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19 September, 2005ICEM News release 59/1999
Leaders of trade unions worldwide will be addressed by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki on 3 November, when he opens the World Congress of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
World labour's response to globalisation is the main theme of the Congress, which will run from 3 to 5 November in Durban, South Africa.
More than 600 delegates from all continents are expected to take part. The Congress slogan is AMANDLA AWETHU - POWER IS OURS.
"We are very pleased that President Mbeki will be with us at what promises to be a highly significant Congress for global trade unionism," said James Motlatsi in Johannesburg today. Motlatsi is ICEM Vice-President and President of the ICEM African region. In South Africa, he is President of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers, which is Africa's biggest union. The NUM is co-hosting the World Congress, together with ICEM South African affiliates CEPPWAWU, NUMSA and SACWU.
"Thabo Mbeki's presence at the Congress is a recognition of the vital role played by trade unions in the construction of South Africa and of the developing world as a whole," Motlatsi emphasised.
"We are honoured that President Mbeki will address the Congress," commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe in Brussels this afternoon. "We will listen to him with great interest and respect. All the more so because, since the ANC came into government in South Africa, it has introduced some of the most progressive and far-sighted labour legislation in the world."