No. 91/15 November 1999
Important: Teleflash by e-mail
TopAt its meeting in Mexico at the end of 1998, the WCL Executive Committee decided to send Teleflash through electronic mail. This will be done as from the number of 15 December. The decision is as follows: all addressees having e-mail will receive Teleflash through this channel, which will save time (around ten days) and money (printing and postage). Teleflash will also be available at the WCL web site, from where it can be reproduced in the usual lay-out in pdf (a technical note is available at the secretariat; it will be sent as a matter of course to the regional organisations and can be sent upon request).
People who have an e-mail address and have not yet communicated to the WCL secretariat (info@cmt-wcl.org) are requested to do this at their earliest convenience. Thank you.
Readers of Teleflash who have no electronic address will receive the printed version like in the past, but from their regional organisation which will download, print and mail it: the CLAT for America, the BATU for Asia, the DOAWTU for Africa and the WCL secretariat for the others. The regional organisations will distribute Teleflash in the various languages used in their zone of influence (eg Spanish, English and French in America). With this end in view, each regional organisation will receive a mailing list per continent.
Teleflash will be gradually centred on its purpose (complement LABOR Magazine): the fast circulation, within the WCL, of internal information on the life of the organisation and its affiliates. No doubt, there will be some initial shortcomings, which the readers will be so kind as to understand and forgive.
TopThe WCL Confederal Board assembled in Washington on 26-28 October. It was surrounded by meetings of the World Committee on Trade Action (WCTA) and the Executive Committee. The meetings took place in a warm climate, internally as well as externally, and in a constructive atmosphere. The participants appreciated the reception and organisation by NAPFE, the WCL affiliate that hosted the meeting.
Several substitutions modified the Board's composition. Two of them concern also the Executive Committee: Hans Brüning, treasurer in substitution for Anton Westerlaken, and Luc Cortebeeck, vice-president for Europe in substitution for Willy Peirens.
The Confederal Board devoted two successive morning sessions to meeting,
listening to and interviewing the IMF director-general, Michel Camdessus, and
his counterpart at the ILO, Juan Somavia. Another session was devoted to a
training on the gender concept and its implications for the trade union world.
Michel Camdessus said that he was pleased with the indeed critical but ongoing
dialogue between the Fund and the WCL; he told the Confederal Board that the
Fund was willing to combat poverty. He pointed out the close relation between
economic goals and social goals: "Each financial architecture would be
shaky without a sturdy social pillar." The director-general also pointed
out the regulating role of the state, which had to be "strong ", and
the need to ask the private sector, "which contributes to creating
problems", to assume its part in solving these problems. Drawing
conclusions from the Asian crisis, Michel Camdessus pleaded for greater
transparency, particularly in informing the IMF of the social conditions. But
the boss of the IMF also reiterated his confidence in the market mechanisms and
presented his institution as the chief actor in the struggle against poverty.
Juan Somavia, for his part, also reminded of the link between the economic and
the social dimension, taking over the expression "social fundamentals"
used by the WCL. The ILO, he said, "has made it its goal to advance a
quality employment, its means to pursue a policy integrating the various actors
involved, and its method to enter upon a social dialogue." The
director-general insisted strongly on a better co-ordination between the various
international institutions (IMF, World Bank, WTO, UN, ILO, ...) which, he said,
acted in too many cases separately.
The session devoted to gender was of another kind: two papers were delivered,
but besides this there were also more intense debates between the Confederal
Board members. The paper of Enrique Gomaris, the first guest expert, can be
summarised as follows: "The advance of women on the labour market and in
responsible offices is ineluctable. Either this is done in a favourable
environment and everybody wins: women, men and society. Or this breaktrhrough
meets with a lot of resistance and everybody loses. The resistance on the part
of men can be explained by the fact that accepting the equal participation of
women confronts them with a identity problem. Since the 1950s there has been an
evolution in the gender relations in the private atmosphere; the same evolution
still has to take place in the public atmosphere." The other expert, Isabel
Yepes, stressed the disproportion between the place of women in employment and
their weak presence in the governing bodies of the trade unions.
The debate bore basically on two themes: first, the statement of the real
constraints on and obstacles to the participation of women, particularly for
cultural reasons; then the issue of voluntaristic measures. Whereas a majority
of the speakers takes the view that a representation quota can be a most useful
(temporary) measure, a minority thinks that women have to "deserve"
their place in the governing bodies and that there is no reason for giving them
"presents".
TopAsia: the report of the BATU indicates that there is a slow and fragile economic recovery, but at the price of a rise in unemployment, flexibilisation and migration. The trade union movement has been thrown on the defensive. The BATU keeps expanding, both by extending to new countries and by raising the membership figures where it was already present.
Africa: the written report shows the progress of the DOAWTU in the matter of expansion and training (particularly by means of seminars), the search of alternatives to the lack of jobs, etc. The DOAWTU attaches special attention to income-generating activities within associative structures. During its Congress in September 1999, a woman was elected to the Executive Committee. Nevertheless, during the oral presentation of the African report DOAWTU general secretary Alioune Sow pointed out weak points requiring correction.
Latin America: the continental report mentions many activities in a
variety of fields, eg a co-operation programme with the small and medium-sized
companies. The CLAT takes the view that it has contributed to the inter-union
unity of action. During its Congress in Mexico, late in 1998, it opted for an
organic regrouping of the international trade federations. But the Latin
American socio-economic context is not encouraging.
North America: In Canada the inter-union relations are difficult on account of
the close-shop system. In the United States it is difficult to co-operate with
the independent unions, but doors are being opened.
Europe: the expansion of the WCL in Central and Eastern Europe is going on,
particularly thanks to the activities of the liaison office. Several missions
made it possible to discover unions which are not marked by a former relation
with the communist regimes. A good co-operation between affiliates from the
whole continent is developing thanks to the European Section; this is absolutely
necessary from the perspective of the expansion of the European Union.
Trade Action: the meeting of the World Committee on Trade Action was
chaired by Jacques Jouret, who pleaded for a greater decentralisation and for
co-ordination between the international trade federations. The representatives
of trade action were invited to implement joint projects on multinationals. It
was decided to convene an extraordinary WCTA meeting in March 2000.
Other sectors: each sector of activity presented its progress report on the plan
of action: women, youths, migrant workers, norm, information, ... The Confederal
Board approved the training programme developed by the seminar/workshop at Ter
Nood (Belgium) in March 1999, to be implemented between 1999 and 2001.
TopThe Confederal Board decided to organise the next Congress in Bucharest
(Romania) in the second half of October 2001. The Congress theme will be
"The WCL and International Trade Unionism in the Third Millennium",
with an update of the current economic and social information worldwide. The
purpose is to give concrete shape to the way the WCL and international trade
unions constitute a force within the context of globalisation which was analysed
during the previous Congress.
The next Confederal Board session will take place in Latin America on 23-27
October 2000, whereas the next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled to take
place in Eastern Europe on 6-8 April.
TopDuring the Confederal Board session several organisations were affiliated to
the WCL.
In Africa the South African Workers' Solidarity Federation (SAWSF - South
Africa); the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL); the National Confederation of
Trade Unions of Zimbabwe (NCTU); the Confédération Nigérienne du Travail (CNT
- Niger) and the Confédération Syndicale des Travailleurs de Centrafrique
(CSTC - Central African Republic).
In Asia the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of India (CFTUI), already
extraordinary member, became ordinary member of the WCL. In America the Centrale
des Syndicats Démocratiques (CSD - Canada/Quebec) was affiliated; so were, in
Europe, the NTU PROMYANA (Bulgaria) and the Independent Autonomous Trade Unions
of Macedonia (IATUM - Macedonia).
TopLeen La Rivière, president of the International Co-ordination Committee of Artists' Organisations of the WCL, has just been decorated by the Queen of the Netherlands. She conferred on him the title of Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau for his pioneer role in the arts field.
CMT - WCL - WVA - TELE FLASH is a two-weekly information bulletin
containing brief trade union messages, edited by the press department of the WCL.
Responsible Editor: Willy Thys (e-mail: Willy.Thys@cmt-wcl.org)
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Information Officer: André Linard (Andre.Linard@cmt-wcl.org).
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