People's Democracy

  93RD Conference Of International Labour Organisation

 Tapan Sen

THE 93rd conference of the International Labour Organisation was held from May 31 to June 16, 2005 at Geneva.

The conference was held in such a backdrop of deepening crisis of the world capitalist system that the president of the conference, Alsalim, who is the labour minister of Jordan, had to open his address to the conference saying “Globalisation and liberalisation have become great challenges that the international community must confront in order to minimise their negative repercussions … this situation is making it increasingly difficult for our organisation (the ILO) to carry out its mission.”

The Director General of ILO, Juan Somavia, while presenting his report before the conference, stated “… clearly the world is facing a global job crisis, in quantity and quality…. Many governments, enterprises and workers are asking themselves, `where is this unbridled global competition taking us?”

The DG further had to observe, “The global job crisis is the most pressing political issue of our time … Surprisingly the interconnection between growth, investment and jobs is missing from today’s political agenda”. While dealing on the policies of globalisation in this backdrop, the Director General of ILO had to admit in his address, “Prevailing policies have failed us in too many places. We need to have the honesty and courage to review the policies that brought us here. There is a growing sense that the global economy has evolved in an ethical vacuum with policies, which, many feel, are organised too much around market values and too little around human values. As per estimate of the Swiss Bank UBS, “even in the G-7 economies as a whole, the share of profits in national income has never been so higher but labour’s share of the cake has never been so lower... The warning light is blinking on today’s global economy… Questions about the direction of globalisation continue to grow and are asked by protestors on the streets and anxious workers on the job, by struggling families in their communities and by worried citizens in the voting booth as we have seen in so many places……simply put, we must repair the disconnect between economic growth and job creation, rebalance priorities, revalue work and target the right investment policies.” While quoting Late Pope John Paul-II, Somavia said “the economic system in which we live must not upset the fundamental order of the priority of work over capital, of the common good over private interest.”

Even, the guest speaker in the conference, Abdelaziz Bouteflica, President of Algeria, had stated based on his Algerian experience of globalisation, “Unemployment is a major problem….. This is a major challenge, which we face now at a time when   human values are gradually being squeezed out of the labour market.  Hence we must not allow ourselves to be swept aside by post modernist mercantilism. We should always, everywhere, remember and fight for the idea that capital is the product of human labour and that it is therefore up to the democratic states to take whatever measures necessary to ensure that profit motive does not run counter to the legitimate aspiration of men and women to a decent paid work for all.”

EVASIVE APPROACH

But regarding the way out of this vicious phenomenon of increasing poverty and unemployment for the billions along with galloping profit for the handfuls, the Director General of ILO remained meticulously evasive in his report. The DG prescribed joint tripartite exercise by the employers, government and the workers to be the only way out. He remained deliberately silent about the waves of strike struggles by the working class that were witnessed even in the advanced industrialised countries since the last conference of ILO held in June 2004, against the onslaught on their rights by the governments and employers combine. The DG refused to note that the united struggle by the working class against the neo-liberal policies can only make meaningful tripartism a reality.

Perhaps, it has become fashionable for the modern elite in the society to speak eloquently on the negative impact of the neo-liberal policies on the mass of the people, while unscrupulously pleading for reconciling with the same policies and their mentor-class. Can hypocrisy go further?

The DG’s idea about finding a solution to the crisis through tripartism (?) had found appropriately response from various workers’ representatives in the conference. Notable is what is spoken by Gonzalez, the workers’ representatives from Cuba. He said, “the desire of Director General to achieve decent work for all is laudable, but it will not be possible without changing the rules of today’s world order”. More forthright was the workers’ representative from Venezuela, Jesus Asdrubal Diaz when he stated, “The struggle continues, you do not beg for your demands to be met, you fight and only the people can save the people.”

And during the conference, the role of the employers’ organisations and many of the governments literally mocked at the prescription of the Director General on so-called tripartism. The convention on the working conditions of the workers of fishing sector, the text of which has been finalised by the tripartite committee appointed by the conference itself has been jointly voted out by the governments and the employers in the plenary of the same conference. The content of the new convention on occupational health and safety has been passed in so extremely diluted form owing to consistent resistance by the governments and employers’ representatives that it became a jugglery of words.  In the discussion on “Youth employment and Decent work” the governments of the developed countries and the employers’ group as a whole stubbornly tried to resist incorporation of any critical observation on the policies of globalisation. On behalf of the Indian workers, Tapan Sen (CITU) intervened saying that the problem of unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular is not just a matter pertaining only to training facilities and skill development; the root is the neo-liberal policies without changing the course of which, the problem cannot be addressed. Finally, the conclusion drawn in the committee had to record that the policies of globalisation have to be reformed for greater employment generation and decent work. But still the conclusion remained a weaker one, leaving room for  misinterpretation.

ON WORK CONDITIONS

The committee on ‘Application of Standards’, besides scrutinising various complaints of violation of ratified conventions in different countries, also held a general discussion on “hours of work” on the basis of a paper circulated by ILO titled “Hours of work, from fixed to flexible?” The ILO document citing fast changing practices in different countries pleaded for flexible working hours within an overall limit to be prescribed. The trade union representatives in the committee voiced a strong opposition to the idea of empowering the employers for making the working hours flexible.

The ILO conference also held a special discussion on “Forced labour” on the basis of a paper circulated in the conference titled “A Global Alliance against Forced Labour”.  The ILO document revealed that even in the developed industrialised countries, there have been various forms of forced labour, not to speak of the developing countries. In the discussions held in the conference, the trade union representatives from various countries pointed out the close linkage with the fast informalisation of the production relations being promoted by the neo-liberal policies and the emergence of modern forced labour in the workplaces world wide.  Sankar Saha (UTUC-LS) while speaking in the session on behalf of Indian workers’ delegation, pointed out that “no amount of humanitarian appeal and social dialogue can put an end to this most uncivilised instrument of pursuing profit, unless the process of informalising formal production relations through contractorisation and casualisation etc. is stalled through all embracing legal and prohibitive framework and its strict implementation is ensured. The fashion of so-called deregulation and flexibility of labour market cannot go together with the idea of putting an end to forced labour.”  Md Amin, labour minister of West Bengal government also addressed this session on behalf of the government delegation from India and stressed upon the urgent steps to be taken to bring about an end to the phenomenon of forced labour with the joint initiative of all the social partners. John Pierre Page also addressed the session on forced labour on behalf of WFTU.

Sukomal Sen, general secretary of Trade Union International of Public and Allied Employees, while addressing the plenary session pointed to the gross violation of international law and UN charter by the imperialist powers as was being witnessed in Iraq or in the measures targeted at DPRK, Syria and Cuba with impunity. On the other hand workers are under constant attack, through contractorisation, longer working hours, dismantling of social security benefits etc. In such a background, it remains still a big question as to how this brand of neo-liberal globalisation can be converted into a fair globalisation in the manner being prescribed by the Director General.

The ILO conference was attended by, besides the representatives of the government and the employers, a six member delegation from trade unions viz. Sanjeeva Reddy, N Adwiantaya (INTUC), Tapan Sen (CITU), H Mahadevan (AITUC), Thampan Thomas (HMS), Sankar Saha (UTUC-LS). Md Amin, Labour Minister of the Govt of West Bengal also attended the conference as a part of the government delegation. BMS representatives boycotted the conference in protest against government’s arbitrary decision in selecting workers’ delegates. N Adwiantaya from INTUC was elected to the governing body of ILO along with I P Anand from employers group as deputy member.