THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 55

How were the formal decision procedures about the merger with the ICFTU and what happened with the CNV proposal and other alternatives? The first step in the formal debate was put at the 18th of March 2004 when the members of the European Section (an informal gathering of European members, without structure and secretariat) exchanged views on the relations with other international organizations. A final decision would take place in October of the same year. (Activities Report of the European Section, Doc 3, 12.10.2004)

Jaap Wienen as president of the World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW during the WCL Association Board in Washington in 2000.  Jaap Wienen came from CNV Industrial Workers Trade Union of which he was treasurer. His election as Deputy General Secretary of the WCL was seen by CNV as strengthening the preservation of the WCL. He managed to maintain his function as Deputy General Secretary in the new organization ITUC.

According to the minutes it is Deputy Secretary General Jaap Wienen (former CNV trade union leader) who introduces the debate: “During the ETUC Congress in 2003, ICFTU Secretary general Guy Rider made an appeal to join forces in the trade union world. The difference with earlier approaches is that the aim of the talks would be to build a new organisation (instead of a merger of the WCL into the ICFTU). This appeal was discussed during the WCL Confederal Board in Jakarta, where the political secretariat was given a limited mandate to enter into talks with the ICFTU so as to define the ideas of the ICFTU on a common worldwide approach. On the basis of the dicussions which took place during two meetings, Emlio Gabaglio (former Secretary General of the ETUC) wrote a note which refelects his views on the possible directions of further discussions between the ICFTU and the WCL. This note will be discussed during the WCL Executive Board meeting of March 29 and 30.” 

The opening of the debate is made by CNV staff member Evert-Jan Slootweg who explains the position of CNV. “He reads out the model for cooperation of CNV. The proposed model is meant to be a plus for both existing secretariats (of WCL and ICFTU).” 

Luxembourg LCGB representative Leon Drucker raises some questions about after the merger. “What can be said about the future possibilities of trade unions which share our values? Will cooperation still be possible? Furthermore, how will we explain a possible merger, as we have been stressing the differences in values between the WCL and the ICFTU for years? What will happen with regard to join projects on international level? What will it take to sustain such development cooperation at global level? How will we still be able to identify partners in Africa, Latin America,.(...) As for the national pluralism, it is clearly stated that the identity of the different trade unions should not be questioned.”

Jan Dereymaker of the ACV/CSC international dept. explains the why and how of the merger. He gave 4 reasons for the merger:

1. The appeal of Guy Rider, President of the ICFTU.

2. Some ACV/CSC branch organizations are already affiliated to the ICFTU international branch federations, Global Unions GUFs.

3. The fact that ACV/CSC pays almost 70% of the WCL budget is a weakness of the WCL.

4. What structure is most efficient for the protection for our members?

Other important observations of him are:

- “The time that syndicalism was linked to political parties belongs to the past.”

- “As pluralism is fundamental, this should be a starting point. We should opt for a strong base, a strong 'syndicalisme de base'. Syndicalism should be based on democratic values, and it should be internationalized.

- “A new structure, well balanced from ideological and structural point of view, pluralistic on national level and perhaps on continental level, could be a possible orientation. (…) A foundation may be a good idea to safeguard our identity, but this remains an open question.

Andrej Adamcsik (Solidarnosc, Poland) agrees with the analysis presented by Jan Dereymaeker. He is positive “but admits that he finds himself a bit surprised by the quick progress in the talks with ICFTU.”

Pavel Moutafchiev (Promyana, Bulgaria) believes the merger is necessary because of the globalization. He hopes that the merger will stop the problems with the ICFTU affiliates in his country.

Joseph Thouvenel (CFTC France) is of the opinion that the mandate given in Jakarta has been exceeded. “There should be a balance between material and spiritual dimensions, and these same basic values will not be found within the ICFTU. Furthermore, two voices are better heard than one single voice.”

Bogdan Hossu (Cartel alfa, Rumania) does not agree with Joseph Thouvenel. He proposes a more “flexible mandate” for the Executive Committee and the composition of a work group.

WCT Secretary general Gaston De Lahaye clarifies the position of the World Confederation of Teachers “To the WCT, an important issue was the discussion on the values. As the essence of these values, the identity of the WCT, is reflected in the declaration of principles, this was presented to the colleagues of Education International, who did not have any problems with it. A joint declaration of principles will be drafted, taking into account the identity of the WCT. Pluralism on the national level has been well defined. National agreements can be a side effect of the cooperation, but it does not necessarily have to be so.”

Bart Bruggeman speaking as President of the Dutch solidarity organization CLAT-Netherlands in 1998. Bart Bruggeman became president of the WFIW after the election of Jaap Wienen to WCL Deputy Secretary General. 

Bart Bruggeman (CNV) “supports the viewpoint of his French colleague. There would have been protest during the Confederal Board had Willy Thys indicated that Emilio Gabaglio was going to present the note.” He wonders if there will be organized tendencies or not in the new organization?

Andrey Adamczyk answers that it was agreed in Jakarta that ICFTU and WCL will express their specific values. “A foundation was also mentioned at that occasion.” He defended the note of Gabaglio as “just an element in the debate”.

It was under the guidance of the ACV/CSC Presidents Willy Peirens and Luc Cortebeeck that the WCL became a cofounder of the ITUC and the WCL disappeared from the international trade union history.

After some debate on the role of the Gabaglio note and the status of WCL as a Christian organization, ACV President Luc Cortebeeck, also President of the European Section, summarizes the discussion saying that not everyone agreed on everything and that there is no agreement on the Gabaglio note. He concludes that there is de CNV proposal in which the WCL continues to exist as a separate organization but cooperates with the ICFTU. Others wonder why the ETUC model is not possible on international level. Another important question is how to preserve a certain identity and how the cooperation will be organized in the new organization?

So it was decided that at the European Section of October 2004 a formal decision will be taken on how to proceed with the merger. The next step would be a formal decision taken by the Confederal Board, and after that a World Congress to ratify the decision taken (November 2005 in Houffalize, Belgium). For decision taking at the European Section, the Executive Committee presented at the October meeting 2004 the document “Recommendation by the Executive Committee to the Confederal Board“ with an introduction and annexes:

Annex I. “Proposal of a decision to be submitted to the Confederal Board”.

Annex II. “Elements that have emanated from the informal dialogue

1. Outline of a new international trade union confederation.

Annex III. “Elements that have emanated from the informal dialogue

2. First draft of the basic principles for a new international trade union confederation.

The CNV proposal was only worked out for Europe. The proposal had not a chance. It was presented to late and without to few convincing power.

Al these papers have already been spoken of in foregoing blogs. What remains is “Annex IV. Alternative CNV proposal.” In a note attached to the annex, CNV President Doekle Terpstra writes that “a CNV working group has been discussing the future of the WCL and possible more intense co-operation between the WCL and the ICFTU for the last month. The working group has presented a proposal to the Executive Board of the CNV, which has been approved unanimously on the 15th of March 2004.”

CNV was one of the founders of WCL and had a long tradition of supporting WCL. Here we see on the first row, third from left Arie Hordijk, who dedicated a lot of his time as Secretary General of CNV to the WCL. At the end of his CNV career he became President of EZA (European centre for Workers)

Instead of a merger, the CNV had worked out the idea of closer cooperation between the two international organizations by introducing a so-called “World Level Secretariat”. This secretariat had to coordinate the common activities of WCL, ICFTU, the International Trade Federations of both sides and TUAC. Meanwhile, both WCL and ICFTU would maintain their own secretariats, as well as the other organizations involved. The reason for this more elaborated model for cooperation was that CNV wanted to maintain by all means the WCL as an independent, autonomous world organization for the sake of international trade union pluralism and identity bound trade unionism.

But unfortunately we must conclude that the CNV proposal had no real chance. ACV/CSC had prepared already for a long time the merger with ICFTU. It was just waiting for the right moment and the right ICFTU leadership. It seemed that the CNV leadership was overtaken by the events. The presentation of the proposal itself was somewhat amateurish, clumsy and naive. Even at the meetings itself, none of the CNV confederal leadership was present. Also unconvincing was the lack of any kind of financial outline for the proposal.

Such a financial outline could have given rise to a thorough discussion on the financial priorities of the WCL. During many years before, there have been lengthy debates on the affiliation fees but without result. In particular the continents tried to escape time after time from an increase of contributions. It seemed that they saw the WCL mainly as a one-direction road for international solidarity. The other side of the problem, that is to bring political priorities in accordance with financial possibilities, was never well debated. This should have been an important task set for the treasurer and the financial commission of the WCL. One of the reasons this debate was never really implemented, because ACV / CSC was always ready in one way or another to absorb the budget deficits. Therefore ACV / CSC had become far away the biggest sponsor of WCL This was apparently taken for granted by the other members.

In 1992 a delegation of the CNV Trade Union for Industrial Workers visited Paraguay and Brazil. From left to right: Doekle Terpstra, Wim van der Jagt( treasurer), Pedro Parra and Frits Hanko (persident). Shortly after this trip Doekle Terpstra became president of the trade union. From 1999 until 2005 he was President of the CNV Confederation. Under his presidency CNV could not prevent the WCL was merged with the ICFTU into the ITUC.

Such a debate would also have made clear that the merger proposal was related to the fact that also ICFTU and its International Trade Secretariats were in need of money because of losing members. Such a debate was and is avoided in all trade unions world wide but this is what happens. Trade Unions worldwide are losing members and therefore money and this makes it more difficult to maintain heavy bureaucratic structures and costly international formal and informal meetings. During the merger talks this point came up but only as a formal point not as as a real point of debate. Talks were all about unity because of globalization and the ongoing neoliberal policies worldwide.

Another alternative would have been to agree with the merger under the condition that former WCL members within the new international organization could make their own groupe, fraction, platform or tendency. This model exists for example in the Austrian trade union confederation ÖGB with the formal groupings of socialist, christian and communist members. It is not an easy model to handle because it requires a fundamental democratic attitude and respect towards minorities. But such a model would have been a very good example of democracy on international level.

But the WCL leadership talked only vaguely about “identity guarantees” in the new organization: “The setting up of an appropriate instrument, internal to the new confederation open to all must make it possible to preserve the heritage of the WCL” (introduction to the “Recommendation by the Executive Committee to the Confederal Board) In annex II we read the following about this question: “The WCL is however the heir of an historical component of the trade union movement rooted into spiritual values and vision. To recognize this unique reality and to preserve its influence a Foundation could be created, within the organization, and whose cultural and education activities could be benefitting to all interested partners.” As in previous debates those proposals were unclear and vague and as a result they disappeared from the merger- agenda.

The result of the inadequate presentation of alternatives was that the debate was ultimately limited to the question "for or against the merger." Polish Solidarnosc was for the merger talks. The Luxembourg LCGB rejected the CNV proposal and supported the merger. The Maltese CMTU supported the CNV proposal. The Spanish USO supported the merger proposal. The French CFTC supported the CNV proposal because of the importance of the spiritual dimensions in trade union action. NKOS (Slovakia) supported the CNV proposal. The Hungarian Munkastanscok explained that their affiliation to WCL was a well conscious choice because they did not want to sit together with ex-communist organizations even not after the more than ten years. In their view the ex communist trade unions want to maintain their monopoly. The Lithuanian confederation LDF spoke more or less the same words. Bask ELA/STV supported the merger like the Rumanian Cartel alfa confederation. ACV/CSC of course supported the merger. Serbian CATUS supports the merger as an answer to the globalization. Others (Bulgaria and Cyprus) express their doubts regarding the merger but recognize the presented documents as very valuable. The Austrian FCG has its doubts. The Ukranian VOST expressed strong doubts about the merger.

President Luc Cortebeeck summarized the problems and concluded that a majority of the members wanted to continue the negotiations of WCL with the ICFTU. From then on the train was on the rails and nobody could stop him anymore. Alea iacte est.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 53 (trade action)

The Board of the World Federation of Industrial Workers at the 4th WFIW Congress held in Doorn, Netherlands, March 2000. WFIW President Jaap Wienen (in the middle) became after the merger of WCL and ICFTU Deputy Secretary General of the ITUC. Before the merger he was WCL Deputy Secretary General charged with Trade Action. To the right of the photo Leon Vanhaudt, WFIW treasurer. Next to him WFIW Secretary general Fons van Genechten.  On the left of the photo Executive Secretary Piet Nelissen. Next to him WFIW Vice President Carlos Gaitan.

The last and most difficult problem for the WCL was the question about what to do with the International Trade Federations (ITF's) during the merger of the WCL and the ICFTU into a new international organisation? One would expect that Deputy Secretary General Jaap Wienen, charged with Trade Action within the WCL secretariat, together with the Presidents of the ITF's had come to a certain kind of common strategy but this was not so much the case. 

The WCL discussion paper limits itself to conclude that “the WCL and the ICFTU Trade Action structures are quite different.” It says that “the WCL Federations -although autonomous in the management of their sectoral policy – are affiliated to the WCL, pay dues and have the right to vote in the Congress and the Confederal Board. Likewise, a vice-president representing Trade Action is elected by the Congress. He chairs the CTA (Trade Action Committee consisting of the presidents of the ITF's) and the WCTA (the World Trade Action Committee) meetings. Within the General Secretariat, there exists a Deputy Secretary General in charge of coordinating Trade Action and fostering the links between the ITF's and the other WCL departments.” (paragraph 3.1).

“Within the ICFTU, the ITS (International Trade Secretariats) are completely independent. They pay no dues to the ICFTU and have no right to vote within the decision-making bodies, where they do participate as observers. A couple of years ago, an informal agency called Global Unions was created. It frequently gathers ICFTU and ITS representatives in order to foster coordination among them.” (paragraph 3.2) 

They have also an informal coordination agency: the Global Union Federations (GUF's): “The GUF's are powerful organisations (146 million members), both at the political and financial levels. Sometimes they devise their own inter-trade policy, something that is aberrant in an increasingly globalized economy.” (paragraph 3.3)

In the paper it is said that these ITS's“despite their independency, they follow the ICFTU stand.” Therefore it is not surprising that “the affiliation of national trade federations coming from confederations with no international affiliation ( of France's CGT 12 sectors out of 32 are affiliated to the GUF's) often paves the way for ICFTU membership.” (paragraph 3.4).

The World Congress of the World Federation of Building and Woodworkers WFBW was held in Varna, Bulgaria in may 2004 with 77 delegates from 33 different countries all over the world. 

Years ago trade unions of the ACV-CSC and CNV had already left WCL: “after the 1980's, the trade federations of Belgium CSC (metal, employee, food, some transport sectors, culture) and Holland's CNV (food, metal) left the ITF's and joined the ITS, so as to strengthen their actions, especially vis-à-vis multinational companies.” It is very sad to read that “this evolution mainly led to the marginalisation of the WFAFW (WCL's World Federation for Agricultural and Food Workers), which could not afford deploying its action within the agricultural sector, which is a basic activity in developing countries and where male and female workers are particularly exploited.” (note 8 in the paper)

We can conclude that already since the 1980's the WCL was weakened because of the departure of ACV-CSC and CNV trade federations from the ITF's and their affiliation to the ITS. In a broader sense they became part of the ICFTU policy.

Now, the lack of a clear common vision and coordination between WCL and the ITF's led to a certain kind of divide and rule policy by the ITS's. While the WCL negotiated the merger it left its ITF's without real support.

The first ITF that started to negotiate about a possible merger was the World Confederation of Teachers (WCT) that, as far as I know, tried indeed to establish within Education International (EI) a special WTC platform. At the beginning of the negotiations it was told that such an arrangement of a WCT platform within EI was possible but after a while this possibility for whatever reason disappeared. Now, about 10 years later, there is no sign whatsoever on the EI website that there ever existed a WCT.

With the merger talks in the wood and building sector, between the WFBW and the IFBW, happened more or less the same. The core idea was to safeguard the WCL heritage (see The Downfall of the WCL 48) by way of a special foundation within the new world organisation.

Board members of the Latin American Federation of Industrial and Construction Workers FLATIC. From left to right: Domingo Moreyra, Carlos Gaitan (president), Miriam Berlak, Vicente Carrera and Rolando Arias. June 2004.

The WFBW World Congress in Varna, Bulgaria on the 20^th of May 2004 decided to continue with the merger talks. “During the Congress and the seminar it was agreed to continue the process of unity in a new World Sectorial Federation, which allows to participate more strongly at the negotiation tables and agreements with multilateral agencies that impact politics and global economy and multinational companies, who are the ones that impose the economic, productive, and technological conditions of incorporation, investment, employees and consumption. The participation in this United Federation will be based on our identity and participation with the WCL and its regional organisations. Also should be allowed the continuation of national and regional diversity and respect for local particularities.” ( Nueva Epoca, revista de FLATIC, Ano XVIII-No.90, Junio de 2004, page 5)

But there were also some critical remarks made by president Carlos Gaitan of FLATIC (Federacion latinoamericana de Trabajadores de las Industrias y la Construccion): “The procedures onto unity so far has been only European, without sufficient consultation with the other Continents. We believe more participation, information and consultation of the affiliates is essential.” (Nueva Epoca, page 5). The Swiss trade union SYNA represented by treasurer Werner Rindlisbacher was opposed to the merger. 

The BWI website refers to the merger of IFBWW and WFBW. However, a foundation dedicated to the WCL/WFBW heritage does not exist.

“At its World Congress in Buenos Aires, on 9 December 2005, the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) and the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers (WFBW) created a new global union federation, the Building and Wood Workers' International - BWI. The BWI is the Global Union Federation grouping free and democratic unions with members in the Building, Building Materials, Wood, Forestry and Allied sectors. The BWI groups together around 326 trade unions representing around 12 million members in 130 countries. The Headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. Regional Offices and Project Offices are located in Panama and Malaysia, South Africa, India, Burkina Faso, Curaçao, Chile, Kenya, Russia, Peru, Brazil and Thailand.”

The World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW decided on its World Congress in Dakar, Senegal (July 2005) to start negotiations with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions ICEM in Brussels. The French CFTC Metal Union and the German CMG Metal Union voted against it. Because the WFIW had no powerful affiliates in terms of money and members like the WFBW with its powerful member ACV-CSC Building and Industries and to a certain extent also CNV Wood and Construction, the negotiations were limited to a collective affiliation.

President Reinhardt Schiller of the German Metal Union CGM together with the CFTC Metal Union refused to support the integration of WFIW in the ICEM. After the merger between WCL and ICFTU the CGM became a member of the World Organization of Workers WOW ( the former World Confederation of Clerical Workers WFCW). Photo taken in Vienna 2012 at the board meeting of the European Organization of WOW 

The German CGM refused the invitation made by WFIW President Bart Bruggeman to be part of this collective affiliation. CGM President Reinhardt Schiller did not believe that it is possible to have a fair cooperation with the socialist trade unions. According to his view, at the start you get some qualified positions but after a few years the majority will go back to business as usual which means that as a minority must follow socialist policies.

The WFIW Board at the Dissolution Congress, June 2007. 

From left to right: Justin Daerden; Carlos Gaitan (Vice-President); Italo Rodomonti (Secretary General); Bart Bruggeman (President); Manfred Warda (ICEM); Achille Dutu and Romuald Nuwopke.

On the website of the International Federation 'Industriall' you find the following text on the WFIW Dissolution Congress:

"The World Federation of Industry Workers (WFIW) held its Dissolution World Congress in Houffalize, Belgium, on 14 June 2007. The 80 participants at this historic meeting, from 25 countries, unanimously took the decision to integrate the WFIW structures into the ICEM, a process which will be finalised at the ICEM's 4th World Congress in November 2007 in Bangkok.

The WFIW is one of the International Trade Federations formerly affiliated to the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), the international trade union confederation which, together with the former ICFTU, recently merged to create the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The Dissolution Congress, with ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda present, was just one step in a longer process to prepare the WFIW’s integration into the ICEM.(...) WFIW General Secretary Italo Rodomonti said he strongly believes that “after the integration of the WFIW members into the ICEM, pluralism within the international trade union confederation will form a firm basis for a stronger international trade union federation.” The Dissolution Congress elected Italo Rodomonti, as well as Achille Dutu from Romania, as future ICEM Presidium members. Brazil's Wilson Wanderlei Viera and Alphonse Beya Tshimbu from the Democratic Republic of Congo were elected to become ICEM Executive Committee members."

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 ( Part 29: Miners' Seminar in Bolivia)

Group Photo of the seminar participants. WFIW Secretary General Italo Rodomonti (ACV Trade Union of Chemical Workers), EFCM Boardmember Albert Hermans (ACV Trade Union of Chemical Workers), FLAT President Carlos 'Pancho' Gaitan and Coordinator CLAT Activities Luis Antezana.

My previous blog about the European Foundation of Christian Miners EFCM, ended with the conclusion that the announced mergers of WFIW and WCL have put an end to the carefully constructed and valuable network of the EFCM with miners all over the world. During a conversation with one of the former board members of the EFCM some time ago , I discovered that I had forgotten to write on an important seminar in Latin America financially made possible by the Foundation.

The seminar took place in July 2003 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and was organized by President Carlos 'Pancho' Gaitan of the Latin American Federation of Industrial and Construction Workers FLATIC (affiliated to the World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW, the World Federation of Building and Wood Workers WFBWW and CLAT ) and Luis Antezana from CLAT Bolivia. 

During the seminar it appeared that the Bolivian miners had a kind of ideological conflict. The miners employed by a mining company had the opinion that cooperative miners as self-employed workers do not belong to the working class. They should be considered to be small capitalist entrepreneurs and as such they had different interests from those employed by a mining company.

To outsiders, a strange conflict if you had heard under what circumstances cooperative miners were working. In fact, they were desperate workers. As unemployed miners they had begun to exploit the remaining tin layers in the abandoned mines with their families. The working conditions were awful. They worked almost with their bare hands. It need not to be explained how dangerous it was. They said that there were made so many holes in some of the mountains, that on a bad day these mountains could collapse.

We also visited the estate of the Patino family, who became wealthy thanks to the tin mines which they owned.

The miners families lived also in very harsh conditions high in the mountains and on the plains. They told at the seminar that, when the government began to build schools in their villages, they opposed the compulsory education of their children . They told that they needed their children working in the mines to supplement the low income. In fact, their children had to earn their own bread. After a lot of talking and explaining we managed to bring the two groups together and work towards a common plan of action.

It appeared that among Bolivians mistrust against foreign companies is very large. They believe that foreign companies are just stealing Bolivian treasures as tin, gold, copper, and also the discovered gas. In the villages everywhere actions were held against selling Bolivian gas to foreign companies. At the same time Bolivia does not have sufficient knowledge or industry to make more money from the gas than through sales to foreign countries.

A rare photo of Juan Lechin Oquendo (1914-2001). Lechin was a labor-union leader and head of the Federation of Bolivian Mine Workers (FSTMB) from 1944 to 1987 and the Bolivian Workers' Union (COB) from 1952 to 1987. He also served as Vice President of Bolivia between 1960 and 1964. Here he is visiting the solidarity association CLAT Netherlands in April 1981 during his exile because of the coup of General Meza in 1980. Next to him Cor Schouten, member of the executive committee of CLAT-Netherlands. 

But the curious thing is that while foreign companies are distrusted, which can be true, it is the Bolivian Patino family who has become fabulous rich from the mining of tin. At the beginning of the 80s of the last century, the nationalized mines of the state company COMIBOL, were largely closed because they would no longer be profitable. It was argumented that this was the result of underinvestment, by which the production would be out of date and therefore had become too low. Since the tin prices on the world market also had declined drastically, every year more money of the government was needed. It is said that since 1952, when the mines were nationalized, too little has been invested in the mines and who do not invest, sits at a certain moment with an outdated industry with all its consequences.

The Bolivian seminar participants doubted still, 20 years after the closure of most mines, that the closure of mines had been necessary. An objective and independent investigation by Bolivian experts or from abroad would not help, according to them. That would still be all manipulated by the government or its agents, supported by foreign companies. We could not help to get the idea that the Bolivian miners are trapped in their own circle of mistrust, due to lack of knowledge and reliable leaders.

During our visit to the headquarters of the once powerful miners' union in La Paz, we saw a poor and poorly maintained building where here and there miners and their families slept on the floor. How was it possible that a powerful trade union with thousands of members ultimately had nothing more than a largely neglected building? It was not the first time I had such an experience. During a visit to a flour mill in Lima, Peru, I found a similar situation. While the trade union existed for more than 25 years and was was not opposed much by the employer, they had only a poor and neglected building. When I asked how this was possible, one of the trade union leaders answered that having real estate was capitalist and anti-capitalist trade unions should not have real estate.

This photo was seen last week in the international press. The picture shows that the cooperative miners still have to fight for their survival, even against the progressive government of President Evo Morales.  You see miners' women between stones, laid there by miners to block traffic in and out of the city of La Paz. A new law prohibits miners who are members of a cooperative to sell the tin to private companies because the cooperatives enjoy certain tax benefits that the government does not permit for large private enterprises.

I'm not sure this is also the reason why the legacy of the Bolivian miners is so poor. Maybe it has to do much more with the lack of political stability. Bolivia is the Latin American country with the most coups since its independence. Some governments were miners benevolent while others worked against trade unions or prohibited the trade unions and imprisoned their leaders so they were forced to flee the country. For example during the coup of General Garcia Meza in 1980, trade union leaders fled the country and the building of the national trade union confederation COB was attacked by the army and destroyed.The result was that the trade unions did not have anymore leaders.

On the seminar it became clear that the situation of the miners in Bolivia but also in the other Latin American countries since many years has not gotten much better. The working conditions were barely evolved just like the national economy. The miners worked still in unsafe mines where conditions are a permanent threat to their health while wages were still much too low.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (Part 28: European Christian Miners)

On the 15th of December 1997 The European Federation of Christian Miners Unions EFCMU ceased to exist. For the sake of international solidarity the members of the Federation decided to continue as a European Foundation of Christian Miners. From left to right: Secretary General Antoine Cuyvers (Belgium), President Franz Breuer (Germany), and the President of the new Foundation Jean Marc Mohr (France)

WCL Meetings in Mangalia, Rumania

In order to use the limited resources as efficiently as possible, activities were combined as much as possible. In September 1994, a seminar was held, followed by a meeting of the European Coordination Comitee and Coordination Comitee Central and Eastern Europe in Mangalia on the Romanian Black Sea coast. The seminar was for participants from Central and Eastern Europe. The theme was "Migration and Minorities". In my notes I read that the 3 hour journey from the capital Bucharest to Mangalia was too long. I read in my notes also that the hotel had the well known depressing atmosphere of old communist hotels, despite the presence of Dutch and Flemish vacationers. But it was very cheap.

The travel expenses for participants from Central and Eastern Europe to Mangalia were low because most participants could come by car or train. Because the Western European participants paid their own travel expenses, their expenses were not paid by the WCL. Such a combination of activities meant, on the one hand, a cut in costs but on the other hand also an additional burden on the Secretariat. Thanks to the support of Cartel alpha it was all still to do.

European Federation of Christian Miners Unions EFCMU

In October 1994, the European Federation of Christian Miners Unions EFCMU organized a seminar on the problems - read closures- of coal mines. Besides the usual participants from Western Europe (Germany, France and Belgium) also delegations from Poland and Romania were present. Speakers included representatives of the European Commission and the European Coal and Steel Community. The seminar was held in the Jean Monnet Building of the European Union in Luxembourg. At the seminar it was clear that in the future more coal mines will be closed in France and Germany, and that the same is going to happen in countries like Poland and Romania.

With the future closure of the coal mines in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the future of EFCMU looked bleak. But despite this bleak outlook, the Board of the EFCMU decided to continue in one way or another in favor of the Romanian, Polish and other miners unions in Central and Eastern Europe, and if possible also in the rest of the world. (See also part 23 of 'TheFall of the WCL').

In March 1999, the EFCM organized with the support of the Hungarian confederation Munkastancsok a European miners seminar in Budapest  presided by EFCM President Jean Marc Mohr.  

On the 15th of December 1997, the Federation decided to cease to exist. Instead, an European Foundation for Christian Miners EFCM was established with the main objective to support miners' unions in Europe and the rest of the world, in building their organization for the struggle for a decent wage and labour conditions. The members of the fund paid an annual fee. Other organizations were asked for financial support for activities, for example, the Belgian Miners Fund that was established after the closure of the Belgian coalmines. The Foundation also decided to have a formal relation with the World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW ( an international trade union federation affiliated to the WCL) by signing up a protocol. Because of the protocol, a board member of the WFIW became a member ex officio of the Board of the Foundation.

Seminar Participants of African Miners held in the city of Douala in May 1999. The seminar was supported by the Ministry of Labor of Cameroun and held in one of its buildings. During the seminar I proposed to make this kind of individual photographs with name and country in stead of the traditional group photo.
From left to right: Romuald Nuwokpe, President of the Panafrican Federation of Industrial Workers and as such responsible for the organization of the seminar. Bongali Shabala from South Africa, Souma Mamadouba from Guinee, Sidi Bouna from Mauritanie, Marcel Niabode from Central Africa, Jones Malcolm from Sierra Leone,Mensa Tchegnon from Togo, WFIW Secretary General Italo Rodomonti from belgium and André Enganabissen from Cameroun.

The closure of the mines in Europe went through. The minutes of the meeting of the European Foundation for Christian Miners held in Speyer, Germany on October 1, 2004, says on the situation of the coal mines in France and Germany:

- In April 2004, all mining activities in France have been finished.

- In Germany, there are about 20,000 miners. After 2005 there will be about 17,000 until about 2010. Until 2012, public funds are available for mining with the approval of the European Commission.

On the situation in Central and Eastern Europe, we read that:

"- In Albania still much has to be done to create a democratic trade union culture to replace the old communist culture . (The WFIW had for some time good relations with the Albanian miners leader Gezim Kalaya, who after some time became the President of the trade union confederation BSPSH - The Union of Independent Trade Unions of Albania )

- WFIW Chairman Bart Bruggeman reports on a conversation he had with representatives of the South African trade union UASA . The metal and mining ( gold mining ) trade unions may want to join the WFIW.

- The Argentine Federation ATE would like to affiliate to the WCL. The miners and workers in the gas and electricity sector may affiliate to the WFIW . Carlos Gaitan, President of FLATIC ( the Latin American organisation affiliated to the WFIW) has more information." (Because of these relations, the WFIW organized a seminar for miners in Argentina. WFIW Secretary general Italo Rodomonti was present at this seminar.)

The photo has been taken in Metz (France) on the 28th of October 2005 after the meeting of the EFCM where the decision was taken to stop. Standing from left to right: Ex-President Jean Marc Mohr (France), WFIW representative Piet Nelissen (Netherlands), honorary chairman Franz Breuer (germany), special guest Robert Maurer (France), special guest Antoine Cuyvers (Belgium). Sitting from left to right:Treasurer Adalbert Ewen (Germany), President Albert Hermans (Belgium) and board member Serge Brettar (France).

Just one year later, the Foundation ceased to exist due to the proposed merger plans between WFIW with the ICEM within the context of the merger between the WCL and the ICFTU .

In the minutes of October 28, 2005 of the meeting held in Metz , France is to read the following :

“At this meeting the central question is the future of the Foundation. Our Foundation has always conducted its activities based on a protocol of cooperation with the WFIW. As is known, the WFIW has a merger agreement with ICEM since its last Congress in Senegal in june this year . Also, the WFIW Board talks with IMF about the affiliation of its metal trade unions. The question that arises, therefore, is whether it is possible to continue, given the WFIW and hence the protocol of cooperation between WFIW will cease to exist?

Serge notes that the CFTC (France) will hold its National Congress in mid-November and that will be spoken about new ways of working with other Christian organisations in Europe. Adalbert reports that also in his confederation (DGB, Germany) one is reflecting about the future and possible new and different partnerships.

The general conclusion is that the Foundation has no or at least insufficient possiblities to function. Hence the decision of the Board to submit to the General Assembly the proposal to dissolve the Foundation.”

Albert Mourer, a former member of the board of the EFCMU wrote a book on the history of the Christian coal miners of the Lorraine region in France, subtitled 3The Footprint of Christian Trade Unionsim". A well chosen subtitle. 

Thus came to an end a carefully constructed unique international solidarity network which had been build in many years with the aim to serve miners trade unions worldwide in their fight for social justice, more safety and a better income. 

Moreover, one should not forget that the European Union after World War 2 started in this border region of France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands with the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community. Reconciliation after World War 2 between these nations was brought into practice by these Christian trade unions of coalminers. 

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.