ILO ONFERENCE 2015: a photographic impression

The ILO Conference is still a lot of paperwork. Participants use every corner to store their papers for the day. (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

This friendly Canadian woman collects signatures against all modern forms of slavery. (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

The ILO message in words and pictures. Words from all around the world and an universal image  as developed by Picasso.  (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

Another important and strong ILO message: decent work for youth. (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

This young and nice woman takes care that only authorized persons enter the conference room. (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

The Palais des Nations with all the conference rooms sometimes resembles a labyrinth. (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

Every day for 10 days hundreds of persons -workers, employers and government representatives - gather in the windowless conference rooms (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

Geneva is also a city for very rich people. (Geneva Center)

Workers use every morning and evening public transport to get to the conference in the Palais des Nations or the ILO building. (Fernay-Voltaire, France)

Full bus in the morning between the French border and the ILO building.

Gallery of former ILO Director Generals who helped to build the institution to what it is today: the only tripartite UN agency that takes care of the Social Dialogue between workers, employers and governments worldwide. (ILO Building, Geneva)

Outside the meeting rooms, the participants read, phone and relax a moment during the long meetings. (ILO Building, Geneva)

Some participants are even worried that they do not infect other participants. (Palais des Nations, Geneva)

The ILO building sometimes gives the impression of a labyrinth in which every corner is used for meeting.

But there is also a time for taking a coffee and a snack and some small talk. (ILO Building, Geneva)

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 52

The WCL Confederal Board in Milan, Italia, November 5-7 in 1970, 50 years of WCL. The WCL was the oldest international trade union organization in the world. As members of the board we see Secretary general Jean Bruck in the middle. On the left President Nguyen van Tan of BATU, Secretary General Emilo Maspero of CLAT, Marcel Pepin of the Canadian CSDN and WCL Confederal Secretary Carlos Custer (left of Jean Bruck).

The WCL paper about the possible merger of WCL and the ICFTU into a unitarian world organisation identified 4 main problems for WCL:

1. The end of international trade union pluralism must not affect

     national trade union pluralism.

2.What about the balance of power and the internal pluralism?

3. What to do with the WCL heritage?

4. The future of the WCL international trade federations.

1. National trade union pluralism.

While on international level the end of pluralism is accepted, at national level this is not the case. Indeed, no national confederation wants to sacrifice its interests, its (ideological) identity and its history because of the so-called need to strengthen the trade union movement. Therefore in the paper it was considered as vital that the creation of the new unitarian international trade union organisation should not interfere on national level. “The possible creation of a unitary organisation at the international level does not imply national unification. In fact, national policies are the responsibility of national organisations and not of the international organisation. Both within the WCL and the ICFTU, there exist countries where several organisations are affiliated to a single international organisation.” No National Confederations should be excluded from becoming a member of the new organisation. “In Annex II it is clearly stated that the new organisation will be open to all organisations currently affiliated to the iCFTU and the WCL.3 (Paragraph 4.7.)

Another overview of the Confederal Board in Milan. On the left we se Emilio Maspero with his characterisic posture, Carlos Custer and Jean Bruck.

Paragraph 4 from Anex II says: “The new unitarian centre at world level shall be opened to existing ICFTU and WCL affiliates as well as to all national Confederations under the condition of being democratic and independent in principle as well in practice. The new centre will not call into question existing pluralism at national level”.

This was the theory but what happened in practice? A new organization, after all, has its own dynamics, in this case the dynamics of the majority. Pluralims is not a topic for most ICFTU members as we know from the past. The merger did not change this culture. Almost immediately after the creation of the ITUC (2006), the Canadian CTC attacked the Canadian Christian trade union confederation CLAC which was a respected affiliate of WCL, by claiming that it is not a genuine trade union. This meant of course also an attack against the former WCL, that apparently had affiliated no genuine trade unions. The result was an official ITUC inquiry of CLAC. Former WCL affiliates were involved in the investigation (the Belgian ACV / CSC and the former WCL Deputy Secretary General Jaap Wienen, now Deputy Secretary General of the new trade union world centre) had no defense against this attack. Probably they feared a political conflict which as a minority they would loose. The CLAC choose to maintain the honor to themselves and left the ITUC. The result is that from now on in such conflicts former WCL members are politically silenced.

The delegation of the Italian WCL affiliate ACLI at the Confederal Board meeting in Milan of 1970. On the right Emlio Gabaglio, National President of ACLI (see: WCL downfall 49). Shortly after he left ACLI and started to work with the ICFTU. later on he became Secretary General of the European Tarde Union Confederation. During the merger meetings of ICFTU and WCL Gabaglio served as a kind of mediator.

2. The internal balance of power and pluralism.

Every merger has to face the problem, how positions will be distributed between the merging partners, the so-called balance of power between the merging partners. In paragraph 4.7 of the paper the balance of power ratio between WCL-ICFTU is established on about 20/80 “and changing it is not a real possibility.” Apparently the WCL accepted that the internal balance of power was not negotiable. Why not? In any merger it is normal to negotiate this because this is the way to establish what the merger is worth for both partners. Now it appeared that the WCL was not more worth than what was calculated by the ICFTU (the amount of members and no more!). What this means we saw already in the Canadian case and who knows what cases will follow?

Besides this the WCL paper itself is also ambiguous about internal pluralism. On one side one expresses the fear of division because of to much internal pluralism: “Besides, competition like situations are not always positive, except when they can used to foster united action. In these cases, it is also necessary to measure the results obtained in relation to the resources mobilized.” (paragraph 4.7) On the other side one fears bureaucratization. “In a unitarian organisation, danger often lies in the opposite direction: that of working in a bureaucratic way, this stifling the internal dialogue.” (paragraph 4.8)

WCL Secretary general Willy Thys and ICFTU Seceratry general Guy Rider at the ITUC Founding Congress, Vienna 1-3 November 2006. 

3.What to do with the WCL heritage?

In the document it is proposed to create a Foundation to preserve the WCL heritage: “The WCL is however the heir of an historical component of the trade union movement rooted into the spiritual values and vision. To recognise this unique reality and to preserve its influence a Foundation could be created, within the organisation, and whose cultural and education activities could be benefitting to all interested partners.”

However, this Foundation has not been established. The same what happened at the merger of the 2 international federations of building and wood workers (see downfall of the wcl 48). The WCL heritage has not been institutionalized nor in the ITUC nor in the the Buidling and Wood Workers International (BWI). So, it was not a firm point at the negotiations on the creation of the new orld organisation. Probably, it was primarily intended to reassure the critical members.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 51

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 50

A group photo of the participants of the WCL Confederal Board made in Senegal, April 1998. 
I may be wrong but I believe this was the first Confederal Board without 
CLAT General Secretary Emilio Maspero. 
BATU President Johny Tan was already a long time not active. 
He was replaced by Noel Rebello (India) and later Muktar Pakpahan 
(President SBSI, Indonesia). Emlio Maspero died in 2000 at the age of 73. 
Johnny Tan in 2006 at the age of 82. 
Both had an outspoken WCA vision and ideals.

Before continuing the analysis of the Gabaglio discussion paper, I want to emphesize the importance of the document. Don't forget it has been used two times as a guide for the debates between the executive committees of WCL and ICFTU. I don't know what history the document has had in the ICFTU but in the WCL it has guided the debates in the European Section and therefore also in the Confederal Board. Whatever the reasons are, it seems strange that an outsider but at the same time a man of the ICFTU has been asked to present such a document. On the other side, it is interesting to read the opinion of an outsider/ICFTU oriented man about the history of the WCL.

Gabaglio writes the following about the WCL after the downfall of communism.“1.9 The WCL has played a leading role in supporting free trade unions in Central and eastern Europe (active support to Solidarnosc from the beginning). The day after the Romanian Revolution, the WCL offered its support to Cartel alfa, the country's first independent organisation, and took similar initiatives in other countries.”

This is indeed what happened and credits for this goes first to WCL Secretary General Jan Kulakowski (see blog: Solidarnosc and the struggle for the trade union movement after communism. and The downfall of the WCL part 3 and for Romania to the former Confederal Secretary Emiel Vervliet (Belgium). Unfortunately Solidarnosc gave always priority to the ICFTU for reasons which were never clarified. Was this because of the AFL-CIO that supported the anti-communist policy of the American President Ronald Reagan and therefore openly choose side for Solidarnosc while the European left hesitated to take side openly for Solidarnosc? Or was it a matter of money? Given the struggle of Solidarity against communism based on human and Christian values, I do not wish to believe in the latter.

“1.10 However, the main organisations of most of those countries joined the ICFTU, which was supported by great European confederations (mainly the DGB) and the ACILS, which was an AFL-CIO agency. The latest affiliation registered was that of the Russian federation in 2001.”

It is true, the AFL-CIO affiliated - what Gabaglio calls - “the main organisations” in Central and Eastern Europe. But it would have been more frank if he in this context had used the expression ex-communist organisations. Some, so not all, changed rapidly of flag from communism to (social) democracy without worrying too much about democracy. However, for the ICFTU realpolitik was sometimes more important than democracy. That is also the opinion of Gabaglio because later in the document he writes with regard to this about “the erratic policy” of the ICFTU.

In point 1.11 Gabaglio claims that the Austrian and Swiss confederations distanced themselves from the WCL because of not paying dues. As far as I know this had more to do with an internal dispute about the WCL policy which the executive committee could not arrange. These two confederal organisations had the opinion that the WCL did not listen to their comments and did not give enough support on European level. Therefore, on the contrary what one would expect, their trade union affiliates in different sectors continued to pay their dues to the international trade union federations of the WCL. For example the WFCW (bank and commercial employees) and the WFBW (Wood and Building) had for many years a Swiss treasurer.

Muktar Pakpahan, President of the Indonesian independent trade union confederation 
SBSI (Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union)

“1.12: At the world level, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the WCL has strongly developed in Africa, especially since pluralism started being tolerated within the continent. In Asia, it is worth highlighting the affiliation (in 1977) of Indonesia's SBSI, the only independent organisation of the world's fourth most populous nation and the world's largest Muslim populated country.”

The SBSI was in a certain sense for the Indonesian dictatorship what Solidarnosc was for Polish communist dictatorship. From its start, SBSI fought for the so-called 'Reformasi' with the aim to return to democracy and pluralism in Indonesia. Because of this the SBSI President Muchtar Pakpahan was jailed many times. The credits for the affiliation of SBSI to the WCL go to the CNV and especially former President Anton Westerlaken who visited the SBSI President Pakpahan when he stayed in prison and had to appear in court.

Muktar Pakapahan was sentenced several times to imprisonment in the period 1994-1998.
It was at this time that CNV President Anton Westerlaken visited him in prison 
and during a trial.

While the WCL gets some credits from Gabaglio for promoting trade union pluralism in Africa and affiliating the Indonesian confederation SBSI, the ICFTU is praised by Gabaglio for affiliating “great progressive organisations all over the world, such as Brazil's CUT in 1995, South Africa's COSATU in 1997 and South Korea's KCTU in 1999.” (point 1.13) Can it be that the word “progressive” used by Gabaglio is a euphemism for “socialism”?

With point 1.16 we arrive to the most important remarks of Gabaglio regarding the aim of the unification of WCL and ICFTU. First he declares that “the trade union scenario has changed and the ideological lines first drawn have become blurred” because of the fall of the Berlin Wall (a much used euphemism for the economic political, moral, social and ideological collapse of communism). In the meanwhile ICFTU had changed also: “The affiliations registered in emerging or developing countries in general, and in Arab countries in particular, have somehow modified the image of the ICFTU as a confederation dominated by industrialized countries.”

CNV President Anton Westerlaken at a special conference organized 
by the Dutch solidarity association CLAT-Nederland 
at the occasion of its 40th anniversary. (1994)

However, this is a to easy conclusion. The rich members have had always more voting power than the poor and weaker organisations. This has been always the case in the ICFTU and the WCL. However, the latter tried to give a greater voice to the poor trade union members by giving them a minimum presence and voting power. In general it can be said that international solidarity has its limitations also in international trade unions, whatever nice words are used.

In the next point 1.17 Gabaglio makes a remarkable observation, nearly a confession that I already announced before: “Over the past years , this change has been translated into a new ICFTU affiliation policy. In the past, this policy was “erratic”. Today, the ICFTU has refused to accept the affiliation of the leading (but not really democratic) organisation of Ukraine, and has decided to shelve its project on the unification of Indonesia's official trade unions against the SBSI, which is a WCL affiliate.”

The expression “erratic policy” seems to refer what is normally called “realpolitik”. In realpolitik, economic and political power of a trade union is more important than its democratic structure and culture. A policy well known from for example the USA in Latin America and made that the USA preferred to support a pro-American dictator in stead of a leftist elected government. A bitter example of this policy was what happened to the Allende Government in Chile (1970-1973). One of the instruments used by the ICFTU to gain control of trade unions was also to force them to unite as for example was tried once in Romania and so also in Indonesia.  

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL 49

Emilio Gabaglio as ETUC Secretary General signing the European Framework Agreement on Teleworking, Brussels 16/O7/2002. (Foto: ETUC)

While the two International Wood and Construction federations were looking for some kind of merger or cooperation between the WCL and the ICFTU debates had started about some kind of a merger or institutionalized cooperation or the creation of a new World Organisation. It happened that Emilio Gablagio had elaborated a note that served as a kind of discussion paper for the two informal meetings the WCL and the ICFTU Executive Committees have held at the beginning of 2004.

The note was used also as an introduction to the internal WCL debates at the European section held on the 18th of March 2004 about the future cooperation between WCL and ICFTU. However, to status of the Gabaglio note was not clear to the participants. Therefore WCL Deputy Secretary general Jaap Wienen explained the role of the note: “Because there seems to be some confusion on the status of the note Gabaglio note, Jaap Wienen (Deputy Secr. General of WCL) gives some further explanation on the chronological events. Two meetings with the ICFTU took place. During the first meeting, Gabaglio presented his point of view. The political secretariat reflected on these statements, but did not have the mandate to discuss changes. These reflections had some effect on the second note, but it was not possible for the (WCL) secretariat to discuss all possible alternatives. The note is therefore not a reflection of the two political secretariats, and will not be the final document.”

What was not explained, is why Gabaglio was invited at both meetings nor why he prepared the note. Gabaglio had been ETUC Secretary General from 1991 until 2003. Before 1991 he had worked for 17 years at the ICFTU on various positions. Before, in 1969 he was elected National President of ACLI (Italian Workers' Christian Associations). During his presidency of ACLI a conflict raised with the Italian Catholic Hierarchy. Gabaglio organised at the end of August 1970 in Vallombrosa, Italy an ACLI Congress titled “Workers movement, Capitalism and Democracy”  during which was introduced the hypothesis of the 'Socialist ACLI'. Only a year later ACLI was publicly disowned by the Italian Episcopal Conference and the repudiation was later confirmed June 19, 1971 by Pope Paul VI in person. In spite of the almost immediate reverse of Gabaglio and his subsequent self-criticism, ACLI split in two factions. 

"Philip Jennings is the General Secretary of UNI Global Union, an organisation with over 20 million members, representing 900 unions in over 150 countries and with its head office in Nyon. In May 2013 UNI Global Union was at the centre of worldwide press coverage, as the “Bangladesh Safety Accord ”, a legally binding agreement by major US and European clothes manufacturers to raise safety standards in Bangladesh factories, was negotiated in Nyon by both UNI Global union and Industriall." See interview 'Living in Nyon', September 18, 2013. (Foto: Living in Nyon)

As already explained before, ETUC Secretary General Gabaglio was not capable to convince EUROFIET to respect the statutes of the ETUC. According to the ETUC statutes each European member of the WFCW had the right to be a member of EUROFIET but EUROFIET refused and had its own conditions. This arrogant power policy of EUROFIET against the ETUC rules led to the departure of two important WFCW members what of course meant a weakening of the WFCW. Was this what the EUROFIET wanted? May be yes, may be not, but what is sure that for the EUROFIET pluralism was not important, and deliberately wanted to maintain its monopoly in the European social dialogue. This is not only a shame for a democratic organization like EUROFIET (now UNI) but also for its Secretary General Philip Jennings as a citizen from Great Britain, one of the oldest democracies in the world. (See also: The Downfall of the WCL 12 and 13) 

Back to the note of Emilio Gabalglio because in the note are made some interesting statements about the history of WCL and ICFTU.

“1.2. During the Cold War and after the creation of the ICFTU in 1949 (the split within the WFTU), the three main international organisations had each a specific role, according to its nature:

- The ICFTU was dominated by the leading organisations of industrialized countries. Most of them had links with social-democratic parties in Europe, with an AFL-CIO working in the wake of the foreign policy of the United States.

- The IFCTU (which became the WCL in 1968), a Christian organisation whose proposals also took into account spiritual aspects.

- The WFTU, which comprised organisations having links with communist parties.”

In other words: the ICFTU was social democratic and socialist and therefore class struggle oriented. The WCL was social-christian oriented and because of its spiritual values against class-struggle and for social dialogue. The WFTU was part of the communist party strategy and on international level controlled by the Soviet Union as the main communist world power.

Why the AFL-CIO was a member of the ICFTU? The AFL-CIO had its leftist oriented groups but its majority never questioned the free market capitalism, like European ICFTU and also WCL members did. On the contrary, the AFL-CIO was a loyal promotor of the free-market capitalism in the Third World like for example in Latin America where the AFL-CIO dominated ORIT, the regional partner of ICFTU, at a certain moment supported dictatorships and US interventions against leftist political leaders (Dominican republic and Guatemala). Without doubt the AFL-CIO functioned during the Cold War as as the promotor of US interests and its free-market capitalist model.

In the Gabaglio note we read the following about the ETUC:

“1.3 During the 1960's, the European trade unions of the WCL and the ICFTU strengthened their cooperation links. Some debates were then opened in Europe, leading to the creation of the ETUC in 1973. Before reaching a compromise (the idea met with some hesitation and resistance by some WCL organisations, the ECFTU (ICFTU's European regional organisation) became the ETUC, which meant that any WCL organisation could become an affiliate to this new confederation created to act as a counterbalance to the development of the EEC (that later on became the EU). That is why it was impossible to negotiate the creation of a WCL- specific space.”

Gabaglio explains here not only why the ETUC always had been dominated by the ICFTU members but also why trade union pluralism was never on the agenda of the ICFTU. Everybody with some feeling for international policy and strategy could understand that in the long run this anti-pluralism attitude will end in the destruction of the WCL as a minority. Why the WCL did not make this analysis is a mystery. Was it because of lack of leadership, confusion about the road to follow or because European WCL members were losing their spiritual values? May be a little bit of each?

1.3. Weakened during World War II (after breaking off relations with Central and Eastern European organisations and as a consequence of the creation of single confederations in Germany and Austria, under the Anglo-American pressure), the WCL gained ground worldwide , thanks to the creation of regional organisations or coordination offices: CLAT in 1954 in Latin America, BATU in 1963 in Asia, UPTC in 1959, FOPADESC in 1973 and finally the DOAWTU in 1993 in Africa.”

1.4 The “industrialized countries” base decreased after the disaffiliation of:

- The CFDT in 1973 (replaced by the CFTC France)

- The NKV in 1978 (which merged with NVV to create FNV Netherlands)

- Quebec's CSN in 1986.”

The ideological seduction of socialism was not the only factor that played a role but sure it was one of the factors why these 3 trade union federations did leave WCL. Of course it is very ironic that this happened within more or less two decades before the communist model based on socialist values in the Soviet Union, center and Eastern Europe collapsed completely. Also ironic was that the Christian oriented Solidarnosc trade union in Poland together with the Polish Pope John Paul II played a decisive role in the fall of communism. It was the victory of social christian and democratic values on communist values.

Gabaglio shows us in the next paragraph that for the ICFTU trade union pluralism was never important:

“1.6 After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the ICFTU exerted some pressure on the WCL for both organisations to merge, arguing that from that moment on, trade union pluralism at the international level was no longer justified.

I have never had an inside view in the policy kitchen of the ICFTU so I can only guess what kind of ideas existed within the ICFTU. So let me guess. Apparently, the Cold War justified international trade union pluralism (however, for ICFTU trade union pluralism in the Western world was never important, it was tolerated mainly because it existed) but now the communist model had collapsed and free-market capitalism had definitely won, seemingly trade union pluralism had definitively also come to an end.

What happened with this intent of merger? Gabaglio tells us the following:

1.7 After many debates, a proposal was made: the WCL could then become an organisation (foundation...) aimed at fostering the development of trade unionism in developing countries (training, debates, financial aid, and so forth).

1.8 Beyond the fact that the debate was obviously far from being closed (given the wounds opened by ORIT in Latin America during the military dictatorships), the ICFTU's arrogance also played an essential role in the failure of the dialogue process. The proposal on the creation of an organisation focused on the Third World was not accepted. Neither was the idea of an outright merger.”

I had learned to know the arrogance of the ICFTU during my work in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Every ICFTU representative on every occasion, was it a national trade union congress, a seminar or a meeting, started with the observation that the ICFTU with its millions of members is the greatest and the most important trade union organisation in the world. It never occurred to these spokesmen that next to the quantity component there is a quality component, that of vision, values and ideas. It was precisely the Polish trade union Solidarnosc that showed to Central and Eastern Europe how important ideas were in the struggle against communism.