
Issue No 94		04 May 2001

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International

Cuban Call for Global Labour Rights

By Liam Phelan

An international meeting of union representatives in Cuba has vowed to start a campaign to defend workers rights from the effects of globalisation.

Unionists from around the world detailed how globalisation was affecting workers in their countries and called for an international campaign to stop the erosion of working conditions.

The conference specifically focussed on the proposal by the US for a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

World Economic Research Centre Director Osvaldo Martinez described this as 'integration between the shark and the sardine.'

Martinez said Mexico was an example of what the FTAA would look like.

'You have 90 per cent of people living in poverty, a halving of the rate of economic growth and six million people losing jobs in the agriculture industry,' he said.

Martinez said the FTAA proposal was driven by an expansionist US economy which was battling against its own internal instability.

'The ghost of 1929 is haunting the American economy. Capitalism is in crisis and the only way it can survive is by exploiting the developing world.'

Unionists from 58 countries attended the conference and every speaker demanded more action against FTAA.

A delegate from Venezuala called for an international meeting to be held next year to finalise a campaign of opposition to the FTAA.

Meanwhile, Pedro Ross, leader of the Cuban trade union group, said a further meeting would be held in Habana on July 24 on the same issue.

All of the delegates who spoke at the conference called for an immediate end to the economic blockade of Cuba by the US, which one speaker estimated had cost the Cuban economy $US67 billion

Around 800 unionists were attending the International Tribune in Solidarity with Cuba and against Neo Liberal Globalisation in Habana on May 2. The meeting followed a massive May Day celebration in Plaza de la Revolucion the day before. A huge crowd chanted 'Annexation, no, plebiscite si' after Cuban leader Fidel Castro called on the people of Latin America to be given a say in whether their countries joined FTAA.

Liam Phelan attended the Tribune and May Day celebrations on behalf of the CFMEU.

Marta makes a big impression as she calls for justice

Barely tall enough to be seen over the rostrum, American textile worker Marta Bonilla made a huge impact on a hall of international unionists at a Cuban conference.

Speaking in Spanish, Marta explained how she and 450 other workers from the Hollander Home Fashions company in Los Angeles were sacked without warning.

They were negotiating with the family-owned business for decent superannuation when the company locked them out and brought in scab labour.

Marta said the Hollander workers have been on strike since 8 March, but the picketers faced violence and intimidation.

'The company ordered 40 peaceful strikers to be arrested. Three others have been hit by cars or trucks breaking the picket line. I myself was arrested and locked up. But I refused to be intimidated and, like many others, will continue to fight.'

Marta pleaded with the 800 delegates representing 200 trade unions from around the world for support.

'We are very determined to keep fighting. But we need your support if we are to win,' she told the International Tribune in Solidarity with Cuba and against Neo Liberal Globalisation, held in Habana on May 2.

Write to the Hollander Family and demand they give their workers a fair go: Hollander Home Fashions Corporation, 6560 West Rogers Circle, Boca Raton, Fl 33487, USA.

Or visit the textile worker's union, Unite, at http://www.uniteunion.org for more information.

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  Issue 94 contents

Interview: Global Action
The CFMEU has been a world leader in fighting the war on global corporations. John Maitland has been one of the generals.

Unions: Sisters United
In her May Day address, Bus Union state president Pat Ryan looks at the role women have played in the labour movement.

Politics: M1 and the Trade Unions
Phil Davey was one of the forces behind S11 but chose to sit out M1. He looks at this week's action.

History: Il Duce Roberto?
His modern-day fan club might not like it, but Rowan Cahill argues wartime PM Robert Menzies sailed close to the winds of Fascism.

International: Cuban Call for Global Labour Rights
An international meeting of union representatives in Cuba has vowed to start a campaign to defend workers rights from the effects of globalisation.

Economics: The G-Word
ACTU President Sharan Burrow asks if there's a better way forward for global trade.

Media: Birth Of A Nation
East Timor's young journalists are struggling with language barriers and technical difficulties most Australian media professionals wouldn't be able to comprehend. But they're keen and eager to learn.

Review: The Tremulous Hopes of the Fifties
Behind the the good times mythology of the 1950s was a desperate quest for the ordinary.

Satire: Teen Angst Poems a �Danger�
The Teen Angst Gun Massacre Affair has broadened, with staff at the NSW Department of Education revealing that �gangs of conspirators� have been found operating out of high school poetry competitions.

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