No. 99/15 March 2000
Decease of Marcel Pepin, President of the WCL from 1974 to 1981
Top
It is with deep sadness that the WCL secretariat has learned of the decease
of Marcel Pepin, on 6 March 2000 in Canada, the WCL has lost one of its former
presidents.
Marcel Pepin was born in Montreal in 1926 and devoted his life to the trade
union movement. After having finished his university studies at the age of 22,
he engaged in the Confédération des Travailleurs Catholiques du Canada (CTCC).
In 1961, he became general secretary of the CSN, the organisation he led as
president from 1965 to 1976. In the meantime, the WCL Congress in Evian elected
him president, an office he held from 1974 to 1981. He was highly valued by the
WCL affiliates and by everybody who came into touch with him in that period.
Marcel Pepin's presidency of the WCL was marked by his incessant struggle for
trade union freedom, violated in a large number of countries throughout the
world, by his great concern for the human and social rights in relation to the
actions of multinationals and some international institutions and by his will to
revitalise national affiliates so as to turn them into instruments capable of
responding to the consequences of exploitation caused by the globalisation.
At the end of that office, Marcel Pepin became professor at the School for
Industrial Relations of Montreal University; at the same time he was politically
active as chairman of the Mouvement Socialiste. His retirement in 1990 was
anything but the start of a period of inactivity, for he kept playing a role as
adviser, conciliator and mediator in social disputes.
According to Marc Laviolette, current CSN president, Marcel Pepin led the
organisation to raising the trade union movement to the political level, in
other words to considering it the voice of the most underprivileged and not only
of the members.
He presided the WCL in the same spirit, organising in Quebec, in March 1980, an
important symposium on a theme that is still topical: human rights and
international institutions.
The qualities attributed to him in Quebec are the same as the ones he displayed
at the WCL. He inspired respect as a worker with a great intellectual dimension
and an enormous listening skill, a correct man.
Marcel Pepin was borne to burial on Thursday 9 March at 2 pm in the Notre Dame
basilica in Montreal. General secretary Willy Thys attended the burial service
on behalf of the WCL. Those who wish to render the last honours to the former
WCL president can send their condolences to the CSN general secretariat, 1601 De
Lorimier, Montreal, Qc, H2K 4M5; fax: 1/514/598.20.52; e-mail: laviom@total.net.
TopOur Lithuanian affiliate, the LDF, hosted the European women in the WCL, who took part in a seminar which the WCL conducted jointly with the ACV-CSC International Institute for Workers' Education on 24-28 January in Druskininkai, Finland. Twenty participants from WCL affiliates took part in the proceedings on the "Empowerment of European women in the decision-making process in trade unions". The main themes were the integration of the gender perspective into trade union policies and the development of positive actions to reduce discrimination against women. The theoretical analyses providing a conceptual framework were followed by activities to advance their concrete application in everyday reality. By way of conclusion the participants brought to light again that the trade union organisation has a crucial responsibility in the matter of advancing gender equality, both as a key element in the negotiations and as a decisive agent of social change. Beyond this observations, the reflection lead to suggestions for actions in favour of the structural integration of the gender issue into the trade action, so that women are better represented at all levels of the trade union, including the decision-making bodies. The preparations for the 5th Conference of WCL women and for their participation in the WCL Congress in 2000 are a few ways to express their views and to put forward proposals for a change in policies that take their interests into account. In any case the preparations for these events started off well during the seminar.
TopOn 28-29 February, the international trade federations of the WCL conducted a
mission to the ILO.
They met the officials of several departments: Workers' Activities Office,
Social Dialogue Sector, Employment Sector, Sectoral Activities Department,
Safety and Health at Work Service, International Labour Standards Department.
These meetings made it possible to present extensively the many activities of
the ILO in fields such as employment, social dialogue and sectoral activities,
economic and social security in the 21st century, protection and health of the
workers. Also the standard-setting action of the ILO and the development of
codes containing social regulations were presented. The delegation of the
international trade federations, for its part, went into aspects of trade action
in relation to the ILO's "The Global Compact" programme, which is
aimed to link social progress to economic growth. The matter of labour standards
and their application was discussed, along with the priorities of the social
dialogue and the idea to create an International Labour Court. The accent was on
the importance of a better participation of the international trade federations
in the ILO's sectoral activities. The delegation was led by WCL vice-president
Jacques Jouret. The meeting proved to be very important and positive. Mr M.
Simón of the Workers' Activities Department and Mrs K. Hagen, executive
director of the Social Dialogue Sector, expressed their will to maintain regular
contacts with the top leaders of the WCL's international trade federations with
a view to a better co-operation on the respective activities of the ILO and the
WCL.
TopThe social security workers and physicians, on strike for three months in El Salvador, demand the government to respect the signed collective agreement and to re-employ the 221 health workers who were dismissed in November 1999. The President of the Republic decreed an emergency plan to enable the implementation of an "alternative health plan" that would make available army bases and doctors. The Minister of the Interior said he had thought about removing the legal personality of the trade unions SIMETRISS and STISS as well as of the Medical Association, whose leaders he qualified as "tramps and delinquents". Lastly, the director of the El Salvadoran social security institute announced that the judgement of the Chamber of the First Instance of the labour court by no means compelled the re-employment of the dismissed workers.
TopOn 7-8 February, a CNV delegation, led by president Doekle Terpstra and vice-president Hans Brüning, was at UTAL for a working session with the CLAT. On 3 November 1999, a similar meeting had taken place with the ACV-CSC, whose delegation was composed of Josly Piette, Maddie Geerts and Véronique Rousseau. In both cases, the debates were about the situation of the workers and their organisations in Latin America and in Europe, about the development co-operation of the ACV-CSC and the CNV with the Latin American workers' movement and, of course, about international trade unionism in general and the WCL in particular. The participants were pleased with these constructive meetings and with the very positive climate during the debates.
Top20-25/3 CNTC Congress Bangui (Central African Republic)
21-22/3 ETUC Executive Committee Lisbon (Portugal)
20-3/7-4 Seminar in preparation for 25th WCL Congress
22/3 visit SBI delegation (CNV) to the WCL (Brussels)
30-3/2-4 ACLI Congress (Brussels)
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