A SMALL TRADE UNION HISTORY

Opening of the World Trade Union Assembly for the defense of the rights of workers against multinational corporations, Santiago de Chile, april 1973. In the centre of the photo is President Allende of Chile. On his left Oscar Semerel from Curacao, representing CLAT. Second on the right side of Allende is Henry Molina from the Dominican republic and also representing CLAT as Deputy Secretary General of CLAT charged with foreign affairs.

At the CLAC WOW meeting in Santiago de Chile (see the BLOG “The Meaning of International Trade Unionism" ) last November I received from Oscar Semerel (trade union leader from Curacao) two photographs. He showed them with a certain amount of pride and nostalgia. He told me about an important international trade union meeting held in the time that the well known Chilean President Allende was still in power. Oscar was invited to the meeting of CLAC-WOW in Chile as president of the CLATJUPAM ( Latin American and Caribbean Federation of pensioned workers and senior citizens). Probably the visit to Chile had reminded him of the photo's he had kept so long. Meanwhile, last December during a congress of the CLATJUPAM in the Dominican Republic, Oscar became honorary president of CLATJUPAM.*

Oscar Semerel presiding the Assembly meeting (first row, third from left)

Both pictures have been made in April 1973 at the “Asamblea Sindical Mundial por la defensa de los derechos de los trabajadores frente a los sociedades multinacionales” ( "World Trade Union Assembly for the defense of the rights of workers against multinational corporations") held in Santiago de Chile. Together with Henry Molina (Deputy Secretary General of CLAT and trade union leader of the Dominican Republic) he represented at the Assembly the former Latin American Workers Confederation CLAT. The idea was that Henry Molina as Deputy Secretary General of CLAT and charged with foreign affairs would be elected as president of the Assembly, but this was blocked by the communist World Federation of Trade Unions WFTU because of “his role in his country”. As a result Oscar was elected president of the Assembly instead of Henry Molina.

Oscar Semerel at the CLAC-WOW meeting in Santiago de Chili, 23 of November 2014

As you can see on the first photo above, the Assembly was officially opened by Chilean President Allende (in the centre of the photo). This was 4 month before the violent coup of general Pinochet (11 September 1973). As President of the Assembly Oscar had the honor to stand on the left side of President Allende. The second on the right side of Allende is Henry Molina. The third on the left of Allende is Ernesto Vogel, President of the Chilean Industrial railway Federation and Vice-President of the Chilean Unitarian Trade Union Confederation CUTch. In the past he had won the presidential elections within the CUTch, but as leader of the christian democratic group within the CUTch, he was not allowed to exercise his presidential functions by a coalition of the left.

I remembered the history vaguely because at that time I was working with CLAT Nederland, the Dutch solidarity association with CLAT. We had an own bimonthly magazine called 'CLAT-Nieuws' (CLAT-News). In the bimonthly the following was written on this Assembly:

The front page of the bimonthly magazine 'CLAT News', September-October 1973

“The Chilean unitarian trade union confederation CUTch tried meanwhile to establish cooperation between the various national and international labor organizations on a global scale. The Chilean experience with multinationals had taught them that international solidarity is important. Between 10 and 15 April this year, she had therefore organized a conference for all trade unions in the world. At that congress in Santiago de Chile were 350 delegates gathered from around the world, who together represented 400 million workers. The ICFTU did not participate in the conference. She refuses to cooperate with the communist organizations that were present at the conference. The ICFTU apparently holds rigidly to its "anti-communist" line. She still cherishes the cold war ideology while the multinational companies have forgotten it ... " (CLAT News, September-October 1973, 4th year number 6, page 14)

Photo of the audience at the CLATJUPAM Congress held in the Dominican Republic, December 2014. The right X is the elected President José Gomez Cerda (Dominican Republic), former Secretary General of the WCL Trade Union federation for small farmers and farmworkers FEMTAA. On the left elected Vice-President Eduardo Garcia Moure (Venezuela), former Secretary General of CLAT. (photo taken from Facebook message of José Gomez Cerda)

* The VII Congress of the Latin American and Caribbean Federation of pensioned workers, seniors and older people (CLATJUPAM), held in Santo Domingo, closed yesterday by electing a new Executive Committee headed by President José Gómez Cerda, (Dominican Republic) and Vice-President Eduardo García Moure (Venezuela).

CLATJUPAM its activities and actions are inspired by the values and demands of Pensioned Workers, Senior Citizens and Older People who are seen as human beings with earned rights from employment and acts autonomous and independent from political parties, employers, governments and religions. The values and principles outlined in the Declaration and Principles are based on the principles of integral humanism.

ITUC: GLOBALISATION AND INFORMALISATION (part 2)

Informal trade along the road en Mexico, Villahermosa 2010

Bieler (Trouble in the international labour movement: is the ITUC ready for the challenges ahead?) believes that it is not possible to transform the ITUC into an organisation that will be more oriented to the trade unions in the poor countries. Therefore he proposes to organize a Global South: “The main emphasis should be placed on organising the Global South instead and developing a South-South strategy in the interest of Southern workers through new institutions such as the Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights.” 

Such a proposal is a denial of the ability of mankind to develop a spirit of solidarity between rich and poor, be it on individual level, international trade union level or countries. Mankind has shown through his history that he is more than his socio-economic interests. The human being is also a spiritual being which it makes possible to transcend his own socio-economic interests based on values, visions and beliefs on how society and state should be organised.

Therefore it is very well possible to unite trade unions of rich and poor countries in a spirit of solidarity in one Global Union like the ITUC. But then immediately comes the question of values, visions and beliefs. Because of supposed workers solidarity the ITUC was from the outset against institutionalization of the differences in values, visions and beliefs within the new Global Trade Union. 

Maybe this was for former ICFTU members a normal state of affairs, however, for the WCL members this was not the case. On the contrary, for WCL members the spirit of solidarity goes not only beyond the socio-economic interests but includes also values, visions and beliefs. Why WCL leadership gave away this dimension of solidarity at the merger is a mystery that will probably be solved in the future.

Informal trade in gasoline along the road to Cotonou, capital of Benin in West Africa. For the merchant along the way there is no hour or time (2014)

The second challenge Bieler is writing about, the growing informalization of the global economy is probably a more complicated affaire. “This re-organisation of the production process around transnational outsourcing and centralisation of decision-making as part of globalisation, together with a huge influx into urban areas particularly in the Global South, has led to an increasing casualisation and informalisation of the global economy, in which permanent, full-time employment contracts have to a large extent become a feature of the past. In a way, ‘it is no longer accurate today’, Dan Gallin argued already in 2001, ‘to describe the informal sector as “atypical”’ (Gallin, 2001: 228). It has increasingly become the norm. This is especially the case in developing countries, which had never been in a position to establish a large industrial sector with permanent and secure employment (Bieler, Lindberg and Pillay, 2008: 266). Nevertheless, informalisation more and more also affects developed countries in the North, where employers are on the offensive and demand a flexibilisation of the labour market with the argument that this would be necessary in order to retain competitiveness. Peter Waterman (2012: 3) estimates that the traditional working class makes up only 15 per cent of the global workforce, with the remaining 85 per cent being part of the informal economy. As the traditional relationship between employer and employee ‘is being replaced by a variety of more diffuse and indirect but nonetheless dependent relationships in the process of production, trade union organising can no longer focus primarily on the employment relationship’ (Gallin, 2001: 233).”

Bieler believes that the ITUC is not prepared to attack the problem of growing informalization of the global economy, despite the fact that the Indian Self Employed Women’s Association was accepted as affiliate by the ITUC. 

Street vendors posing together with Maritza Chireno (on the right), President of the Latin American Federation FETRALCOS, in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, 2010. FETRALCOS organizes  workers in the Informal Sectors already the nineties in the past century.

Labour Informalization is not an easy challenge, not in the south, not in the north. In the southern part of the world there is a lack of investments to create formal productive jobs and there is no real industrial and agricultural policy. There are many causes for this: unequal and unjust distribution of income, no respect for labor laws, underdeveloped trade unions, poor tax collection, lack of political stability or even worse like (civil) wars, unclear rules on ownership and conflict regulation, corruption, lack of capital, lack of local entrepreneurs and so on. In many of these countries no balance has yet been found between political and economic development together with social justice.

In the northern countries the entrance of China on the world market has put pressure on the production costs and therefore also wages. Besides, in countries like China wages are low because there is to little or no freedom of trade union organisation and to negotiate wages. As an answer on this pressure on the production costs, employers in the north respond with outsourcing of work, flexibilisation and automatisation (industrial robots) as ways to lower costs of production. Thanks to the social welfare state, that is the institutionalization of solidarity through social funds, the informal sectors are relatively still small in the north. 

But undoubtedly because of these trends, institutionalized solidarity (social security) is under pressure because of high unemployment rates, high labor costs and lately the aging of the population which makes pension systems more costly. How to lower the cost of labor and at the same time maintain the social security systems? At the moment there are two main solutions that are debated. A tax shift from labor to assets to make labor cheaper for employers without affecting the wages. To respond to the aging of the population, the retirement age is moved to 67 years and early retirement possibilities limited.

As we see, there is no global answer to all these problems. The differences between countries are too large, even between the countries of the European Union like for example between Germany and Greece, and even more between the regions in the world. For these reasons it is not easy to manage this in a Global Trade Union. What can be a good economic policy for one country or region, can be bad policy for another country. This makes solidarity on Global level and even on European level difficult and then we have not yet talked about differences in values, visions and beliefs about how society, government and state should be organized to respond effectively to all these problems.

To be continued

ITUC: GLOBALISATION AND INFORMALISATION

WCL Confederal Board with ILO Director general Somalia as guest speaker, Washington DC 2000.

Some weeks ago, to my big surprise I read on Wikipedia about the World Confederation of Labor the following about “Globalization and ITUC merger”:

“As globalization became more of a threat to union membership throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the WCL increased its efforts to carry out a similar global unification of labour leadership. Its 1993 congress in Mauritius attempted to lay out a concrete strategy for responding to business attacks on organized labour around the world. The WCL soon obtained consultative status within the International Labour Organization and joined the International Council of the World Social Forum. (1)

The WCL was formally dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to form the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Since the time of merger, many trade unions especially in the Global South have become disillusioned with the ITUC. The dominant affiliates of the ITUC are not independent of their ruling classes, even if they organizationally seem to be, but they are politically tied to the ruling establishment.^[7]. The junior employees of ITUC are paid minimally and the trade union uses ineffective retired people to save costs, whereas the management leads a lavish lifestyle”

Participants of the Coordination Meeting of Latijn  American federations affiliated to WOW,
 Santiago de Chile November 2014.

The surprise relates of course to the last 3 sentences of the paragraph above. However, to my surprise a few weeks later the last 3 sentences had disappeared from the Wikipedia article. If you look to 'view  history' (the knob above the WCL article on the right side), you will find the old paragraph (25 January).

The critical passages are based on a blog called “Trouble in theinternational labour movement: is the ITUC ready for the challengesahead?” of Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Nottingham/UK (note 7) and an article called "International trade union need to be less combative, encouragemore interaction with workers" in ANI, New Delhi, December 26, 2014 (note 8).

European Trade Union demonstration organized by the ETUC, Brussels, March 2013.
The French communist trade union confederation CGT was also present.

Bieler opens his blog with the following observation on the merger:

“The establishment of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in November 2006, resulting from a merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), was greeted with enthusiasm by labour movements from around the world. A united, stronger international trade union promised greater input on global politics towards more equality. Since then, many trade unions especially in the Global South have become disillusioned with the ITUC. In this post, I will assess to what extent the ITUC is prepared for the key challenges of the global economy in the 21 century.”

Bieler distinguishes two challenges: “Two key challenges for the ITUC can be identified in the global economy, the increasing inequality between developed and developing countries, between the rich and the poor, and the expanding informal sector of the economy.”

Press Conference at the office of the African Federation FPE, affiliated to WOW. Lomé, Togo, February 2014.

Bieler doubts whether the Global Union is a truly global union that can accommodate all unions in the world, either coming from the Northern or the Southern part of the world. He refers to an attack of COSATU Secretary General Bongni Masuku on the Northern dominance within the ITUC.

“Dominated by the big four Northern unions AFL-CIO (USA), DGB (Germany), TUC (Britain) and RENGO (Japan), the ITUC would defend the current system and safeguard the interests of capital, it is alleged. ‘Despite much talk about trade union independence, the dominant affiliates of the ITUC are not independent of their ruling classes, even if they organisationally seem to be, but they are politically tied to the ruling establishment, hence their vociferous defence of the system’ (Masuku, 2010: 64). Ultimately, it would be the working classes of the Global South, who are the victims of this situation, as they are considered to be affected worst by ‘the viciousness of the global system’. In other words, the ITUC dominated by big Northern trade unions, is accused of co-operating with capital in the continuing exploitation of the South. Unsurprisingly, Southern labour movements increasingly question the use of the ITUC in the representation of their concerns.”

Child Labour School of the BSCWF affiliated to WOW, Bangladesh 2013

May be the words used above are a little bit to strong, but there is some truth in it. Thus I learned during the merger talks that the trade unions of the South were pressed to agree with the merger under the threat that they otherwise would not get more financial support. I also learned that the new structures and rules (statutes) left less room for trade unions from the south than was usual in the WCL and its ITF'S.

The merger was to a certain degree also Eurocentric because of the balance of power within the ETUC between the German DGB, the British TUC, the Scandinavian LO's and to a certain extent the French trade unions. The main goal was also to integrate as much as possible the large (ex)communist trade unions of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. I believe this was one of the reasons why every intent of WCL and its ITF's to look for ways to guarantee organized pluralism within the ITUC and its Global Unions was bluntly rejected.

To be continued

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 45 (Investment Fund International Trade Union Movement)

WFCW President Roel Rotshuizen visiting the Ghana office in Accra. 
On his left Kanga of the Ghanese agricultural workers trade union. (February 1996)

During a WFCW (World Federation of Clerical Workers) mission to West Africa together with president Roel Rotshuizen and Nebeyu Shone, CNV coordinator for international cooperation in Africa (February 1996), I got the idea to set up an investment fund for the construction of trade union houses for WCL members. A visit to the building of the Ghanaian trade union movement, which was just liberated from the one-party regime, gave me the idea. The trade union building had been donated by the British TUC - I believe - during the independence of Ghana: an ugly flat of concrete with about 5 floors. After all these years the building looked bad. The elevator did not work. There was a lack of maintenance, a well known symptom of lack of money or wrong priorities.

Back at home, I wrote a Memoradum containing the main arguments for establishing an investment fund (16 April 1996). The reason why such an investment fund is needed, is mainly explained in section 3 of the memorandum: " generally international solidarity funds refuse to finance similar infrastructure costs (trade union houses and furniture), and an (international) system of credit does not exist in this area. The result is that many trade unions stay in a vicious circle: too few resources to purchase or to rent a trade union office or training centre, resulting in poor service to its members so membership remains low which means little income and therefore no money to buy the necessary things. The investment fund is meant to give a helping hand so the vicious circle will be broken down.

Official meeting at FOPADESC, the training and office centre of the 
WCL regional organization ODSTA in Lomé, Togo. 
From left to right: Kanga from Ghana, Adrien Akouete (secretary general ODSTA), 
Asante (director FOPADESC), Shone (coordinator international cooperation CNV) 
and Kikongi (president ODSTA). Photograph made by Petrus, february 1996

The idea was that the fund would become an instrument to promote a dialogue of solidarity by providing loans that will enable the unions to build their own union house and to furnish it. Since a loan must be paid back with interest, the unions were encouraged to present a scheme of repayment based on the possible growth of trade union membership as well as activities, for example training and education. That income could be anything. In the first place, of course, dues payment followed by for example rental canteen or meeting rooms, the fees for copying documents etc. It was up to the trade unions to see what possibilities exist and to decide which direction to go.

The underlying idea was also that the unions take more care of a self-financed building than when the building is donated. An experience I had gained working with cooperatives in Costa Rica. A second rationale was that the trade unions would also wonder what kind of of a building best suits their needs, a building adapted to the conditions in the country and to the trade union. Such a building would immediately be an expression of self-awareness. I admit that it was an idealistic thought, but a degree of idealism is needed if one wants to make progress.

Visit to the Benin Trade Union Confederation CGTB. 
In the middle Pascal Todjenou, Secretary General. 
The CGTB was affiliated to the WCL.

We succeeded to convince the Dutch CNV unions in the construction and services sector to participate in the investment fund, soon followed by the Belgian ACV trade unions in the construction and services sector together with the Foundation of miners. The Swiss CNG Construction trade union decided also to participate. Ultimately, the fund received almost half a million Euros from trade unions that were also members of the WCL International Trade Union Federations.

The first meeting of the participants was held on March 18, 1997 at the CNV Wood and Building Federation in Bunnik, Netherlands. Present were the donors of the first hour. One of the main decisions was that the donated amount of money should be considered as a loan without interest. WCL General Secretary Willy Thys proposed that WCL should administer the fund. But it was decided to set up a foundation that would administrate the fund. Willy Thys also informed that WCL and ACV President Willy Peirens wondered why such a fund was established. CNV President Anton Westerlaken did not answer to the invitation to participate.

Family Photo during a WFCW regional seminar in Fopadesc (October 1997)
In the middel of the first raw Adrien Akouete, secretary general ODSTA. 
On his right side Koffi Zounnadjala, 
secretary general of the Pan African Federation of Employees FPE. 
On the first row on the left Ivo Psenner (Austria), 
President of the European organization of the WFCW. 
On the other side Charles Steck (Swiss), 
secretary of finances of the WFCW. On his left Chris Lenaerts,
from then WCL secretariat.
Charles has passed away last year.

The WCL African Organization DOAWTU had a regional office and training centre in Lomé, Togo called FOPADESC. This center is equipped with class rooms and meeting rooms, offices, a restaurant and and sleepingrooms. The building was financed by ACV Construction and Wood. After the merger on African level the building was acquired by the new African organization.

The foundation was officially registered in the Netherlands as "Investment Fund International Trade Union Movement". Article 2 on the aim of the foundation, reads as follows: the fund commits to invest in real estate of WCL affiliated trade unions in Eastern Europe and the countries of the Third World and in everything else what is directly or indirectly related. The foundation is a non-profit organization.

Soon after this, the foundation received the first applications for a loan . There were requests from Africa and Asia for full or partial funding of a trade union building sometimes combined with a training center (Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Indonesia and Philippines). The applications were reviewed by the Secretariat on their financial viability, the applicant's own contribution to the costs of the new building and the future development of the trade union. When both sides agreed on the terms and conditions, a contract was drawn up in which the amount of the loan was recorded, the repayment terms and a fixed (low) interest.

The opening ceremony of the UTAL in august 1975. 
From left to right: secretary of Emilo Maspero, secretary general of CLAT. 
Next to him Eduardo Garcia and Henry Molina, both Deputies Secretary General of CLAT. 
Next to Molina is José Jesus Plana, Director of the new UTAL. 
On his side Acacia Fernandez, 
wife of Emilio Maspero and Director of ILACDE.

The WCL Latin American organization CLAT had bought a seminary in San Antonia los Altos, nearby Caracas, Venezuela. The building was converted into UTAL (Latin American Workers University) with meeting and training rooms, offices, a restaurant, a small shop,a library, a communication office and many sleeping rooms. The purchase of the building had been made possible by the German Christian Democratic Foundation Konrad Adenauer. The necessary reconstructions was financially supported by several Dutch Non Governmental Organizations. The UTAL became a proud symbol of the development of CLAT as regional organization. After the merger of CLAT and ORIT into CSA, the building was sold to the Venezualan Government by ILACDE, the CLAT Foundation for International Cooperation and owner of the building.

The first few years the foundation worked well. There was a kind of dialogue between the Fund and the trade unions that asked for a loan. However, after a while some trade unions fell back in the old habit to use the money to support their favorite partners. Some members of the fund hinted that a loan had to be granted anyway even if the proposed contract was not respected and in some case even when signing of it was not realized. With the announcement of the merger between WCL and ICFTU and its International Trade Federations, the foundation eventually came to an inglorious end.

At the official opening ceremony of UTAL also was present Jef Houthuys (between Maspero and Parra), 
President of WCL and the Belgium Christian Confederation ACV. 
On his left Emilio Maspero and Eduardo Garcia. 
On his right Rangel Parra, 
Secretary General of the Latin American federation of Farmers (FCL). 
Photographs made by petrus, February 1975.

THE END OF THE TUNNEL?

Part of the front of the seminar brochure

“Changes on the labour-market: is there light at the end of the tunnel” was the title of another 2 days seminar organized by WOW, the Austrian affiliate FCG/GPA-djp, the Danish affiliate KRIFA and of course EZA, the European centre for Workers education subsidized by the European Commission. Some 45 trade union leaders and activists from 18 European countries and a delegation of the Turkish Bank and Insurance Employees Union BASS listened to 6 high level experts from different European countries, they discussed in working groups the main problems and they debated with a panel of 3 trade union leaders from 3 different European countries.

Before the official opening of the seminar we see from left to right: EZA President Bartho Pronk, EO/WOW President Guenther Trausznitz, Gertrud Wiesinger of the FCG/GPA-djp, member of Austrian Parliament August Wöginger and FCG/GPA-djp President Wolfgang Pischinger.

The seminar was opened by EZA President Bartho Pronk who comforted us with the fact that history proves that the kind of crisis we are experiencing today, normally takes ten to eleven years. So indeed probably within one or two years we are approaching the end of the tunnel. The question is what kind of light will there be? One thing is certain, the labour market will be never the same again. So the question is, what kind of labour market we will have? We expect the invited experts to provide us with the necessary data,  analysis and ideas for answers on these questions.

Coffeebreak. In the background from left to right EZA President Bartho Pronk talking with WOW President Roel Rotshuizen and Gerard van Linden of the Dutch CNV Dienstenbond. In the foreground left Portuguese SINERGIA President Alfonso Almeida Cardoso and his colleague.

Mr. August Wöginger, member of the Austrian Parliament , trade union member and secretary general of the ÖAAB (The Austrian Union of Workers is the workers organization of the Austrian People's Party ÖVP ) told us about “Changes on the labour market as political task of the employee-representatives”. While Austria, compared to other European countries, is not doing bad on the labour market, unemployment among young people and workers older than 50 years is too high. The reasons for this are: too much unqualified workers and too little low qualified jobs, too little high qualified jobs, too few apprenticeships and too much early retirement schemes. What must be done? More and better education and training (compulsory until 18), more women working, working longer (part-time work for older employees combined with part-time retirement), tax reform (less tax paid on labour).

From left to right: Danish professor Henrik Schärfe, EO/WOW President Guenther Trausznitz and Alfred Gajdosik of the European Economic and Social Committee.

The presentation of the Danish professor Henrik Schärfe of the Danish Aalborg University, on “the role of technology and the boundaries between humans and machines and what may be the effects for the future labour market” was not only spectacular but also surprising. He gave us an idea what the future will bring: more robots and even androids (robots that look like human beings) that will take over many jobs (pilots, cleaners, car drivers and so on). He himself has build an android that looks like him and who probably made the first android selfie ever, that had traveled by airplane and that was a teacher on the university. His presentation on the future of robots and androids was on one side frightening because robots may take over many jobs which means a drastic change at the labour market. On the other side, androids will help us to make life more comfortable and easy. But there are also urgent questions. For example will this new technology not widen the gap between rich and poor, between high and low educated workers? Questions which need to be answered in the near future.

Member of the EO/WOW Board and FCG/GPA-djp President Wolfgang Pischinger (left) and Alfred Gajdosik of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Alfred Gajdosik (Austrian member of the European Economic and Social Committee) gave “an overview on the implications of a flexible labour-market” and “what the effects are of the growing job insecurity.” The flexible labour-market is a reality in most European countries: part-time working, zero hour contracts, outsourcing to autonomous workers or other countries, short-term contracts etc. It seems that the life time contracts are becoming more and more a minority on the labour market. This of course has consequences for pension systems, social security like unemployment insurance, health care insurance and other social implications like family life and social life in general. Trade unions must look for answers on these challenges on the labour market and decide what is the individual responsibility and what should be arranged by the state and what should be done by private enterprises?

The Dutch Labour economist Ronald Dekker (left) and CGM President and member of the EO/WOW Board Adalbert Ewen.

The Dutch labour economist Ronald Dekker of the Tilburg university wondered about “what the effects are of changing labour relations for both the employee as well the employer?” He made the remarkable observation that “flexibilisation on an inherently imperfect labour market does NOT (by default) lead to better outcomes." At the same time “labour markets are generally becoming more flexible in the sense that a larger share of the workforce is not directly employed on open ended contracts”. This is not all good. It provokes unequal pay for equal work, the evading of minimum workers rights and precariousness. Trade Unions must therefore empower “the flexible worker”. It should be stressed that “what's good for business is NOT by default good for society: more labour market flexibility does NOT result in more jobs and flexible workers (including own account workers) are NOT the direct 'enemies' of permanent workers.

Meeting of the working group of participants coming from Serbia, Republica Srpska-BiH, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

What is the price of flexible work? The Dutch Profesor Agnes Akkerman of the Amsterdam university investigated this question through a survey of 500 employees, comparing flexible workers with standard workers and teleworkers with not-teleworkers. The survey gave the following conclusions: overall flex workers are not less happy at work, they have a different relationship with their colleagues (more affective than functional), different ways to seek help, different responses to discontent (less willingness for collective actions like for example strikes) and a higher level of undesirable behavior (probably caused by the lack of functional contacts on the workplace).

From left to right: WOW Treasurer Rolf Weber from KRIFA Denmark moderating the panel consisting of Gerard van Linden (CNV Dienstenbond, Netherlands), Savvas Pelentrides (POAS, Cyprus) and Soren Fibiger Olesen (KRIFA, Denmark)

It appeared at the working groups and later during the panel debates that every country has its own experiences with the growing flexible labour market, flexible working times and places, the outsourcing of labour, displacement of labour etc. It is clear that each trade union must look for its own solutions in its own country. An overall European solution does not exist. It was agreed that indeed we are approaching the end of the tunnel but also that there will be an other light than before. There are indeed major challenges for the trade unions to deal with in the coming years.

THE MEANING OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNIONISM

A happy reunion at breakfast.

International trade union seminars are serious, tiring and sometimes boring. A whole day of sitting, listening and debating is never easy, but for trade unionists it is very difficult. Nevertheless, there is laughter, jokes made and celebration of friendship and collegiality. This can be seen in the pictures of the international trade union seminar of the Latin American Coordinadora consisting of three trade union sector Federations ( banks and insurances, journalists, commerce and informal economy), all member of the International World Organization of Workers WOW. The seminar took place in the Chilean capital Santiago.



Besides the professional training, seminars strengthen the links between the trade union leaders who live and work scattered throughout the huge continent of Latin America and the Caribbean. Maybe this function of strengthening mutual bonds between trade union leaders is as important as the training function of such seminars. Contrary to Europe, trade union work in Latin America and the Caribbean is still difficult, arduous, not recognized by Governemnets or Employers and sometimes even dangerous.

Picture with instructions

In many countries you have to dare because sometimes trade union work can be very dangerous work. Not so much life threatening, which unfortunately occurs too often, but mostly because authorities and / or employers threaten you, intimidate or create other ways to make your work difficult or even impossible. In such difficult times it is good to have not only colleagues in your own country but also abroad. You know that like you, they are going on with their work in spite all these problems.



Such international seminars therefore works encouraging and motivating. You know you are not alone. There are others, friends and colleagues who support you. In case of emergency, they are also willing to set up international support actions. The latter makes international trade union activities very important.

A selfie made by someone else 

Despite or perhaps because of the severity of the meetings and seminars, there is also time for friendship and fun. Relaxing not only from the daily trade union work, but also from the seminar itself. Because on such seminars one talks about uncomfortable topics such as unemployment, the impact of the global economic crisis, the growing informalisation of the economy, the breakdown of social services, the uneven distribution of incomes, the poor social dialogue with employers and government etc. etc. It is for the participants important to learn about what solutions trade unions from other countries have or what experts can teach you about the problems. All this together are valuable experiences and information that you can use in your own country.

It is not always exciting what you hear.

Such seminars are of course expensive. Just only the flight tickets are already expensive in such a vast continent as Latin America. Then there are the accommodation costs and expenses for the seminar itself. Especially translation systems and translators make a seminar extra expensive. In Latin America, where Spanish and Portuguese speakers usually understand each other without a translator so you do not need translation systems. That is why costs are lower than for example for a European seminar. Even the trade unionists from Curacao and Aruba speak fluent Spanish.

A hug (abrazo) among qualified eyes during graduation

In Europe, the European Commission gives grants for the high translation costs, as well as payment of travel and subsistence expenses and the hiring of experts. In Africa, Latin America and Asia, such arrangements do not exist at all. So there the participating unions themselves have to pay the costs or appeal to the international trade union movement.

A hug for everybody

Usually it is a combination of both: self-financing and financial support from the international organization. For example, the participating unions pay the travel expenses of their representatives to the place of the seminar. The local trade union, which does not have travel expenses, pays all or part of the hotel costs. The international trade union adds to this budget what is still needed. The international trade union therefore is the axis around which operates the international trade union network which makes possible international seminars and other activities. The international trade union movement is a practical form of international solidarity