23 November, 2007
Distinguished Delegates, Comrades, Guests, Friends, Brothers and Sisters.
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 4th World Congress of the ICEM, which could not have been held under a more appropriate theme than the theme of “Global Unity – Global Equality” given the state of the current geo – political configuration in the world.
It is with a great deal of pride that we hold this congress in a country that only a year ago experienced a military coup, something that is anathema to the trade union movement.
Inevitably, questions would be raised as to why the ICEM would hold it’s congress in a country that as a result of the military coup, will, in all likelihood, be deprived of democratic values and principles held by most self respecting trade unions, for which I can vouch for the ICEM as one such trade union. Would holding this Congress in Thailand not be interpreted as an implicit or explicit support for the military Junta?
After much agonising and discussions, we decided, in consultation with our affiliates in Thailand, to go ahead and hold the congress in Thailand.
We felt that holding the congress in such an unfavourable political climate is in itself an act of solidarity with workers and the people of Thailand, an act of encouragement, symbolising hope and expectation for a better tomorrow that, with the solidarity and support of the 20 million workers in the ICEM family, peace and democracy are possible.
If we did nothing and instead took the Congress somewhere to some other country, then we would be guilty of what Edmund Burke once said and I quote “ the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for men of goodwill to do nothing” unquote. By bringing the congress to Thailand, this huge, giant trade union federation is making a statement that it will always stand up in support and defence of trade union rights anywhere in the world in solidarity and for social justice.
Of course, Thailand is also one of the countries that got severely hit by the deadly tsunami in December 2004. The decision to come to Bangkok was – at the time – made with this catastrophe in mind.
Bringing the ICEM Congress to Thailand, it was felt, was a clear sign that we, as trade unions, are willing - as we are in the many other places in the world - to assist and help the people that suffered so hard during that crisis.
In addition, Thailand is, obviously, an excellent country host – one with extremely friendly people.
Let me therefore thank - for their kind welcoming words, as well as for the hospitality of the country in general - both Brother Rawai Pupaga and Brother Somsak Kosaisook. We very much enjoy being your guests.
Another person I need to thank is brother Ochiai. For his welcoming words, but also - and no less importantly - for the generous support that the ICEM, and this conference in particular, has received from our Japanese colleagues
A big thank you also needs to go to our friends and colleagues from Taiwan, who also have been generous in their support.
Of course, there are many others that deserve our gratitude -- the list is too long to name each and everyone here.
There are many affiliates that have made financial contributions – or have cooperated in quite a few other ways – and helped to make this congress a representative one on a global scope. Thank you for that.
On another level, particular thanks also goes to the many trade unions around the world, for example in the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands, who have been supporting ICEM projects over the years - and who will continue to do so - including, but not only, financially. And, finally, I also would like to extend our appreciation to the many solidarity organisations, such as the FES (the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung) and the Solidarity Centre, which also support us in our project work.
The Congress marks a historic moment for the ICEM. With forces of globalisation, rapidly impacting the lives of ordinary working men and women in today’s world, the global trade union movement has come together and made the commitment that it will unite and protect workers’ interests.
The ICEM’s 4th World will engage with several major issues and challenges that are confronting the world in an era of rampant globalisation. Globalisation has transformed corporate culture, relations of production and the world of work as we knew it. The progressive labour movement is confronted with a transformed corporate culture of “network production”, a new “paradigm” characterised by the concentration of control (mergers and acquisitions) combined with the decentralisation of production (outsourcing, subcontracting, contracting and agency labour)
Congress must debate how we confront the myriad of challenges thrown up by globalisation. I will attempt a brushstroke of the few issues and challenges facing the international trade union movement.
POVERTY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT
The greatest challenge posed by the forces of globalisation is the increasing inequality in the world economy, measured by whatever index, and the role of trade unions in mitigating the causes of such inequality and the consequences thereof, such as poverty and the scourge of underdevelopment that exist even within developed economies of the first world.
“ Global Unity – Global Equality” must be a commitment we make to the world that underdevelopment in the South, at least for trade unions, must not be a consequence of development in the North. As a global trade union movement, what is our contribution in the elimination of poverty or the reduction of poverty and underdevelopment? Is there any significant contribution we have made or ought to be making in the realisation of the Millennium development goals by 2014.
It must be within this context of a hugely unequal world that cries out for social justice that the trade union movement must confront head – on the myriad of global issues and challenges facing the world and appropriate these issues and challenges as trade union issues; from the world of HIV/AIDS, Health and Safety, Sustainable development, Global Warming and Climate Change, Commodity Prices Boom, The unequal Terms of Trade in the Global Economy to the world of Trade Union Bashing, Trade Union Harrasment, Violation and denial of Basic Trade Union Rights etc
TRADE UNION RIGHTS
As for the last set of issues and challenges, it is important that we understand why the trade union movement is always the first casualty in periods of political instability and even in periods of relative political stability.
It is because the trade union movement, as the most organised organ/formation of civil society, poses the most serious threat and challenge to undemocratic forces and it is therefore not surprising that the trade union movement is constantly faced with threats to it’s existence; from the need to completely vanquish and decimate trade unions in the most brutal and violent fashion to the most sophisticated means and not so sophisticated means. Countries that come to mind in the first category are:
Colombia; Colombia remains the deadliest place on earth for trade unions. A report entitled “ Justice for all – The Struggle for Workers rights in Columbia” by the Solidarity Centre sums up in the situation in Colombia in the following chilling paragraphs:
“ Since the mid 1980s, 4, 000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia, more than 2000 of them since 1991”
“ More trade unions are killed each year in Colombia than in the rest of the world combined, In October 2005, the ICFTU reported that Colombia was once again the “deadliest country for trade unionists”
According to ENS, 70 trade unionists were killed in 2005 while 260 received death threats, 56 were arbitrarily detained, seven survived attacks on which explosives were used, six were kidnapped, and three disappeared. Thirty four trade unionists were murdered in 2004. mostly in connection with collective bargaining disputes and strikes.
While I am on the subject of lost lives, maybe this would be a good moment to reflect not only on the lives lost because of violence – but also on all the other lives lost - throughout the world - by trade unionists that have given their lives while they were at work.
I would also like to ask you, at the same time, to take a moment to remember the people that we, as an international organisation, have lost.
There are more than a few individuals in the obituary list of the secretariat report – trade unionists that died during the last ICEM Congress period -- and that many of us have know, often for a very long time, as they played an important role inside our movement.
I would like to mention only three names – three that stands for all others.
The first one is Karl Hauenschild, who has been one of my predecessors. Karl was the President of the ICEF from 1969 to 1982. He died on 28 February 2006 at the age of 86.
The second is Kanti Mehta, who died on October 20 this year. Kanti Mehta will be known to many of you as a person doing very many things, including standing at the side of Gandhi.
As General Secretary and, later, President of the INMF from India, he was a Vice-president of the Mineworkers International Federation for many years, as well as a Workers’ representative of the Governing Body of the lLO.
The third person is Heribert Maier, who died at the age of 75, only three weeks ago. Heribert influenced many people in the international trade union world, and gave strong support to the Mineworkers’ International Federation in getting the ILO Convention 176 on health and safety in Mines passed by the ILO.
I therefore invite you all now to take a moment of silence, in commemoration of those that are no longer among us.
I was talking about Colombia, but there are much more countries where problems exist. We have the Philippines, South Korea, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, IRAQ, Pakistan, Burma etc
To these countries we must demand the immediate restoration of the rule of law, the countries’ constitutions and the fundamental democratic rights of its peoples.
Countries that come to mind in the second category (where more sophisticated ways are used to get rid of unions) to name a few but two:
The United States of America and Australia. To these countries we must continue to expose the hypocrisy of their democracies where trade union rights, which are human rights, are encroached to the point of being meaningless. Australia is a chilling reminder of how fragile these rights are and how they can be taken away at the stroke of a pen. The Australian Project must be not succeed if for no other reason other than the indignity visited upon such a proud tradition of trade union struggles as in Australia.
The trade union movement need to be vigilant and in a constant state of mobilisation to challenge and resist any threats to it’s existence. Thank God for South African Trade Unions in that the trade union movement never demobilised upon independence and democratic rule. This is an example to trade unions all over the world never to succumb to the seduction of democracy. Ask the trade union movement in the USA and Australia.
GLOBAL TRADE AND CONTROL OF GLOBAL CAPITAL
The current dominant global trade system is not only about the exchanges of goods and services within and across borders but includes also bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral agreements regulating these trade relations. These are expressed in and regulated by a range of legal instruments and institutions, notably the WTO and associated institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.
It is alleged that the main beneficiaries of the current global trading system has been MNC’s and MNE’s, accompanied by a sense of alienation by trade unions, the working poor and Governments in developing countries.
The national level, where a nation centred system with national social and economic policies provided a degree of social justice and economic equity, is being replaced by a global trading system that put workers increasingly into fierce competition with each other (economic nationalism) and undermines in the process worker’s rights and collective solidarity action to protect these rights, won over many years of struggle.
The challenge for organised labour is how effectively it inserts itself, not co – opted, into the globalisation process in order to globalise fundamental ILO standards and to strive for the highest common denominator instead of the lowest common denominator, the “race to the bottom”, where workers bid/compete against each other for lesser quality jobs and trade union rights and decent work conditions are sacrificed on the alter of profit.
How does the International labour movement intervene or engage Governments who are similarly themselves engaged in a “race to the bottom” in the service of capital and in competition with each other to attract foreign direct investment?
The question then becomes how do we achieve this or framed differently; is an international framework for social justice possible?
CODES OF CONDUCT AND GLOBAL FRAMEWORK AGREEMENTS
A plethora of codes of conduct for MNCs and MNEs exist; from the Global level to the regional level and to the local level; from the global compact, the OECD guidelines, sector specific codes such as the GRI and enterprise level. All these codes offer challenges of engagement for the labour movement even though they are maligned in some quarters. The effectiveness of these codes, as we engage with them at different levels of engagement, lies in how we respond to the following key questions.
What is new about these codes?
Are these codes another form of public relations exercise?
Why should we be concerned with these codes?
What do we want or expect from these codes?
What is our role in the drafting of these codes?
How do these codes promote or relate to the fundamental ILO Conventions?
What obligations, if any, do these codes relate to Governments?
Immediately flowing from this, what is the obligation of the MNC or MNE to the codes vis – a – vis an undemocratic government?
What is the role of trade unions in the implementation and monitoring of these codes?
What is our role in an independent monitoring and system of verification?
What is our role in the process of social labelling that the product was produced in conditions free of exploitation and abuse? For instance (MADE IN CHINA) products in South Africa are not tradeable within the trade union community with business and the community encouraged not to trade in goods that bear the label “ made in China”
What is the role of NGOs and CBOs in codes of conduct.
How should the International trade union movement, national trade unions and national centres relate to and with Business Organisations, Chambers and Associations such as the ICMM for example
HEALTH AND SAFETY
A motion on Health and Safety in the mining industry that I consider goes to the heart of the callousness of the industry globally as regards the lives and health and Safety of workers will be sponsored in the congress. Implicit in the motion are the following questions to which the congress must respond.
Is it a coincidence that, from the highly industrialised developed countries to the least developed industrialising countries, the Health and Safety of Mineworkers has been reduced to the lowest common denominator? Is it a coincidence that the carnage in the industry is happening at the height of a commodities boom never seen before since the Second World War?
Chinese demand for minerals and speculation has pushed the price of mineral upwards. Is there a correlation between high commodity prices and the casualties experienced in the industry? For instance the high rand gold price has enabled the economic mining of deep ore and South Africa now has the deepest gold mines in the world and it’s health and Safety record is something Mine Bosses should be ashamed of, if they have any conscience left. What about the contribution of Contract and Agency labour to the carnage?
From the United States, Australia, China, Colombia, Chile, India, Mexico, Peru, Poland,Russia, South Africa and Ukraine, the mining industry represent a war zone.
How many more deaths, anguish and sorrow must be visited upon innocent mineworkers, their families and communities by the mining industry before we can say enough is enough and before the international trade union movement can act? Platitudes and excuses from the mine bosses are not good enough. Mineworkers are tired of being sacrificed on the alter of profit. In South Africa, Mineworkers are saying that enough is enough and will be going out on a national strike.
Other interventions such as shareholder activism are being mooted. It is said that desperate situations calls for desperate measures. The situation is indeed desperate.
It’s clear that much work is in front of us here. I call on you all to, among the many other actions that you can take, support the ICEM’s effort to campaign for the adoption of the ILO Convention 176 concerning Safety and Health in Mines. It is an important part of this fight.
HIV/AIDS
Allow me to also say a few words on the subject of HIV/AIDS. And not only just because the ICEM is running a project on this issue.
HIV/AIDS remains one of the most important problems in many parts of the world. It certainly does in that part where I come from.
I can not emphasise enough how disastrous this disease has been for countless workers -- and their families – and their workplaces.
Just as I can not emphasise enough how important it is for us to take action on this.
We all have heard the figures before: somewhere between 35 and 47 million individuals live with HIV/AIDS. An estimate total of around 3 million died, in 2006 alone.
Somewhere between 3.6 and 6.6 million individuals got infected in 2006 -- 1.7 to 3.5 million of them children.
Imagine each just one person dying. Then do that times ten. Then times ten again. Times ten. Times ten. Times ten again. One more time times ten.
Times ten one more time. And then times 4. That’s how many die each year of HIV/AIDS.
Each person that we can convince to take preventive measures, is a potential life saved.
And that, dear colleagues, is very worth-while doing.
In this room here, you will find a pledge that I am encouraging all of you to sign. The pledge is entitled “Stop AIDS – Keep the promise” and we ask all ICEM union leaders to support it.
So, for those of you that have not already signed it, please do so.
CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL WARMING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVLOPMENT
Climate change has been described as one of the most critical challenges of our time. From Rio to Johannesburg to Kyoto, the whole world is waking up to the catastrophe that threatens to bring humanity to the edge of the abyss, the whole world except one world, the USA.
Climate change is a trade union issue that seems to have been lost in the maze of sustainable development priorities as expressed in RIO + 20 Trade Union Agenda for sustainable development.
The following premise provides business’s approach to addressing and mitigatating
the biggest challenge of our time “ Climate Change”
Climate change is an urgent problem requiring global action to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). Energy use is vital for a modern economy. Burning fossil fuels produces CO2. Thus, confronting climate change depends, in many ways, on adopting new and sustainable energy strategies that can meet growing global energy needs while allowing for the stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations at safe levels.
Whilst we agree with the urgent need to tackle climate change, there are other considerations that must be factored into the equation that are critical to the labour movement and how do we bring those considerations to bear on policy developments related to climate change. We should not risk being a lone voice in the wilderness, for instance, we should be asking ourselves questions such as:
How effective do we engage with inter – governmental processes under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?
How do we engage with lobby groupings such as The Global Round Table on Climate Change, led by Jeffery Sachs, and dominated by Big Business or alternatively establish similar initiatives on Climate Change to engage such lobby groups.
How does proposals Big business to mitigate climate change affect workers and their livelihoods, for instance the “JUST TRANSITION” principle adopted at the WSSD in Johannesburg was seeking to address this challenge.
The Just transition Principle provides that technological change to production methods in pursuit of environmentally friendly and sustainable production must not be at the expense of workers. Workers and communities must not be left worse off than before the introduction of such technologies. It requires workers' participation and control over theirr own future. Otherwise, any environmental change will be incomplete and one-sided benefiting only the rich and privileged.
How does the ICEM’s Energy Policy find currency on policy development circles, platforms of fora etc?
In Conclusion
In conclusion I want to state that this Congress is historic as it is happening at a critical time for the International Trade Union Movement. The International Trade Union Movement seems to have woken up to the one fundamental imperative that without question offers a countervailing force to globalisation: “The unity of the trade union movement”
We have already come a long way. And I don’t just mean you all sitting in airplanes to get here. We have come a long way since we started to organise ourselves internationally. We certainly do have a long and proud international history.
Actually, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Factory Workers International, which was one of the most important predecessors of the ICEM.
The Factory Workers International was founded in Stuttgart, Germany, in August 1907. At its conference in 1910, there were 24 representatives, from 8 unions from 7 countries.
A motion to that effect that calls for closer co – operation between the GUFS and that we believe will pave the way for a possible merger in the future amongst the GUFS will be raised for consideration by Congress.
This motion, if adopted is the clearest message we can send to big business and Capital that the social and economic deficit generated by globalisation and it’s apostle, the World Bank, the IMF and associated International Financial Institutions (IFIs) can no longer be tolerated by workers. WE DEMAND A PLACE ON THE TABLE AND WE ARE PREPARED TO STAKE OUR CLAIM.
The Congress is also historic for the ICEM as we are welcoming our comrades, brothers and sisters from the World Federation of Industry Workers (WIFW) into the ICEM family as a result of the successful integration process between the two federations.
A ceremony to celebrate that fact will start in a few minutes.
Let me now already heartily welcome Brother Italo Rodomonti, WFIW General Secretary, to the Congress. Italo will, off course, also continue to play a significant role as an ICEM Presidium member.
Another development – one that doesn’t involve a trade union merger or cooperation – but nevertheless is an important one – is the growing European Union.
I am therefore happy to also welcome Reinhard Reibsch, the General Secretary of EMCEF, our European sister organisation – and also – I might say – an organisation that cooperation is intensifying with.
Reinhard will address the conference later on to share his views with you.
The historic nature of this congress derives from the few other merger processes that we have witnessed in the recent past and we hope that other GUFS also experience the Damascus conversion.
The formation of ITUC on 1 November 2006 as a result of the merger between the ICFTU and the WCL is enough to send a shivers down the spine of Capital and Big Business.
You have already heard Brother Guy Ryder’s views on this process. Let me just add that we are very pleased to have you among us here today, Guy.
Let me also warmly welcome to the Congress Brother Jim Baker, who recently started his work as the coordinator of this Global Union Council, and who many of you already heard during yesterday’s important contract and agency labour conference.
The unity of the trade union movement provides the only real hope for a just World Order. We believe that a better world is possible and that Global Unity will deliver that World.
AMANDLA!