THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 51

The WCL was born in June 15-19, 1920 in The Hague (Netherlands) with the foundation
of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions IFCTU.
The federation represented 3.366.400 workers affiliated to 10 confederations
in de following countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Hungary,
Italy, Netherlands, Swiss and Czechoslovakia.
President was the Swiss Jozef Scherrer.
Secretary General was the Dutch P.J.S. Serrarens.
( see:  J. Insausti, Head of the Press and Information Service of the WCL,
"50 Jaar Internationale vakbewegingsactie in dienst van de werknemers,
Het WVA van 1920 tot 1970", WCL magazine Labor Nr.6, 1970)

We are still working with the documents that were used as reference papers for the WCL debates about the future relations between WCL and ICFTU. Times had changed. Were earlier debates about ways of cooperation, now it went further and it was about a possible merger or creating a complete new international organisation between ICFTU (the big one), the WCL (the small one) and the loose ends that roam here and there in the international trade union movement, the so to say national trade union confederations (some of them ex-communist) which had no international connections.

The IFCTU Secretariat in Utrecht, Netherlands after it had been looted
by the German secret police Gestapo

Paragraph 2 titled “United Action” gives an overview of the development of the relations between WCL and ICFTU. We read that since its Congress in Caracas (1989) and later on in Mauritius(1993) “the WCL put forward a proposal on the creation of a WCL-ICFTU united front. This concept was later on transformed into “united action”, mainly meant with the ICFTU but without excluding other organisations.”

In 1946, one year after the end of World War II, the IFCTU Congress gathered
in Amsterdam and celebrated its 25th birthday.
Originally it had to be held in The Hague where the IFCTU had been founded
but the city still stayed in ruins.
During this Congress a resolution was adapted
in which the IFCTU declared itself prepared to cooperate
with other international trade unions,
such as the World federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). (see: J. Insausti, page 21)

It is written in the document that after the end of the Cold War, with the collapse of communism in the Soviet Empire, the ICFTU became more respectful to the WCL:

- In 1993, the WCL regained a seat in the ILO Governing Body.

- TUAC Vice Presidency has been in hands of Belgium's ACV/CSC.

- Several agreements between the ICFTU and WCL were made in 2002 to organise common meetings at the IMF and World Bank level.

-Since 2000, the WCL, participates, together with Global Unions, in the World Economic Forum of Davos.

- The ICFTU decided to work together with the WCL in 2001, within the framework of the annual organisation of the World Social Forum.

- “Their exist good cooperation links with the ICFTU at the United Nations level. The ICFTU's veto on the participation of the WCL and its organisations in Global Compact (a UN initiative to make agreements between multinationals and trade unions) has been recently lifted.”

On the left WCL Secretary General August Vanistendael
and on the right WCL President Gaston Tessier
who brought between 1949 and 1960
the WCL to Asia, Africa and Latin America.(see: J.Insausti, page  31)

However within the ILO, the main UN institute for employees and employers to develop a social dialogue on world level, the WCL was marginalized: “The issue of the ILO and the elections for the Governing Body remains of the essence. The Workers' Group working procedures (simple majority) supply the ICFTU with a de facto monopoly-based situation, which leads to the sub-representation of the other members. This situation can also be seen in the other ILO structures and specially, within ACTRAV.” (Point 2.3)

To my opinion the so-called sub-representation of the WCL in the ILO was not only because of the monopoly-based culture of the ICFTU but also a lack of WCL to give priority to staff its ILO liaison office in Geneva with experienced and skilled lobbyist. In stead, young and unexperienced staff was hired with the argument that they were not expensive. More is said about the ICFTU “monopoly-based culture” in paragraph 2.4: “However, in general terms, it can be said that despite the progress and efforts made by its leaders, the ICFTU is still characterized by a monopoly-based culture, which becomes stronger at the intermediate executive level.”

But in spite of these negative ICFTU positions towards the WCL, there were also some positive ICFTU attitudes:

– “In November 2002, the WCL Secretary General was invited to a Global Unions meeting held in London, in order to give his opinion on international trade unionism. The discussion was heated, but open and respectful of the different standpoints.”

– “During the ETUC Congress in Prague -in April 2003- the public appeal made by the ICFTU Secretary General (Guy Rider) and addressed to the WCL constituted an implicit acknowledgement of the latter as a key factor for the unification of the international trade union movement.”

– “The ICFTU has cast aside the idea of an outright WCL-ICFTU merger. Likewise, the creation of a new organisation -in compliance with an ICFTU-WCL agreement – open to confederations with no international affiliation, and aimed at strengthening an international trade unionism undermined by neoliberal policies, is a novelty within the history of our relationships...” (Paragraph 2.5)

It seems clear that the ICFTU, under the leadership of Secretary General Guy Ryder, had developed a new strategy for the unification of the WCL-ICFTU, that served also as the focus point from which could start unification of trade union confederations world wide, including also members and former members of the communist World Federation of Trade Unions WFTU (with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the WFTU had lost the Russian Trade Union Federation FNPR as its main sponsor).

On a certain level, this strategy is based on the analysis that with the collapse of communism world history has come to an end and that we are entering now the era of global capitalism (neoliberalism). This hypothesis was more or less introduced by Francis Fukuyama's essay “The End of History?”, published in 1989 in the international affairs journal 'The National Interest'. It is a new variant of the old Marxist notion about the end of history but then in the opposite way, toward capitalism and not towards socialism.

THE NOTION of the end of history is not an original one. Its best known propagator was Karl Marx, who believed that the direction of historical development was a purposeful one determined by the interplay of material forces, and would come to an end only with the achievement of a communist utopia that would finally resolve all prior contradictions. But the concept of history as a dialectical process with a beginning, a middle, and an end was borrowed by Marx from his great German predecessor, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. ( chapter 1 of Fukuyama's “The End of History?”)

On top of this, with this new strategy, the ICFTU presents the old Marxist dream of workers' unity in a new jacket. The famous communist slogan “Workers of the world, unite!” of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their Communist Manifesto (1848), comes to life again but now under the leadership of mainly social-democratic oriented trade unions organised within the ICFTU. The officially reason for the unification on world level was of course not this old Marxist slogan but the much more pragmatic idea of “Strengthening the international trade union movement”.  

ITUC: GLOBALISATION AND INFORMALISATION (part 3)

An ITUC staged protest

The article on the website of the on-line paper 'Bussiness Standard' called “International trade unions need to be less combative,encourage more interaction with workers” is a mixture of gossip and some critical opinions, with the main goal to repudiate the ITUC, especially regarding its actions in the Gulf region. “For example, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has urged the United Nations to look into the plight of thousands of migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates, including those building a new Louvre Museum and the world's largest Guggenheim, reportedly and allegedly being treated as slave labour. Elsewhere, this trade union body has severely criticized Qatar for its failure to give more rights to the work force and appears relentless in its pursuit to help strip Qatar of its right to host the FIFA 2022 World Cup. They have ensured that the campaign is not only relentless, but also aggressive, and at times, questionable. It was recently pointed out in a news report that bodies like the ITUC have employed dubious means during their alleged investigation of workers' conditions.”

Strange enough, in the article there are no facts or data that prove that the ITUC reports on labor practices in the Gulf region are wrong. Instead, some spokesman are staged to criticize the ITUC. For example about corruption: “A personnel stationed at the Swiss-based office of ITUC located in the ILO building in Geneva revealed on the condition of anonymity that, "in 2013/14, the ILO fired more than 600 employees in an effort to save costs. ITUC agreed not to lobby the ILO on this issue in return for maintaining its funding!"

In the article the observation is made that the ITUC focusses to much on the organized sectors (probably is meant the formal economic sector): “Mr. Krishnamoorthy, a former official with the ILO, who is now based in Bangalore, in a telephonic conversation, said trade unions needed to focus more on the unorganized rather than the organized sectors. He said he would like to see institutions like ITUC train their attention on what he called "the real deprived persons", and added that it was his view that such bodies currently represent just about seven to eight per cent of the work force.”

International AIDS Day 2011 in front of the International Trade Union House in Brussels, the ITUC headquarters.

Traditionally trade unions all over the world have always focussed on the formal contracted industrial worker. It is indeed time to change this focus because of the changes in the labour force world wide but this is not easy. This starts with the simple question 'how to organise workers who are informally working in the streets, in illegal sweatshops, in changing workplaces and so on? Even if you have the answer on these questions, it costs a lot of time to change the “traditional” trade union culture which is historically directed to what is generally called “the working class”? It is the same problem as for example changing the male dominated trade union culture in a more female friendly culture.

Another more severe critic is that the ITUC is becoming bureaucratic: “There are tendencies of some labor unions to become bureaucratic and for the union leaders and staff to become detached from the needs and interests of the rank and file union members. Interestingly, one of the ways ITUC is funded is through contribution by global affiliates. Spending money every year to have an organization like ITUC fighting for your piece of the pie needs to be justified. INTUC's Rajendra revealed: "We pay huge amounts of money as annual fees to ITUC. Sometimes, we even pay half-yearly. We hope we get much more in turn, in terms of training programs and skill development."

Picture taken at the ITUC University in the University of Kwazulu Natal.

This kind of critics you hear regularly within and outside the trade union and especially about international trade unions. It is indeed “a normal phenomenon” that large -umbrella- organisations like for example international trade union federations tend to go away from the rank and file members and become bureaucratic.

The only remedy is that the organisation is clearly structured from bottom to top and not top to bottom. This includes also a certain leadership culture, which means that they understand very well that the only legitimation for their positions and activities are the member trade unions (so not presidents, employers or other high placed persons) and that they morally and financially are accountable to these members.

However, leadership includes also having a vision and ideas about what should be done, what should be priorities and what not, what is relevant for the future and what not. That makes leadership more complicated than one might believe. Besides, leadership means also the capacity to take decisions in difficult circumstances and how to manage the budget?

What astonishes that there are no remarks made in the article about the lack of pluralism in the international trade union movement. It is well known in politics, in social life and also in the economic field that a lack of pluralism leads to monopolistic attitudes, to a culture of arrogance, to a certain kind of bureaucratic way of thinking and to a lack of dynamism and innovation. It makes even corruption more easier. Leaders can be “sold” by money or high (political) positions. That is the reason why open pluralistic democratic societies are more developed, have less corruption, more innovation and dynamics of change. And it is certain that what is true for societies, applies also to (international) trade unions. The people of “Bussiness Standard” should think about that.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 39 (ITF's and the WCL secretariat)

In memory of Charles Steck, who died last week 

Last week Charles Steck died. He was treasurer of the WFCW (World federation of Clerical Workers) from 1993 to 2004 (at the front, second from right). The photo has been made in Lomé, Togo at a meeting of the WFCW World Board in 1997 held in the training centre of ODSTA (African regional organization of the WCL). It is tradition to make a picture with the traditional African chief (in front, in the middle). 

As a treasurer, Charles was strict, but with his heart in the right place. He was a man of few words, but with a lot of commitment to the WFCW. He was also much more than a treasurer. He organized seminars for the European organizations of the WFCW about themes such as computerization, increased flexibility, new organizational models, etc.. For Charles the union was primarily a way to give the employee a firm place in the new working conditions by confronting the challenges. Since Charles and his wife Marilena (in front, on the left of the traditional chief) had met with Africa, he strained together with Ivo Psenner, European president of the WFCW (front extreme left), to help financially and otherwise trade unions in Togo.

In a subsequent seminar with leaders of trade unions from other African countries, it was decided to establish an African organization (FPE). As a treasurer Charles made special effort to make possible the WFCW World Congress in Lomé, Togo which was held in 2001. That was the first time an International Trade Union Federation of the WCL held a world conference and later a World Congress in Africa.

Because of the lack of a profound analysis, it is not surprising that the conclusions of the 'Willy Thys paper' brought nothing new. Of course, there must be an efficient service to the members, more coordination of activities, a program of activities related to multinational corporations, activities in the areas of health and safety, rationalization of the institutional operations and much more. But quite apart from the fact that the ITF's were already doing this already for a long time, it is not enough to win new members. Why should one become a member of the WCL if one could get the same and even more with the ICFTU and its International Trade Federations?

To stand out in a credible way, the WCL should dare to present their own vision about man and society, about employer and worker, about the union and private enterprise, about government and state, about capital and labor, about family and so on. Though the WCL had traditionally its own christian and humanist inspired vision, this was not used actively anymore. Of course, that vision had to be adapted on the consequences of the fall of communism and the new developments in the world, but that did not happen at all.

As one can see already in 1998 the international trade union federations in the private sector coordinated together with their regional organizations and CLAT a seminar in the Workers University UTAL of CLAT. 1. Jorge Lasso, Secretary General of the Latin American Federation of Campesinos 2. Doekle Terpstra, President of the World Federation of Industrial Workers 3. Eduardo Garcia, Deputy Secretary General CLAT 4.Victor Duran, General Director of UTAL 5.Eduardo Estevez, Confederal Secretary WCL 6. Dick van de Kamp, Secretary General of the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers 7.Pedro Parra, Latin American Federation of Industrial Workers 8.Marcelo Luvecce, Secretary general of the Latin American federation of Building and Wood Workers 9.Jacques Jouret, President of the International Federation of Textile and Clothing, 10. Bart Bruggeman, Secretary General of the International federation of Textile and Clothing 11.Jacky Jackers, President of the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers 12. Fons van Genechten, Secretary General of the World Federation of Industrial Workers 13. Carlos Gaitan, Secretary general of the Latin American Federation of Industrial Workers 14.José Gomez Cerda, Secretary General of the World Federation of Agriculture and Food Workers

Instead, the WCL choosed for non ideological pragmatism and went on the easy road of rejecting neoliberalism and capitalism as diseases that needed to be be eradicated, saying that the growing globalisation of production and marketing was only bad news for the workers like also the flexibilization of labor and so on. Trade unionism meant more and more protest in stead of also looking for creative answers on the new challenges after the fall of communism and the growing industrial globalisation. The WCL was losing his own voice in the international concert of trade union voices. It became part of the big international choir of international trade unionism, without having an own voice.

At the same time the WCL was restructured on the level of the international secretariat under the guidance of the Secretary General himself. Central and Eastern Europe were not anymore a priority. The Coordination Committee for Central and Eastern Europe and the coordination secretariat for Central and Eastern Europe, established in Bucharest with the help of Cartel alfa, were dismantled. The special budget developed for activities and missions in Central and Eastern Europe was stopped and so there came an end to the special financial support for the new members in central and eastern Europa. This was very painful, because everybody knew that the development of a "new" trade unionism in that part of Europe was for long term, as part of the development into a democratic society and state. What happens today in the Ukraine and the Russian actions on the Krim and in Eastern Ukraine are a demonstration of this.

In spite of the 'Willy Thys' paper on International Trade Action Federations nothing new happened for international trade action. On the contrary, the Secretary General wanted even that the ITF's paid extra for services of the WCL secretariat besides the contribution they already were paying to the WCL. The small amount of money the ITF's received yearly from the ILO for special activities was not used anymore for their activities but went onto the general WCL budget. Manpower to support the ITF's was not extended but in stead more limited. All this together gave fuel to the animosity of the presidents of the ITF's towards the Secretary General.

Photo of the participants of the World Congress of the World Federation of Industrial Workers. President Jaap Wienen (1), Secretary general Fons van Genechten (2), former President Leo Dusoleil (3), Vice-President Carlos Gaitan (4), Board member for Central and Eastern Europe Achille Dutu (5), Pedro Parra (6), Secretary General of the African Federation of Industrial Workers Romuald Nuwokpe (7), President of the Miners Foundation Jean Marc Mohr (8), board member of the Miners Foundation Albert Hermans (9), Italo Rodomonti (10)

Another debate should have been about how a minority organization like the WCL should operate on international level especially within the ILO. One of the possibilities to let hear more loudly the message of the WCL and its ITF's at the ILO was to look for a lobbyist with a lot of trade union and (international) political experience while also speaking fluently different languages and convinced to present the vision and ideas of the WCL on all levels. The opportunity was there because of a change of personnel, but in stead, two young trade unionists were put in the ILO office of the WCL. Therefore, the ICFTU got all the space to do what they wanted in the ILO.

On the other side, the highest priority - financially and in manpower - was given to the renewal of the press office. The Secretary General wanted more attention in the international press for the WCL. This is of course very difficult because why should journalists be interested in the WCL that as an international organization cannot organize strikes or other protests to influence decisions on world level? Moreover, for international trade union organizations there are other ways to influence decisions on international level like for instance the ILO and other UN agencies, like the European Union and its institutions and so on. And another question, is it necessary for the WCL members to read about the WCL in the international press ? What is important for them is to be informed about what is going on in the international field of labor, to get the latest information and if necessary to get access to international institutions.

MURDEROUS WORKING CONDITIONS IN BANGLADESH

Industrial working conditions in Bangladesh are often very bad, even below every standard of human dignity as we informed in the blog “Fire inBangladesh” of 3 december last year. Now it is only 5 months later and more than 500 garment workers, mostly young women, were buried alive when a huge building collapsed with thousands of workers in it.

What happened exactly still has to be established but as far as we know until now is that the owner of the Rana Plaza building, hired by many small garment factories, knew the building was becoming dangerous but that he did not want to close it. Engineers who checked the building because cracks were detected in the walls of the building, did not take any action. Worse, they were the ones who on demand of the owner, have build another 3 floors on the top of the 5 storey building. On the other side, a bank below in the building decided to close because of the cracks in the wall while the employers of the small garment factories forced their workers to enter the building under threat of a fine.

Who has to be blamed for this human tragedy caused by greed of the owner of Rana Plaza and the employers? Of course on the first place the owner of Rana Plaza but also the employers of the many small garment factories and the authorities who have the responsibility to ensure that the building codes are inspected and labour inspection. But it should be noted, as has been the case many times, that many of those responsible have been bribed with the aim not to report irregularities.

What about the responsibility of the most Western garment companies that want production at the lowest costs? Do they have any responsibility? They must not do business with companies that does not respect the ILO conventions and directives on decent work and working conditions. They must cooperate as much as possible with the ILO and the trade unions to work out a policy in line with international standards as has been developed by the ILO.

The newly elected Pope Francis compared the conditions in which these workers had to work with slavery. “Wages being to low, with just attention for the turnover and concern for personal gains. That goes against the will of God!'' The Pope referred also to his 1 May, Labour Day speech. He called on political leaders to do their best to create jobs. According to Pope Francis “the high unemployment is attributable to economic thinking outside the boundaries of social justice.''

ILO Secretary General Guy Rider should be praised for his quick response to this outrageous disaster by sending a high-level mission to Bangladesh “to offer its support and expedite action by all parties following the collapse of the Rana Plaza Building in Savar, which left at least 380 people dead” (Today we are talking about more than 500 victims). The ILO website informs that the high-level mission is led by ILO Deputy Director-General for Field Operations, Gilbert Houngbo. ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said he was writing to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, urging immediate action to prevent a recurrence of the latest in a series of entirely avoidable workplace tragedies.

“Horror and regret must translate into urgent firm action,” said Ryder. “Action now can prevent further tragedy. Inaction would mean that the next tragedy is simply a matter of time. The ILO urges the Government of Bangladesh and its employers and trade unions to make use of its support and ensure that the Rana Plaza tragedy is the last of its kind.”

We welcome also the statement of the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to consider measures for example through the trade preference policy. The EU now has policies that make developing countries such as Bangladesh, have to pay less import tax. The EU is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh and the clothes made in the collapsed building, were destined for the European and Canadian markets.

CHILD LABOUR SCHOOL

Some of the children who are attending the newly created Child Labour School of the Bangladesh trade union BSCWF

The core bussiness of trade unions normally is to establish a collective agreement by negotiating about wages and working conditions with the employer or in case the union is dealing with a whole sector, like for example building and construction workers or textile workers, then the trade union has to negotiate with a group of employers. But what to do in countries where a huge amount of people don't have work or only informal work like streetselling or doing small jobs for a few hours? What should a trade union do when children are working because the parents do not earn enough income to live? And to make things worse, what to do when these people don't have any social protection or health care service?

The children attending the Child Labour School get also to eat during school time.

These are questions many trade union leaders around the world have to answer. For example it is obvious that child labour should not exist. In stead of working, sometimes under harsh and dangerous conditions, children should go to school and have time to play around. That is why the International Labour Organization ILO for already a long time is focussing on child labour by adopting special conventions andrecommendations on child labour with the aim to get rid of child labour worldwide.

They are right, children are entitled to education.

But conventions, recommendations and even laws are not enough to eradicate child labour. What is also needed are practical measures and initiatives to help families to get a better income and to help children to get a better future. That is not easy, especially not for trade unions which have no or just limited possibilities to do something. But that there is always a way to do something, even in a poor country like Bangladesh, is demonstrated by the Bangladesh Trade Union BSCWF. During their board meeting in November 2012 the BSCWF decided to start to organize a so called Child Labour School.

Meeting of the parents of the children together with one of the teachers and Warish Ahmed,secretary general of the BSCWF

To give the children a better future, the BSCWF together with the parents decided to start a Child Labour School. The Child Labour School is meant for children of dues paying members and activists of the BSCWF who are working with their parents on their working place. Because of lack of means, it will be a difficult task. But taking the responsibility to do something is the first big step on the long road to create a better world for the children. Therefore we wish the parents, their children and of course the BSCWF lots of succes with their Child Labour School.

TRADE UNION CORRUPTION IN MEXICO

Corruption is everywhere. It is a disease that can affect everyone and every organization worldwide including trade unions. Poor and working people suffer most from widespread corruption. That makes corruption within the trade union movement particularly tragic.

Tuesday 26th of February Elba Esther Gordillo, head of the Mexican teachers' union SNTE (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion) , was arrested because she would have embezzled about 120 million Euros of the trade union. This was announced by the Mexican Ministry of Justice. She is considered as one of the most powerfull persons in the country. She could convince the 1,5 million members of the SNTE to vote as one block in favor or against a politician.

The 68 year old trade union leader, also known as 'La Maestra' (the teacher), has been active in politics since the eighties and had a lot of influence in the administration. But earlier in the week, the educational system in Mexico has been reformed, allowing abuses such as buying a job as teacher should disappear. The Ministry of Finance conducted an investigation into transactions with trade union funds and found that more than 2 billion pesos (about 120 million €) had been transferred to personal accounts of Gordillo. She was arrested at the airport of Toluca. Three other persons, that would have stolen money from the trade union, were also arrested .

Former employee Professor Noe Rivera declared that Gordillo is a person without morals and has turned the trade union into an election machine. That gave her a lot of power. “It's an unscrupulous woman, who spies those whom she wants to buy, to join or to destroy," said Rivera. He told that the Citizen Association of Teachers since 2006 investigated the diversion of funds and found that in 18 years Gordillo handled more than 104 billion pesos. The greatest gift made by Elba Esther was a house in Zihuatanejo "to a well-known journalist."

Unfortunately this is not the first time that Mexican union leaders are accused of corruption. In the seventies, a group of trade unionists of the PEMEX union, camped on the Zocalo in Mexico City protesting against corruption in their union. They told that the union leadership sold jobs for such high prices, that workers had to ask for a loan from the union. The result was that many workers for the rest of their lives had to pay to their own union. You could call this a modern form of slavery. The corruption had penetrated also deep into the company involving many employees. It was generally believed that this was the main reason PEMEX was not profitable enough as otherwise would have been.

This is a very sad situation especially because trade unionism is one of the main instruments of workers to promote more fair wages and working conditions as well as a more equal distribution of wealth based on transparancy. Corrupt trade unions act therefore always against the interests of the workers and especially the poor. Therefore trade unions should declare corruption on whatever level as their first enemy. International trade unions and the ILO must fight against trade union corruption without hesitation and with all means they have at their disposal.