N° 113 / 15 October 2000
WCL participated in the Business and Environment Conference
WCL participated in the Business and Environment Conference
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The University of Cambridge for Industry organised a Senior Executives’ Seminar on Business and Environment in Salzburg, Austria last 17-22 September. Among the forty two delegates invited from Business, Government and NGO’s, only the WCL was representing the Trade Union.
The focus was on Sustainable Development and Protection/Preservation of the Environment. This forum had paved the way for the participating sectors in establishing possible partnership and co-operation in undertaking environmental programmes. With all the collective resources, machinery and efforts combined, there is still a brighter hope to save the planet earth so that the future generation can still have a clean and healthy environment to live in.
During the one-week seminar which Necie M. Lucero (WCL Confederal Secretary) participated in, all sectors including the business leaders were reminded to respect our mother nature, to respond to their corporate social responsibility, to review business ethics and observe code of conduct in order to avoid environmental chaos and prevent abuses to social capital.
FFW's 50th anniversary
In observance of the 50th Founding Anniversary of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) in the Philippines, the highlight of the culminating activity on the 10th of October 2000 was a special awards night to honour its deserving and outstanding members and leaders. The eight-month celebration, commencing last 14th of march 2000, anchored its series of activities on the theme "Working together as a democratic trade union social movement". Holding the distinction as the country's first labour federation, inspired by the social doctrines and principles of Christianity, the FFW was founded in 1950 by a group of young, idealistic, sincere and dedicated labour leaders led by Juan C. Tan. As it enters another chapter in its history, further convinced that the fulfilment of the human being has both spiritual and material content, FFW reiterated with more vigour its commitment to continue building a human community of freedom and democracy, justice and peace and progress and prosperity.
Cyprus
On 21-23 September, the WCL attended in Nicosia a seminar-workshop on the harmonisation of the Community Patrimony. The agenda included equal opportunities in the European Union and safety and health at the workplace in Cyprus as compared to the EU directives. The participants also examined to what extent progress had been made with the harmonisation of the social policy in the countries applying for EU membership (Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta). It was stressed that some countries are ready for the entry, but were having difficulty in applying the laws developed on the basis of the European directives. They also concluded that the entry into the European Union also caused social problems, poverty and inequalities between the rich and the poor.
The impact of restructuring in the energy sector of Central and Eastern European countries on employees
At the seminar held in Ledenika, near the city of Vratsa, Bulgaria, from 18 to 20 September 2000, the participants discussed in detail the effects of the various types of restructuring on the employees in this sector. The seminar was organised by NFEWU-NTU PROMYANA and by the World Federation of Industrial Workers (WFIW) and its Liaison Bureau in Bucharest.
The participants found that in the represented countries the restructuring process has led to unequal results, however it has started everywhere. Moreover, they found that the politicians do not readily put their cards on the table and that the private companies tend to do the same, and that often have to face facts without being in a position to interfere. The participants, together with all trade unions who are represented in the companies request the governments and employers to bring about more clearness and transparency in the restructuring process. Trade unions should be informed in advance about the plans of the management. In a democratic context it is impermissible to exclude deliberately trade union organisations from participation. The participants request that the governments should provide a legal framework for the protection of NFEWU-NTU PROMYANA representatives, and the employers should not victimise trade-union activists and leaders in the restructuring process. They also demand to preserve to a maximum all important jobs in the company; to negotiate the finding of appropriate social protection as a last resort; to adopt measures helping to allot additional investments to affected regions and to organise retraining of dismissed employees. In order to assist each other, the participants expressed their desire to maintain permanent exchange of information between the organisations in order to be able to understand the strategies of the employers and to organise protection of a minimum of the rights of labour postulated by international law.
European Human Rights Convention celebrates 50th anniversary
The World Confederation of Teachers (WCT) and several NGOs collaborated on a publication entitled "Fifty Years of European Human Rights Convention", a contribution to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of that Convention (EHRC). The first part takes stock of the Convention’s output after 50 years, whereas the second part analyses the main items in the Conventions and the relevant actions of the NGOs.
The EHRC dates back from 1950 and it is the first Council of Europe convention. It refers expressly to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but its control system distinguishes it from this Declaration. The EHRC has a political dimension (it is the common denominator of the democratic states in Europe and the main criterion for membership of the Council of Europe) as well as a legal dimension (it guarantees international legal protection of the human rights on the basis of clearly defined rights and control mechanisms).
World March of Women
A lot is being said about the feminisation of poverty and acts of violence against women. A few figures illustrate this reality millions of women throughout the world are being confronted with: 70% of the 1.3 billion people living below the absolute poverty line are women; the heads of family of 80-90% of the poor families are women; more and more women undertake paid activities, but most of them earn less than men; by and large, female jobs are ill-paid and poorly valued; worldwide, 110 million girls between 5 and 14 are working; women work 70% of the working hours, earn merely 10% of the receipts and own merely 1% of the planet’s wealth; every year two million girls fall prey to sexual mutilation; rape, abortion in precarious circumstances, acts of violence at home and sexual harassment are only a few examples of the violence countless women have to contend with. And what can we say about the fact that women have no access to the decision-making and are underrepresented in politics and the trade union movement? Only few women are represented in the place where their fate is decided. All this induced women’s organisations (but not only such organisations) to demand a world in which more equality and more democracy prevail. Their World March of Women is meant to globalise their solidarity. The European march took place in Brussels on 14 October 2000. The WCL will take part in the closure of the World March, on 17 October in New York.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS - UPDATE
Indonesia
Our Indonesian affiliate, the SBSI, has informed us that Prof. Dr. Teungku Sawfan Idris, a prominent peace activist from the region of Aceh, was assassinated in front of his house. The WCL immediately wrote to the Indonesian president, Mr A. Wahid, and to the United Nations secretary-general, denouncing the assassination and the increase in human rights violations in Aceh. In the past two years 300 political, peace and human rights activists were murdered or abducted, disappeared or fell victim to death threats.
The WCL informed the Indonesian president also of a number of incidents in North Sumatra, where members of our organisation were attacked by 500 members of the "solidarity guard", wearing SPSI uniforms. The SBSI also denounces the fact that no headway has been made with the application of the Anti-Subversion Act (KUPH, art. 160) with regard to active SBSI members. During the recent incidents in Medan the riot police and the employment authorities contributed actively and passively to the repression of a legal trade union strike.
Schedule of activities
16-20/10 ILO tripartite meeting on textile, Geneva
25-26/10 ETUC Executive Committee
20-25/10 FIOST-FLATT seminar, Venezuela
2-7/11 279th ILO Governing Body session, Geneva
4-11/11 WFCW: World Congress and seminar, Togo
13-17/11 Latin American Council, Dominican Republic
15-18/11 USLC Congress, Cameroon
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