Open World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
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We, representatives from democratic and workers' organizations from 56 countries, met in San Francisco on February 11-14, 2000, at the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights in response to the call issued by the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO), the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International (ILC), and the Continuations Committee of the November 1997 Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA and Privatizations (WHC).
The contributions from trade union and political activists and leaders from around the world showed that in each country the fight to defend workers' interests takes specific forms. Yet though the forms may vary, the objectives are the same: to improve living and working conditions, and to defend the rights and guarantees written into collective-bargaining agreements, legal job status and Conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO). These are the conditions for genuine peace in the world. These are the conditions for real democracy in all countries, which can only be based upon the rights of peoples to self-determination and equality between races. These rights can only be won by the peoples themselves as they work to seek out and find the solutions to the problems which confront them.
Our world conference does not claim the right to impose its views. It is the independent workers' organizations throughout the world and at the national level that must decide the objectives and actions they deem appropriate in the present world situation. Our conference reasserts its will to be a rallying point for pursuing the discussions which have taken place at the conference.
The struggle to constantly improve living and working conditions is our main common objective. The way to bring about these improvements is by fighting to make sure that trade unions remain independent from management and from the State. We reassert the fact that independent trade unions are the main organizational forms capable of defending workers' interests. That is why nothing can justify accepting any violation of the prerogatives and integrity of independent trade unions.
The very existence of independent workers' organizations is threatened the world over
But what have we found? The reports presented to our conference, as well as the preparatory contributions and the interventions of delegates on the conference floor, have all brought to light the threats looming over the independent workers' organizations around the world.
It should be recalled that our Open World Conference results from the convergence of several initiatives. In November 1997, here in San Francisco, the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference launched an appeal to fight back against NAFTA and privatizations and the consequences of the so-called globalization.
In June 1998, in Geneva, a conference of labor delegates meeting on the occasion of the annual ILO Assembly, launched an appeal in defense of the ILO Conventions, which are being seriously threatened by the "revisions" presently under consideration.
More than two years have gone by. It would appear that the message sent out from San Francisco (1997) and Geneva (1998) has been heard.
During this period the world-wide fight back against what is called "globalization," against WTO domination and in defense of workers' rights has grown. The powerful demonstration which took place in Seattle in November 1999, convened in particular by the national AFL-CIO, is indisputable proof of this. This is also true of the various strikes and fightbacks in all of our countries which are rising up against these policies of global destruction.
However, it would be a mistake to assume that the multinationals, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and all the governments in their service have admitted defeat. No, they have not abandoned their gigantic stock market and speculative profit-making, rooted in the widespread impoverishment of the work force. They have not stopped plunging entire peoples into misery as a means to help them plunder wealth and super-exploit - all of this resulting in bloody conflict. This is why they have not stopped trying to get rid of what they themselves have singled out as being "obstacles": independent trade unions, collective-bargaining agreements, legal job status, systems of social protection, as well as the right to strike and the right to organize and to formulate demands, negotiate and obtain contracts.
The inalienable right of the exploited and oppressed to organize as they see fit to defend their own specific interests
The independence of the labor movement is a crucial question for any democracy. Democracy cannot exist if it does not grant the inalienable right to the exploited and oppressed to organize as they see fit to defend their own specific interests.
But today, workers' organizations the world over are targets of an onslaught aimed at transforming them into the instruments of government, IMF, WTO and World Bank policies. The forms may change from one country to the next, but the substance is always the same. This world-wide onslaught is meant to be officially codified at the upcoming Summit of heads of state in New York in September 2000. The main item on this Summit's agenda is to officialize the reform of the UN and the ILO, henceforth transforming these two organizations into simple sub-divisions of the World Trade Organization.
The danger is real. By integrating the ILO into the WTO, trade unions around the world would be forced to become appendices of international trade agreements. Workers' rights, collective-bargaining agreements and labor codes would no longer be rights guaranteed by states, but would be reduced to hypothetical clauses in "free trade" agreements. Such rights might or might not be granted, depending on the whims of the multinationals within the framework of these trade agreements.
Then there are the states, governments and sovereign nations themselves. Their independence, already often just formal in some cases, would be seriously compromised if the UN were to be transformed into a mere subdivision of world trade - a big club for multinationals, big banks and international financial institutions.
In full respect of the prerogatives of labor organizations the world over, our Open World Conference deems it our responsibility to call attention to these imminent dangers.
The WTO is leading the attack on all our social gains
This is why we, delegates from 56 countries, hereby assert:
- The demands and aspirations of the world's workers are known to all: defense, ratification and implementation of the ILO Conventions, labor codes, collective-bargaining agreements, legal job status; the refusal of privatization and the defense of public services, health care and education systems; decent minimum wage; pure and simple cancellation of the foreign debt; ban on forced labor, prison labor and child labor. ...
Independent trade unions must exist for these aspirations and demands to be satisfied.
To satisfy these demands and aspirations, an immediate halt must be imposed upon the destructive plans dictated by the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank.
Is it possible to reform the WTO? This was an issued discussed at our conference.
The facts reported at our conference show that it is the WTO which is leading the attack against all our social gains. Is it possible to even imagine that the WTO has any need for independent trade unions? In any event, it appears clear that the reforms of the UN and ILO that are underway are in total contradiction with democracy and the aspirations of millions and millions of human beings.
- We call upon the workers and organizations of the entire world to ask them to support the demands made upon the U.S. government by four labor organizations of that country to ratify ILO Conventions 87, 11, 98 and 143, which codify the right to form independent trade unions, the right to organize and the respect of basic human rights - as well as immediate amnesty for all the super-exploited, rural migrant workers deprived of any rights in the United States. These four U.S. organizations are the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC/AFL-CIO), Coalition for Dignity and Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants, UE 150 and Black Workers For Justice. The Open World Conference would like to put forward this question raised by a U.S. labor leader: How can a country claim to give lessons on democracy to the rest of the world when at home it denies the most elementary human and workers' rights to broad sectors of the population?
- We support the call launched in defense of ILO Convention 103, which guarantees the rights of women workers during maternity. Informed of the planned revision that would make it possible to lay off pregnant women, today prohibited by this ILO convention, and to reduce the minimum length of maternity leave and guaranteed medical care to pregnant women, the Open World Conference calls on all women workers, on all workers around the world and on all labor and democratic organizations to join their efforts to prevent this revision - to preserve ILO Convention 103 and all its guarantees, and to take every necessary initiative to alert public opinion to this threat of social regression. The conference adopts as its own the proposal made that March 8, 2000, become a great international day of protest around the world against the revision of ILO Convention 103 and in defense of maternity rights.
- Our Open World Conference proceedings showed that workers' rights and the improvements which must be made to national social legislation are directly linked to democratic rights, especially the right to association and the right to strike. These are the very foundations of democracy, integral parts of the rights of all peoples to self-determination. This is why we denounce the attempts to undermine and overturn the rights enshrined in the 176 Conventions of the International Labor Organization.
- Having heard the report-back from the International Tribunal that was held in Los Angeles on February 5-6, 2000, to judge those responsible for the tragic situation on the African continent, our Conference makes the following assertion: the misery which is devastating the African continent is the most advanced expression of a tendency that is already developing in countries on other continents. We endorse the findings and verdict of the International Tribunal on Africa, which denounce the destruction of the African continent and its peoples by international financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO, as these destructive policies have had dire consequences for peoples and workers the world over. We proclaim the need to pursue actions in each and every one of our countries to defend democratic rights and the independence of the labor movement, for these are the foundations of any policy aimed at creating a society committed to social welfare, justice and freedom.
- Democratic rights are inseparable from the very existence of a class of wage earners. This is because the working class cannot defend itself unless it is organized, and it cannot be organized unless it enjoys the democratic rights which make this possible.
In solidarity with all causes fighting against injustice, the Open World Conference participants especially adopt as their own the international fightback campaign to save the life of African-American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been languishing on death row for the past 17 years. Informed of the results of the International Delegation which went to Washington on January 12, 2000, the Open World Conference supports the demand made to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno for a new and fair trial that would save Mumia's life.
Fraternal greetings to the working classes, peoples, youth, and workers' organizations of all tendencies the world over
We, 560 activists and leaders of labor and democratic organizations from 56 countries, meeting in the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights, address our fraternal greetings to the working classes, peoples, youth, workers' organizations of all tendencies the world over which, in their diversity, are fighting back today for social justice, peace, democracy and for workers' rights.
We hereby inform all of you of the results of our conference, while insisting on the fact that we are not forming a new organization in competition with workers' organizations that were formed to defend workers' rights both nationally and internationally.
Our objective is simply to contribute to the defense and strengthening of these organizations by informing them of the results of our proceedings and the proposals which have emanated from them.
Given that concerted international action in defense of the independence of trade unions and democratic rights is bound to remain an issue of major importance in today's world, we hereby decide to form a Permanent International Communications Committee in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights.
This Committee is to be comprised of correspondents designated by the national delegations present at the San Francisco Open World Conference. It will be responsible for gathering all the information, reports and proposals that were submitted to the participants. We invite all workers' and organizations that were unable to attend and wish to do so to join this Communications Committee.
Mandate is given to the members of the existing Organizing Committee that prepared the Open World Conference to become the Organizing Commission of the International Communications Committee in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights (having as its two headquarters the San Francisco Labor Council and the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International), in order to coordinate all activities decided and to elaborate proposals made to the committee.
The existing Organizing Committee is mandated to make every attempt possible to involve other sectors of the labor movement, the working class, and the organizations fighting for economic and social justice. The objective is to open, expand and make more complete the Organizing Commission of the International Communications Committee in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights .
The Organizing Commission, in turn - once the conditions are ripe or as circumstances themselves require - will be entrusted to propose the convening of another Open World Conference.
- Declaration prepared by the OWC Organizing CommitteeAdopted by the Open World ConferenceSan Francisco, February 14, 2000.