BUILD, STRENGTHEN, UNITE THE STRUGGLES OF WORKING CLASS AGAINST GLOBALISATION

Sigtur The Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR) met at Honey Dew, Johannesburg in South Africa from 25th to 29th October 1999.

The Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR) met at Honey Dew, Johannesburg in South Africa from 25th to 29th October 1999. Congress Of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) hosted the conference. This was the 5th Conference of the initiative. The earlier conferences were held under the name and style of Indian Ocean Region Trade Union Conference (IORTUC).

IORTUC was an initiative of unions bordering the Indian Ocean Region. With the globalisation drive and capital mobility by the imperialists, it has been felt that instead of geographic identity, the initiative should have a Southern focus, the region of the world where the workers are most exploited and their trade union rights are negated.

The objective of this initiative is not to form a parallel international organisation. The primary objective of the initiative is to share experience on the pertinent issues the trade union movement is facing today under pressure of globalisation, to highlight the key struggles being fought, to provide a basis for strengthening of campaign and movement and exchange of information and to develop solidarity action. In this process the initiative likes to maintain relations with all the international Trade Union organisations and Industrial Federations.

Dr. Blade Nzimande, General Secretary, South African Communist Party (SACP) and Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) addressed the inaugural session of the Conference. Dr. Nzimande explained the real face of globalisation and trade liberalisation and the character of the attacks on the working people. Both the speakers stressed the need of building united struggles of the working class and the toiling people to combat the offensives.

The conference was conducted through 4 subject-wise workshops i.e. global unionism, globalisation and union strategies, international campaign against MNCs and building a common May Day focus across the region. To give opportunity to involve them in discussions, each subject-wise workshop was divided into several groups. Taking into account the reports from the groups, the resolutions of the conference were adopted in plenary session.

The initiative acknowledged that the struggles of the working class should be national in form and international in content. Unless strong trade unions and united struggles of the working class are developed in nation states, it will be difficult for them to defeat the offensives of the capitalist globalisation. To build strong unions and united struggles in nation states the conference adopted an action plan on 'Globalisation and Trade Union strategies'. The main stress of this action plan has been given on the following strategies:

• Depending on the concrete situation to move from servicing to organising,
• To address previous weaknesses and educate on globalisation and its impact,
• Strengthening the capacity of union leadership to respond to threats from globalisation,
• To develop from union membership to union activism,
• To organise casual/contract/unorganised workers in the unions,
• Special attention on involvement and representation of working women and young workers within unions,
• To take up the issues of unemployed in the charter of the unions, etc.

The action plan also emphasised the need to debate on the strength and weaknesses of forming alliances with particular political parties of Governments.

Realising that the struggles of the working class at the national levels only is not strong enough to fight globalisation effectively, the conference adopted another action plan to build 'Global Unionism'. The main emphasis is on:

• Developing international solidarity as the basis for global unionism,
• Building international solidarity at all levels in the movement: union to union; federation to federation; south to south; strengthen Industrial unions to support solidarity in campaigns,
• Building international solidarity through networks to exchange resources and ideas,
• Sharing of information about the operations of specific MNCs,
• Developing solidarity action across region against particular MNCs,
• Sharing of information on the impact of trade agreements on workers and develop joint strategies,
• Debate the 'social clause' and develop common approaches/strategies/campaigns, etc.

On the issue of 'International Campaign against MNCs, the conferences adopted that the international campaign conducted for the past 2 years against the activities of a multinational mining giant Rio Tinto to workers and the environment can be a model for conducting campaign against MNCs. Hence the adopted resolution stressed that:

• Rio education materials to be circulated to all participant unions,
• The model be adopted appropriately for other sectors and will serve for campaign against other MNCs,
• ILO conventions should form the ideological basis for a counter offensive against MNCs,
• Campaigns against MNCs should involve both unions and communities and at both an industrial and a political level,
• Boycotts are effective but require careful education of workers and winning the wider community through good publicity, etc.

The conference adopted the resolution that the May Day 2000 will be observed throughout the region with common focus. The core themes will be:

• Trade Union Rights and Collective Bargaining,
• No surrender to IMF and World Bank,
• No Encroachment by WTO,
• Right to Work and Job for all,
• No discrimination in EPZ/FPZ.

There was a debate in the plenary session on 'Globalisation and the future of Trade Unionism'. Following alternative positions were posed before the conference and the delegates were asked to speak in support of one of the positions:

Position one: Globalisation in opening up trade and thereby generating economic growth, has, on balance, benefited the working men and women, strengthening their material position and securing their future.

Position two: Globalisation is a Thatcherite, liberal economic ideology that has undermined workers' conditions security and the future of their collective organisations.

Almost all the speakers spoke in favour of Position Two. In fact, despite hesitation among a few delegates, none spoke in favour of Position One.

Some NGOs from some countries also attended the conference as observer. A question arose about their status and role in the conference. To avoid any future complication a resolution was adopted unanimously by the conference. In the said resolution it has been clarified that this is a conference of Trade Unions in the region. An NGO, which is not a Trade Union of a country can not represent that country’s Trade Union and place an action plan. Similarly, a representative of an NGO, which has nothing to do with Chinese Trade Union can not come and speak on behalf of Chinese Trade Unions and make a country report and action plan. This precedence will lead to wrong approaches in future and affect the unity. Hence the records are to be corrected to the extent of exclusion of such reporting as country report, but taken only as input of two NGOs.

The conference also gave a call to the trade unions to raise their voice against arrest of trade unionists and political activists in many of the countries.

The delegate session of the conference started with presentation of collective resistance to globalisation from Korea, India and Australia through VDO films and speeches. M K Pandhe spoke on behalf of India after the VDO prepared for the purpose was shown.

A statement of intent to advance the process of linking the ports of Fremantle in Western Australia and Durban in South Africa organisationally was signed before the conference on 28^th October 1999, by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU).

Trade Unions affiliated to ICFTU, WFTU and independent National centres attended the conference. ICFTU, WFTU and WCL were also invited to attend the conference. They appreciated the initiative but expressed their inability to send representatives in the conference.

121 delegates and observers attended the Conference from 14 countries including India, South Africa, South Korea, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria. From India 14 delegates from various organisations attended the conference. Among the Indian delegates, cultural performers were also there. They sang various revolutionary songs in Hindi, Bengali, English and Zulu languages, which was highly appreciated by the delegates from various countries. During their stay, the delegates visited Soweto and the Workers’ Library in Johannesburg.