Open World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
WHC Report Section 8
NOTE:
Following is Part 8 of the ongoing report on the Western Hemisphere
Workers' Conference, which took place Nov. 14-16, 1997, in San Francisco
at the initiative of the San Francisco Labor Council and the California
Labor Federation (AFL-CIO).
Section
8 contains the following:
·
A Call to
Action in Support of the embattled Han Young workers in Tijuana, Mexico
·
The
"Principles of Unity" declaration adopted by the Haitian Support
Committee for the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference
·
Presentation
by Tafazzul Hussain, general secretary of
the National Workers Federation of Bangladesh, and
·
A letter from
a conference participant .
Open Letter to All
Supporters of Trade Union Rights:
Dear Brothers and
Sisters:
As we write
this letter [on Jan. 2, 1998], it appears the battle is still far from
over.
Two weeks ago,
everything indicated the workers had won official recognition of the union
of their choice: the STIMAHCS union. We, along with supporters of the Han
Young workers around the world, celebrated what was widely viewed as an
historic victory -- the official recognition of the first independent
union in the maquiladora-sweatshop corridor along the U.S.-Mexican border.
But this was
not to be. Though the workers had twice elected the STIMAHCS union to be
their official bargaining agent [see chronology below], the Han Young
Corp., a subsidiary of Hyundai, reneged on their agreement to recognize
the union. The company is continuing to collude with the Mexican
government to prevent the workers from exercising their basic right to
elect the union of their choice.
The San
Diego-based Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, which has
spearheaded the international campaign on behalf of the Han Young workers,
is calling on all supporters of trade union and democratic rights to send
faxes to the Han Young management in Tijuana (with copies to Mexican
President Ernesto Zedillo) demanding the immediate recognition of STIMAHCS
as the only official bargaining agent of the Han Young workers.
The Support
Committee has prepared a sample letter, which we are attaching for your
information. It is important that hundreds of letters with this statement
be sent immediately -- preferably in the name of your union or
organization.
Thank you in
advance for your prompt attention to this matter.
In Solidarity,
Ed
Rosario & Alan Benjamin,
Organizers,
URGENT ACTION REQUEST
·
(NOTE:
Please send a fax to Han Young management. Following is a sample
letter. Please send copies to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and to the
Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers, as indicated below.)
Pablo Kang, Manager
Han Young de
Mexico
Tijuana,
Mexico
Fax:
011-526-680-4481
Dear
Mr. Kang:
We
are outraged at your continued refusal to recognize STIMAHCS as the only
representative of your employees.
A majority of
Han Young workers have twice voted to be represented by the STIMAHCS
union. In your attempts to undermine two official union certification
elections, you are acting as an outlaw company.
We demand that
you fulfill your commitments and your legal obligations to recognize the
STIMAHCS union, and to bargain in good faith with STIMAHCS.
Justice
for the Han Young workers! We will be watching your actions.
Sincerely,
(signature)
Send copies to:
• President
Ernesto Zedillo, Palacio de Gobierno, Mexico (011) 525-271-1764
• Support
Committee for Maquiladora Workers (619) 295-5879.
CHRONOLOGY OF RECENT
EVENTS
For months,
more than 60 Han Young workers had been in the fight of their lives to
defend their vote for an independent union, and to keep their jobs and
improve their wages and working conditions. Three workers began a hunger
strike on November 20 to protest the Mexican government's refusal to
recognize their independent union.
On November
10, the STIMAHCS union, which is affiliated with the independent labor
federation FAT (Authentic Workers Front), was denied certification even
though an overwhelming majority of the workers voted for the union on
October 6. The company later brought in scabs from the faraway state of
Veracruz to replace the workers who voted for the independent union, and
fired 12 of the most vocal pro-union organizers.
Hyundai's
public pledge to recognize STIMAHCS was a gigantic breakthrough. It was
the result of a massive international protest and letter-writing campaign.
But a major
obstacle remained. That obstacle was the Mexican government.
The accord
between the independent union and the company was supposed to be signed on
December 14. This did not occur, however, as the Baja California state
government, which had pledged to underwrite the agreement, refused to sign
it.
The three Han
Young hunger strikers promised in response to continue their fast until
they got clearer guarantees that their union would be recognized. Four
other Han Young workers then chained themselves to the gates of the Baja
California State Building to demand the recognition of the union. And the
international campaign to pressure the Mexican government went back into
swing, full force.
On December
15, Han Young management offered 1,000 pesos to each worker at the plant
who promised to vote for the pro-company CTM union in a new election. But
the next day, everything changed.
On December
16, negotiations were held between Han Young workers, Han Young
management, and representatives of the Mexican federal government, Baja
California state government, and the Tijuana labor board.
At the end of
the day, a new vote was taken, and a majority of the workers again voted
for the independent union. The government publicly pledged it would
officially certify STIMAHCS.
It appeared to
most observers that having won the second election -- and given the public
pledges by the employer and the government -- the STIMAHCS union was now
the uncontested, legal representative of the Han Young workers.
This was not
the case. The government and the employer de-facto reversed the results of
the election, claiming that the pro-government CTM union was the official
collective-bargaining agent at the Han Young plant.
This
outrageous travesty of basic trade union rights must be denounced loudly
by working people the world over. We must send a clear statement to both
Hyundai and the Mexican government that the international labor movement
will not relent in its support efforts until the STIMAHCS union is
officially registered as the union representing the Han Young workers.
"PRINCIPLES OF UNITY" DECLARATION
OF THE HAITIAN SUPPORT
COMMITTEE TO THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE WORKERS' CONFERENCE
(Note: Following is the
"Principles of Unity" declaration adopted by the Haitian Support
Committee to the Conference of the Americas Against NAFTA and
Privatizations. It was published in the magazine distributed by the
Haitian delegation to the conference, which was held November 14-16, 1977,
in San Francisco.)
APPEAL
1 - The Conference of the Americas Against the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) and Privatizations, convened by the California AFL-CIO
for November 14, 15 & 16, 1997, is an event of great importance. It is
significant that the appeal for a Conference against NAFTA and the
privatization/destruction plans of public enterprises and the public
services was issued from within the United States, the country whose
ruling class is trying to impose its prerogatives on the entire planet
through the international institutions in its service (UN, WTO, World
Bank, IMF, etc...).
This Appeal advances the struggle to uphold the rights of North American
workers and also those of the workers and nations of the rest of the
continent, and has repercussions for the rest of the world.
The initiative is also the first attempt in the continent's history to
build a united workers'and peoples'fightback against the plans which the
IMF and the World Bank are implementing throughout the region and against
the plans to form the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
2 - This appraisal is reflected in the tour which president Clinton
carried out last May [1997] in Central America and the Caribbean. The
regional tour clarifies the terms of the US government's current
onslaught, which is aimed first and foremost at its own country's workers
(the recent strikes of the Teamsters at UPS against deregulation measures)
and at the rights of workers throughout the world (e.g. the law on early
retirement and voluntary departures of 25,000 public workers out of 45,000
in Haiti), rights which are written into national labor legislations and
the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. The onslaught is
also aimed at national sovereignty in general and more particularly in the
Americas, always in the name of "free trade".
During his last trip, Clinton reasserted his intention to complete the
integration of the FTAA, from Alaska to Pantagonia, by the year 2005. He
made it quite clear that this would take place through the extension of
NAFTA, if not the simple annexation of all the region's countries to NAFTA
(Mexico City speech).
To the Central American and Caribbean presidents who requested
"privileged treatment", he answered that the WTO's norms would
apply and referred them to the rules and application dates set out for the
FTAA. It's clear that the American administration is trying to introduce a
new wave of commercial liberalization, privatizations and deregulations
accompanied by delocalizations. In the United States and elsewhere, such
policies have already led to rising unemployment and the speculative
plundering of the national wealth and labor force. This was the US
president's objective at the December 1996 WTO Summit in Singapore when he
started trying to subordinate the ILO and destroy the system of
conventions while co-opting the trade unions through the "social
label".
3 - This onslaught was also reflected, two weeks earlier, in the
four-way agreement (Administration, employers, trade unions, NGOs) which
imposed a "Code of Good Conduct" for American firms, authorizing
the use of child labor from the age of 15 years old on and a 60-hour week.
According to this "Code" the trade unions would attribute a
"label" on all products sold in the US and the rest of the
world. Thereby transformed into a "social police force" the
trade unions would be swept into the trade war being waged by the United
States juggernaut.
This illustrates the American government's intention to expand its trade
throughout the region by dismantling industry and agriculture in several
countries through the organized system of plunder made up of
privatizations and the heightened, increasingly brutal exploitation of the
work force (15 years old and 60 hours a week). And this in a region which
according to MC Larty already has the fastest growing rate of trade with
the United States. This was the essence of Bill Clinton's speech, which
the French daily Le Monde
comments in the following way: "Following Bill Clinton at the podium,
the Mexican president made a reverberating plea for free trade and a
market economy 'with a human face, accompanied by social concerns'."
These "social concerns" are nothing but hypocrisy because, for
example, between 1980 and 1996 the United States reduced its aid to
Central America from $226 million to $26 million. But the reference to
"social accompaniments" is quite real; for in the face of
growing workers'and peoples'resistance throughout the continent, this
process of "liberalization" can only work if the trade unions
are co-opted, social clauses introduced and the treaties annexed to NAFTA.
In the name of turning trade unions into "associates" who
accompany this process or even become part "owners" of firms,
these measures are aimed at convincing the workers to accept the
destruction of their rights and of the national patrimony.
4 - In all countries of the southern part of the continent, Central
America and the Caribbean, the public sector and nationalized enterprises
are a constitutive part of the nation. Be they a product of the 1945-47
revolutionary wave or the 1960-70 years of military and bonapartist police
state they help to structure the nation. Policies of
privatization/destruction of the public enterprises and services have been
imposed the world over by the IMF and the World Bank, and on our continent
date back at least to the infamous Baker plan of the early 1980s. This
plan was the cornerstone of the SAPs (Structural Adjustment Plans) whose
purpose is to increase capitalist profits by encouraging speculation and
parasitism instead of production. Today, the global capitalism economy
requires their outright destruction, as well as that of social rights and
independent trade unions. All of this fuels a process of decay of the
national framework and of society itself.
•The national currency, the Gourde, has continued to depreciate
against the American dollar;
•The trade deficit has worsened;
•Basic commodity prices have sky-rocketed;
•The service of the foreign debt has increased;
• The foreign debt grew from 5 billion gourdes to more than 14 billion
gdes;
•The number of jobs being lost in the various sectors of the economy
continues to grow;
•Rice imports have increased to more than 1000
million US dollars, whereas in 1984 there were practically no rice
imports;
•And to top it off, in the past three years over 70% of the budget of
the new state has been funded through international aid. Haiti has become
a country which has essentially no national budget.
G. Anderson, treasurer
R. Certilon, delegate
B. Duclos, president
A. Jean, councillor,
J. Prosper, general secretary.
N. Delassaint, assistant administrator
R. Delassaint, information director
E. Elien, councillor
W. François, delegate
G. Pierre, executive secretary
R. Trouillot, education director
C. Lexiuste, ex-general secretary
3 - FEDERATION OF UNIONIZED WORKERS (FOS)
R. Chery, first vice-president.
F. Bernadin, general secretary
M. Joseph, treasurer
R. Joseph, councillor,
D. Louis, delegate
O. Michel, delegate
P. Simon, vice-president
C. Derolus, assistant general secretary
J-F Maxi, treasurer
H. Michel, general secretary,
C. Oupette, president
6 - NATIONAL AUTHORITY OF PORTS EMPLOYEES UNION
E. Cyrielle, general secretary
O. Oleus, information director
J. Colo, education director
M. François, press director
L. UBO, president
J-R Ore, general secretary
U. Pierre, finance secretary
M. Desther, vice-president
J-N Lemorin, assistant treasurer
P. Petit-Home, president
J. F. Saint-Hubert, general secretary
G. Semma, treasurer
Y. Altidor, lawyer and member of leadership
G. Chery, trade unionists
U. Gedeus, president
L. Metelus, treasurer
W. Petit-Frere, member of leadership
G. Georges, councillor
C. Joseph, general secretary
S. Policier, delegate
E. Rejouis, president
A. Lesseille, member of leadership
12 - ASSOCIATION OF YACINTHE PLANTERS (APY)
J. Estimé, delegate
E. Aline, general co-ordinator
J. Georges, assistant general co-ordinator
D. Prompt, general secretary
14 - MOVEMENT OF DETROU-CHOUCHOU FARMERS (MPT)
G. Bissereth, member of leadership
C. Destin, treasurer
L. Estiverne, ex-coord. general, Savanette deputy
J. N. Emile, delegate
E. Petit-Pharblé, co-ordinator general
HUMANS RIGHTS DEFENSE ORGANIZATIONS
J. Mathurin, member of the Haiti CICR bureau
POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS
17 - WORKERS AND FARMERS PARTY (POP)
F. Senat, general secretary
18 - PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTIES AND OTHER ELECTED OFFICIALS
2. G. Ducathel, deputy
3. D. Felix, deputy
4. F. François, deputy
5. L-A Germain, deputy
6. J-S Guignard, deputy
7. J. J. Jasmin, deputy
8. S. Madistin, Astibonite senator
9. J-L Nelson, deputy
10. L-E Passé, deputy
11. F-R Saint-Paul, deputy, ex-president of the House of Deputies
12. J-M Siclait, deputy
13. M. Verdieu, deputy
14. J-F Pierre, city council member
15. J-M Samedi, city council member
19 - PERSONALITIES
1. R-A Auguste, APROSIFA nurse
2. M-C Beaulieu, professional
3. A. Blanc, educator
4. F. Blanchard, Spanish professor
5. A. Brutus, student in medicine
6. G. Charles, professional
7. A. Chenst, accountant
8. L. Dominique, student in social sciences
9. A. Dumarsais, student in economic law
10. S. Duamirsais, engineer
11. M. Fecond, student in legal section
12. T. Fenio, student in legal section
13. L. Gerome, nurse
14. J-K, Guillaume, painter
15. J-B HonorÈ, student in legal section
16. M. Jabrun, social science professor
17. F. Jean-Baptiste, accountant
18. J. Jean-Baptiste, student in legal section
19. M. Marcelin, member of "KAY FANM" leadership
20. A. Mompremier, student in law faculty
21. G. Nicolas, engineer
22. F. Noel, engineer
23. J-V, Rubin, ex-journalist secretary, ATPP administrator
24. I. Saint-Paul, nurse
25. A. Saint-Jour, computer specialist
26. J-R Telus, driver
27. J. Vital, trade unionist.
Presentation by Tafazzul
Hussain, National Workers Federation of
Bangladesh:
"The aim of the 'social clause' is to demobilize and disarm
us."
Their prescriptions have ruined our national structures, our national
states, our national economies.
The governments of Southeast Asia were used as testing grounds for the
policies of privatization, structural adjustment, and deregulation. Now
you in the Americas are being forced to swallow the same bitter pill.
Many people said that workers in the United States and the other
developed countries would benefit from the imposition of these structural
adjustment policies in Southeast Asia.
But the record shows this is absolutely not true. Overexploitation of
the workers in our countries gives the multinationals the means by which
to blackmail workers in the United States. The bosses simply threaten to
close their plants and run away to the far East if the U.S. workers don't
make exorbitant concessions.
The fact is that good jobs are being lost both in the United States and
Southeast Asia as a result of these policies.
And now, more than ever, the trade unions are under attack.
Today, they want to change the constitution of the International Labor
Organization (ILO) as they seek to transform it into one of the subsidiary
organizations of the World Trade Organization. Their aim is to undermine
and abolish the independence of the trade unions.
In my country, the trade unions have been offered huge amounts of money
if they accept becoming Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
There is a discussion taking place in unions across the globe concerning
the "social clauses." There are friends who say we should fight
for the inclusion of these clauses in their proposed free trade
agreements.
But who are the people suggesting that we accept these social clauses?
They are the IMF, World Bank and WTO -- that's who they are.
Are they sincere when they propose the inclusion of these clauses in
their pacts? Do they really believe these clauses will address the needs
of working people? The answer is quite simple: No!
Take my country: Bangladesh. These financial institutions gave enormous
loans to the government in exchange for closing industries. They gave a
$250 million loan to close the jute industries -- the life line of
Bangladesh. Eighty percent of the population, somehow or other, is
connected to the jute industry.
And now the government -- at the behest of these institutions, which had
all sorts of "social clauses" in their loan agreements -- are
closing the jute industries. In the last two years alone, they've closed
many jute factories, with an estimated loss of close to 2 million jobs.
And as they destroy these jobs, they dare talk about "social
clauses."
They talk about social clauses to disarm us, to demobilize us, to get us
to accept their destructive plans. That's the main reason they're
interested in these clauses.
We must say no to these free trade pacts. They cannot be modified or
amended to meet our needs in any way. Accepting the inclusion of these
clauses only legitimizes their attacks against us. We must not fall prey
to their designs.
LETTER FROM A CONFERENCE
PARTICIPANT:
At the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference I was most challenged by
the conference reports from Canadians David Orchard and Tony Wohlfarth of
the Canadian Auto Workers' union (CAW) in Mary Tong's Hyundai workers'
workshop.
In my view, Tony Wohlfarth made possibly one of the most important
conference points when he said, concerning any agreement about labor or
environmental standards between countries, that only strong national
unions (like the CAW) can provide the muscle, brains, and spirit to build,
sustain, guarantee, and enforce such standards. Clauses written into any
extended NAFTA agreement, no matter how militant, will be toothless.
Unlike some conference participants who castigated Gephardt (and I
suppose would extend that to Bonior and Maxine Walters), I give Gephardt
credit for helping stop FAST TRACK. But as I noted in a speech he gave to
Harvard students, he is aiming to support Clinton, if such
"social" clauses are included.
I was struck by an article written not long ago by one of the speakers
at the conference: Mike Griffin of the War Zone Educational Foundation. In
this piece, Griffin compared the CAW's success with the UAW's failures. He
noted that by striking and occupying a key production facility, the CAW
forced General Motors into an agreement that denied GM the right to
outsource, move production, or close plants. Wages were never an issue.
Griffin pointed to an important approach -- work ownership.
But the big monkey riding me, so to say, was -- and still partly is --
the recent Teamsters' victory over UPS, to an important degree due to the
intelligent, democratic and I thought honest, leadership of Ron Carey, and
the tenacious struggle of Ken Paff's TDU (Teamsters for a Democratic
Union, an evidently little known and valued movement).
This was the first, big-scale, national victory by a union in our
country in about 30 or more years, promising to be a major turning point,
a big lift up for working people vs. the super-powerful international
corporations.
The strike was well-planned. It seemed that the "reform"
movement had scrubbed out all (or most all) of the notorious former
Teamster corruption, as with the Midwest pension funds. Carey and
"his" group outsmarted the UPS management who in a way wanted
the strike, thinking the Teamster strike funds were low, which they were,
and that they could play on deep internal divisions.
But many other unions supported the strike and, most important, the
AFL-CIO leadership came out strongly for the Teamsters. Many unions were
ready and able to support them financially. And a majority of the public
supported the strikers, although only around 15% of Americans belong to
unions now.
On two occasions at the conference I raised the question of the current
crisis in the Teamsters' union and the issue of Ron Carey's alleged role
in the financial scandal. I might as well have tossed a grain of sand into
the ocean. No response, period.
All I could conclude, tentatively, is that people in the conference and
elsewhere in labor, being obviously more seasoned and shrewd than I,
figure it's smarter to lay low, while Carey prepares and makes his
defense, if he can. It's hard to believe that he was guilty of this ploy
of feeding money to the Democrats, though, perhaps hard to believe he
didn't know.
As could be expected, business people, Republicans, and of course
Democrats, and surely some jealous labor leaders, immediately jumped on
the anti-Carey bandwagon, and have him smeared guilty, before any fair
trial. If they have not already fixed it, they are moving fast to turn
this truly great victory, into a miserably un-great defeat.
We may be in for a tough fight on this one -- possibly even a bad
reversal. Nonetheless, I am confident that whatever happens in that union,
workers across the country are getting fed up and figuring they have to do
something.
In Solidarity,
Dick Andrews,
Fairfax, Calif.