THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 46 (a new federation)

Together with Jacques Jouret (President of the ITF Textile & Cloithing) Jacky Jackers
(President of ITF Construction and Wood) was the initiator for the establishment
 of an independent and autonomous secretariat 'trade action'.
The photo was taken during the Congress of the Pan-African Federation of Building and Wood in Lomé 2003

Since the memorandum of General Secretary Willy Thys about the International Federations, the relations between the Presidents and the WCL General Secretary had not improved ( see: The Downfall of the WCL 38, trade union action paper http://internationalworkers.blogspot.be /2014/08/the-downfall-of-wcl-38-trade-union.html ). The problems between the International Federations and the WCL existed already at the WCL World Congress in Mauritius in 1993. The International Federations felt that they received too little support from the secretariat despite their generous contributions to the WCL. Therefore, the Congress decided that the WCL would make available to the Professional Action 3 full time Executive Secretaries. During the Congress, a start was made through the election of a second Executive Secretary in the person of Dirk Uyttenhoven coming from ACV Textile. Thus there were 1.5 Executive Secretaries, including myself as a half Executive Secretary. However, to 3 full time Executive Secretaries it never came in all the years until 2000.

In the front row third from right WCL Secretary general Willy Thys. Behind him on his right side IFTC President Jack Jouret.
The second left of Jouret is Dirk Uyttenhoven, once an Executive Secretary of the WCL for the International Trade Federations.
The photo has been taken at the IFTC World Congress in Doorn, Netherlands 2003.

For President Jacky Jackers of the World Federation of Building and Wood (WFBW) and Jack Jouret of the International Federation of Textile and Clothing (IFTC) this was an eyesore. Add to that the differences about the affiliation policy between them and the WCL General Secretary and it becomes understandable that the two Presidents were looking for a way out by establishing a common secretariat, independent of the WCL and autonomous. They decided to invite the World Federation of Industrial Workers (WFIW) as so-called "market oriented trade union" to participate The recently elected WFIW chairman Jaap Wienen was prepared to join the 2 International Trade Federations (ITF's) in this common secretariat. For not entirely clearly reasons, the World Federation of Clerical Workers ( WFCW) WVB, although a white-collar union but also a “market oriented trade union” was not invited, despite insistence on my part. Given the poor relations between the WCL Secretary General and myself, it will surprise nobody, that I agreed with the creation of such an independent secretariat of the mentioned 3 ITF's.

The Executive Board of the World federation of Industrial Workers. From left to right:
Leon Van Haudt (finances), Fons van Genechten (secretary general), Jaap Wienen (president),
Carlos Gaitan (vice-president) and Piet Nelissen (executive secretary).

On January 1, 2000 came into force which was simply called the Federation. The three Federation members - WFBW, IFTC and WFIW - paid from that time on not anymore membership fees to the WCL. However, ACV/CSC Building & Industry continued to pay its voluntary annual contribution to the WCL. However, the WCL was expected to provide a number of previously defined services:

- Connection of the Secretariat of the Federation on the computer network of the WCL with corresponding services.

- WCL makes available his mailing address for the Secretariat, as well as telephone and fax.

- WCL provides translation of the documents that are presented by the Secretariat

- WCL provides administrative financial services to the Federation.

- Under the supervision of the Executive Secretary (Piet Nelissen) WCL provides support for the administration of the staff.

Visiting the Minister of Labour of Benin (2000). From left to right: Nebeyu Shone (director coordination office CNV International),
Isabelle Vos (assistant-secretary ITF's secretariat) and Roel Rotshuizen (president World Federation of Clerical Workers)

The three Federation Members agreed on a mutual key for the distribution the costs of the Secretariat. The Secretariat consisted of a full-time Executive Secretary and two assistants / secretaries. Each International Federation would finance its own activities as there are statutory meetings, seminars, regional meetings, conferences etc. Obviously, the Federation relied on other NGOs for the co-financing of activities in the continents as for example CNV International. The Executive Secretary of the secretariat of the Federation continued to attend the usual weekly coordination meetings of the WCL. The WCL General Secretary on his turn continued to attend the coordination meetings of the Presidents of the International Federations, the so-called Trade Action Committee CAP.

On the 25th WCL World Congress in Romania (20-27 October 2001) WFIW Chairman Jaap Wienen (boardmember of the CNV Industrial Trade Union) was elected WCL Deputy General Secretary. Under his leadership, a major three-year project was launched to strengthen the WCL international trade union federations (ITF's), funded by CNV International. Talks about the project had already started from 1999 onwards until the WCL Congress (memorandum of Jaap Wienen to Jack Jouret as the President of the 'Trade Action Committee' January 7, 1999). The project was a so-called "training the trainers" project. The project provided training programs for key members of the trade union federations (trade action) in the continents who in turn could train other people of the federations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The courses covered a wide field of skills, from communications to administration, from management to decision-making. The technical implementation was in the hands of three specially recruited staff members and a secretarial assistant, all managed by Jaap Wienen.

Although Jaap Wienen himself as chairman of the WFIW had supported the establishment of the Federation of the 3 ITF's, the project for the strengthening of the Trade Action was held totally outside the ITF's. In practice, it was a WCL project carried out with the help of the regional WCL organizations in the continents. The ITF's could only give advice through the WCL Trade Action Committee (CAP) and through their Executive Secretaries.This structure - political and financial – with the Deputy General Secretary of the WCL as a project manager reinforced the centralized nature of the WCL secretariat instead of strengthening the structures and the networks of the ITF's. This was not only contrary to the WCL professed principle of subsidiarity but worsened also the already existing confusion between the regional organizations and the regional federations affiliated to the ITF's. The International Federations stood practically with empty hands.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 31 (INTERNATIONAL TRADE FEDERATIONS)

Dirk Uyttenhoven (standing right) was elected at the WCL Congress in 1993 as Executive Secretary of the WCL Trade Action Secretariat. I was already working at the WCL since the 1 of January 1992. Sitting are Kelfallah (left) and Gbessy, both staff members of the DOAWTU training and education centre FOPADESC in Lomé, Togo.  CNV Aktie Kom Over made financially possible the African Trade Action secretariat.  The picture has been made in December 1995 during an official visit at the WCL Trade Action Secretariat in Brussels.

Looking for an answer to the weakening of the WCL International Trade Federations ITF's as the result of switching of strong European WCL trade unions towards the Global Unions (Food, Metal and UNI), the WCL Congress in Mauritius (1993) decided to strengthen its Secretariat for Trade Action STA. Hence Dirk Uyttenhoven, from the department of education and training of the Belgian ACV Textile and Clothing trade union, was elected on the Congress as a full-time Executive Secretary of the STA. From then on the STA had about one and a half Executive Secretaries.

The regional seminar and Congress of FELATRABS, the Latin American Federation of Bank and Insurance Workers, was my first experience as Executive Secretary of the WFCW. It was held in september 1995 at the Workers University UTAL in San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela. 

The presidents of the International Trade Federations ( ITF 's ) considered one and a half full-time Executive Secretaries as insufficient . Therefore, the Commission for Trade Action CTA (consisting of the presidents of the ITF's and the General Secretary of the WCL ) talked for over a year about a 'Protocol for Trade Action' . After one and a half year , such a Protocol was signed by WCL General Secretary Carlos Custer and President of the Commission Trade Action CTA Michel Bovy. It was agreed that the Secretariat would consist of two full-time Executive Secretaries , one full-time and one part-time administrative assistant . The WCL would provide logistical support to the Trade Action Secretariat such as translations, accounting, printing, office, etc. Meanwhile EUROFEDOP / INFEDOP (public services) kept his full-time General Secretary in the person of Bert van Caelenberg, who had his own small, fully equipped secretariat, separated of the WCL Trade Secretariat. The WCT (teachers) replaced in the course of time its retired General Secretary Roger Denis (who was also functioning more or less as a WCL Confederal Secretary) by the full-time delegate Gaston De La Haye as Secretary general.

WFCW President Roel Rotshuizen (right) with Nebeyu Shone, head of the CNV Aktie Kom Over and World Solidarity Liaison office for Africa, in Cotonou, Benin in February 1996. It was the first official visit of a WFCW delegation to the African continent, visiting trade unions of clerical, banking and commercial workers in Benin, Togo and Ghana. The goal of the visit was to support the foundation of the regional African trade union federation for employees FPE.

The full-time administrative assistant was contracted, but otherwise everything remained the same because of lack of money and possibilities and so the Executive Secretaries had to improvise in time and prioritization. Also in the field of cooperation between the International Federations and the WCL everything remained the same. The International Federations went on as before, without much more cooperation and policy coordination with the WCL. Sometimes this brought tensions between the WCL Secretariat and the Trade Action Secretariat but thanks to the benevolent attitude of general secretary Carlos Custer relations remained good.

The Asian Regional Federation ABCW (Asian Brotherhood of Clerical Workers) was founded with support of BATU, the WFCW, CNV Aktie Kom Over and Necie Lucero as President of a Banking Union in the Phillipines. This picture has been taken in the year 1996.

A special case was the International Federation for Agriculture and Food trade unions FEMTAA. The switch of the CNV and ACV food trade unions from FEMTAA towards the Global Union UITA, had as a consequence that FEMTAA henceforth only existed in name. WCL General Secretary Carlos Custer found this unacceptable because of the importance of the agricultural sector in Third World Countries. He invited the former trade union leader José Gomez Cerda from the Dominican Republic, who lived for family reasons in Belgium, to rebuild the FEMTAA on a volontary basis. At the request of Carlos Custer the Trade Action Secretariat supported this attempt to revive the FEMTAA as much as possible.

In March 1995 a seminar and World Congress was held in the UTAL, San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela with the aim to reconstruct the FEMTAA. Second from left José Gomez Cerda who was elected as Secretary General of FEMTAA. 

Thanks to the efforts of Jose Gomez was held what you might call a rebuilding World Congress of FEMTAA in March 1995 in the Workers University UTAL, San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela. At the Congress José Gomez Cerda was elected as General Secretary. The former CFTC President Guy Drillaud (France) was elected President of FEMTAA. During the World Congress, the newly joined food workers trade union of Cartel alfa, led by chairman Adrian Cojocaru, was prepared to support the FEMTAA with a significant annual contribution. However, this was not sufficient for financing the costs of the secretariat and the necessary activities, with the result an ongoing search for additional funds.

Photo of all the participants on the FEMTAA Seminar and World Congress, march 1995, UTAL San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela.

Through organizations such as CNV Aktie Kom Over, World Solidarity, the WCL Solidarity Fund and the ILO, various activities could be funded. But it was much more difficult or virtually impossible to fund the Secretariat in Brussels. One solution could be to move the FEMTAA secretariat to one of the continents. The most obvious was to move it towards Latin America where CLAT had built a solid infrastructure with the Workers University UTAL in San Antonio near the Venezuelan capital Caracas. For unknown reasons, CLAT did not support this proposal with the result that the FEMTAA secretariat continuously had budget deficits, which had to be completed with the help of international institutions for solidarity and/or international development.

Meanwhile, the continental organizations BATU (Asia), CLAT (Latin America) and DOAWTU (Africa) contributed to the strengthening of their existing regional trade federations or supporting the creation of a new federation . Of course the ITF's contributed to this, each in its own way and according to its available resources. Thanks to a special trade action program of CNV Aktie Kom Over and project-support of World Solidarity funds were available . However, the question of the autonomy of the regional federations was never worked out . For the International Federations the regional trade federations were independent, autonomous members with their own structures, programs, funds etc . In contrast, the continental confederations BATU, CLAT and DOAWTU were somewhat reluctant to accept the idea of independent and autonomous trade federations. They insisted on a more centralized policy and decision-making procedures. However a profound strategic discussion of this important issue never got off the ground . The two sides, the ITF's and the continental organizations, made ​​the best of it and that was what it was.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (PART 26: WFCW, CROATIA AND GALICIA)

The Board of the European Organization of the World Federation of Clerical Workers (EO/WFCW). From left to right standing:EO President Ivo Psenner (Austria), Treasurer Charles Steck (Swiss), World President Jaap Kos (Netherlands). Sittingfrom left to right: myself, EO Boardmember Richard Paiha and WCL assistant/secretary Chris Lenaerts.

The post-congress year 1994 began with the annual meeting of the European Council of the European Organization of the World Federation of Clerical Workers (EO/ WFCW) together with a seminar in Switzerland. It was a habit from the WCL to take care of the secretariat of the meeting and the seminar and to provide for interpreters. During the seminar speakers from within and outside the WFCW spoke about new developments in companies, banks and commerce such as flexible working hours, on-call workers, part-time contracts, etc. Also, experience is exchanged and developments in the countries about labour and trade unions are reported. The European Organization of the WFCW was not recognized as a social partner of the European Commission. That did not bother us too much. We were able to lobby for our views through our own contacts in and outside the European Parliament . Later on we organized a lobby about the proposals for a new European regulation of working hours and overtime. Our commitment was the preservation of Sunday as a day of rest, a campaign that was conducted as well by FETRALCOS in Latin America.

Magazine published by UATUC. Text left: Piet Nelissen and Bogdan Hossu believe that the Alliance of Independent Croatian Trade Unions and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions Croatian meet all the criteria for full membership of the WCL.

Above the photo: Delegation of the WCL on a four-day visit to Croatia

Head of the Article below: Observers satisfied.

My first mission with Bogdan Hossu as the new WCL Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe, was to the recent independent Croatia (June 1991), one of the states of the former communist Yugoslavia. The post-communist and reformed trade union confederation UATUC had requested the WCL mission as part of their investigation into an international affiliation. The debates with the UATUC Board, led by President Dragutin Lesar, were promising. It looked as if the UATUC would opt for joining the WCL.

Thanks to a visit to an area outside Zagreb affected by war , we were able to see for the first time with our own eyes the destruction that the Yugoslav war caused among the civilian population. The Yugoslavian war had become the bloodiest violence conflict in Europe since World War II. Despite the fact that Yugoslavia was a federal republic since World War II , in which several nations were united, it turned out to be untenable. Once Croatia declared independence under General Franjo Tudman without much ado, a kind of civil war broke out . What was left of the Yugoslav army, mostly Serbian and Montenegrin officers, invaded Croatia . Distrust was sown and led to a cruel war between the former Yugoslavian states Serbia , Croatia and Bosnia - Herzogowina . Yugoslavia turned out to have been an forced artificial unity guided by President Tito and the Communist Party.

Bogdan Hossu (on the right) and myself having a meeting with UATUC leaders in Karlovac, Croatia

The European Union proved powerless even to be divided over the policy to be followed. The first goal was to keep Yugoslavia together but that proved to be untenable. Old friendships, one thought they were forgotten, cropped up again. The conflict was ended only when NATO under U.S. leadership bombed Serbian nationalist President Milosevic to the negotiating table, with of course once again civilian casualties. The negotiations took place between November 1 and November 21, 1995 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the U.S. city of Dayton. The main participants from the region were Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, the Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and Bosnian Foreign Minister Mohammed Sacirbey. The treaty was signed in Paris on December 14, 1995.

In that period (November 1994) the UATUC held its congress. On behalf of the WCL, I was present together with Rudy de la Rue, policy officer of the Belgium trade union confederation ACV. Dragutin Lesar was not anymore a candidate for re-election as president of UATUC. During the conference and after, it became clear that the new leadership of UATUC did not plan anymore to join the WCL. Press Officer Jasna Petrovic took more distance of us than before. As a kind of consolation, the European Organization of WFCW could continue with the small trade union of employees in banks. Especially the Austrian friends invested a lot of time and money to develop this trade union. The larger trade union in the sector of commerce, which had been invited regularly to the yearly meetings in Central and Eastern Europe organized by our Austrian friends, had meanwhile joined FIET.

During the conference, a delegation of the delegates was received by President Tudman. As an international guest I was also invited. It was a tight almost military-organized reception. We had to stand in a row with the tips of our shoes on the carpet and the jacket buttoned. We should not look at the president directly. I found it hilarious. Something I had not experienced with other presidential and ministerial receptions. I suspect that this tight protocol was due to the fact that Tudman had been a soldier all his life.

Before the CIG Congress I made a short visit to Munkstancsok and Keszosz (5-7 March 1994). One of the goals was to look for a possibility to unite Keszosz with Munkastanscok. On the right below President Laslo Lansky of Keszosz. Second of left Keszosz international secretary Santos. 

We go back to the beginning of the year, March 1994. At the request of Secretary General Carlos Custer I visited the merger congress of the newly formed Confederacion Intersindical Galega CIG in Santiago Compostela, Spain. Neither of the two merger partners - INTG and CXTG – was a member of the WCL. According to Carlos, there were friendly relations. He expressed the hope that in the future the CIG would possibly become a member of the WCL. My presence with Véronique Rousseau, of the Department of International Affairs of ACV, and other international guests, including from Cuba, were good for the prestige of the Congress. As far as I could judge, the new CIG had no intention to join the WCL and indeed CIG has never become a member. Whether this is due to internal disagreements or organized pluralism within the trade union confederation or a question of ideological and/or financial opportunism, is always difficult to assess.

The CIG Congress, 19 March 1994.

About the international orientation of the CIG I did not have no illusions anymore after the adoption of the resolution against the economic blockade of Cuba by the U.S.. Not because Congress spoke out against the blockade, that was no more than usual. But what was not normal, was that the Congress at the same time did not defend trade union values as freedom of expression and association that not at all are respected by the Cuban regime. I found it strange that a trade union in a country that not so long ago was under the Franco dictatorship, did not bother to defend these important trade union values. In Cuba, a congress like the one of CIG would not even be possible.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (PART 13)

The impression I have got from Philip J. Jennings during our meetings as well as later during brief encounters, is that of a dynamic and ambitious trade union CEO. A pragmatic man who is convinced that big bussiness must be confronted by big unionism. The bigger the union, the better it can do its bussiness. Therefore it is not surprising that by using the FIET as a starting point, he succeeded in creating the Global Union UNI (2000) which is now one of the biggest unions in the world. However,the problem is that how big an international union may be, it will never be stronger than its weakest members. That is true for any international organization be it the United Nations or an International Trade Union Federation like UNI. Only strong local trade unions can make strong an international trade union organization.The question therefore is how to get strong local unions worldwide?

The talks between delegations of WFCW and FIET / EURO-FIET (since 2000 UNI/EURO-UNI) were fruitless. FIET General Secretary Philip J. Jennings tried us just to make clear that the WFCW outside Europe does not mean anything. The talks were literally a confrontation between power politics and idealism. He did not endorse our argument that EURO-FIET should respect the rules of the European Trade Union Confederation ETUC.

The coupling of the membership of EURO-FIET to that of FIET may be justified according to Jennings, but it did not make any sense in the light of the agreed ETUC rules. Besides, we had our doubts about this presentation of the financial relations between EURO-FIET and FIET. Thanks to the status of social-dialogue partner of the European Commission, EURO-FIET could use free of charges European facilities such as meeting rooms including translation equipment and interpreters. For an international organization this means an important amount of savings. Therefore it looked to us as though FIET played a game with the WFCW in order to acquire a monopoly.

Emilio Gabaglio and Fritz Verzetnitsch - Signature of the European Framework Agreement on parental leave - Brussels - 14/12/1995Emilio Gabaglio (left) was ETUC secretary general from 1991 until 2003. He was also national president of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers . The year before he was elected president, ACLI had held a Congress under the title of “Workers' Movement, Capitalism and Democracy”. “Under the presidency of Emilio Gabaglio (1969–1972), who proposed a "socialist hipothesis", the ACLI went further to the left.” The ACLI was a member organization of the WCL without being very active on international levels during these years.
Fritz Verzetnitsch was ETUC President from 1993 until 2003 and President of the Austrian Trade Union Confederation ÖGB from 1987 until 2006.He was also a member of the Executive Board of the ICFTU (1988-2000). As a result of a financial scandal with the ÖGB Bank BAWAG, that caused great financial losses, Verzetnitsch left office on 27 March 2006 and was dismissed by the ÖGB in April.

We then decided to ask the CNV confederation as a member organization of the ETUC, to intervene officially on this matter at Emilio Gabaglio, the General Secretary of the ETUC.  We thought that he could convince the FIET to respect the agreed European rules. However, the intervention of CNV chairman Anton Westerlaken together with a delegation of WFCW did not give any result. Apparently Gablagio was powerless regarding FIET or did it not suit him to intervene?

As a last resort we decided to knock on the door of ÖGB President Verzetnitsch also chairman of the ETUC. I remember a friendly reception but that was about all. Did he not want to do anything or couldn't he do anything? Years later, the breakthrough came anyway. European trade unions could join the EURO-FIET without compulsory membership of the FIET. Why took it so much time for FIET to adapt to the European rules? Was it a case of ordinary power politics to secure its monopoly? You would think so if you look to the facts.

The WFCW affair made clear that the International Trade Federations ITF's of the WCL had no answer on the challenging and sometimes agressive positions of the large European trade union organizations. The WCL was responsible for the coordination of the ITF's, but in practice proved unable to do so effectively. Earlier, for this reason the metal unions ACV and CNV had left the WCL, in order to join the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF). After joining the EMF the two unions wanted also to join the International Metal Federation IMF. So there was no forced trade between the European and international organization like FIET, but a deliberate choice of the two unions. However, the two unions had to wait years before they could join the IMF, as you can read below.

"Traditionally Christian unions join organizations of the WCL, the World Confederation of Labour. In the field of metallurgy, the WCL has no organization anymore. Thus was joining the IMF obvious. However, members of the IMF can block new unions from their country to join the IMF. This veto was used by the Belgian Socialist metalworkers against their Belgium Christian fellow union, the CCMB. And our trade union had a solidarity agreement with the CCMB: we join together the IMF or we do not. For the time being it was not. When over the years the Belgian attitude changed, it was then the Dutch FNV that did not want us to join the IMF. It took years before the barriers were removed. In 1991 the CCMB joined the IMF in Lisbon, and this year (1992) it was our turn. It is strange that our membership has been blocked for so many years, while our union was already for many years a member of the EMF, which has good relations with the IMF. " (magazine "Bondsbeeld" of the CNV Industry Union , 10th of July 1992)

Reading this article, I decided to write a letter to President Frits Hanko of the CNV Industry Trade Union in which I observed that it is only partly true that the WCL does not have a special organization for the metal sector. “But, and this is nothing new for you, we have a World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW. As you know, we still want to be active internationally. Therefore, we could use the support of your metal sector as well." (letter of 4th of November 1992)

Thanks to his visits to Latin America Frits Hanko (on the extreme left of the round table) was well informed about Latin American trade unionism and the difficult situations the trade unions have to confront. This picture was taken during a meeting between CLAT and CNV (March 1989). The meeting was presided by the late Emilio Maspero, Secretary General of CLAT. On the opposite side of the table is sitting CNV President Henk Hofstede. On his left Wim van der Jagt, treasurer of the WFIW followed by CNV board member Anton Westerlaken. Between Henk Hofstede and Frits Hanko you see CNV Secretary Peter Cammaert. On the left of Maspero, CLAT Deputy Secretary General Enrique Marius is talking.

President Frits Hanko answered as follows:

"During the formation of a European front of the metal sector, we were confronted with the European Coal and Steel Community (founded in 1951 by the six European countries: Belgium, France , Italy , Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Duitsland. The ECSC was the predecessor of the European Community ). It is clear that the European trade unions wished to be involved in it and I refer to the unions organizing the metal workers .

I remember still the debates about the affiliation of CNV Industry to the EMF. These provoked a lot of discussion on principles, however, because of the fact that through the WCL the intended communication with the socialist unions was not functioning, a pragmatic decision was taken.

Years later, the discussion took place about the international connection to the IMF. Last week I visited the CMB , the Belgian metal union of the ACV. President Tony Janssen said in his congress speech that they fought 12 years for recognition and membership of the IMF . His message reads "It is unthinkable to be not organized internationally with all metalworkers.” Of course I am sufficiently well known about the existence of the WFIW . Would I forget so soon the visit to South America? I believe that , if there wil be a connection between the metal sector and the WFIW, there should be a discussion with the Christian trade unions on a double affiliation.” It must be said that CNV Industry indeed remained a member of the WFIW until the merger between ICFTU and WCL in Vienna in 2006.

This piece of union history shows that the WCL was unable to provide a strategic response to the European developments in certain sectors based on its own identity, values and vision. However, while the metal unions bowed their heads for the socialist majority (sorry, but that's the image that lingers), the European Christian Miners Federation remained for a long time active in spite of the closing of mines in Belgium, France and Germany.

I must also tell you that on the basis of the letter of Lucien Stragier, earlier quoted, the WFCW invited the LBC-NVK to join a WFCW solidarity foundation. After mutual agreement on the statutes and rules, the LBC-NVK became a member of this WFCW solidarity foundation. She remained a member until the merger of WCL and ICFTU. When it appeared that the WFCW did not agree with the merger, LBC-NVK Chairman Ferre Wyckmans announced to stop the contributions to the solidarity fund by letter. Thus came into being still a complete separation of spirits after 20 years. Although invited to do so, Unie BLHP and the Luxembourg LBC never wanted to be a member of this WFCW solidarity fund.

To be continued

The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in the WCL and CLAT.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 8)

Under this picture in my scrapbook I wrote "A visit to the headquarters of CMOT Moscow where was also present CMOT Petersburg. There was in that apartment a kind of a brooding, conspiratorial atmosphere. CMOT Moscow and Petersburg seemed a hodgepodge from which you could make neither head nor tail and had little to do with unions.” The photo of Marilyn Monroe on the wall together with a framed picture of some major Russian person gave me the feeling of being lost in time and place. On the right side of the photo Krisztoff Dowgiallo, vice-president of WCL and head of our delegation.The 2 on the left are from CMOT Moscow.(photo Petrus)

We visited a group of CMOT in one of those typical apartment blocks in the suburbs of Moscow. The conversation was disappointing. Maybe they were courageous dissidents but they had little or no contact with real trade unions. Back in our hotel we also spoke to Matvienko of CMOT in Minsk, Belarus. 3 years later I organized a mission to Belarus together with the ICFTU, but that's a different story. We also met Massalowitsj, one of the leaders of miners in Vorkuta. He insisted that we would immediately travel to Vorkuta, about 2000 kilometers north of Moscow and 150 kilometer above the Arctic Circle. He told us that there were thousands of miners on strike for months because they had not received wages any more. The non-payment of wages would become a growing problem in Russia over the next years. Sometimes workers had to survive months without any payments. The trip to Vorkuta, we did not make. Subsequent attempts afterwards to get in contact with him unfortunately failed.

A picture of the WCL delegates Amrita Sietaram and myself (in the centre) together with Vorkuta miners' representative  Massalovitsj (third from right) on the Red Square.  First on the right side is the leader of the new party who wanted to introduce in Russia the politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The others were from some other unions.(photo Petrus) 

The history of the striking miners in Vorkuta is the story of  Russian Communism in a nutshell. In the '30s of the last century in Vorkuta was built one of the largest prison camps of the Gulag Archipelago. The occasion was the discovery of coal stocks. Thousands of forced laborers, including many supporters of the famous communist Trotsky (murdered in Mexico City), had to work under extremely difficult conditions in mines and build roads. In 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, for the third time a rebellion among the forced laborers broke out. The uprising was beaten down by the Red Army and the security forces. Thousands of them were executed without any kind of trial. In the time of Nikita Khrushchev some Gulag camps were closed. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many coal mines were closed because they were not profitable anymore.

An Orthodox priest also Member of Parliament, his name I can not remember, had organized a press conference in the Parliament building. After we had presented our delegation and had held a brief introduction about the WCL, one could ask questions. But how do you explain what a civil society is to people who are only familiar with state, party and government institutions? How do you explain people who have never experienced free elections what are free and independent trade unions. How do you explain what is a social dialogue, collective bargaining and collective agreements in a country without employers except the state?

We organized meetings in a corner of the hotel. Here you see on the right side of the picture Christophe Jussac from the French Confederation CFDT who speaks russian.In the centre of the picture you see Matvienko from CMOT Belarus. On his right side Alexandre Ivanchenko from the Ukrainian VOST confederation. Left from him Amrita Sietaram from CNV Netherlands. You see the backside of our translator Alexandre Volkov.(photo Petrus)

We were invited by some members of a new democratic party to eat at home of the leader of the party. A disconcerting experience. There was no beginning of any party structure. His political manifesto was overwhelmingly simple: apply the policy of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Russia. How great the confusion was turned out during a meeting with a group of men of which we were told that they wanted to cooperate with the international trade union movement. However, after some time we discovered that we were talking with businessmen who thought that we as Western trade unions could help them to do international business. We left the building as soon as possible leaving behind the Russian businessmen even more confused than before.

In our relatively expensive hotel it was a corrupt mess. I could only make an international call after giving a big US dollar tip to the operator. Breakfast was not there unless you gave a big mouth to the waiters or gave some extra US dollars. In and outside the elevator I was constantly harassed by prostitutes. In the hall a driver was beaten by a dozen of other drivers because he did not adhere to their code, as explained our translator. We were glad we could leave. We realized that the free and democratic trade union movement in Russia had to go a quite long way.

As regular readers know, I was not only confederal secretary of the WCL but also executive secretary of some International Trade Federations: the World Federation of Clerical Workers (WFCW) and the World Federation of Industrial Workers (WFIW). WFCW chairman Jaap Kos I learned to know during a kind of job interview at the headquarters of the Dienstenbond CNV in Amsterdam. Ivo Psenner, President of the European Organization of WFCW and Richard Paiha, secretary of the Christian Group in the Austrian GPA in Vienna, were present during this interview. WFIW Chairman Leo Dusoleil, also chairman of ACV Industry, I learned to know very well during our tour along the trade federations of Solidarnosc (The Downfall of the WCL, part 4)

From left to right: Doekle Terpstra, the new president of the Dutch trade federation Industry and Food IVB member of the confederation CNV. Wim van de Jagt, the treasurer of the trade union. Frits Hanko the leaving president of the same union. In the background you see some metal workers in one of the factories we were visiting during our stay in Paraguay.

The WFIW had organized together with FLATI, the regional organization of the WFIW in Latin America, a seminar in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Prior to the seminar, I traveled as an interpreter and expert of Latin America along with a delegation of the Dutch CNV Industry and Food Union to Paraguay. We visited the confederation CNT, member of WCL and CLAT. Pedro Parra of the CNT Board was our guide during our visit to a farmers' union, a metal factory, a sugar factory, a judge of the Supreme Court, the Bishop of Asuncion, slum dwellers, the newspaper ABC, a radio station and the Minister of Justice.

You can't miss it. In the centre of the picture you see Paraguayan Dictator General Alfredo Stroessner enjoying his birthday party on the 3 of november 1987. Behind him in white military uniforms his loyal generals. (photo Petrus)

Three years after the fall of dictator General Alfredo Stroessner (in 1989 Stroessner was overthrown by another general) there was not much changed in the country. Of course, that was not possible in such a short period. Stroessner had been in power for 35 years (1954-1989) thanks to his generals, the Colorado Party and years of U.S. support. It was the longest dictatorship of an individual ruler in Latin America and the world's longest-serving non-Communist head of state. During a visit to Paraguay in 1987, because of the One Day Wage Campaign of CLAT Netherlands ( Campaña Un Dia de Salario), I had been invited along with a TV team from the Netherlands at the birthday party of the dictator. With our own eyes we could see a Latin American dictator according to the known cliches: he himself surrounded by generals in immaculate white uniforms full of medals, a court of faithful authorities who benefited from his dictatorship, singers and poets who sang for him and children handing over bouquets of flowers.

At that time the unions had to work semi-clandestinely. Their leaders were arrested constantly like politicians such as Domingo Laino, a leader of the liberal opposition against the dictator. It was a country with the silence of a graveyard. Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, was no bigger than a provincial city with little activity while most of the population lived in poverty in rural areas. The difference now is that the trade unions can do their work openly without being threatened to be prosecuted or imprisoned immediately. Paraguay has come back to life, thanks to the work of trade unions, the Catholic Church and other social organizations but far enthusiasm and time will be needed before the pernicious legacy of Stroessner will have disappeared to make way for new economic and political dynamics that will bring progress and prosperity.

Te be continued


The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 4)

Visit to Gdansk during the seminar in Sopot.From right to left: Dan Mogadescu from Cartel alfa, WCL Vice-President Kristoff Dowgiallo, Tadek Oruba from Belgium ACV and Mihael also from Cartel alfa.

During the WCL Congress in Caracas (1989) I heard for the first time I was a candidate to become confederal secretary. The newly elected general secretary Carlos Custer even said he was counting on me. Some time later Jaap Kos, president of the WCL international trade federation WFCW (World Federation of Clerical Workers which is now WOW), invited me for an interview with him and two Austrian boardmembers. The WFCW wanted me to be their executive secretary. To convince the WCL they had decided to pay an additional contribution to the WCL. Some time later CNV chairman Henk Hofstede called me, asking if I wanted to work in Vienna instead of Brussels. There were plans to open a WCL liaison office in Vienna which is near to the former European communist countries and Russia. For me this was okay but finally it became nevertheless Brussels.

Finally in November 1991 in Gdansk, the decision was taken on my appointment as confederal secretary. Starting in Brussels in January 1992, it appeared that I was the successor of Emiel Vervliet, WCL confederal secretary and also executive secretary of the WFCW. An article by him in the Flemish journal 'Maatschappelijke Gids', in which he made ​​a plea for a merger between WCL and ICFTU, went too far for secretary general Carlos Custer. Much later I learned that opinions about my appointment at the WCL were divided. That was of course unfortunate but it did not affect my work.

It became a flying take-off. My first encounter with new union leaders from the former communist European countries and Russia was at a seminar organized by Solidarnosc in Sopot, Gdansk (29 February to 4 March 1992). There I met the Polish WCL Vice-President Kristoff Dowgiałło. I spoke with many new democratic leaders such as a delegation from Lithuania headed by Aldona Balsienne, chairman Olexander Iwanchenko of the UkrainianVOST, the miners' leader Victor Utkin from Russia and a delegation of Cartel alfa. The Romanian federation Cartel alfa had already joined the WCL prior to my arrival to the WCL.

The WCL European Section meeting presided by Vice-President Kristoff Dowgiallo. On the left Secretary General Carlos Custer. On the right Confederal Secretary Roger Denis.

So the WCL had a nice position for take-off. My WCL mission began with the support of two major trade confederations in former communist Europe, both known for their battles for an independent, free and democratic trade union movement. At the seminar in Sopot it became clear that for these new leaders Solidarnosc was an example that deserved to be followed. Therefore probably the WCL also would have a certain appeal to these new leaders. Moreover, I thought, the ideas on man and society of the WCL were in line with those of the new leaders. After the failure of communism they were looking for a renewal of their society and state, based on human and spiritual values others than communism. The WCL could offer these coming from its Christian and humanistic background that it cherishes since its foundation in 1929.

Just a few weeks after the seminar in Sopot I went along on tour in Poland with Leo Dusoleil, President of the World Federation of Industrial Workers Federation WFIW, and Roel Schepen of the CNV Wood and Construction Trade Union, to visit the Solidarnosc unions with the aim to affiliate them to the International Trade Federations (ITF's) of the WCL (14 they - March 21, 1992). Our interpreter was Tadek Oruba a Belgium trade unionist of Polish descent. During our visit to the miners union in Katowice we laid flowers at the monument to fallen miners in the fight against communism. In Krakow we visited the metal union. In Nova Huta we had a conversation with the President of the textile union. In Wroclav we spoke with board members of the energy and chemical union and so on.

Unfortunately, despite our efforts, no Solidarnosc trade union ever joined the WCL International Trade Federations. I know the WCL Textile Federation and the Building and Wood Federation have long taken pains to  the Solidarnosc textile and construction union to make join them but it never happened. It stayed with vague promises and commitments during visits to Ghent and Brussels. Despite the enormous efforts of the European Miners with many seminars and missions organized and financed, also the miners union of Solidarnosc never became a member of the WFIW.

Katowice. WFIW President Leo Dusoleil, surrounded by 4 board members of the Solidarnosc Miners Union and Tadek Oruba, ready to put flowers before the monument commemorating the miners who have fallen during strikes and opposition to the communist dictatorship

I never could figure out why the unions of Solidarnosc did not join the WCL International Trade Federations. It could not be money. The financial contributions were low, like those of Solidarnosc self to the WCL. In addition, there was an agreement to invest the contributions in seminars and other activities in the country itself. May be the ITF's were not so credible anymore because some ACV and CNV unions no longer were a member of an WCL International Trade Federation? They had joined the ICFTU oriented ITF's. Anyway, the many times I've asked, such as Solidarnosc President Krakliewski, Andrej Adamčik from international affairs and some regional presidents of Solidarnosc, I was assured that Solidarnosc was committed to the WCL but otherwise it remained quiet.

On the contrary, the Romanian trade federation Cartel alfa had the policy to their members to join as much as possible the WCL International Trade Federations, in many cases successfully. Therefore the relations between Cartel alfa and WCL became stronger than those between Solidarnosc and the WCL. I felt sorry, not only because the WCL became less stronger internationally than I had hoped but also because personally I felt involved in the fate of Poland and in particular that of Solidanosc.

Between the seminar in Sopot and the Polish tour I took part in a meeting of the European Section of the WCL for the first time on March 7, 1992. The European section meeting was a kind of informal meeting of all Western European trade union confederations of the WCL where European issues were discussed and views exchanged. In fact it was a meeting of the WCL fraction in the ETUC but it could never be named like that. The informal nature of the European Section meeting was strongly emphasized. It gave me the impression that we were doing something, we actually were not allowed to do because of the unity within ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation). Apparently, the international trade union movement became infected with a kind of enlightened Leninism (Lenin is the creator of the ban on factionalism in the Russian Communist Party, that later became known by the name of Democratic Centralism used by all communist parties). WCL members could never present themselves as a a group in the ETUC. The WCL had lost therefore its identity on European level. The question was if it could be maintained on international level. That is what still had to be figured out.

to be continued


The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.