Open World Conference of Workers

In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights

Roseau (Dominica) Declaration

On Thursday, April 4, 2002, a symposium was held at the national headquarters of the National Workers Union (NWU) in Roseau, Dominica. Delegates from Martinique and Guadeloupe were also present. Among those in attendance were the following:

- Mr. Bernard Nicholas, of the Dominica Trade Union (DTU)
- A member of the Movement for a Workers and Peasants Party in Guadeloupe (MPTPG)
- A representative from the Workers and Peasants Alliance of Martinique (AOP)
- Officers of the National Workers Union of Dominica, including President General Rawlings F.A. Jemmot.

The symposium took stock of the following:

* The conclusions of the Conference Against Deregulation, for Trade Union Independence, and For the Rights of People to Self-Determination held in Martinique on December 14-15, 2001; and

* The conclusions of both the International Conference Against Deregulation and For Labor Rights For All -- as well as the International Working Women's Conference -- held in Berlin, Germany, in early February 2002.

The symposium also took note that an International Trade Union Conference in Defence of the ILO Conventions was being planned for June 16, 2002, in Geneva, Switzerland.

It further noted that the delegates from North and South America gathered at the Berlin Conference in February 2002 has pledged to convene a Western Hemisphere Conference Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) some time in 2003.

On the basis of these observations, the participants in the Roseau symposium therefore took the following decisions:

* To organise a conference among the people of the Caribbean
- against the deregulation of labor rights
- for the defence and reconquest of trade union rights
- for the independence of the trade unions
- against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which will have a devastating impact on the weak economies of the region
- for the rights of the peoples of the Caribbean to self-determination.

It was therefore agreed to hold a Caribbean Sub-Regional Conference on these issues in December 2002 in Guadeloupe.

It was also decided that a delegation from the Caribbean should be present at the June 2002 International Labor Conference in Defence of the ILO Conventions and that a regionwide campaign should be launched around the following demands:

- for the defence of maternity rights and the reconquest of ILO Convention 103;

- against child labor and for the defence of ILO Convention 138, and

- against the dismantling of the Labor Administration in Martinique undertaken by the French government, which among other things, is responsible for the attacks leveled against Mr. Jacques Bertholle, the director of the Labor Administration in Martinique.

The participants in the Roseau symposium also agreed to publish documents in Spanish, French and English informing about and exposing the conditions of employment of workers in the Caribbean. The first publication should be out by August 2002.

It was further agreed that a Preparatory Committee should be set up to review the objectives of the Conference to be held at the end of the year in Guadeloupe. The committee will be responsible for gathering contributions for the conference preparatory bulletin and preparing the conference agenda around the following proposed items:

* the problems of the trade unions and the struggle for trade union independence

* the consequences and impact of the "free trade" agreements for the peoples of the Caribbean region

* the problems incurred by the foreign debt and the structural adjustment plans of the IMF

* the crisis in agriculture, fishing, tourism, and education

* the situation of working women

* the problem of child labor

* the systematic undermining of the ILO Conventions and of all bodies aimed at protecting the rights contained therein.




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