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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 64/2001
"Without doubt, all the fundamentally market-based reforms of the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean have been a disaster for the economy of the region's countries."
So said energy union leaders from the region, meeting in Rio last week.
The Third Regional Energy Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean was sponsored by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Represented at the talks were energy unions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay. Union leaders from Canada, France, Portugal, South Africa and the United States also took part.
Structural adjustment imposed on Latin America and the Caribbean had put at risk the redemocratisation of most countries in the region, the conference stressed. Criticising in particular the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the energy unions said the results had been social exclusion, increased concentration of wealth, a loss of sovereignty, the wholesale privatisation of infrastructure and services, the sacking of thousands of workers, and lower-quality service at higher charges to the consumer.
The delegates called for "a reversal of this process", an "immediate halt to privatisations" and the adoption of policies to counter poverty and mass exclusion.
Action must, they declared, be based on solidarity among the region's peoples and "a struggle against all forms of submission, based on the understanding that energy is a human right, a social good for all, and not a merchandise as it is regarded by the international bodies and the local governments that are subordinated to them."
So said energy union leaders from the region, meeting in Rio last week.
The Third Regional Energy Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean was sponsored by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Represented at the talks were energy unions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay. Union leaders from Canada, France, Portugal, South Africa and the United States also took part.
Structural adjustment imposed on Latin America and the Caribbean had put at risk the redemocratisation of most countries in the region, the conference stressed. Criticising in particular the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the energy unions said the results had been social exclusion, increased concentration of wealth, a loss of sovereignty, the wholesale privatisation of infrastructure and services, the sacking of thousands of workers, and lower-quality service at higher charges to the consumer.
The delegates called for "a reversal of this process", an "immediate halt to privatisations" and the adoption of policies to counter poverty and mass exclusion.
Action must, they declared, be based on solidarity among the region's peoples and "a struggle against all forms of submission, based on the understanding that energy is a human right, a social good for all, and not a merchandise as it is regarded by the international bodies and the local governments that are subordinated to them."