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6 December, 1999Trade unions have lost two years of hard work.
Following the failure of the negotiations in Seattle, we are hearing different people and groups claiming victory. If victory is no agreement, then it is a victory for all those who went to Seattle with no intention to negotiate at all.
But I can hardly imagine trade unionists going to a negotiating table with the intention of not trying to arrive at a positive and constructive result.
One of the first things I learned when I started negotiating for my fellow workmates was to do everything possible to come to the best conceivable agreement. Every stranded negotiation was a failure for all of us, including the counterpart.
As far as I understand, our objective in Seattle was to put so much pressure on the trade ministers who were negotiating at the WTO as to make sure that a number of basic demands were included in the final treaty, such as the core labour standards stated in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The manifestation organised by American labour, the AFL-CIO, was intended to support the international labour movement represented by the ICFTU and all ITSs and also to bring our demands to a broader public worldwide.
The news from Seattle gave a distorted picture of what happened. The street battle was given too much attention and, consequently, too little focus was centred on what really happened behind the scenes at the conference.
The march was a success until a few hundred started the riots and managed to attract all the mass media's attention.
And now these people are claiming victory. Maybe they are the winners. But then what?
The trade unions have lost two years of hard work. We will have to start all over again and organise our action even better, to make sure that at the next meeting, in two years' time, our demands are met by the ministers of trade.
However, we alone will not be strong enough to win the battle. We will need allies. There are many NGOs which are definitely on the same side of the fence, but we should select them carefully and with all necessary precaution. One of the fundamental prerequisites must be that these allies are democratic and representative and totally independent from government, TNC or any other control.
In the street battle of Seattle, it may be that some of the people represented organisations with which we should not be identified. The people whom we represented are used to going on the street to peacefully manifest their anger and demands whenever it is necessary, but at the same time they elect leaders who they are sure can negotiate decent agreements for the benefit of the entire society.
But I can hardly imagine trade unionists going to a negotiating table with the intention of not trying to arrive at a positive and constructive result.
One of the first things I learned when I started negotiating for my fellow workmates was to do everything possible to come to the best conceivable agreement. Every stranded negotiation was a failure for all of us, including the counterpart.
As far as I understand, our objective in Seattle was to put so much pressure on the trade ministers who were negotiating at the WTO as to make sure that a number of basic demands were included in the final treaty, such as the core labour standards stated in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The manifestation organised by American labour, the AFL-CIO, was intended to support the international labour movement represented by the ICFTU and all ITSs and also to bring our demands to a broader public worldwide.
The news from Seattle gave a distorted picture of what happened. The street battle was given too much attention and, consequently, too little focus was centred on what really happened behind the scenes at the conference.
The march was a success until a few hundred started the riots and managed to attract all the mass media's attention.
And now these people are claiming victory. Maybe they are the winners. But then what?
The trade unions have lost two years of hard work. We will have to start all over again and organise our action even better, to make sure that at the next meeting, in two years' time, our demands are met by the ministers of trade.
However, we alone will not be strong enough to win the battle. We will need allies. There are many NGOs which are definitely on the same side of the fence, but we should select them carefully and with all necessary precaution. One of the fundamental prerequisites must be that these allies are democratic and representative and totally independent from government, TNC or any other control.
In the street battle of Seattle, it may be that some of the people represented organisations with which we should not be identified. The people whom we represented are used to going on the street to peacefully manifest their anger and demands whenever it is necessary, but at the same time they elect leaders who they are sure can negotiate decent agreements for the benefit of the entire society.