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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 38/1998
Tomorrow, May Day, is the workers' day in most parts of the world.
This year, the celebration takes on an added meaning. This is the fiftieth anniversary both of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 87.
Adopted by the world's governments in 1948, the Universal Declaration specifically states that everyone has the right to form and join trade unions in order to protect their interests (Article 23.4). Adopted by the world's governments, employers and unions in the same year, ILO Convention 87 builds on that commitment by enshrining all the basic labour rights. The two are closely linked. The basic union rights set out by the ILO are specialised extensions of generally recognised human freedoms, such as freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
"Union rights are human rights," commented Vic Thorpe, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions. "It is important that all governments and all employers should be fully signed up to the basic trade union rights and to the human freedoms that underlie them. For that reason, we strongly welcome and salute efforts by organisations such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and Amnesty International to get governments and the big global corporations to ratify these principles. The ICEM is keen to cooperate and network with all organisations that pursue this aim.
"But principles are not enough. They have to be put into practice. No amount of declarations can ever substitute for trade union strength on the ground."
In fact, Thorpe said, violations of trade union rights are still more the rule than the exception. "All over the world, the rights whose adoption we are celebrating this year are being trampled underfoot. And all too often, the world just looks on. In Nigeria, oilworkers' leaders Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori and many other citizens are still being detained without charge or trial by the military regime. In Colombia, trade unionists go in constant fear for their lives as death squads continue to target them. In Australia, the government actually brought in a leading executive of mining multinational Rio Tinto to help draft anti-union legislation which has been condemned by ILO experts. These are just a few examples among so many."
Ultimately, Thorpe insisted, only workers can defend worker rights in the workplace. "Nationally and globally, we must engage industrial employers in dialogue on the day-to-day industrial application of those rights. We must do this persistently, from a position of strength. That is why trade unions' best contribution to the defence of union rights and wider human rights is to organise, organise, organise."
This year, the celebration takes on an added meaning. This is the fiftieth anniversary both of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 87.
Adopted by the world's governments in 1948, the Universal Declaration specifically states that everyone has the right to form and join trade unions in order to protect their interests (Article 23.4). Adopted by the world's governments, employers and unions in the same year, ILO Convention 87 builds on that commitment by enshrining all the basic labour rights. The two are closely linked. The basic union rights set out by the ILO are specialised extensions of generally recognised human freedoms, such as freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
"Union rights are human rights," commented Vic Thorpe, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions. "It is important that all governments and all employers should be fully signed up to the basic trade union rights and to the human freedoms that underlie them. For that reason, we strongly welcome and salute efforts by organisations such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and Amnesty International to get governments and the big global corporations to ratify these principles. The ICEM is keen to cooperate and network with all organisations that pursue this aim.
"But principles are not enough. They have to be put into practice. No amount of declarations can ever substitute for trade union strength on the ground."
In fact, Thorpe said, violations of trade union rights are still more the rule than the exception. "All over the world, the rights whose adoption we are celebrating this year are being trampled underfoot. And all too often, the world just looks on. In Nigeria, oilworkers' leaders Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori and many other citizens are still being detained without charge or trial by the military regime. In Colombia, trade unionists go in constant fear for their lives as death squads continue to target them. In Australia, the government actually brought in a leading executive of mining multinational Rio Tinto to help draft anti-union legislation which has been condemned by ILO experts. These are just a few examples among so many."
Ultimately, Thorpe insisted, only workers can defend worker rights in the workplace. "Nationally and globally, we must engage industrial employers in dialogue on the day-to-day industrial application of those rights. We must do this persistently, from a position of strength. That is why trade unions' best contribution to the defence of union rights and wider human rights is to organise, organise, organise."