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Brussels/Lisbon October 16 1998 (ICFTU OnLine):Trade unionists throughout Latin America and Spain and Portugal are lobbying the 21 Heads of State who will be attending the Ibero American(1) summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on October 17 - 18. Unions want to make sure that the Summit takes on board the concerns of civil society, including trade unions.

Any treaty dealing with improving commercial links between the countries, must also take social development into account, say the unions, since ordinary people are not experiencing the benefits of the development of interregional trade. In particular, IberoAmerican unions are seeking a change of direction in the Free Trade Area for the Americas (FTAA).

"Sadly, events have proved us right", say the unions. "In expanding trade, commerce has also created unemployment and more social exclusion. If you have globalisation, then it is important to strengthen regional cooperation, so that any commercial developments include a human face. We have been lobbying our governments to make sure that there is a social dimension at every level of regional and interregional cooperation.".

This September IberoAmerican trade unions met in Portugal to plan their strategy for the forthcoming Summit. At the meeting they drew up a list of proposals to be presented to the Heads of State attending the Summit, and a union delegation led by ICFTU Assistant General Secretary Eddy Laurijssen also met with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres to put forward the unions' concerns.

The unions are very critical of the Committee for Civil Society, set up to involve ordinary people in the FTAA, which they say only functions as a "letter box" because many governments will not allow trade unions or other sectors of civil society to participate. However, the trade union movement is refusing to be rebuffed, and is insisting that workers' concerns are heard in all aspects of commercial developments. In fact the unions are considering creating a Permanent Secretariat to ensure that any social measures that the Summit puts forward are put into action.

The unions are also asking Ministers of the countries attending the Summit to set up a formal structure for social dialogue between unions and employers, in order to ensure that business developments also have a social dimension. For its part, the unions will be continuing to maintain contact with the employers.

"It is important to recognise that economic and social cohesion is a fundamental aspect of development and regional integration", say the unions, "Economic and social policies which assign civil society and trade unions to the sidelines are doomed to failure."

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Boulevard Emile Jacqmain 155, B - 1210 Brussels, Belgium. For more information
please contact: Luc Demaret on: 00 322 224 0212 - press@icftu.org

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