No. 97/15 February 2000
Togo: tense social situation
TopFrom 31 January to 4 February, Faustina Van Aperen, director of the
International Solidarity Foundation of the WCL (ISF/WCL), was in Lomé in her
capacity as member of the pilot group of Wereldsolidariteit/Solidarité Mondiale
(WSM) for institutional development. The visit fitted in with a seminar to
assess the WSM/DOAWTU programme. Faustina Van Aperen met representatives of
around twenty African affiliates who presented their national programmes and
explained their participation in the activities of the DOAWTU in the following
fields: institutional support, mutual aid, socio-economic activities, standards
and women. Considering the fact that Togolese trade unionists were imprisoned
and an international warrant for the arrest of Adrien Akouete Béliki, deputy
general secretary of the DOAWTU and general secretary of our Togolese affiliate
CSTT, had been issued, Faustina Van Aperen invoked the mediation of the
colleagues of the ORAF (ICFTU), led by their director, Mr Louis Sombes, to
obtain the release of the imprisoned trade unionists and the abolition of the
international arrest warrant. The trade unionists had been accused of spreading
false information and injuring the honour of the minister of Education of the
Togolese government.
On Friday 4 February, the delegation met the Togolese prime minister, Mr Eugène
Koffi Adoboli, and his colleague in charge of the Public Office and of Labour.
On the same day, at 6 pm, president Gnassigbe Eyadema intervened to set the two
trade unionists free. The international community had already mobilised against
this arbitrary arrest resulting from the worrying social situation of the
Togolese teachers.
For further information we refer to press statement 13/2000
on the WCL site.
TopOn 26-30 January, André Linard, head of the information department, represented the WCL at the Congress of the CNTB, which went off in a good climate. The Congress contributed to the reflection on the challenges facing the trade unions, particularly the growing individualism and the globalising economy. The CNTB elected Laurent Ouedraogo as its new general secretary.Afterwards, from 30 January to 4 February, André Linard went to Côte d'Ivoire for a report on the economic and social situation. The results will appear in the WCL's publications.
TopA meeting of the follow-up committee of the Economic and Social Committee was held on 17 and 18 January. This meeting, attended by Fernand Kikongi, WCL President, was organised on the margin of the final round of negotiations on renewal of the Lomé Convention, due to be held on 2 and 3 February in Brussels. The follow-up committee was very pleased with the progress announced as regards the development of partnership for the economic and social actors of the civil society. In December 1999, a joint letter of the ETUC-ICFTU-WCL had been sent to the European Commission, in which the trade union organisations had insisted on three priority elements: to place trade at the service of economic and social development, to ensure the social conditions of the economic progress, to guarantee the democratic working of the future instrument and its programmes. They had also demanded that these points should be taken into account by the negotiators, so as to, first and foremost, contribute towards the significant improvement of living and working conditions of the populations of the ACP states. Furthermore in the Economic and Social Committee, Toolsyraj Benydin took part in an information session on 18th January in the afternoon. This meeting confirmed the holding of the decentralised seminar for the SADC countries (southern Africa), scheduled from 8 to 10 March in Windhoek (Namibia). Three WCL affiliates will take part in it: NTUC (Mauritius), CSC (Congo) and NPSM (Namibia). In a declaration adopted on 18th January, the members of the follow-up committee required a confirmation, in the text of the Convention, of the availability of credit lines to be used by the economic and social actors.
Three ministerial negotiations (ACP/EU) were already held (September 1998, July and December 1999). The last ministerial meeting, which ended on 3 February, concluded the talks on the renewal of the ACP/EU co-operation. The heads of state and government of the 86 countries of the European Union and the ACP will sign the new Agreement for the next twenty years on 31 May in Suva, capital of Fiji. The future Convention is intended to advance the regional co-operation between the ACP countries. In the next eight years regional economic partnership agreements (REPAs) will be negotiated and gradually implemented. In twenty years' time, the EU should have established a free trade zone with each of the territorial entities created that way.
TopAs regards the situation in Austria, we refer to the editorial of Labor 2000/1, in which the WCL has taken a critical stand. It indeed takes the view that "the extreme right, sugar-coated when it comes to wining adherents, always turns against the cause of workers and their organisations, after it has attained power".
TopThe WCL has reacted against the proposals submitted to Venezuelan National Constituent Assembly with a view to the "democratisation of the organised trade union movement. It specifies that the draft on "free trade union elections, trade union ethics and the democratisation and integration of the trade union movement" contains elements which, if they are taken up in a governmental decree, can mean an obvious violations of the international ILO conventions (in particular no 87 of trade union freedom and no 98 on the freedom of association and collective bargaining). The CLAT has pointed out in a Declaration we endorse that themes such as democratisation, renovation and moral uplifting of trade union life have been discussed for a long time already within the Venezuelan workers' organisations. These themes must be advanced and ensured by the workers. Besides, trade union unity can in no case be imposed by governmental decree or decision.
TopOn 7-9 February, Ludy Casanas, woman representative of the FFW from the Philippines, was in Brussels at the invitation of Wereldsolidariteit within the framework of the Clean Clothes Campaign. In front of members of the organisation KBG (Christian movement of the elderly) which in co-operation with the Campaign will organise a fashion parade in Brussels on 4-5 May, this trade union activist bore witness to the work of her organisation and to the activities of Kilos Damit (the Philippine counterpart of the Clean Clothes Campaign). She presented a document of the FFW on the situation of the textile and garment workers in the Philippines. Whereas this branch of industry is very flourishing, has held the export records for twenty years and accounts for 8.8% of the workforce (the highest rate in the ASEAN), the working conditions in it are particularly harsh, especially in the free zones: unpaid overtime work, excessive heat, no ventilation, chemicals, dust. Ludy Casanas indicated that the consumers can help the workers in the textile producing countries by exerting pressure on the large distributors and by supporting the trade unions and social organisations which protect the workers' rights in the East and the South.
TopDuring a symposium in Lisbon on 27-29 January, around 500 participants from
many European countries and from the other continents exchanged experiences on
the theme "Public Services in Europe and in the world" and on their
future role. After a survey of the developments and trends in the public
services worldwide, in which the accent was on globalisation, privatisation and
its unfavourable effects on the sector, the European union leaders presented a
detailed survey per country. It appeared clearly that public services in Europe
are going to a restructuring process. The surveys revealed, further, strong
differences between the West and the East European countries, as regards both
positions and practice. Nevertheless, there are also similarities such as the
privatisation of a number of public services following the liberalisation of the
European market and the improvement of the functioning of the public
authorities. The latter phenomenon is also related to the expectations of the
citizens in the field of greater efficiency and transparency. The introduction
of some management methods in the public office gave rise to passionate debates
in view of the fact that those methods cannot be applied everywhere in the
public services. The last day was devoted to a debate on the European Social
Dialogue, a matter of permanent concern. The progress in this regard is very
slow due to the fact that the Public Service as an employer fails to establish
an acceptable political and legal representation at European level. Nor has the
matter of trade union representativeness yet been settled, despite the fact the
Commission has had the relevant files for a long time already. In the opinion of
Eurofedop, it is high time some progress was made in this respect. The Symposium
concluded that concrete actions would be taken to achieve this.
After the Symposium, the World Board discussed its working in the years to come.
TopSince the campaign was launched, several affiliates in the continents have informed the WCL secretariat of their initiatives. These initiatives include letters to governments, mobilisations, press conferences, lobbying. They were taken in Lithuania, Côte d'Ivoire, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, the Philippines and Belgium among others. To date, seven countries have officially ratified Convention 182: Seychelles, Malawi, Slovakia, Ireland, Finland, Brazil and Botswana. The United States has started the ratification procedure. During his mission to southern Africa, from 30 January to 2 February, Claude Akpokavie received confirmation of the fact that the governments of Namibia and Mauritius would ratify the Convention before the end of June 2000. Still other countries have expressed the wish to ratify the Convention.
Top21/02 WFIW Executive Committee, Brussels (Belgium)
21-25/02 Preparatory seminar of the IMF/WB-UTAL mission
22/02 WFIW-WFBWU-IFTC meeting FLATI, Brussels (Belgium)
24-26/02 PEO, Nicosia (Cyprus)
28-29/02 Visit to the ILO by the ITF Presidents, Geneva (Switzerland).
CMT - WCL - WVA - TELE FLASH is a two-weekly information bulletin
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Responsible Editor: Willy Thys (e-mail: Willy.Thys@cmt-wcl.org)
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