No. 92/1 December 1999
Trade union view on Lomé convention
TopAt the initiative of the CFTC (France) trade union leaders from 15 ACP countries, France and Cambodia took part, in mid November, in a seminar on the past and the future of the Lomé Convention. The workers assessed the previous conventions as negative, as regards both the social repercussions and the participation of the representative organisations. It is almost certain that a new Convention will be signed in the year 2000, even if its content and its name are still unknown. This is an important entitlement. In their final message the trade union representatives demand to be involved in the talks on the text and on the implementation of this Convention; in their opinion its ultimate aim must be human development and the struggle against poverty. Besides other demands, the trade unions from the ACP countries represented at the seminar insisted that the basic social rights as defined by the ILO should be considered human rights, taken up in the new Convention and looked upon as conditions applying to the future co-operation of the European Union. The text of the final message can be obtained at the CFTC International Department.
TopWCL general secretary Willy Thys attended the 47th CFTC Congress, which
assembled in Dijon (France) on 17-20 November 1999. The Congress theme,
"The CFTC at the heart of the company", gave rise to lively debates on
the organisation's place on the French trade union scene and on its evolution.
The CFTC president, Alain Deleu, had announced that the Congress would be
decisive for the future of the organisation. It is in this spirit that the
document debated during the Congress was entitled "Our plan of
action", so as to achieve that the activists, women and men alike, would be
full-fledged actors and partners at the heart of their companies. In his address
to the Congress Willy Thys mentioned the many reactions and resistance actions
taken in France in response to the globalisation; he also warned the delegates
against nationalist temptations and withdrawal into themselves. The WCL seeks to
modify the mechanisms maintaining the gap between rich and poor and it gives
priority to the defence of all workers through the application and observance of
the basic principles and conventions of the ILO. Alain Deleu was re-elected
president, and Jacques Voisin remains general secretary. Nicole Prud'homme and
Armel Gourmelon were elected vice-president and vice-president in charge of the
international relations respectively.
It is worth mentioning that the CFTC Executive Committee was enriched with an
additional woman.
TopThe 56th National Congress of our affiliate LCGB, assembled in Luxembourg on 20-21 November, discussed a reflection and policy document on trade union work, drawn up by its Executive Committee. This document, entitled "The society of the year 2010+", explains today's social phenomena, points out the possible dangers and proposes reflections for the future. In his introduction to the activities report, LCGB president Robert Weber underlined the necessary evolution of the organisation so that it is able to take up the challenge of globalisation, to achieve the democratisation of the economy and to consolidate the social entitlements on a basis of solidarity. In his address to the Congress, WCL general secretary Willy Thys stressed the fact that the WCL was a place where solidarity, particularly with the third world, finds expression. He specified that international trade unionism, through trade action and especially through the action in the multinational companies, wanted to be a countervailing power in the face of the internationalisation of capital. One of the responses to that, he added, was found in regional entities capable of regulating the power of the private transnational actors. In conclusion, the general secretary of the WCL thanked the LCGB for its countless solidarity actions. Robert Weber and Marc Spautz were re-elected president and general secretary respectively for a new four-year term of office.
TopThe Constitutive Congress of a Latin American federation of agricultural workers was recently held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the presence of 45 agricultural delegates of peasants' unions from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela as well as of representatives of the CLAT, the WFAFW and the UTAL. The FAO was also represented. Several speakers addressed the Congress during the opening session: Mr Carlos Roberto Flores, president of the Republic of Honduras, Mr M.R. Caballero, co-ordinator of the Workers' Congress, José Gomez Cerda, general secretary of the WFAFW, Mr Felicito Avila, general secretary of the CGT-Honduras, and Eduardo Garcia, general secretary of the CLAT. The Congress adopted a plan of action as well as new Statutes. It also decided on the name: Federación Latinoamericana de Trabajadores Agricoles y Afines (FELTRA), affiliated to the CLAT at regional level and to the WFAFW at trade and at world level. Marcial Reyes Caballero was appointed general secretary. The Congress also approved of a MANIFESTO, in which the situation of the agricultural workers from Latin America and the Caribbean is analysed.
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 organization 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.
TopOn 6-8 October 1999, Dakar (Senegal) was the venue of a tripartite workshop
to promote the ILO Declaration on the basic principles and rights to work and
its follow-up in Africa. Mathurin Gogoua, leader of the DOAWTU NORM Programme,
represented the WCL. Nineteen tripartite delegations (representing governments,
employers and workers) took part in the proceedings. Mr Kari Tapiola, executive
director in charge of the basic principles and rights to work (ILO), explained
the goals of the workshop, which was devoted to the content of the Declaration.
The purpose of the seminar was to outline forms of co-operation with countries
that had not yet ratified the basic ILO conventions so as to identify the
problems and to strengthen the feeling of trust between the partners. Group
discussions were the second important part of the seminar. It appeared that the
national laws guarantee all basic rights sanctioned by the ILO conventions and
that efforts are being made with a view to the ratification of conventions that
have not yet been ratified. The participants were also invited to reflect on
strategies to promote respect for the basic principles and rights to work.
TopThe Board of the Pan-African Women's Committee of the DOAWTU assembled in
Lomé from 30 July to 3 August to take stock of the Committee's activities and
to prepare its participation in the DOAWTU Congress. On 8-10 September took
place the 1st Ordinary DOAWTU Congress in which the co-ordinators of the
Pan-African Women's Committee and a number of women delegates of national
organisation took effectively part. Seven of the around forty participants were
women. The Pan-African Women's Committee proposed that the Statutes and Internal
Regulations Committee to add an article that provides for a seat for the Women's
Committee on the Executive Committee. The Congress adopted this modification,
and the Committee will henceforth be represented in the DOAWTU Executive
Committee with the right to speak and to vote. This is a considerable step
forward of the women workers in the matter of the representation in the
decision-making bodies of our regional organisation. It goes without saying that
this representation will
ensure that the concerns of women are taken into consideration in the policies
of our affiliates.
Top29-12/02-2000 10th ICATU Congress Damas
01/12 SPORTA Congress
1-3/12 BSSF Congress Bangladesh
1-5 ESCAP Asia Bangkok (Thailand)
02/12 KAS: symposium Brussels (Belgium)
02-03/12 ETUC Executive Committee Brussels (Belgium)
07/12 WSM workshop on social economy Brussels (Belgium)
8-11/12 9th IL regional African meeting Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire)
09/12 FIOST Executive Committee Brussels (Belgium)
6-11/12 CLAT Executive Committee Panama
10-11 CGTP-IN "enhance the value of work" Lisbon (Portugal)
17-11 International miners' solidarity: General Assembly Metz (France)
CMT - WCL - WVA - TELE FLASH is a two-weekly information bulletin
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