No. 96/1 February 2000
CLAT: Executive Committee
TopThe CLAT Executive Committee was held in Panama from 3rd to 8th December 1999. Several commissions were also held on 3rd and 4th December on the Declaration of Principles and Statutes and the global programme on integration. The meeting of the Executive Committee, which began on 6th, was focused on the discussion of the themes related to the WCL, the international trade union action and the ILO. A proposal was put forward on the venue of the next Confederal Board and will be submitted to the next WCL Executive Committee. The discussion of the programme of women's action was also placed on the agenda and led to the approval of the latter. With regard to trade action, which was an important point on the agenda, some general guidelines were approved in order to continue the process of merging some sectors. This particular question was discussed thoroughly. Furthermore, CLAT and UTAL are going to initiate a study programme in order to draw up an action programme in the field of informal economy. With regard to the constitution of a working group on the relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, this question will be dealt with at the next European Section. The CLAT Executive Committee reaffirmed the importance of promoting follow-up committees of this subject within the WCL, with the ICFTU and the ETUC. Finally, the particular situation of some countries was analysed (Ecuador, Peru, Haiti, Venezuela) and the CLAT action programme on child labour was approved. It was also decided to hold the next CLAT Council from 24th to 30th November 2000. The place will be determined during the next CLAT Executive Committee in May 2000. A special session was centred on the transfer of the Panama Canal. In June 1959 already, during its first mission to Panama, and since then, CLAT has always been supporting the workers' struggles in order to recover the national sovereignty over the canal. In his speech delivered during the conference of Solidaridad Latinoamericana con la Soberanía Panameña on 6th December 1999, Emilio Máspero emphasised the importance of the restitution of the canal for the workers and the people of the country. If it were accompanied by a programme of strong national development, it might contribute towards a significant improvement of the quality of life of all Panamanians. It is also an historic moment for all Latin American and Caribbean peoples in the construction of their common and joint destiny. CLAT attended the ceremony of official transfer of the canal to Panama on 14th December.
TopA meeting of the World Women's Committee was held from 22nd to 23rd November
1999. The Committee carried out an intermediate assessment of women's action
since the last Congress and took some decisions about the activities that will
be organised until the next WCL Congress in 2001. A distribution of tasks and
functions to be taken on by the members of the Committee was discussed and
approved.
On 24th November, the World Women's Committee dedicated a day's work to the
revision of the Convention and Recommendation on maternity protection in order
to prepare the International Labour Conference (ILO) of June 2000. The
conclusions adopted are aimed at guiding the continuation of the proceedings.
A symposium was held on 25th and 26th November on the theme 'The market against
workers' rights? Workers' principles and basic rights in world trade'.
Women workers were strongly present and took an active part in the debates. The
speeches reflected the fact that policies on trade and investments are not
gender-neutral.
Finally, from 27th to 30th November, an international seminar was held on women
workers' organisation projects that are being implemented by the World Women's
Committee within the framework of the WCL four-year action plan. These pilot
projects are focused on the organisation of women workers in the informal
economy, the export processing zones and migration process. The seminar allowed
to take stock of the advancement of the preparation stage regarding the
implementation of pilot projects from the year 2000.
All these activities were prepared and carried out in collaboration with the
International Labour Standards department.
TopACLI (Italy) : On 13th January, a delegation of the Associazioni
Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani (ACLI) visited the WCL secretariat, where they
conversed with Willy Thys, General Secretary. They could, among others, lay the
foundations of the organisation of their next congress in Brussels, from 28th to
1st May 2000, and showed the importance of the extension of the European Union
for Europe.
CSD (Canada) : La Confédération des syndicats démocratiques (CSD),
brand-new affiliate of the WCL, conducted a mission to Brussels, where they
visited the WCL in order to well assess the possibilities offered by the WCL as
far as worldwide action is concerned. They also seized this opportunity to visit
some WCL affiliates: CSC (Belgium), CNV (the Netherlands) and CFTC (France). The
delegation consisted of the president, François Vaudreuil, and the treasurer,
Serge Tremblay.
DOAWTU : Willy Thys visited the DOAWTU in order to get in contact with
the leaders of this regional organisation following the illness of the General
Secretary, Alioune Sow, temporarily in-patient in France. He also went to Benin
to visit the CGTB (Confédération générale des travailleurs du Bénin) and to
take note, on the spot, of the initiatives taken by this organisation in the
economic and social field, in particular the creation of several cooperatives.
TopThe ILO conducted its 9th African regional meeting in Abidjan (Côte
d'Ivoire) on 8-11 December 1999. The participants discussed the report of ILO
director-general Juan Somavia, entitled "Decent Work And Social Protection
For Everybody In Africa". In the margin of the regional meeting there was a
special session on child labour. Moreover, there were four panel discussions on
ways and means to advance and strengthen the basic labour principles and rights,
to give women and men more guarantees of a decent job and income, to extend the
range and effectiveness of social protection for everybody and to invigorate
tripartism and the social dialogue. Furthermore, there was a thorough discussion
on the HIV and AIDS in the world of labour.
The WCL was represented by confederal secretary Toolsyraj Benydin and a number
of affiliates: the NTUC from Mauritius, the UGTM from Morocco, the USLC from
Cameroon, Dignité from Côte d'Ivoire and the CNT from Niger. During the
general discussion Toolsyraj Benydin insisted on the DOAWTU being mentioned in
the report of the director-general as an organisations with which the ILO will
co-operate more closely.
TopEduardo Estévez represented the WCL at the 9th congress of the Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses (CGTP-IN), which assembled in Lisbon on 10-11 December 1999 to discuss the theme "Enhance The Value Of Work, Restore The Dignity Of The Workers". The congress was preceded by a conference on "Employment Policy In A Globalised Economy". The purpose was to analyse the employment policy, the distribution of income and the dynamics of the productive machinery within various contexts. Another subject for discussion was the Portuguese presidency of the European Union and the plan for an extraordinary European council on employment. Around two hundred people, among whom sixty trade unionists from the five continents, attended the conference. In his address Eduardo Estévez stressed the fact that the WCL and its Portuguese affiliate, the BASE-FUT, had contributed to the constitution of the CGTP-IN. He went on to say that the WCL had maintained a constructive dialogue with that organisation, despite a few occasional disputes. In any case, the focus had always been on the unconditional joint struggle for the workers' rights. Eduardo Estévez enumerated the problems confronting the CGTP-IN and the Portuguese society: lack of jobs, wage decreases, cuts in public expenditure, privatisation, ..., problems the workers from Europe and the rest of the world have to contend with as well. At the end of the Congress, CGTP-IN co-ordinator Manuel Carvalho da Silva was elected general secretary.
TopThe World Federation of Agriculture, Food, Hotel and Allied Workers (WFAFW) will organise an electronic conference from 7th to 18th February 2000. Monday 7th February will be dedicated to the welcome of the participants and to the presentation of the proceedings of the seminar by José Gómez Cerda, General Secretary. Until 18th February, each day will be centred on a specific subject, among which the process of globalisation and the workers' movement, the international organisations and their relations with the organised workers, the trade sectors of agriculture, food, hotels and tourism, the land reform and food security, etc. 18th February will be dedicated to the assessment of the seminar.
TopCOLOMBIA : CLADEHLT has informed us of the situation of the trade union of the company COLTEJER-SEDECO S.A., which is, at present, conducting a collective bargaining and defending a platform of demands. The trade union demands, among others, solutions to the simple dismissal of about 450 workers. In May 1999 already, their employment contracts had been suspended, under the pretext that the crisis and the negative effects of the economic liberalisation applied by the government influenced the company too negatively. In a declaration on 20th January 2000, the CGTD Executive Committee denounced the scandalous attitude adopted by the Minister of Labour and the Pastrana government which massively destroys trade unions whereas these ones, as well as the workers, have given all their support to the peace process. In exchange, they only receive collective redundancies or are blackmailed, such as the State workers. This implies the loss of seniority, new forms of contracts, "restructuring", etc.
Top06-08/02 SBI/EZA seminar on social exclusion, Brussels (Belgium)
07-11/02 DOAWTU Executive Committee, Fez (Morocco)
11/02 ILO Group of Experts (WCL), Brussels (Belgium)
08-11/02 Podkrepa Congress, Sofia (Bulgaria)
12-19/02 UNCTAD 10th session, Bangkok (Thailand)
15-22/02 Mission to Madagascar, Antananarivo (Madagascar).
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