The ICFTU at 50 - special commemorative page
ICFTU ONLINE...
183/991001/DD
Week in Review - September 24 - October 1
Brussels October 1 1999 (ICFTU OnLine): The following is a summary of main trade union news for the last week. The numbers at the end of the paragraphs refer to the relevant issue of ICFTU OnLine.
Manuel Bustos: The ICFTU mourned the death of Manuel Bustos, one of Chile's primary fighters against dictatorship. The Chilean government announced three official days of mourning, followed by a state funeral. As a leading trade unionist, Bustos was detained in September 73, and briefly held in the notorious State Stadium. He became President of CUT, Chile in 1988, and that year was sent into internal exile with his vice President Arturo Martinez, for organising a strike. He was released in 1989 when the ICFTU announced that Lech Walesa, the Solidarity leader would visit Chile for the ICFTU. He attended the ICFTU's 40th Anniversary celebrations in London in 1989. He was elected as a Christian Democrat member of Parliament in 1990, which he remained until his death. Manuel Bustos will have been satisfied with the indictment of Augusto Pinochet, since during Pinochet's dictatorship over 300 Chilean trade unionists were tortured, executed or disappeared. (OnLine 180)
Taiwan Earthquake: The ICFTU sent its condolences to Lee Cheng Chong, President of Chinese Federation of Labour, over the Earthquake which hit Central Taiwan on September 21, in which more than 2,000 were killed, and thousands more injured. It asked him to pass on messages of sympathy and condolences from the membership of the ICFTU to the workers and their families who were victims of the tragic event.
Dita Sari: The Indonesian trade unionist who was imprisoned for her part in a strike in July 1996, and released three years later as the result of international solidarity, visited Europe, as the guest of a number of national trade union centres and individual unions and of Amnesty International. A member of the PPBI, an independent trade union in Indonesia, she explained that repression of trade unions by the army was being replaced by repression by new anti-trade union laws being brought in by the government. She believes that organising a national structure so that all trade unions can work together, whatever their political persuasion is the main task ahead in Indonesia,. Like all Indonesian trade unionists she is a strong supporter of the independence struggles in East Timor, and spoke in support of boycotts of products which served the army and the government but against sanctions which hit a workforce already impoverished by the Asian financial crisis.
IMF/World Bank Meeting: The ICFTU's paper to the international financial institutions' annual meetings urges them to agree on concrete measures to regulate the global market to prevent further devaluations, financial crises and stock market crashes. In its paper the ICFTU suggests setting up an Independent International Commission to draw up measures to establish a regulatory framework and a new financial order. In addition the ICFTU criticises the World Bank's report on Managing the Social Dimensions of Crises for failing to consider the important role civil society can play in aiding economic recovery, and for omitting the role of core labour standards for gaining a popular mandate for recovery programmes. The ICFTU says the IMF/World Bank must become more democratic, and more transparent if it is to gain agreement for a funding increase from governments. Other recommendations relate to debt relief initiatives, particularly the Jubilee 2000's suggestions to speed up debt relief, and to improve debt relief for countries which respect workers' rights. (OnLine 176)
ICFTU Youth Campaign: The ICFTU Youth Committee met last week in Brussels, and reviewed the first stage of their recruitment and awareness campaign which began on April 16. For example, Scandinavian unions are collaborating closely with trade unions in Eastern Europe, while in Russia they trained young people and sent them into bars, hotels and restaurants to inform employees of their rights, and to encourage recruitment. In Brazil in a campaign which links the three union centres, CUT, CGT and Forca Sindical, the latter has linked up with a major radio station and is organising meetings with students and bringing singers onto university campuses. In Asia, the youth structure in the HMS is well established, and a recruitment campaign was organised with a major conference in the Indian state of Rajasthan. In Africa, a young woman from the CNTS in Senegal recruits at the workplace or at dance evenings she organises, travelling round the country by bus. (OnLine 177).
East Timor: The ICFTU is supporting the setting up of an International Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation in East Timor, and the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal to judge crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. The ICFTU is also urging its affiliates to put pressure on the Indonesian authorities to allow international agencies to give protection to the civilian population which has been deported to West Timor. Thousands of East Timorese have been forced out of East Timor, and placed in detention camps, where they have been classified as "transmigrants", and so being denied the right to return home by the authorities. The ICFTU is also inviting all governments to recognise East Timor's independence, and to supply humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to its people.
Philippines Labour Standards: An ICFTU report condemns the country's consistent record of trade union rights violations. It says that government officials are failing to protect trade unions, and that workers suffer from massive illegal violations of basic workers' rights. The worst violations occur in the countries' special zones, where many operate a "no union, no strike" policy, and companies' hatred of unionised labour is so strong that workers are intimidated and union sympathisers black-listed and dismissed. Women are worst affected says the ICFTU, as they work enforced overtime in poor conditions, and many are forced to sign documents agreeing to the sack if they are pregnant, Sexual harassment by managers is also common. The ICFTU notes the increase in short term working, with its subsequent lack of rights or job security. Demonstrations are often violently dispersed by police. In addition women and indigenous people are discriminated against and child and bonded labour are rife. (OnLine 179)
Organised Labour in the 21st Century: The number of participants in the Joint ILO-ICFTU OnLine discussion group rose to 682 this week, following the launch of the conference on the web on September 15, with keynote speeches from Juan Somavia, Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Bill Jordan, ICFTU General Secretary. To join the conference, go to this web address: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/130inst/research/network/index.htm
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