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.
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