted for: five against included
my one abstention. This obviously reflects the internal discussions
that took place within the group.
For the United Left, there were three votes for, 24 votes against, 15
abstentions.
To sum it all up one can say:
" That ¾ of the electors were in favor and ¼ were
against;
" That of those ¼ against, we find members of all groups,
from Extreme Right to United Left.
It is therefore obvious that the reasons of those who voted against
it were not the same and on can say as much about those who voted for
it.
As far as I am concerned, there are many reasons. From the institutional
point of view, I am hostile to the inter-governmentalization of the
European Commission, that must be restrained if one wants it to be efficient
and that it embodies as much as possible the general interest.
But most important is the blockage of the Social Europe (as well as
the fiscal Europe) and especially the serious cuts taken by public services.
One can add that despite all the speeches, it is not about a Constitution-that
regulates the interaction between governments and the governed-but a
constitutional treaty that is not the same thing. So the text does not
reduce at all the democratic deficit of the European institutions.
Finally, nothing is foreseen (except privatization) for the public distribution
of water, that risks becoming a major problem in the years to come.
You say that the European Constitution will not permit public services
as we know them. Why?
The projected constitutional text literally erases the notion of public
services as a European right. One replaces this notion, dear to us,
by the new expression "services of general interest." A lot
of speeches give the impression that this is a problem of translation:
that is not true. It is a fundamental problem.
On the other hand, the project not only attacks the name of public services
but their very structure. These attacks are of two orders:
1) The Treaty makes competition an absolute principle; this naturally
excludes all monopolies, however the rentability of public services
rests on the establishment of a monopoly.
2) The Treaty forbids all state aid that is intrinsically opposed to
competition.
This double attack literally strangles the public services that we
know in Belgium and France; besides it threatens sectors such as health
and education, that is not as yet part of the European expertise, but
will come sooner or later.
GREAT BRITAIN
Stefan CHOLEWKA editor The LINK, T&GWU ROSA 6/1045, EC Rochdale
CLP,
Cllr Anthony RICHARDSON, BFAWU, Wakefield & District Trades Council,
Trade Union Liaison officer Wakefield CLP
Reply to the Invitation
to participate in the European Conference
FOR PEACE, DEMOCRACY AND WORKERS' RIGHTS, FOR THE FREE AND DEMOCRATIC
UNION OF THE FREE NATIONS OF EUROPE in Geneva, June 12, 2004
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Comrades,
We are responding to the appeal launched by activists and the elected
officials of the Swiss Socialist Party and trade unionists addressed
to activists and trade unionists of different European countries.
We are members of the Labour party and affiliated trade unionists in
Britain.
We are respectively acting chair & a vice chair of the NATIONAL
COMMITTEE OF LABOUR PARTY MEMBERS AND AFFILIATED TRADE UNIONISTS TO
RECLAIM THE PARTY, TO REPEAL THE MAASTRICHT TREATY, TO SAY NO TO EUROPEAN
DIRECTIVES following a conference held on December 13th 2003, HEBDEN
BRIDGE TRADES CLUB,HEBDEN BRIDGE,WEST YORKSHIRE.
We are members of the Labour party and also respectively of the T&GWU
and the BFAWU, two affiliated trade unions.
We wish to thank you for your invitation and to inform you that we
will participate in the Geneva conference.
We wish hereby to explain the reasons why.
We wholeheartedly support in Britain and internationally any initiative
that aims to defend the independent interest of workers and the organisations
that the workers set themselves.
We received this invitation just after Tony Blair announced that a
referendum will be organised on whether the European Constitution should
be ratified by our government.
This announcement opens a new situation.
Our belief is that the ratification of the European constitution would
represent a new step in the submission of the government to the Brussels
directives and policies leading to the ultimate destruction of the Labour
Party and consequently of the unions.
This is why we will wholeheartedly campaign and appeal to Labour party
members and affiliated trade unionists to say NO to the European constitution.
A NO vote will be part and parcel of the fight we are currently waging
to reclaim the Labour Party , to put labour back in the party and to
return the Labour Party 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.
This current campaign is articulated around an appeal issued by a T&GWU
branch posing the question where is Blair leading the party ?
This question needs to be posed.
How can we defend the interests of the working class and the independence
of trade unions and the Labour Party when the EU Constitution, European
directives and the European Central Bank drive the government to shatter
all labour rights and social gains made in Britain since 1945 ?
This is why we will campaign for a NO VOTE in any referendum on the
European Constitution in Britain.
The EU Constitution clearly recommends the deregulation of the public
sector and its privatisation in order to reduce public spending to keep
within the Euro zone's Stability & Growth Pact that was intended
to buttress the Maastricht treaty, keeping annual public spending deficits
within three per cent of GDP.
It concerns us in Britain where - after the Tories - the New Labour
government maintained and extended their support for PFI and PPP's privatisation
projects. This led to death and destruction on our privatised rail network.
The new EU Constitution includes all the articles from he Maastricht
treaty, driving to the privatisation of health, education and transport.
Article 3A says that: the action of member states and of the community
comprises...the founding of an economic policy...conducted in accordance
with the respect of an open market economy and free competition.
In the name of free competition the EU imposes only one possible policy:
privatisation of public services, attacks of collective bargaining and
deregulation.
Let us give you an example.
On 1 April, the House of Commons Transport Committee, chaired by the
Labour MP Gwynneth Dunwoody, delivered a report on the railways which
said that during the last 6 years the government had failed to take
any opportunity to resolve the problems arising from the privatisation
of the railways undertaken by the Tories and maintained by Blair. The
report called for the re-nationalisation of the track, infrastructure
and maintenance of the railways. Faced with an increase in the number
of accidents and deaths caused by the privatisation of the railways,
it is a House of Commons Transport Committee with a majority of Labour
members which is taking the courageous decision to call for the partial
renationalisation of the railways, in other words to take a step on
the path of breaking with the policy of the European Union.
What will be left of the ability of Labour Party representatives to
act on their mandate, and renationalise the railways, when it will be
illegal under the EU Constitution, because it is forbidden by the European
directive on transport?
The Labour party was set up a century ago to give a political and parliamentary
representation of the working class organised in the trade unions by
means of its organic link to the unions.
What would be the use of a Labour party fighting for progressive reforms
in application of the trade unions mandate in a parliament that would
be stripped of any sovereignty ?
The introduction of the European Constitution would mean the destruction
of any kind of Parliamentary sovereignty and consequently any kind of
sovereignty for the Labour Party that would no longer be in a position
o fight for the enforcement of the mandate received from its affiliates.
This is why we are calling on all Labour MP's to reject the EU constitution.
This also applies to local government where Brussels directives aim
to privatise all local public services, where more and more schools
and hospitals are being subjected to PFI projects.
One of us is a Labour councillor in a middle size town of the industrial
north of England. He was elected and received a mandate from his working
class community, not from the Brussels bureaucrats nor from the European
bank officials.
We are asking the question : how will it be possible for a Labour councillor
to oppose the privatisation of local public services when privatisation
is imposed by the EU constitution ?
With the Euro constitution the current Labour councillors - the vast
majority of whom have dedicated their energy to the defence of the communities
- will be requested to act according to the constitution and to support
privatisation and all the anti working class policies imposed by the
directives and the Maastricht Treaty.
This is why we are calling on all Labour elected representatives to
reject the EU constitution.
The EU constitution is antagonistic to the existence of a Labour Party
acting in application of the mandate received from the unions. The only
mandate recognised by the European constitution is the mandate imposed
by the European central bank. That would mean the destruction of the
Labour Party and its transformation into an instrument at the service
of the central bank.
As you know our country is not in the Euro zone.
As Labour party members attached to the core values of the Labour party,
as trade unionists, we are campaigning to say No to the Euro.
In order to implement the policies imposed by the directives, the EU
governments can use only one variable that is left to them - since they
no longer have even a semi- independent monetary policy instrument at
their disposal and flexible exchange rates - that of reducing the cost
of the labour force through deregulation of the labour market, and the
regionalisation of pay and conditions; to destroy what is left of the
labour contract.
This is the driving force for regional government in England.
Recently the government - anticipating on the decentralisation process
imposed by the European constitution - introduced variable tuition fees
destroying the national framework for higher education and the national
character of pay conditions for university staff.
All the higher education unions opposed this Bill. We are now fighting
for the restoration of the national higher education framework . How
would it be possible if it is made illegal by the European constitution
?
This why we will campaign to call on all the unions and all trade unionist
to reject the EU constitution.
Is it possible to commit ourselves to putting Labour back into the
party, to defending the organic link by which the party receives a mandate
from the unions if we accept that the Labour Party becomes a conveying
belt of Brussels policies enshrined in the EU constitution ?
These are the reasons why we will campaign for the labour movement
to reject the European constitution.
Again we thank you for your invitation.
Please feel free to send us any information relating to the defence
of public services.
Yours in solidarity
Stefan CHOLEWKA editor The LINK, T&GWU ROSA 6/1045, EC Rochdale
CLP,
Cllr Anthony RICHARDSON, BFAWU, Wakefield & District Trades Council,
Trade Union Liaison officer Wakefield CLP
PS: We will also participate in the 11th international conference of
trade unionists in defence of ILO conventions convened under the aegis
of the ILC. We think it particularly important as the defence of the
right of Iraqi workers to affiliate to the union of their own choosing
will be on the agenda. We are all confronted to the horrendous and disgusting
pictures of tortures of Iraqi workers perpetrated by the military in
occupied Iraq. The campaign we are waging in Britain for the immediate
withdrawal of the troops cannot be separated from the struggle for full
human and trade union rights in Iraq. Iraqi workers have a right to
a decent life in a sovereign country. The prerequisite to the establishment
of democracy is sovereignty for the Iraqi people. In line with the tradition
of the British trade union movement we will say that Iraqi workers have
a right to establish unions and to join the union of their own choosing
without any public interference as stipulated by ILO convention 87.
SPAIN
The Collective for Socialist Workers that has just constituted its
national coordinating committee, will be present at the European Conference
on June 12, 2004 in Geneva.
We were informed of the appeal launched by the comrades of the Swiss
Socialist Party (PSS) and the unionists of the Swiss Trade Union (USS)
addressed to the militants and unionists of several European countries.
The Collective for Socialist Workers is an initiative that regroups
socialist militant workers and unionists whose goal is to develop socialist
ideas and wants a way to defend the interests of the working class,
while recovering our traditions and preserving the independence of our
organizations.
It is from this point of view that we share the goals of the Swiss comrades
that launch this appeal that we think is effectively possible to act
to preserve the social state, the social conquests, the public services
that have been destroyed in the name of different liberal European directives
and that lead to the privatization of everything that is public.
In Spain, the Popular Party beaten in the recent elections, partially
or completely privatized 52 companies in the last eight years. It must
be said that the previous governments had already opened the process
of privatization that the Right pursued and accentuated.
Spain is a member of the European Union since 1986 and it is certain
that our country was a beneficiary in areas such as the development
of an infrastructure for motor transport thanks to structural funds.
But in the balance the beneficiaries of these last 18 years have only
been the great commercial currents.
Concretely we must underline four examples of regressions and prejudices:
1) In the area of the rights of unemployed workers, the norms that define
the rights of these workers, when their jobs are eliminated, underwent
a constant reduction. In 1980 the "Law of base employment"
and its development by the 31/1/1984 law that established that on condition
of having contributed during the four previous years, they received
a financial benefit having as its base the average of contributions
over the last six months of work. But by the law of 22/1/1992 "Urgent
measures to favor its use", the criteria for receiving benefits
were hardened, meaning that is was necessary to contribute longer in
order to receive reduced benefits, that helped the state to economize
4 039 euros per worker. This measure provoked one of the five general
strikes against the government of Felipe González. The introductory
report of the next federal government partly recognized its mistakes.
(El País, May 10, 2004).
In 1995 the royal decree 2189/95 established the obligation to contribute
to the income tax of personas físicas???(IRPF) for unemployed
workers, placing new pressures on these workers. The Royal Decree Law
of 5/2001 "Urgent measures for the reform of the labor market"
introduced among other measures flexibility, the possibility of establishing
insertion contracts for those looking for employment and in the case
that they had been unemployed for more than three years, to establish
formation contracts????????
These are examples of the way workers' rights have regressed in the
name of modernization and the reconversion (nowadays it is in the name
of relocations) that saw the lowering of their purchasing power and
their quality of life. One must not forget that in Madrid alone, there
were 51,607 layoffs in 2000.
2) Concerning the right to retirement pensions, the evolution was exactly
the same: in the period of reference, the contributions to social security
in the past two years, went from eight years during the government of
Felipe González to 15 years under Aznar, without counting the
agreement between José María Fidalgo ( Secretary General
of Workers' Commissions) and the last Aznar government to take as the
base for future pensions the contributions of a lifetime. This method
of calculation would result in a decrease of 20 to 30% in the number
of pensions.
3) The privatization of the energy sector has as a consequence that
the companies that took over the excellent business of electric energy
no longer invested in the distribution network and the result was serious
breakdowns that occurred in different cities in Spain, in particular
in Catalonia where thousands of inhabitants, of tradesmen, were left
without power for hours that led to important financial losses. The
plan is to compensate for these considerable losses with a packet of
800.000euros to balance all accounts and for the totality of victims.
4) Last May, ENAGAS, the company that handles the gas network, warned
that they could not guarantee sufficient supplies in Spain for next
winter. It is necessary to indicate that the gas market was liberalized
in our country after January 2003, and we apparently already have supply
problems.
One could give other examples pertaining to the liberalization of transportation,
of health, of education, of public banks, of telecommunications, of
water distribution, etc…We think that given the above examples, the
comrades will be able to get an idea of the situation of privatization
in all directions that are presently developing in Spain.
We cannot accept this situation that places in danger the conditions
of life of its citizens. The breakdowns, the risk of lack of gas supplies,
or the job cuts to make privatized industries more profitable (15,000
at Telefonica) do not contribute to a social state nor modernity in
the name of which these measures have been taken.
The PSOE affirms, at the prospect of its next congress that it must
"increase the social majority expressed during the elections of
March 14…in building a great party for the mobilization and an efficient
organization, flexible and plural". (El País, 10/05/04).
This is contradictory to the announcement made in the same newspaper
the same day by the Secretary of State on the budget: "one must
not discard the possibility of privatizing part of Spanish Television."
One can obtain the support of the social majority if one engages on
a plan of re-nationalization, but not if we continue on the route of
privatizations. No one has leaned on the Spanish people to privatize,
no party has set down clearly in its program a plan for privatization.
That is why there is no objection to take the inverse path and whatever
happens, it is obvious that there is no interest in continuing to privatize.
The workers have forged the order: "Do not deceive us" not
only to return to reason on the question of the war of occupation in
Iraq, but also for that which concerns us and is part of our rights
and our demands. And that includes the defense of the public sector.
The Collective of Socialist Workers has constituted is National Coordination
Committee, composed of comrades from Andalusia, Euzkadi and Madrid,
and among other decisions, we took one to participate in the Conference
organized by the comrades of the Swiss Socialist Party next June 12
in Geneva that we estimate very positive and necessary. It is in this
sense that we commit to be present June 12 in Geneva to contribute to
the debate on the means to defend our conquests.
Collective for Socialist Workers
PORTUGAL
Carmelinda Pereira is a schoolteacher in Lisbon; she was a deputy at
the Constituent Assembly and later in the 1st Legislative Assembly.
She is at the head of the list of the POUS in Portugal.
If you had to compare the Portugal of the "revolution of the carnations"
and Portugal today?
If it is the Portugal before the revolution of April 25, 1974 and the
present that you mention, there is no comparison. The conquests of April
25 have been maintained, we are free, we can talk to each other, which
was impossible. April 25 continues and we want to keep it alive.
There is complicity between people who are 40, 50 or 60 years old who
lived through the revolution, and built it. For this reason people with
different outlooks can defend the same causes. It was a very strong
event that marked the generations. Young people do not understand it
the same way.
It says that today the government wants to break the concept of democratic
management that we had constituted. For example, it wants to impose
education as business, privatize it as it has privatized health care.
Why do you say that the European Constitution is incompatible with
the Portuguese Constitution?
For example, the Portuguese Constitution states that economic power
must be subordinate to political power.
The Constitution is very clear on the defense of public services. It
is the duty of the state to guarantee education for all, health care,
social security, and housing. The parties in government now say that
it is necessary to withdraw the obstacles to economic development, that
is to say the social conquests; there is even a minister of the Army
who said it was a Trotskyite Constitution!
Everyone was convinced that it was possible to build a new country,
to develop industry, agriculture, and education. The policies of the
EU after 18 years are contradictory to these aspirations: they privatize,
lay off, and close factories.
The rights of workers, the collective conventions, union independence,
the right to strike, the workers' commissions, management control, all
this is incompatible with the European directives. The CES is against
national sovereignty.
Recently the deputies of the Right and the PS made a constitutional
revision that said that the sovereignty of the Portuguese people was
in the Assembly of the Republic!
What is your party's first problem at present?
It is to defend, to conserve the POUS, to exist. Because our party is
threatened abolished, dissolved, and because a new law obliges every
party to present a list of 5,000 registered persons to a constitutional
tribunal and that they must present themselves at every election, especially
in at least a sixth of townships. What they really want are parties
that accept European institutions, capitalism.
Meeting in Lisbon on May 16, 2004 representatives of the lists of the
Workers' Party (France), of the POUS (Portugal) and the one sponsored
by the POSI (Spain) launch an appeal for a common campaign in all European
countries.
For the free union of free and sovereign nations of Europe
For the defense of labor rights and public services
Of peace and democracy
No to the Europe of Maastricht!
Down with the European Parliament and the totalitarian institutions
of
Brussels!
We met in Lisbon on May 16, 2004. Thirty year went by since the revolution
of April 1974 that put an end to the oldest dictatorship in Europe.
The workers, the peasants, the youth, the people of Portugal rose up
to recover their rights and to satisfy the social and democratic requirements
of the majority: the agrarian reform, the control of factories, the
re-establishment of public services, freedom for the colonies and the
end of the war.
Thirty years later, the workers and the peoples of Spain rose up against
the war, against the anti-labor and anti-democratic policies that the
Aznar government had set in motion during eight years, following the
Brussels directives like a zealous pupil. All the workers, all the people
of Europe watched with sympathy and were enthusiastic about the movement
that came from Spain: the withdrawal of troops from Iraq decided upon
by the new Spanish government is an appeal for the withdrawal of all
occupation troops from all countries, from Iraqi territory, it is appeal
whose echo reverberates throughout the labor movement on an international
scale.
It is in these circumstances that the elections held in France on March
21 and 28 resulted in a crushing rejection of the policies led by the
Raffarin-Chirac government of privatization and attacks against the
social rights inspired by the European Union.
In every country from Portugal to Germany, the workers' unanimously
opposed all the anti-social and anti-democratic measures dictated by
Brussels.
Today the summits of the European Union, the big capital institutions
such as the Central European Bank, the various governments attempt to
put a stop to the aspirations of the masses while singing the praises
of the new European Constitution.
On June 13, 2004 all the countries of the European Union have been called
to elections for the European Parliament. Several days later, the summit
of the heads of state of the European Union must adopt the project of
a European Constitution. Obviously, nothing passes through this Parliament,
and the negotiations on the very terms of this Constitution are held
in the strictest secrecy.
This shows that these elections have been tampered with. The Parliament
of Strasburg that doesn't even have a legislative initiative is the
"democratic" cover of the totalitarian institutions of Brussels.
We note that the directives dictated by the Brussels Commission in agreement
with the Central European Bank to push deindustrialization, to the closing
of shipyards and mines that still exist, to the privatization-dismantling
of public services in the name of services of general interest, to leaving
thousands of hectares of land to lie fallow, to the dismantling of fishing
fleets. These are the established and incontrovertible facts.
We note that these directives that would have the power of Law if the
Constitution was adopted, would imply calling into question all the
work codes, collective conventions and social rights existing in our
country. It is in the name of these directives that the French government,
although defeated in the elections of last March 21 and 28, accelerated
the privatization of the social security of 1945, a major conquest of
the French working class. It is in the name of these directives that
they would like to use the cost of labor of our class brothers in countries
that recently entered the Union to break the cost of labor in all Europe.
It is in the name of these directives that laws are adopted limiting
the democratic rights extensively conquered, especially the law of political
parties in Portugal.
We note that the Brussels institutions, far from advancing toward the
construction of a united Europe, are directly subject to the interests
of multinationals and financial markets. From the military point of
view, according to the Treaty of Maastricht, most European armies would
be under the aegis of NATO, an instrument of the U.S. administration.
We note that the Europe of Maastricht is also the Europe of war, it
is the Europe that fully participated in the dismemberment of the Yugoslavian
Federation, that pushed different people into confrontation, that maintain
an ignoble occupation were the worst traffics (prostitution, drugs..)
are encouraged. The Europe of Maastricht is also the Europe that questions
the sovereignty of the nations in which the workers and the population
inscribed their rights, it is the Europe of regionalization, that is
to say of the dismantling of public services, of the confrontation of
peoples, of the partition of nations at the same time it refuses the
right to self-determination of the peoples.
Meeting in Lisbon on May 16, 2004, we who led the lists of the Workers'
Party in France, those sponsored by the POSI in Spain and by the POUS
in Portugal, met to launch an appeal for a common campaign in our countries
and in all European countries whose principal agenda is the fight for
the free union of free and sovereign republics in Europe.
The organizations and the parties that the working class built in its
centennial struggle are today confronted with the biggest threat. Through
the bias of the poorly named European Conference of Trade Unions (ETUC),
defender of directives from Brussels, a total subordination to these
directives is required of our unions. Our organizations would no longer
have the right to demand but only to apply the European law. We depart
from the right of the needs and demands of the workers of our country
and in general of the social and democratic requirements of the majority
of the population.
The experience is there: no government whether of the left or right,
cannot operate in the sense of the interests of the majority if it is
subject to the Brussels directives and the totalitarian institutions
of the European Union.
It is why we consider that we must work for the largest unity of the
workers' movement with the objective of defending the demands, of work
codes and existing collective conventions, of the democratic rights
conquered, for fully sovereign governments guided by only one interest:
the respect and requirements of the majority.
We have decided to present some lists to the elections for the European
Parliament with the objective of fighting within the workers' movement
for the independence of organizations in relation to the Brussels institutions.
To help defend the unity, the democracy and the freedoms that on no
account is the result of setting up of directives of the totalitarian
institutions of Brussels, nor of the recommendations of the crappy Parliament
of Strasburg.
We are convinced that the defense of the rights and guarantees of workers,
democracy and peace require the rupture with Brussels institutions,
with NATO, military instrument of the U.S. administration, to put the
union of free republics and sovereign nations of Europe in place.
It is for this reason that we call on you to participate in the European
Meeting that will take place in Geneva on June 2, for the defense of
the rights of workers, for peace and democracy.
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE OCCUPATION AND FOR LABOR RIGHTS
IN IRAQ
Support the demands of the Iraqi unionists
PRESENTATION:
" The Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
to which the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) is affiliated,
have not stopped fighting for their legal recognition since their foundation
at the time of the National Conference held on December 8, 2003 in Baghdad
in the presence of worker delegates elected at their work place from
all over Iraq.
" The Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) was founded in
May 2003, with the election of an Executive Commission that in turn
elected a Secretary General. The Union now has seven regional unions
with 150,000 workers affiliated throughout the country.
" The Federation of Workers- Councils and Unions in Iraq *FWCUI
(and the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) participated in the
ILO seminar and the ICFTU held in Amman, Jordan in December 2003, with
the involvement of other Arab unions in the region.
" In February 2004, in Baghdad, the met with an international labor
delegation directed by the ICFTU.
" On March 15, 2004 the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions
in Iraq (FWCUI) and the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) were
received by representatives of the Workers' Group of the ILO at the
headquarters of the ILO in Geneva. This delegation aimed to inform the
Workers' Group of the ILO of the situation of the labor movement in
Iraq and more especially to inform the ILO of the fact that the dispositions
of ILO conventions 87 and 98 were not in force in Iraq.
" This delegation of the Workers' Group of the ILO also consisted
of representatives from the coalition of US Labor Against the War (USLAW),
of the International Conference of Arab Trade Unions (ICFTU), and of
the International Liaison Committee For Workers and Peoples (EIT-ILC).
These organizations participated in the International Campaign Against
the Occupation and For Labor Rights in Iraq.
" To the question: "How can one avoid that Iraq does not perpetuate
the system of selection and official recognition of unions, that exclude
the right to organize themselves in a union of their choice?" The
answer is that "the mechanisms of the ILO offer the possibility
to all Iraqi unions that consider the ILO conventions have been violated
to lodge a complaint with the Committee of Union Liberties of the ILO.
" Following the advice of the representatives of the Workers' Group,
the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the
Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) decided to lodge a complaint
with the Committee of Union Liberties of the ILO.
" The Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
and the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) will meet with the
Workers' Group again on June 11 2004.
" The Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
and the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) calls on all union
organizations, on all unionist on an international scale, especially
all the delegates to the next session of the ILO at the Workers' Group:
bring your support to the complaint that we have lodged with the Committee
of Union Liberties of the ILO.
COMPLAINT LODGED WITH THE COMMITTEE OF UNION LIBERTIES OF THE ILO BY
THE FEDERATION OF WORKERS COUNCILS AND UNIONS IN IRAQ(FWCUI) AND THE
UNION OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS IN IRAQ (UUI)
Address in Baghdad: Bab Al-Sharki, Al Rasheed St, Old Labor Union Bldg,
Baghdad, Iraq
Address out of Iraq: Aso Jabbar, cp 325, HP 3000 Bern 11, Switzerland
asojabbar@yahoo.com
We the undersigned representatives duly elected acting in the name
of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) as
well as the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) want to lodge
a complaint before the Committee of Union Liberties of the ILO.
-Considering that since the fall of the former regime, the Iraqi workers
themselves constituted several union organizations among which are the
Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) to which the
Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) is affiliated;
-Considering that the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq
(FWCUI) was constituted at the time of the National Foundation Conference
held on December 8, 2003 in Baghdad in the presence of worker delegates
elected at their work place from all over Iraq;
-Considering that the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq
(FWCUI) now has affiliated 300,000 Iraqi workers;
-Considering that the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) constituted
in May 2003, with the election of a National executive commission and
themselves elected a secretary general;
-Considering that the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) has
constituted seven regional unions in seven provinces and registered
150,000 members countrywide;
-Considering that the decree No. 16 promulgated on January 28, 2004
by the President of the government's interim council, Adnan Pachachi,
recognizes the existence of one of the union federations in Iraq, the
IFTU, while stipulating that the IFTU and its president, Rasem Hussein
Abdullah, are "the legitimate and legal representatives of the
workers movement in Iraq;"
-Considering that in various companies such as the Baghdad railroad
or the refinery at Bassorah, the management of these establishments
has indicated to the workers, following the adoption of decree No. 16
promulgated on January 28, 2004, that they should rejoin the legalized
union, implying that the other federation was illegal.
We consider that the situation promulgated by the enactment of decree
No. 16 on January 28, 2004 infringes on the norms of the ILO and more
particularly violates the disposition of conventions 87 and 98 of the
ILO.
In regard to Convention 87
" Articles 2 and 3 of ILO Convention 87 stipulate that: "the
workers and the employers, without distinction, have the right without
previous authorization, to constitute organizations of their choice,
as well as to become affiliated to these organizations, on the only
condition that it conforms to the statutes of these last (article 2)."
"The organization of workers and employers has the right to elaborate
their statutes and administrative regulations, to freely elect their
representatives, to organize their management and their activity, and
to formulate their program of action (article 3.1)."
Isn't there a contradiction between the fact that the public authority
decides that a union is the legitimate and legal representative of the
workers movement in Iraq and the fact that "the workers and employers
without distinction have the right without previous authorization, to
constitute organizations of their choice, as well as to become affiliated
to these organizations?"
Isn't there a violation of article 2 of the ILO convention 87 when
the management of a company indicates to the workers to which union
they should be affiliated?
" Article 3 of the ILO convention 87 stipulates, "the public
authorities must abstain from all intervention likely to limit this
right or to hinder legal exercise of it (article 3.2)?"
Isn't there a violation of article 3 of the ILO convention 87 when
the public authority decrees which is the representative union?
We affirm that in promulgating the decree No. 16 of January 28, 2004
that selects the union that it agrees to recognize, the public authority
has assumed the right to decide which organization has the right to
be recognized and has, in fact, ridiculed the right to join the union
of his or her choice.
It is about the hindrance to exercise this right exercised by the public
authority in violation of the ILO convention 87, a hindrance that perpetuates
the previous system of selection and official recognition of the unions
prohibiting the right of joining the union of his or her choice.
Regarding what concerns convention 98
" Article 1 of the ILO convention 98 stipulates that "the
workers must benefit from an adequate protection against all mutual
hindrance" when for example the employers threaten to dismiss workers
because they joined unions considered illegal.
Because of the maintenance of the shameful law promulgated by Saddam
Hussein in 1987, forbidding the right to strike in all public enterprises,
the Iraqi unions saw themselves threatened by the management of these
enterprises and have been attacked by the forces of occupation because
they went on strike.
The management of these enterprises tells the Iraqi workers that henceforth
that in not joining the only recognized union they are violating the
law. They can be detained and thrown in jail for the only motive of
having exercised their right to join a union of their choice, a right
inscribed in the ILO conventions.
The threats exercised in violation of the dispositions of ILO convention
98 are made possible by the non-application of ILO convention 87 on
the right to organize themselves in the union of their choice.
" The ILO convention 98 guarantees the right to negotiate collectively.
There is violation of conventions 87 and 98 when through the means
of decree No. 16 of January 28, 2004 the authorities assume the right
to decide which organization must be recognized and which organization
has the power to exercise the universally recognized right to negotiate.
The >Iraqi workers and their duly elected representatives must be
authorized to formulate in the perspective of the development of a work
code that can only be written by the Iraqi workers themselves.
Hundreds and thousands of worker in Iraq are currently unemployed (70%
according to a recent poll) they fear that their economic situation
is now under the control of the occupation forces. In the present situation
the Iraqi workers fear that the decisions take by the occupation forces,
especially in the economic domain with privatizations, will not perpetuate
the pillaging of Iraq's natural resources by the big multinationals.
It is the Iraqi workers themselves who must write their constitution
and their laws including the work code integrating the arrangements
on the right to unemployment insurance and the totality of the union
rights stipulated by the ILO conventions, particularly those of conventions
87 and 98.
-Considering that they would not have democracy in Iraq if the Iraqi
people cannot freely dispose of their natural resources, of their destiny,
of their future-and establish their own control on their economy, if
the Iraqi workers are not free to constitute organizations of their
choice;
-Considering that we share the point of view expressed by the Workers
Group of the ILO according to which:
"The reconstruction of Iraq must profit the people of Iraq, particularly
the disinherited, the handicapped and the most vulnerable layers of
the population. The Workers Group calls for an immediate resumption
of work for all workers in Iraq including measures to protect their
wages. The Group demands that the oil resources of Iraq be used only
for the benefit of the people of Iraq."
In accordance with the norms of the ILO, total freedom of association
must exist in the new Iraq, guaranteeing the right of organization and
collective bargaining to Iraqi workers; there must be a real democracy
with full and whole civil liberties, that allows unions to choose their
own leaders with complete independence and safe from all pressures.
The Iraqi peoples must have the total right to self-determination.
We the undersigned duly elected representing and acting on the mandate
of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and
the Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI) with a total of 300,000
Iraqi workers, lodge our complaint with the Committee of Union Liberties
of the ILO.
We ask that the ILO use all its authority and its prerogatives to ensure
the application of ILO conventions 87 and 98 in Iraq and that consequently
the unions that have been constituted by the workers themselves are
fully recognized.
Baghdad, May 15, 2004
Falah Alwan Hussain, President of the Federation of Workers Councils
and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI)
Qasim Hadi, Secretary General of the Union of Unemployed Workers in
Iraq (UUI)
-I associate myself to the complaint for the respect of ILO conventions
87 and 98 in Iraq lodged on May 20, 2004 at the ILO headquarters by
the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the
Union of Unemployed Workers in Iraq (UUI)
In my name In the name of my organization . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .
Union : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
Name : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
Adress :
.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .. . . . . . . . . .
E-mail : I contribute :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The International campaign for workers rights in Iraq needs important
sums.
To assist the delegates of the workers movement in Iraq to travel to
Geneva please contribute substantially.
Chcks to the order of CMO. Mention Iraq campaign
Bank drafts (IBAN) : FR76 3093 8000 34000 5122 7000 317 - LUBPFRPP
To contact us :
o US Labor Against War, Po Box 153, 1718 M Street, NW Washington DC,
20036 USA
E-mail : info@uslaboragainstwar.org
o International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions,
213, rue Bagdad, Po box 3225 Damas (Syrie). Tél. : (963 11) 445
95 44 Fax : (963 11) 442 03 23.
E-mail : icatu@net.sy
o International Liaison Committee for Workers and Peoples,
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis, 75010 Paris (France)
Tél. : (33-1) 48 01 88 28. Fax : (33-1) 48 01 88 36.
E-mail :eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com
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