20 June, 2011
The Council of Global Unions (CGU), at its meeting in Geneva on 10 June, adopted two statements; one on labeling chrysotile asbestos in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) category of the Rotterdam Convention, the other condemning the assault on public sector workers in the US state of Wisconsin, and endorsing Wisconsin as a pilot site in this week’s campaign launch of “Quality Public Services – Action Now.”
The CGU, founded on 10 January 2007, is the coordinating body for nearly all Global Union Federations (GUFs), the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). CGU’s charter calls for “a common determination to organise, defend human and trade union rights and labour standards everywhere, and promote the growth of trade unions for the benefit of all working women and men and their families.”
The 10 June statement on chrysotile asbestos is aimed at this week’s Rotterdam Convention meetings in Geneva and urges an override past objections to PIC listing “by a tiny number of countries who have a vested interest in maintaining their lucrative trade in this potent human carcinogen.”
The Rotterdam Convention establishes controls on the trade of toxic substances. With chrysotile asbestos, also known as white asbestos, unlisted, countries can export it without warning labels or safety precautions. The five biggest export nations of it are China, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Canada.
The CGU statement cites the mineral with causing 100,000 deaths annually and cautions that failure to classify it risks the spread of even more deaths particularly in the developing world.
“The Global Unions asbestos policy stipulates that the only ‘safe use’ of asbestos is no use at all,” reads the CGU statement. “We call on Canada and other asbestos stakeholders to accept that the time has come to include chrysotile on the PIC list so that developing countries can make informed decisions on a subject of such deadly importance.”
The CGU’s Wisconsin statement reads: “The attack that public employees and their unions are now facing in Wisconsin is part of a larger design by those who want to create a powerless and compliant workforce, and to plunder the common good of public services.
“Turning back this tide is not a local or even national challenge. Trade unions worldwide and our allies are working together with a shared determination to organize, defend human and labor rights, promote the growth of unions and advance quality public services for the benefit of all people.”
On 14 June, in a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision that blocked implementation of Governor Scott Walker’s law, clearing the way for the gutting of public sector bargaining rights for 300,000 teachers, nurses, and other public workers. (See a prior ICEM report on the midnight passage of Walker’s legislation here.)
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) and other US unions will now bring the fight to federal courtrooms in further lawsuits to block Walker’s anti-social, anti-people measure.