
Issue No 119		16 November 2001

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Workers Unite Over Corporate Power

Unionists representing 23 million workers this week marched through the streets of Sydney calling for global unity as the international union movement attempted to incorporate labour standards into the WTO.

The delegates to the International Metalworkers Federation's global conference in Sydney were joined by thousands of blue-collar workers as they called to put 'people before profits' in the global economy.

They heard from local and international unions leaders arguing that core labour standards should be incorporated into the World Trade Organisation's core frameworks.

Marcello Malentacchi, IMF General Secretary said the destructive effects of globalisation must be stopped and the WTO, governments and multinationals need to take greater responsibility for human and labour rights.

"The WTO must include provisions for human and workers' rights in international trade deals. Core labour standards must be seen as an essential part of trade and investment agreements to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are shared equitably around the world," said Mr Malentacchi.

"Out of poverty, ignorance and oppression grows fear and uncertainty. Such an unstable climate breeds fundamentalist responses that can lead to terrorism," said Mr Malentacchi.

No Joy in Qatar

The Sydney march coincided with actions around the global to protest the World Trade Organisation meeting in Qatar.

While the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) were successful in tabling the core ILO labour standards, the outcome was less than satisfactory.

The new draft declaration reverts to language first proposed two months ago which merely reaffirms the declaration on core labour standards made at the first WTO Conference in 1996, and just "takes note" of the work at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the social dimension of globalisation.

The demands for the WTO to recognise the negative effects of trade on the basic rights of hundreds of millions of workers, and to start doing something about the problem in conjunction with the ILO, are entirely ignored.

"This WTO Conference may well prove to have been the WTO's last chance for constructive engagement. It will not have another like this", said ICFTU secretary general Bill Jordan said afterwards.

"If the WTO is to enjoy popular confidence in all parts of the world, it must respond to popular concerns in areas like workers' rights, the environment and consumer safety.

"It must contribute to the development of the developing world. If it can rise to that challenge, the WTO could be recognised generally as the lynch-pin of a stable and sustainable multilateral trading system. If it does not, its unpopularity will only go on getting worse."

Questions Loom Over WTO Deal

Meanwhile, the ACTU has warned Australia's agreement to the World Trade Organisation's new liberalisation agenda threatens to undermine workers' basic rights.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow says that despite some welcome but limited progress on access to cheaper medicines, Australia has traded off its rights at the WTO over international investment, government procurement and competition policy in exchange for some vague and unenforceable promises of larger agricultural markets ACTU.

She says investment deregulation and international competition policy threaten jobs and industrial rights,"

"Australian farmers will not be fooled into thinking that the European Union and the United States will their ease agricultural trade restrictions on the basis of some encouraging words in the new WTO agreement.

"The Australian government should not sign up to any such agreements until they have been subject to public study and debate over their impact on Australian industry and employment.

"Unions are disappointed that Australian officials at the WTO talks in Doha refused to join their counterparts from the US, EU, Japan, Canada and New Zealand in supporting the inclusion of protections for core labour standards in the agreement. For John Howard's government, the rights of Australia's working people are not a priority."

Ms Burrow said promises of additional assistance for developing countries in the new agreement appeared empty as Australia and most European nations had continued to cut their foreign aid and development budgets over the past five years.

"It's no surprise that the new WTO agenda strongly favours US and European-based corporate interests when the US and EU delegations in Doha numbered 553 people, well outnumbering the 368 people representing China, India and 39 other developing nations," Burrow says.

"Unions will continue to fight for fair international trading rules that guarantee core labour standards, basic human rights and environmental protections."

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Issue 119 contents

Interview: Out of the Rubble
Michael Costa argues that Saturday's election result could have been much, much worse.

Unions: Sixty-Forty Are Good Odds!
John Robertson argues that while there may be many problems with the ALP, union power is not one of them.

Politics: Wrong Way, Go Back
Labor's failure in the federal election is the result of more than bad luck. It is the result of a shift to populism that has left the Party bereft of core principles.

Campaign Diary: Week Five: All Washed Up
If you can stand it, relive the fatefull final week of a most remarkable election campaign.

International: Trade Piracy Unmasked
As the trade barons met in Qatar to chart out their agenda, George Monbiot looks at the machinations behind the scenes.

Factions: The Party's Over
Chris Christodoulou renews his call for a breakdown of the factional system to bring new life into the ALP

History: The Fall-Out
Neale Towart looks back to Labor's reaction to its loss in the 1954 'Petrov election' and finds warnings for today's post mortem.

Media: Elite Defeat
Rowan Cahill looks at the intellectual paucity in the PM's ongoing attacks on 'elite opinion'.

Satire: Crean 'Listens To Australian People': Will Sink Refugee Boats
Simon Crean, the most likely candidate to replace Kim Beazley as Labor's leader, says he will take heed of the message sent to the ALP by Australian voters at the Federal Election.

» Unions Call for Border Review

» Compo Fire Reignites as Bill Hits Deck

» Workers Unite Over Corporate Power

» Day Three: Telstra Privatisation Begins

» Primus Deal Marks New Era in Telcos

» Qantas Staff Cuts Condemned

» Bank Workers Seek Proxies for AGMs

» Blokes Stand Up For The Ladies

» Landmark Community Services Win

» Anger at Sartor's Power Grab

» Consumer Boycott Call for Sugar Co-op

» Apprentices Win Parity with Uni Students

» Competition for Nurses Hots Up

» CFMEU Launches Bunny Club

» ICFTU Reveals 250 Companies in Burma

» Activists Notebook

» STOP PRESS: No Democracy at Telstra AGM