77th year, number 1999/2

77th year, number 1999/2
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Editorial Top

The social aspect: take on the causes

During their spring 1999 session, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and particularly the World Bank “discovered” the extent and the effects of poverty in the world. Not bad at all. It is indeed better to be perceptive than to be blind. But it is still necessary for the suggested evolution to be effective and efficient, to really change the mechanisms causing poverty. In my opinion, at least two con-ditions need to be fulfilled to achieve this. First, there is the acceptance of the role played by those experienced in the interaction between economic policies and their social consequences. I think of trade unions, of course, which represent a large part of the victims of poverty and are required to come out with alternatives. I also think of the international institutions within the United Nations system, whose task it is to organise the social aspect of the economy: the ILO certainly, and also the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Let us not forget that the latter is as much as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) competent in trade matters and has the advantage of seeing trade in relation to development. These institutions have an expertise the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and even the WTO are lacking. 

At work, but poor

The second condition is the will to take on the causes of what is being denounced. There is no denying the fact. James Wolfensohn, chairman of the World Bank, stated it to the press in Washington: “I can’t get out of my mind the rise in the absolute number of people living in poverty. (...) By the end of this year they will probably be 1.5 billion”; one out of four human beings, that is. Whereas the stock market quotations beat all records, poverty rockets in absolute figures (even if it has slightly diminished in percentage). According to the UNDP, 42% of the Africans are poverty-stricken. And this is still an underestimation, for the World Bank has fixed the poverty line at one dollar per day and per person. This is absolutely insufficient in countries where the cost of living is higher than elsewhere. 

This rise in poverty is of direct concern to us as trade unions. First, because it comes with an ever wider gap between the richest and the poorest. The fortune of the three richest people of the world amounts to the combined GDPs of the 48 poorest countries; this was said some time ago during a symposium at the European Parliament. One can always quibble about figures, but not about this reality. 

On principle, this is an intolerable situation for all those who give a meaning to the term “social justice”, so also for trade unionists. The more so as those on the wrong side of the barrier usually live by their - formal or informal - work only, or try to get by for lack of a job. Whereas the others grow richer thanks to their capital, speculation, interests... The trade unions are also concerned about a dangerous evolution in the countries of the North. Western Europe is confronted with a new phenomenon, one the United States is already familiar with: the increase in the number of poor workers.

So, it is not a matter of assimilating poverty and unemployment or exclusion anymore. The wages of these workers are under downward pressures, in many cases accompanied with the threat of redundancy. This is the case in the United States, where the struggle against unemployment has given rise to the creation of hundreds of thousands of poorly paid jobs. In Europe, it often occurs that workers get between the devil and the deep blue sea, having to choose between a close-down or a cut in wages. We can see in such cases that poverty is not a phenomenon in the margin of the economic system that otherwise works. It is the product of the system itself, the logic of which excludes and “dualises”, causing an increase in wealth for a minority and in poverty for the others. Another growth In view of this situation, I don’t say in advance that the debates within the World Bank and the IMF are useless. A small step is better than a status quo. But will these institutions, in their social concern, go so far as to question the prevailing system? Or will they content themselves with ensuring a “minimum social safety net” for the poorest? Will they develop small- or large-scale, more or less selective “projects” to correct the consequences of an excluding globalisation, or will they put their finger on the causes of the dualisation in order to change them? In a recent report the UNDP has stated: “The growth-based structural adjustment policies of the 1980s have proved wrong and failed to reduce poverty. The inter-ventions by means of projects related to the ‘social dimension of the adjustment’ have focused on the short-term alleviation of the perverse effects of the adjustment on the poor, basically urban populations. (...) The countries don’t need more economic growth, but a growth in favour of the poor.” When trade union delegations go to the World Bank and the IMF, like the WCL recently did (see page 17), they do not do this to have a pleasant chat, but to affirm the importance of profound and sustainable changes in the policies of those orga-nisations. They do this to create a balance of power with the pressures exerted by business circles, without forgetting that the role of the Fund and the Bank is not “neutral” on the international scene. They do this to express the conviction that there is no such thing as economic fatality and that trade unions, being elements of the civil society and social experts, have something to say in order to achieve that the change is in favour of the workers and the poor.

Willy Thys
General Secretary of the
World Confederation of Labour

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The Euro and employment The Euro and the south Top

In June, Europeans will vote in the first EU parliamentary elections to be held after the introduction of the single currency, the euro. What are its stakes for employment and labour? And what does the euro afford for the countries of the South? These are difficult questions, inasmuch as no one knows the answers for sure.

The euro: a smooth transition?

Here it is: after being highly endorsed for years by integration supporters, the European Monetary Union (EMU) project has become a reality. Now our coins and notes, which are still issued as francs, liras, marks, etc, are just nondecimal parts of the euro. However, up to January 2002, things will be quite the same for average Europeans.
For advertising reasons, the single currency is presented as a golden opportunity, since “tourists will have less trouble when crossing European borders”. But this “advantage” is little more than a drop in the ocean of political, economic and social changes EMU is to bring about -changes that involve some risks.
TV ads, supplements coming with newspapers, brochures, information campaigns: the euro has been given a lot of attention. No one can deny it. Euroland’s eleven countries have invested a vast amount of money in explaining the practical aspects of the euro and disclosing its advantages, with a view to avoid a possible reject from the public opinion. But, truth be told, all this jumble of information fails to provide answers to many questions (and answers, if any, are often slogans). Some of these questions are: What will be the consequences of the euro for the European labour market? Will the euro help reducing unemployment? Will prices and wages be consistent in all the countries of Euroland? Will the price of bread be the same in Portugal and in Germany? If the answer to this question is yes, is the adjustment going to be done upwards or downwards? Will there be a single European monetary policy at the long run, coupled with eleven economic, budgetary, fiscal and social policies? Will the euro genuinely compete with the dollar at international level? Will it bring more stability to the world financial system or will it increase the risks of speculation?

Deregulation
One of the most tangible risks posed by the euro is that labour markets will be inevitably deregulated. After all, the euro zone is not what economists call “an optimal monetary zone”. Commercial, industrial, economic and social structures in this 11-nation Euroland are very different from one country to another. Running this highly diversified group of nations may turn out to be very hard. States have also different expectations concerning the way the European Central Bank (ECB) will meet its goals. For example, what if an Euroland’s country or region is struck by a sudden and severe economic recession? Before the euro-day, one of this country’s choices could have been to devaluate the currency with a view to enhance business competitiveness on foreign markets, overcoming thus some of the difficulties (1) But now countries do not have this choice at national level. And there is not much confidence in the ECB willingness to assist a particular region or country, since it is the organization in charge of pursuing Euroland´s common interests.
In addition to this exchange rate measure, governments usually have another buffer to sustain an economic recession: budgetary policy, in other words, boosting economies by pubic investment (public works, infrastructures, buildings, etc), or what is known as Keynesian policy. But even here governments have been left with very little room for maneuver. The “Pact for Stability and Growth” adopted in 1997 at the Amsterdam summit bans forever excessive public deficits, this is to say, above the famous 3% of GNP (exceptions may be made when circumstances demand them). Countries failing to observe this rule are liable to inflexible financial sanctions.

Social Dumping
One of the questions raised by the euro is how to avoid the formation of pockets of unemployment in Euroland as a consequence of an economical or regional crisis now that governments do not have any defense against such situations. The most close-to-reality answer to this question is a double one: by an increase in labour mobility and/or social dumping. Therefore, even if a region is affected by a recession, redundant workers only have to look for a job in another country (“mobility”). Another option is to deregulate the region so that its enterprises are able to compete with other areas through the establishment of some social conditions (maximal labour casualisation), fiscal standards (fiscal exemptions, diminution of business taxes) or environmental rules (minimal “attractive” environmental rules). This may also become a way of attracting investors looking for profitable and not-too- regulated places to deposit their money. But such scenario may lead to the most feared risk posed by the single currency, which is to see Euroland’s eleven countries embark on a deregulation race. And this is a race in which “honor codes” and other moral commitments of fiscal, social and environmental nature are unworthy. Actually, in this matter, Europe does not need “honor codes” but real “rules of the road” forcing to observe certain standards and sanctions at the end.

Wage policy
Euroland’s emergence as Maastricht designed it holds other risks that may result in the explosion of the euro, as some economists say. In fact, EU fifteen members have not attached a great deal of importance to the economic aspects of European integration. In principle, economic policies would be carefully coordinated as European integration advances. However, some Euroland governments tend to take contradictory measures in terms of economic policy (and especially with respect to the setting-up of wages). As a result of these opposite attitudes, the monetary union may run the risk of falling apart. In the face of this threat looming over the Union, some years ago there was a proposal for the creation of a sort of “European economic government”. In December 1997, the EU decided that instead of such “government”, a simple informal group of Euroland’s Finance Ministers would be established. But this group does not have its own decision-make power and its actions are subjected to a lot of reluctance and restrictions. Hence, is it going to be able to coordinate member countries’ economic policies?
Another question that is raised regards the consistency of wage policies in Euroland. Nothing has been decided on this matter. The current nightmare of EMU authorities, whose task is to fight against inflation, involves the Portuguese worker demanding a wage increase after he compares his salary to a German worker’s. Without a shadow of a doubt, Euroland’s wage differences will become more easily visible (2), which may lead to more wage claims and, thus, more inflation. Then the ECB would try to halt inflation by raising interest rates, creating an economic slowdown and so on.

A pact for Employment
As it has frequently happened during the European Community history, member countries only agree to coordinate their policies when they realize that the price of non-cooperation is higher that the political one of loosing national sovereignty (3). It was precisely this foreseeable price of non-cooperation in the macroeconomic realm (budgetary, fiscal and wage policies) that pushed Germany to propose the implementation of an European Pact for Employment. This Pact has been negotiated during several months by European partners and is to be adopted at the forthcoming European Summit (June 3-4) in Cologne. The agreement includes three main courses of action: macroeconomic coordination, the enhancement of Luxembourg guidelines and the strengthening of Cardiff commitments aimed at improving EU internal market mechanisms and competitiveness. At macroeconomic level, the added value will result from a coordination of monetary, budgetary and wage policies at the European sphere. The fulfillment of the goals set by the Pact and harmonization projects will pave the way for a sort of European economic ruling. In the face of this outlook, national trade unions will now have to reach a consensus too and adopt their common strategies.

Christophe Degryse
Journalist

It was not long coming. As if it wanted to prove the preceding article right, the OECD, in its first report on the euro zone, published late last March, expressed the wish for more flexibility in the labour relations. It deems this necessary to favour the mobility of the workers and the deregulation of the wage-base determination. In the opinion of the OECD, for example, the trouble with the existence of minimum wages in some countries is that it prevents a sufficient lowering of these wages.
The organisation passes a favourable judgement on the principle of the single currency, yet - paradoxically - it fears a single monetary policy that would prevent competition between the euro-zone countries. It feels that they should further reduce their budgetary deficits which, we know, is synonymous with greater austerity for the wage-earners and the unemployed.
In January 1999, the average rate of unemployment in the Euroland countries was 10.6%, fluctuating between 2.8% in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg and 17.8% in Spain

(1) While its usefulness is sometimes questioned, currency devaluation is one of the main tools of monetary policy.
(2) For economists, these differences are due to productivity differences and gaps in labour cost and social protection.
(3) Actually, the “Europeanisation” of policies does not eliminate sovereignties, it replaces them by an European sovereignty.

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Uncertainty for the South Top

On January 1st, 1999, EMU single currency, the euro, was introduced in 11 European countries. Not being in circulation yet, it can only be used in intangible financial transactions. Coins and notes will appear on January 1st 2002, and replace these 11 states’ national currencies over a six-month period.
The arrival of the euro has raised many questions in the countries of the South regarding their economic relations with Europe. Are these rational or irrational concerns? Today, it is difficult to answer this question for sure. There is only one certainty: the euro holds some uncertainties.
The first Southern countries to worry about the impact of the euro on their economy were some African states, whose currencies (CFA franc and Comoros franc) are French franc-pegged. What will happen with convertibility agreements for these currencies that depend on a commitment of the French Treasury?
The European Council gives some reassurance in this regard. The body has decided that agreements will not be eliminated and that they will not affect European monetary policy. France only has to warn its partners of the agreement implementation and every change made to it.
However, this does not mean that all hazards have vanished. CFA franc and Comoros franc, which from now on will become euro-pegged currencies, may be subjected to strong fluctuations between the European currency and the dollar, the international transaction currency. If the euro gets too strong, these countries’ exports will become less competitive, resulting in retrenchments. And if the euro is weak, their imports will become more expensive and less accessible for the population, although domestic production may be boosted. When this article was written, the euro had already lost 10% of its value in the face of the dollar since January. However, and after all, these countries’ were exposed to this danger before the euro, since there could be fluctuations between the French franc and the dollar.
Instead, a diminished exchange risk between the franc zone nations and Euroland’s 11 countries (and not only France anymore) may cheapen African products in European countries.

A “multimonetary” world
In time, the ambition of the euro is to replace the dollar in international transactions between Europe and other continents. The first regions to move in this direction are likely to be the nearest ones (the Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe), followed by ACP countries linked to the European Union by the Lomé Convention. And then, Latin America and Asia may also become involved in this process.
In this case, uncertainties are much the same. Due to exchange fluctuations between the euro and the dollar, incomes and expenses in the Southern countries may be even more unforeseeable than when there was only one strong currency as reference. And more risks may arise if speculators start playing with these fluctuations, making them sharper or if Japan decides to enhance its yen. Therefore, it would be difficult for Southern countries to forecast the exact value of their incomes (exportations, credits, public assistance) and their spending (imports, payments).
In conclusion, on the monetary arena, the “unipolar” economic world would be replaced by a “multipolar” system. But what if Southern and Eastern countries manage to turn this competition to their own advantage in the end instead of being its victims?

A.L.

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Dossier:International Migrations Top

The international migration phenomenon has always existed. Nowadays, it has turned into a massive and constant factor, strengthened by the globalisation of the economies. The International Labour Conference, held in 1999, dedicates a significant part of its works to the issue of migrations and now, the time has come for the WCL to dwell upon it in this report, which takes the essential points of other documents this organisation has published.

MIGRATIONS:
HOW’s AND WHY’s
Even though this phenomenon has always existed, migrant movements in the recent years present new characteristics.
First of all, the number of migrants is constantly increasing. From 1970 to 1990, 6 million people moved annually, with a 14.5 million increase in 1989. According to the United Nations Ad Hoc Department1 , there are, nowadays, some 130 million migrants (women and men), and 15 million of them are refugees registered by the UNHRC.
Secondly, the countries of origin and destination have changed. This is to say that during the last decades, Africa, the Arabic world and mainly Asia have become the most important departure points for migrants, while the traditional emigration countries, except for Mexico, were released to a second place. The East European countries, where a free movement of people policy was established, became the reception and traffic places, although in the past they represented the starting point. Most of the mobilisations take place nowadays among the Southern countries, where 70% to 80% of migrants come from. Nevertheless, Asia is the most benefited continent regarding the recent increase in migrations.
Thirdly, a new element is on stage: dispersion. The current migration movements are more spread and diversified; their flows are significantly less structured and organised; and public policies and migration control instances seem unable to bear the burden of reality. Along with the volatility of capital, going beyond boundaries without major control, “international migration flows did not only increased in quantitative terms, but also strengthened their volatile and unpredictable nature”, states a World Bank Discussion Paper2 .
There is another element hidden within this evolution: privatisation of migrations. Some 30 years ago, the flows of workforce were dealt with by public institutions. Such public management has not disappeared, but it has set the stage for a privatised organisation, mainly presided over by “smugglers of illegal aliens”, who sometimes become slave traders mercilessly exploiting candidates for migration. Such privatisation has resulted in an increase in the number of migrants, and has sponsored the creation of several scenarios: extortion of funds, abandonment of clandestine migrants on the way, etc. In 1997, the ILO amended its 1949’s Convention n°96 regarding private employment agencies, so as to include the concept of “smugglers of illegal aliens”.

Migrants, the most vulnerable group
Likewise, a clear trend to feminisation of migration can be proven real (seek for more information below). Finally, the last characteristic of the current migration panorama is the increase in the number of non-qualified workers. “Non-qualified workers, often without any instruction level (...) represent the most important group, quantitatively speaking...” 3
Furthermore, the different aspects of this evolution are interrelated. Traditional countries of destination implemented restrictive policies on regular immigration, mainly aimed at temporarily accepting qualified workers so as to compensate for the qualification deficits of the country. Therefore, migrants with little or no level of qualification are forced to make use of illegal migration procedures established by private recruitment agencies.
These diverse stages of the evolution of migrations contribute to the strengthening of migrants’ fragility regarding people in charge of their transport, and their employers, and they also make them more vulnerable to economic fluctuations. As clandestine aliens, these workers cannot defend themselves, fearing expelling. As little qualified workers, they are forced to carry out second-class jobs and are more vulnerable to unemployment than native citizens of the country. Therefore, these people perform non-salaried jobs, which as it is know, present a “kind” aspect (independent workers status) and another one more controversial (illegal work, traffic...) In both cases, these workers’ social protection is often little.

Importance of migrations for employers
It is very common to explain migrations by using the reasons why migrants decide to leave their country to cast lots abroad. Therefore, the situation of the country of origin is regarded as a decisive element for emigrating, and emigration itself is viewed as a strategic answer to such situation. It goes without saying that both factors are at stake, but they are not the only ones.
In fact, there is a workforce demand in the countries of destination. In the past and even in the present, in some cases, this demand results from a mathematical disproportion between the number of offered jobs and the available workforce. Nevertheless, in most cases, a deep analysis has to be carried out, taking into account two factors: on the one hand, the fact that a part of the workforce in the country of destination refuses to perform certain tasks which are not well remunerated or carried out in precarious conditions, and on the other, the fact that employers seek for a workforce as cheap as possible, in terms of direct wages and other costs. Instead of improving working conditions, employers prefer to import a workforce which, by being poorer, is less likely to make labour claims.
Even though the migrant is already established in the country of destination, he or she is still a second-class citizen, often lacking the right to vote. Migrants are accepted under the condition to live with some differences: “As salaried worker, the immigrant shows himself interested, just because he or she holds a marginal position” as stated by Albert Bastenier and Felice Dassetto.4
Migrations are the result of the confrontation between this workforce demand and a supply. In fact, there are millions of candidates to migration, moved by the search for a job and income.
The key factor at stake is the enormous gap between the revenue obtained in the workplace and that expected in the country of origin. The candidates to migration will not get discouraged by the fact of having to live in less favourable conditions than the citizens of the country of destination. What matters for them is the difference between what they owe in their country of origin and what they expect to earn abroad.
Therefore, migrations have a promising future, for the wealth gaps do not stop widening, not only between the North and the South, but also among the Southern regions and within most countries. Since 1965, the income percentage worldwide corresponding to the 20% poorest fell from 2.3% to 1.4%, while that of the 20% richest increased from 70% to 80%. The income gap between the 20% poorest and the 20% richest doubled and went from 30 per 1 to 61 per 15 , and nothing shows that this process could be reverted.

Order or disorder?
Within the international migration scenario, a certain disorder can be loomed: migrants being the perturbing agents of a well-organised system of States and nations where everyone stays where they are and who they are with. This is the perception of those feeling threatened, with a reason or not, in their workplace by aliens.
For these people, migration movements are the result of a world in crisis, which has to regain certain stability, “as in the old times”. According to this hypothesis, there should be a return to order, for migrations to be forced to diminish and immigrants be forced to return to their countries.
Nevertheless, such movements can also be interpreted as an element of the new, globalised economic order in force, and in which migration flows would become an element as common as the current capital transfer. Thus, migrations would be, according to Pierre Guengant “the human equivalent of goods and capital movement, and the flexibility of the workforce would become a rule in all countries”.6
The second hypothesis is more real: “The widening economic and demographic gap between developed and developing countries will only strengthen the phenomenon of migrations. Therefore, such phenomenon represents a structural component of the contemporary world economy.”7
In fact, everything leads to the conclusion that despite the xenophobic reactions migrations produced, they will represent an unavoidable reality in the future, as they did in the past.
In the political field, what is at stake is not to find the way to stop migrations, and not by any means to send migrants back home. The challenge will be to find more efficient methods to respect and protect women and men, human beings and full fledged workers, who have the courage to quit everything to start a new life and who, very often, allow the native inhabitants of the country have access to a significant part of their wealth.
Finally, in the minds of people, the challenge is to see immigrants as an opportunity and not a threat, and to eliminate the competence feeling. Anyway, human history is made out of migrations and crossing of races.

Number of regular or non regular aliens (except for refugees and asylum seekers) per region (millions- 1995)

Region Economically Relatives Total actives

Africa 6-7 12-14 18-21
Northern America 8 8-10 16-18
Central and Southern America 3-5 4-7 7-12
Southern, Eastern
and Southeastern Asia 2-3 3-4 5-7
Near East 6 2-3 8-9
Europe 11-13 15-17 26-30
Total 26-42 44-45 80-97

Source: ILO: Protecting the most vulnerable of today’s workers, Discussion Papers, Geneva, 1997, p47Genève, 1997, 47 pp.

1 World Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Data and Policy Analysis, United Nations Secretariat.
2 S.S. Russel and M.S. Teitelbaum: International Migrations and International Trade, Discussion Papers of the World Bank n°160, 1992, p7.
3 Pierre George, Encyclopedia Universalis, V° Populations (Geography of), edi. 1985, vol. 14, p1059-1060.
4 A. Bastenier and F. Dassetto, Immigrations et Nouveaux Pluralismes, De Boeck University, 1990, p15.
5 World Report on Human Development 1996, UNPD, p2.
6 Pierre Guengant, Migrations Internationales et Développement: les nouveaux paradigmes” European Review of international migrations (Poitiers) vol. 12/2, 1996.
7 French Commission for Justice and Peace, Les 100 mots du développement et du Tiers Monde, La Découverte, Paris, 1990, V° Migrations.

WOMEN AND
MIGRATION
With the globalisation process of economies, migration flows increased worldwide and within this new panorama, the number of women migrating in order to search for a job also significantly increased. Since the 1980’s, a new phenomenon has appeared: the “feminisation of poverty” and it has reached unprecedented proportions within the history of migrations. In 1990, at the world level, it was estimated that the number of women living abroad amounted to 57 million, this is to say, 48% of world migrations.
Such a trend can be observed mainly in Africa, where women coming from workforce supplier countries are more likely to move more than men are, but in significantly more precarious conditions.
Victims of what Ching Lin Pang, from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the K.U.L. (Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven), called “sexual segregation of the labour market”, women are forced to carry out a limited number of jobs and are mainly concentrated in either the domestic sector or the sex industry. These jobs make them go through regrettable situations where they have to face exploitation and violence.
Through the fragment of the report dedicated to women, the WCL wanted to highlight the precarious conditions of work and livelihood of female migrants for employment and that International Conventions n°97 and n°143 are aimed at protecting the rights of ALL migrants for employment. In fact, the regulations in force in the countries of destination do not efficiently protect these women who are either domestic workers or bar hostesses, especially if they entered the country illegally, for instance, through a placement agency.

Ratification and enforcement
This fact applies more to female migrants then to men, for women fundamental rights are the ones most frequently infringed. However, the provisions of Conventions n°97 and n°143 regarding migrants for employment do not provide for any sex differences. On the contrary, the trend to “provisions feminisation” appears only in two new judicial instruments: the United Nations Convention on the protection of migrants for employment (1990), regarding the problem of violence against female migrants for employment, and ILO’s Convention n°181, regarding the private employment agencies.
Such conventions, recently adopted as an answer to the new migration trends, will probably set the stage, once in force, to the improvement of the situation of the female migrants for employment.
Nevertheless, their proper enforcement must be granted. In its report on world’s migrations, the WCL highlights two main obstacles for the proper use of these international judicial tools:
First, the limited number of ratifications of international conventions. Second, the increasing number of women with illegal status in the country of destiny. Since the group of women willing to undertake illegal actions, for instance through placement agencies, outnumbers that of men, the international regulations in force can not adequately protect them.
The tools to struggle against female migrants for employment mistreatment do exist. The only thing left is using them. Nevertheless, their use will always depend on the good will of countries to ratify and properly implement the Conventions. In this case, it is a matter of political choice.

CHILDREN TRAFFICKING AS DOMESTIC WORKERS

“To traffic in something” means to trade in a more or less clandestine, shameful and illegal way that something. To talk about “traffic in” or “trade of” children simply means to “take possession of a child and put him or her on sale trough illegal trade”. The “trade of people under the age of eighteen, put in the hands of interest families by suppliers families, mediators/smugglers receiving money for performing this task”1 represents an unbearable panorama which is paradoxically gaining ground now-adays.
In fact, within the globalisation of economies, “the only valid ‘cogito’ would appear to be the ‘I trade, then I exist’ ”, as stated by Alioune Sow, Secretary General of the Democratic Trade Union Organisation of African Workers (DOAWTU). Children trafficking from one region or country to another, a profitable activity, is carried out without any kind of hitch and neglecting all regulations regarding human and citizen rights.
Nowadays, within the economic inactivity prevailing worldwide, the child, historically regarded, especially in Africa, as the symbol of “holly blessing”, is increasingly been used as an object of commercialisation, being the victim of all the possible forms of manipulation and trade. Sexual perverts become their lovers, by force. In countries waging war, they are regarded as sweet and innocent “little soldiers”, and several families use them as domestic workers, obliging them to satisfy the need of each member of the family concerned.
In its report on international migration, the WCL decided to dwell upon the specific problem of “domestic children” trafficking. One of the objectives of this report is to highlight the close relationship between domestic work and children trafficking. This panorama will be studied, mainly in the African context.

An unbearable business
Nevertheless, it should be said that children trafficking is not only an exclusively Asian phenomenon; it is actually a “business” gaining ground worldwide.
This situation regarding trafficking or abusive placement can be qualified through three criteria: the presence of a mediator, the carrying out of a transaction and one objective: child exploitation. Most of trafficked children are placed as domestic workers in the rich urban families, and even in the poor ones2 . Since these children’s work is clandestine and they lack familiar and judicial support, they have been considered as the most vulnerable children category to exploitation. Never-ending work schedules, none or small remuneration3 , multiplication of the tasks to be performed, lack of time for resting and medical assistance, physical and emotional isolation, mistreatment under all forms possible: there is a consensus on the identification of domestic children work as a contemporary form of slavery.
Nevertheless, nothing hinders its existence: this modality of work represents, nowadays, a commonly performed activity, coming from a traditional way of education, but that it is increasingly likely to take part of an strategic plan to survive before the persistent current economic crisis. This practice continues being clandestine, thus difficult to identify. At the threshold of the XXI century, the existing measures are not enough to struggle against this cancer. Would the ILO Convention on “the immediate eradication of the worst forms of child labour”, to be enforced in 1999, the necessary efficient tool to fight against child trade?

1 Le trafic des enfants en République du Bénin, Cotonou, Benin, July 1998
2 The idea according to which children only work for urban rich families must be reconsidered. For instance, in Haiti, children who work as domestic workers, called “restaveks”, are very often forced to work in poor and even impoverished zones of Port-au-Prince. They are the little boys of the poor families, who do not have the necessary resources to hire a domestic worker to take care of the housework and the children.
3 Remuneration varies according to situations. In Western and Central Africa, children touch an average monthly wage of 5000 FCFA (approximately US$8) (3). It should be said that the placement of these children, within trafficking, has negative effects on the existence of remuneration and its increase.

MIGRATIONS IN THE
COUNTRIES OF THE GULF
Since the 1940s, the countries of the Gulf have represented a point of attraction for an increasing number of migrants, and in the early 1990s, migration figures reached unpre-cedented proportions in these countries. In this sense, it is estimated that there are 7 or 8 million expatriates in that region, from which 5 million would represent an active work force. The overall of funds sent by these migrants for employment to their country of origin would approximately equal US$10 billion per year. Even more: such statistics do not include illegal migration.
Furthermore, migrants integrate 70% of the region’s work force. This figure is even greater in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where in 1990, 86% and 91% of the active population, respectively, was integrated by migrants1 .
Migrants’ work force in the region is so intense that the Social Alert Association (Brussels) does not hesitate in stating that without such an important percentage of migrants in the labour market, the expansion of the oil sector in the Gulf region and the evolution of the region’s economy would have been much slower.
These migrants for employment’s geographic origin is extremely diverse. Some of them belong to the Muslim religion and come from Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco. Nevertheless, most of the Gulf region’s migrants come from Eastern, Southern and South-Eeast Asia. Nowadays, this group represents more than 50% in each of the countries of the Gulf2 . The number of migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa is quite limited, but many of the illegal migrants in the region come from Nigeria, Ghana and some countries of Eastern Africa.

Beyond migrations
The first explanation for this flow of migrants is the demand of a work force to which emigrants did not know how, or want to answer. Migrants for employment are massively employed in the production and handicraft work sectors, known as “improper” sectors and often disdained by native population.
Besides, the increasing demand of female domestic workers by an emerging middle class fostered the creation of a new sort of migrants: women. Such migrants’ working conditions are known: infringement of freedom, documents confiscation, never-ending work schedules, violence...
Nevertheless, at the present time countries of the Gulf region are deeply affected by economic troubles related to oil price and have to face an increasing unemployment rate. These coun-tries’ governments started implementing policies aimed at importing foreign labour, thus affecting all emigrants coming from any country.
Although a significant number of immigrants are considered as not welcomed people in the region, other happened to fall within the category of “modern slaves”, given the hard work they carry out and the small remuneration they get. The situation of these people infringes the provisions favouring migrants for em-ployment, established in Conventions n°97 and n°143 of the ILO, which the countries of the Gulf have always rejected to subscribe.

1 Sources: MFODWO Kwame, Laws, policies and institutions affecting migrant workers in the Gulf co-operation countries, Social Alert, Brussels, August1998, p 4-5.
2 Sources: ibid., p 2

THE WCL
AND MIGRATIONS
In October 1998, the WCL held an international seminar on the migration phenomenon. Next, the guidelines of the conclusions on the policies to be implemented by union organisations will be presented.
The WCL, after undertaking the task of identifying the most adequate way of leading with such a controversial issue, decided to carry out this seminar on migrations in 1998. Such seminar reveals this organisation’s increasing will to face, through concrete actions, a reality affecting both developed and developing countries, affecting employment and working conditions, and hindering the promotion and defence of workers’ union rights.
The seminar granted special attention to the situation of migrants for employment coming from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and it was aimed at devising the WCL policy on migrants for employment and establishing a platform of action for the years to come.

A minimum of citizenship
The economic, political and demographic gap prevailing between North and South, East and West, are some, if not the main causes of the increasing complexity of migrations. The WCL and its affiliate organisations regard migrations as a product of the social and economic imbalances, as well as of armed conflicts.
In this seminar, the WCL reasserted its will to asses and actively participate in the defence of the equal opportunities principles within the work place and in the struggle against all forms of discrimination. The initiatives to minimise, and even prevent, discrimination in the work place represent for unions an opportunity to negotiate contractual clauses providing for migrants for employment’s specific needs.
Within the economic globalisation scenario, the WCL could effectively help in the elaboration of a proposal to give migrants for employment already established in the country of destination a relative degree of citizenship. Since goods free movement often precedes people and ideas free movement, it is necessary for a new concept of citizenship to emerge. Likewise, the right to emigrate must remain linked to the right to go back to one’s country, without necessarily having to give up the social rights acquired.
This is why, according to the WCL, any approach to migrations for employment has to take into account the perspective of the country of origin and destination. Some more balanced relations between the North and the South could foster economic development in emi-gration countries and could be used as the sole stable and innocuous way to reduce the flow of migrants for employment and possible candidates.

Platform of Action
The WCL deems it necessary to foster social integration and professional promotion through the training of each emigrant worker, for him or her to actively participate in the social life of the immigration country and feel motivated to take part of the union activities of his or her work place or enterprise. Therefore, the affiliates are urged to consider emigrants’ work as a priority and an issue needing to be dealt with from different sectors.

Information
In the countries of origin, as well as in those of destination, actions must be undertaken so as to foster the dissemination of information and the counselling of emigrants, their families and possible emigrant candidates, mainly on specific concerns. This includes, for instance, in the country of origin, to carry out guiding courses before emigrating, training courses, explanations on the legal status of migrants, their rights and duties and the traps of recruitment. In the countries of destination, information must be disseminated on social, political and cultural aspects, social legislation and labour law, and finally on union management.

Legislation
The WCL affiliates must influence governments to pass laws allowing integration and equal treatment of migrants in the country of destiny, the maintenance of the rights granted by the country of origin and the strict control on recruitment procedures. The equal treatment principle, provided for by international conventions, applies to work relations, as well as social and health situations, among others.
The WCL deems it useful that the countries of origin and destination subscribe, with other countries, a sort of “Memorandum of Under-standing” on migrations, benefiting both countries and migrants. National organisations should entice their governments in this sense.

Control
The control over the real situation by trade union organisations is even more important than legal reforms. Such organisations should control recruitment practices, payment forms of those who inform and “place” migrants, employment and working conditions, etc. In a wider sense, since the citizenship of migrants is hardly ever acknowledged, they should be able to find, in their union organisations, an ally and a body controlling their housing conditions and medical care, among others. The WCL considers that the procedures and practices in force must help unravel certain situations, more than punish migrants, victims of them.
Finally, the WCL reasserts the need for creating a network and promoting its affiliates’ participation. In fact, migrations are a complex phenomenon related not only to the labour world. That is why it is necessary for the affiliates to create networks with the NGOs, religious groups, women associations, etc. so as to facilitate research, information, regu-lation, control and campaigns, among others. Given the cross-border implications of migrations, regional trade union organisations should ensure co-ordination of some of these programs and activities, mainly in the field of gathering of data, research and documentation.
Much remains to be done, as the problem has reached enormous dimensions.
(See chart of publications)

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The WCL Beards the Lion in his den Top

Last March a delegation of WCL African affiliates went to IMF headquarters. What was the reason behind this visit to the world financial temple? Wasn’t this a loosing battle from the very start?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the target of a lot of criticism from sectors concerned for social issues. Trade union organisations fly periodically into a rage in the face of structural adjustment programmes meaning layoffs, cutbacks in social spending, prices liberalisation (except for the price of labour) and the opening-up of economies to multinational companies.
Africa enjoys the sad privilege of being submitted to very severe structural adjustment programmes that shift the greater burdens on the shoulders of the hardest-hit groups of the population. This scenario repeats itself all over the world.
In this regard, when asked about the consequences of the IMF policy in his country, the Togolese Adrien Akouété, DOAWTU Deputy Secretary General, mentions at the outset the high cost of private education and health services, which are now out of reach for his fellow citizens; redundancies stemming from privatisation, the mounting informal sector... This criticism is widely known because it is universal. Thus, what moved some trade unionists to go and “put their head in the lion’s mouth”?
“As African trade union representatives, we had a message to convey to the IMF -says Adrien Akouété. Above all, we wanted to underscore our claim for the writing-off of our foreign debt. Then, we intended to ask for the participation of our countries’ most representative trade union organisations in the preparation, management and following-up of programmes dictated upon by the IMF”.
Ronald Janssen, an expert on this issue from the Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens (Belgium), shares this point of view: “Even though it may seem a loosing battle from the very start, we can drive the IMF and World Bank policy into a social direction. To do so, we have to meet the people in charge and make them accept the importance of trade unionism. We have to make emphasis on the fact that, in addition to paying attention to macroeconomic statistics, they should be also aware of the social reality.”
According to Willy Thys, WCL Secretary General, the IMF speech is reshaped imperceptibly with all these discussions. For example, today more and more people are debating on the impact of structural adjustment programmes on the living standards of the population. And the World Bank (WB) is trying to strengthen the links with civil society. However, Willy Thys warns that hopes must not be raised too high: “There is still a gap between the speech of these institutions and the on-the-ground situation. When we ask them to express straightforwardly their vision of development, they answer that it is ´dynamic´ -which is definitely not a straightforward answer”.
Given the IMF and the WB position in the world financial playground and their decision-making methods, the evolution in their policies may not depend so much on their leaders’ personal beliefs, but rather on a balance of power that has to be built between their standpoints and trade union organisations.

A better understanding
As stated by the members of the DOAWTU and the WCL delegation, the aim of the visit was not as unilateral as it appeared to be. “After going to IMF headquarters, I have a better understanding of the mechanisms of IMF programmes and decisions -says Adrien Akouété. The key points were discussed in an open and clear debate, with questions and answers from all the officials involved. I also had the feeling that from now on their policy will take better into account the reality of the South”.
While some officials are very open-minded, others tend to resist to changes. Meeting them becomes thus very useful, especially to gather information. Political responsibilities are exerted in the field, particularly the recognition of trade unions as full-fledged members in dialogues. In this regard, during a long-lasting interview with the delegation members, IMF General Director, Michel Camdessus said that the organised civil society, in which trade union organisations are included, is to play a key role in the future to grant that programmes will be managed transparently.
Actually, these are not pioneering efforts. Several international institutions have already opened themselves to the involvement of civil society. The classic way to do so is to invite NGOs to consultative meetings, a very commonly used formula in the World Bank. Many people think these invitations are a sort of trap. They fear that institutions will use the newcomers to acquire some legitimacy. While this motivation may exist, as Ronald Janssen admits, “are we going to gain more if each one of us isolates in our den?” For Willy Thys, “knowing who uses who is like going back to that old discussion about the egg and the hen”.
The IMF looks forward to this co-operation. This may explain its willingness in the preparation of the African delegation visit. In September 1998, Finance and Development published an article whose headline read: “The IMF meets civil society”. The author mentioned six reasons for the IMF interest in such co-operation: to exchange information, to foster the political debate, to bring the institution closer to the public opinion, to give some legitimacy to IMF activities (a two-way legitimacy actually), to increase the public understanding of the IMF and to contribute to democratisation.

ILO expertise
It is too soon to determine whether the interests of civil society, including trade unions amongst others, are consistent with IMF goals.
The aforementioned author explains that within the world of NGOs and associations, three different standpoints regarding the IMF may be found. The first one is described as conformist: it characterises those bodies observing IMF objectives and methods. The second one is called reformist, since it accepts that agencies such as the IMF are necessary, but their proceedings and methods must be changed. And finally, the third attitude is a “radical” one”, since it looks forward to reducing dramatically IMF activities, and even eliminating them

According to Ronald Janssen, the WCL is included in the second group of organisations, because it does not support the disappearance of the IMF (and the World Bank either), but it thinks that these organisations should be more socially-oriented when defining their policies.
However, there is still one controversial issue in the relations between the WCL, on the one hand, and the IMF and the WB, on the other hand. In ideal circumstances, the latter reflect some social concern and express it according to their own sensitivity. During its 1999 spring session, the Bank discussed a plan for a “good behaviour on the social realm”. Although the WCL appreciates this will, the organisation believes that the WB and the IMF do not have much expertise in this area. This is why they should entrust this task to the international institution having this expertise, in other words, to the International Labor Organisation. Willy Thys sees here an invaluable opportunity to give the ILO the place it deserves in the international arena. It is not a winning battle yet.

A.L

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Debate:Religion, a hazard to the workers Top

In the debates on development, the economy has for a long time occupied a central place, whether to modernise it or to free it from dependence. This is the prevailing tendency in the world of labour. For around fifteen years, a school of thought has claimed a refined consideration of the cultural factor. Two authors, Xavier Couplet and Daniel Heuchenne, now assert, like Max Weber at the beginning of the century, that there is a correlation between a country’s level of development and its religion.
The facts they put to the fore are unsettling at first sight, particularly the chart that situates the religious groups on a graph according to the GNP per inhabitant of the countries composing these groups (page 312).
In the opinion of the authors, and the figures seem to confirm this, Protestantism and Confucianism would favour development in that they leave the individual more freedom without diabolising money and without imposing time-, money- en energy-consuming community rituals. Conversely, Islam, Bud-dhism, Hinduism and, even more, animism would check development in that they induce to accept the realities and to reproduce the past rather than transforming and innovating it. In between, Catholicism and orthodoxy would present a mitigated balance.

The truth from somewhere else

At first sight the correlation is convincing. Better even: the first chapters of the work make one really think. For various reasons, however, the analysis remains superficial. First, the GNP per inhabitant is taken as the sole criterion of development, which is questionable to say the least. The authors leave aside the internal gaps in the countries, whereas a fair distribution of the incomes can also be considered an indication of development.
As the pages are turned, another - basic - question arises: do the authors not contribute, in the end, to feeding the single thinking in that they assert the superiority of the only system considered rational (capitalism) and the irrational nature of all other systems, influenced excessively by religion? Several assertions lead to think this. It is true that the authors contend that development requires freedom and social change. But the evolution they propose, drawing their inspiration from Guy Sorman, goes in the direction of “informal capitalism”, already advocated by Hernando De Soto. With the authors, one may want modernity. But the book conveys the impression that modernity is assimilated to individual initiative, trade relations, liberalism and the withdrawal of the state, all ambiguous concepts.
So, one retains from this book the will to go off the beaten track of looking upon the economy as the only factor explaining development. On the other hand, however, one will turn down each explanation of development reduced to one single factor, whether culture, economy, religion or another one. Development is a matter of social change in which many parameters play a part, also the level of organisation of the civil society, including the trade unions. When “the truth comes from somewhere else” than the concrete social field, the risks of manipulation of the mind are too great.

André Linard

Xavier COUPLET and Daniel HEUCHENNE: Religions et développement, Ed. Economica, 1998,
316 pages

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Bananas:a too strict regime Top

Last April, the World Trade Organisation decided in favour of the United States when settling a commercial dispute on bananas between that country and the European Union.
The technical aspects conceal a defeat for the world of work and a victory for globalisation.
Suddenly the horizon breaks open. The road from San José (Costa Rica) to Limón reaches the open country. The heat is suffocating. As far as the eye can see, on each side, a wall of banana trees is torn open by juggernauts conveying the “green gold” to the port.
In Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras and, farther, in Ecuador and Colombia, the same kind of landscape repeats itself: interminable, mostly flat expanses, the realms of the banana; men and women bustle about, maintaining or chopping bunches. These plantations belong to Dole, Chiquita or other multinationals or, as is the case in Costa Rica and Chiapas (Mexico), to local owners linked to them for marketing purposes. The banana-tree wall, however, can conceal aspects that are less shining than economic success. In Costa Rica, Indian communities have been uprooted to make place for plantations. Moreover, there is edifying testimony from various countries to the working and health conditions that prevail on the plantations. It tells us, for instance, about the use of pesticides and dangerous chemical fertilisers sprayed by aeroplanes over trees ... and workers. Workers who were exposed to these products have filed countless complaints against the banana companies.
It tells us also about the repression against the unionised workers or about the advancement of phoney, yellow unions.

WTO vs CMO
Europe is traditionally a choice market for Latin American bananas, which are called “dollar bananas”. The Germans in particular are wild about them. Being cheaper and prettier, these bananas threatened the European production itself (from the Canaries, Crete, the Antilles, ...) as well as the one of the ACP countries, with which the European Union has had since 1975 a special co-operation agreement. In 1993, Europe therefore opted for a Banana Common Market Organisation (CMO) to protect its own and the ACP countries’ banana production. Chief instrument: import quotas and taxes hitting the dollar bananas.
Even if protection of interests was the first aim, the decision fitted a certain logic. It indeed implies that the co-operation occurs less through aid to development projects than through the guarantee of fair export prices. This is particularly the case for the Caribbean and Antillean islands, where the more difficult relief pushes the cost of the banana production up. The development of these countries is largely dependent on the receipts from the export of this fruit.
The banana CMO interested the workers, too. Besides the more favourable geographical conditions and a more capitalist organisation of the production, the Latino bananas are less expensive because of the greater exploitation of the workers. In a way, the European policy granted a bonus to producers who were less aggressive towards their staff. This does not justify the privileging of the ACP countries, but stresses the importance to be attached to the working conditions criterion everywhere.
It was too easy. The European CMO gave rise to opposition, first from the Latin American producing countries, Ecuador and Costa Rica on top, followed closely by the multinationals, which did not tolerate being deprived of the control over the market, and by the United States in the name of free trade and ... of the multinationals’ donations to the Democratic and to the Republican Party. Followed also by the Germans, in search of the cheapest bananas. Europe seemed united but was not.
The more so as the dollar bananas keep the German, Dutch, Belgian ... ports going whereas the ACP bananas enter chiefly by the French ports.

WTO winner by KO
So, the grumblers filed a complaint with the WTO, which had come into existence in the meantime. After all sorts of incidents, Europe was condemned because free trade, the WTO gospel, prohibits acts of discrimination between producers. The market decides. Last April, the United States was given the right to apply sanctions. The WTO beat the CMO by KO.
The debates leading to the victory of the United States and the transnationals were rather technical: Is such a procedure consistent with the prescriptions of the WTO? But the decision is political, and full of consequences. First, it affirms that respect for the theoretical free-trade principles prevails over concerns for the development of countries; too bad if some of them find their economy ruined. The decision is therefore a defeat for all those who want minimum social conditions to be as important a criterion as the opening of borders. In that it is made in the year the Chiquita banana celebrates its centenary, the WTO’s decision indeed grants a kind of bonus for exploiting people and offers the multinationals quite a present. The latter see the field cleared for them, with every contempt for the survival of the small producers.

Legal. But legitimate?
The WTO’s decision fits in the logic of the principles of this organisation, whose mission consists in ensuring a world trade without obstacles and discrimination. It is legal, one can say.
But is it legitimate, if one knows that it has serious social consequences both for the plantation workers and for the development of some countries that are highly dependent on banana exports? In a statement released last March, the WCL and the WFAFW, its trade organisation in charge of agricultural issues, both unions wonder if, in these circumstances, “it would not be better to challenge the legitimacy of those principles - the “market at any cost”; instead of turning them into dogmas and deploring their “unfortunate” consequences.
Behind this debate, it is in fact the ever so controversial issue of protectionism that has re-emerged: are there sufficiently important values to justify attacks on the free-market principle? The United States, the WTO and the big multinationals reply in the negative. The European Union affirms the opposite, in any case with regard to particular products such as bananas (for the reasons stated) and hormone-treated meat (to protect the health of its consumers).

Obviously, the debate is far from purely technical. “It is always the strongest who demand the abolition of rules aimed to protect the weakest”, reminds legal expert Nuri Albala of the Observatory on Globalisation, quoting the maxim according to which “Between rich and poor, between strong and weak, it is freedom that oppresses and the law that frees”.

A.L.

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News in BriefTop

NO RIGHTS, NO DEVELOPMENT
Belgium´s Fondation Roi Badouin awarded its International Prize for Development to Pakistan´s Human Rights Commission (HRC), chaired by Asma Jahangir. This Commision is in charge of denouncing human rights violations, as well as of defending legally and helping directly the victims of such crimes. Child labor, women subjected to an inhuman treatment, workers living in slavery-like conditions, with chains in their feet, people who are not paid a wage for months, etc are at the top of HRC list. “I simply refuse to consider these practices as respectable “traditions”, says Asma Jahangir. “It is an action of barbarity”.
There has been a noteworthy evolution in the awarding criteria of this prize during its twenty years of existence. At the beginning, the winners were scientists. Then, organizations involved in delicate issues such as AIDS started to be awarded. And finally, in recent years, great emphasis has been laid in activities also pertaining to human rights and workers claims. 1996 prize was awarded to the Movement of Peasants Without Land from Brazil and 1998 one to HCR.
According to Fondation Roi Badouin president, who coincides with workers organizations in this regard, there is no development if rights are not respected, if all sectors of society do not participate and if resources are unfairly distributed.
The WCL was represented at the awarding ceremony.

AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN HIRING
At the beginning of this year, IKEA multinational company attracted some attention for being involved in racial discrimination. Trade unionists disclosed the existence of an internal communication recommending “not to hire color workers for door-to-door catalogue distribution, because unfortunately people are not so willing to open the door to them and the idea of the business is working as fast as possible”.
IKEA direction acknowledged its accountability, explaining that actually it was an individual initiative and that the author will be sanctioned. The inquiry will reveal if this statement is true or if this person just put forward “in back and white” what is being practiced in silence.
This may be an isolated case, but actually it is not. Still in France, an employer of a drugstore has just been sentenced for having dismissed an employee because of his skin color that might frighten clients. To be continued...
In European countries, young people descending from immigrants can bear witness to even more restraints to be hired. Workers organizations have thus an enormous challenge to face on this issue.
(Sources: Le Monde, El País)

DIFFICULT CHOICE AT THE WTO
The successor to Renato Ruggiero as the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Director had not been appointed yet when this article was written. But when the article is read, someone might have already taken office, because the mandate of the outgoing General Director expires on April 30th
Since the beginning of this year, the established delays have been postponed again and again, which reflects that important and opposed interests are at stake. In an effort to facilitate the decision-making process, some negotiators were entrusted the task of carrying out some consultation activities with a view to reach a consensus on this issue. In January, four candidates were in the fray. Two of them were the former trade ministers of Morocco and Canada and were soon eliminated. The remaining two candidates are thus Thai vice Prime Minister, Supachai Panichpakdi, and New Zealand’s former Prime Minister, Mike Moore.
Latin America supported the Canadian candidate, whereas Africa defended the Moroccan competitor but now they are out of the race. Regarding Europe, there was a strong division. When the aforementioned candidates abandoned the competition, countries dispersed and rallied to the remaining ones. According to Le Monde, “Backed by Asia and Japan, the Thai candidate is supported by the majority of developing countries and some Europeans, but faces US reluctance”. The United States, together with Germany, France, Italy and some Latin American countries endorse Mike Moore
Therefore, this duel does not reflect the classical North-South opposition or any ideological differences. After all, nobody becomes General Director of the WTO without being a fierce partisan of neo-liberal policies. At the very outside, some degrees of sensitivity may have an influence in the settlement of conflicts among members.

MADAGASCAR: TAXING THE INFORMAL SECTOR
Madagascar´s government has decided to tax activities belonging to the informal sector. The measure is aimed at filling the nation´s coffers and preventing this sector from competing with formal enterprises and ruining them.
According to a local poll, only in Antanarivo, the country´s capital, there are 160,000 informal enterprises.
Opinions differ with respect to this tax. But over and above this particular case, deep questions arise. If the informal sector is now liable to the regulations it seeks to avoid, then what differentiates it form the formal one? And what is preventing governments from imposing the observance of some working and wage conditions within the informal economy?

MALTA: THE EXPERIENCE OF SOCIAL DIALOGUE
The WCL Executive Committee met in Malta by the end of March. Its members availed themselves of the opportunity of an interesting exchange of ideas with Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, Minister of Social Policy, who dwelled on workers’ human dignity. He also laid stress on the importance of social dialogue, which is well underway in Malta now that the island is beginning to look forward to its admission in the European Union. “Here in Malta we took the wrong way, since our unionism was strongly linked to a party and to a government. This dependence is not good either for trade unions or the government. Each one must be autonomous”, said Dr. Gonzi. It is worth mentioning that the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions (CMTU) has been never linked to a political party to any extent.
The former Maltese government formed by the socialists did not want to integrate the island within the European Union. But when the government majority changed after the elections at the end of 1998, some policies moved in another direction. Hence, Malta is now an official candidate to enter the EU. According to minister Gonzi, “We do not want to become part of the EU only to profit from it. We will have an active role to play thanks to our cooperation experience with trade unions and because our island, with 6000 years of history in the middle of the Mediterranean, is a bridge between peoples and cultures”. Visiting Malta for some days is enough to discover this multicultural nature. Italian, Arab and English influences become evident and appeared to be harmonically intermingled.
The host of WCL Executive Committee was the CMTU, which is celebrating this year both its fortieth anniversary and its forty years of membership within the WCL. The CMTU is one of the two local confederations, made up of 12 organizations belonging to the public and private sector. The most important ones represent industry workers in general, teachers, medical doctors, pharmacists and bank workers. In a few-years time, the CMTU membership has increased from 6,000 to 33,000.
There are fraternal relations between both confederations. The idea of co-hosting a joint Labour Congress, opened to non-member trade unions, is up in the air.
“Integrating the European Union is a challenge for us, especially with respect to the free mobility of people”, said Alfred Buhagiar when he was welcoming the Executive Committee. “We rely on the WCL to help us make the right decisions in the face of this challenge.”

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