---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.geocities.com/owc_2000/ Open World Conference ------------------------------------------------------------------- In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights San Francisco, California, February 11-14, 2000 Sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council, the International Liaison Committee for a Workers International and the Continuations Committee of the Western Hemispheric Workers Conference OWC CONFERENCE APPEAL From every corner of the globe, we hear the same message from governments and the multinational corporations they serve: It is working people who must relinquish their jobs, social protections and, most important, their independent trade unions to permit global capital's "free trade" agenda to move forward. It is we who, in the name of "modernization" and "globalization," must forfeit all the gains we have won over decades of struggle. The existence of international labor rights - particularly the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike - are considered barriers to "free trade." Indeed, the traditional trade union, we are told, is not suitable for the workplace of the new millennium insofar as it said to "hamper" a corporation's ability to compete in the global economy. In our own experience in the United States we have witnessed countless efforts by the employers and the government to restrict, suppress and even bust unions. The assault has taken various forms - PATCO, Taft-Hartley, Landrum-Griffin, the Hatch Act, state "right-to-work" laws, Congressional back-to-work orders for striking railworkers, "Paycheck Protection" acts, and lawsuits against unions and officers who respect picket lines - such as in the West Coast Neptune Jade case. The list goes on. But the content is always the same: to shackle the labor movement. When this doesn't work, we have seen the employers and government try to integrate us into their plans. Under the pretense of making us their "associates" and "partners," they deploy all sorts of schemes to undermine collective bargaining and to roll back our rights and working conditions. They also hold out the promise of toothless "side agreements" and other such language to get us to drop our fight against NAFTA and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which are so crucial to global capital's "free trade" agenda. What can we do to fight back? On June 7, 1998, close to 200 trade union delegates from 36 countries met in Geneva to counter global capital's assault on working people the world over and to promote a fightback in defense of trade union rights. The meeting, held on the eve of the annual convention of the International Labor Organization (ILO), was called by the heads of 17 national trade union federations in Africa and the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International (ILC), a coalition of trade unionists and activists in 82 countries fighting the structural adjustment policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Ed Rosario, coordinator of the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA and Privatizations, was the keynote speaker at the Geneva meeting. Brother Rosario, who represented the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO), called for an international labor fightback in defense of the ILO conventions (right to collective bargaining, ban on child and forced labor, ban on discrimination in employment, equal wages for work of equal value, etc.) against all the attempts by the WTO and IMF to subvert and ultimately destroy them. He also urged the conference participants to join the struggle for Global Unionism charted by the Western Hemisphere Workers Conference, which was held in November 1997 with the participation of 412 delegates from 20 countries - including a representative from the national AFL-CIO. A central concern expressed by all the trade union delegates in Geneva was the growing threat to the independence of the trade unions on all continents. They took note of the increasing attempts by the WTO and IMF to break the power of the unions by seeking to incorporate the leaderships of the trade unions into "Social Pacts" and "Roundtable Agreements" with the very governments and bosses that are dismantling our jobs, worsening our working conditions and attacking our very unions. Such pacts are based on the idea that labor, management and governments must come together to find "common solutions," thereby putting aside what WTO head Renato Ruggiero calls the "confrontational relationship and frictions inherent in traditional labor-management relations." The participants in the Geneva meeting called on working people throughout the world to reject the strategy of "Social Pacts," which, they warned, was the road to the integration-cooptation of the unions into the very fabric of globalization - something the multinationals so desperately need as they seek to avert mass social upheavals that could threaten their anti-worker designs. At the conclusion of the gathering in Geneva, the delegates concluded that there must be a world conference aimed at defending the independence of the unions - and democracy itself, insofar as an independent labor movement is a cornerstone of a free and democratic society. They proposed a conference in the year 2000 in response to a United Nations Summit, to be convened in June of that year at the behest of the IMF and WTO with the explicit purpose of advancing the integration-cooptation agenda of the multinationals. The UN Summit is designed to bring together all the players in the so-called "civil society" (local employers, multinational corporations, nongovernmental organizations/NGOs, churches, trade unions, charity organizations, lobbying groups, and political parties) into a common framework to promote more "democratic" and "participatory" free trade pacts and other anti-worker policies. The time to act is now! In answer to the June 7 appeal from Geneva, the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Continuations Committee - together with all the undersigned endorsing unions, trade unionists and activists - call upon all who seek to defend unions, to protect and advance the gains of the workers' movement and to guarantee that a safe environment exists as we move onto a better future for all people: Join us in organizing a worldwide workers' conference in early 2000 in San Francisco. Following as it will on the successful Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA and Privatizations, our conference in the year 2000 will afford an opportunity to gather together unionists and activists from around the world to share experiences, to analyze the attacks of the bosses, and - most important - to chart an international fightback. We need to unite all those who are upholding the defense of independent trade unions and democratic rights, irrespective of country, union or political horizon. We call upon unions and working people to endorse this call. Contribute information to a multilingual bulletin to be published regularly by the conference organizers on the issues confronting the trade union movement. Help us raise the funds necessary to ensure trade union delegations from around the world who will be present at the conference. Please join us in building Global Unionism and an international movement against privatization, against the scourge of "free trade" agreements, against NAFTA and its extension into the FTAA, against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), against the destruction of jobs and benefits - and for the defense of our unions and our democratic rights. A totally unified global response is the very response the bosses and the politicians most fear. This is precisely the response we must forge. We must send out the message: Labor is on the Move - No More Boundaries. By working together, WE SHALL OVERCOME! * * * * * * Please send all organizational and individual endorsements and financial sponsorships (payable to Western Hemisphere Conference or WHC) to the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO), attention: Ed Rosario, 1188 Franklin St., suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94109. You can fax your endorsement to us at (415) 440-9297, call us if you have any questions at (415) 641-8616 or email us at •••@••.••• [Image] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard K Moore Wexford, Irleand Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance email: •••@••.••• CDR website: http://cyberjournal.org cyberjournal archive: http://members.xoom.com/centrexnews/ A community will evolve only when the people control their means of communication. -- Frantz Fanon Permission for non-commercial republishing hereby granted - BUT include and observe all restrictions, copyrights, credits, and notices - including this one. .
