TRADE UNION MEET IN CHINA         

Plea To Act Against Western Hegemony

                                                                             Ardhendu Dakshi

ORGANISED by the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) at Shanghai last month, the “International Forum on Economic Globalisation and Trade Unions 2005” was attended by 27 trade union functionaries from several countries. From the ACFTU, more than 20 top leaders including its chairman Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman Zhang Junjiu and first secretary attended. Those from outside included Alexander Zharikov (general secretary, World Federation of Trade Unions), Hassan Sunmonu (general secretary, Organisation of African Trade Union Unity), Gilda Almeida (secretary, CGT, Brazil), Antonio Neto (president, CGT, Brazil) and Manene Samela (deputy general secretary, NACTU, South Africa), among others. From India, Ardhendu Dakshi (CITU), Uday Patwardhan (BMS), Subrata Mukherjee (INTUC), A D Nagpal (HMS) and Manohar Deshkar (AITUC) attended the forum.

The major issues to be discussed were obviously the present trends in international trade union movement and the challenges faced by trade unions in the wake of globalisation. Two specific subjects were taken up for discussion, namely (1) strategy and measures to raise the rate of trade unionisation and (2) trade unions and poverty alleviation. The Chinese trade union requested us to articulate our views on the two subjects, which were duly informed to us in advance trough two AFCTU papers. Those two papers were translated into different languages and circulated.

Apart from the subjects of discussion, this meet has a greater significance. Serious changes are taking place in the international trade union movement in the wake of globalisation. The activities of pro-US international trade union bodies, who pull the strings from behind to promote hegemonism with the intention to weaken the trade union movement, are evident in a more intensified form now. These developments, taking place mostly behind the back of common workers, are disturbing. One has to study the past and present developments to comprehend the situation fully.

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is the most important international tripartite body entrusted to formulate and look after the workers’ rights, welfare, service conditions and other issues. It was created in 1919 and India, China and former Soviet Union were among the founder members. The League of Nations, forerunner of the United Nations, was created almost at the same time but the US did not join it, and it collapsed soon after the second world war began. But the US took keen interest in the ILO because it wanted to use this important forum to divide and weaken the working class movement, both politically and organisationally. That was the era when a revolutionary upsurge was sweeping the world after the splendid successes of the Soviet Union. The capitalist world, led by the US and UK, tried its best to dampen the revolutionary zeal of the working class and divide the trade union movement and projecting the so-called “better” alternatives before the working people in these countries as well as in the rest of the world. They intensified their activities manifold after the second world war when many countries won freedom and the influence of the Soviet Union and the socialist system grew stronger among workers and common people. Fragmentation of trade unions started at the behest of the western capitalist powers. Promotion of anti-socialist ideologies and propping up of pro-employer trade unions went on hand in hand. Such unions were liberally funded and their leaders were given warm reception everywhere. In order to prove that the capitalist system, particularly in the western world, was better than a socialist system, western capitalist powers evolved a grand strategy. They tried to showcase a system which was liberal, where workers had the freedom to join the union of their `choice’ and the workers’ income and standard of living were much higher than in a socialist country. All these were parts of their cold war strategy to defeat socialism.

The western world formed and promoted the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to implement their global strategy on the labour front and through this organisation tried to dominate the ILO’s functions so that the interests of global capital were not hampered by the ILO resolutions and decisions. The ILO is an organisation where socialist and developing countries far outnumbered the developed states. But for eight and a half decades of the ILO’s operations, elections to its governing body and other committees have witnessed intrigues, behind the scene lobbying, illegal pressures to ensure a continuing dominance of the governments of rich countries, rich multinational employers and their chosen unions. The same conspiracies are still going on unabated.

Moreover, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all the benefits won by the working class over the last two centuries in the form of higher wages and better service conditions etc are being drastically curtailed all over the world. Thus the “benign” face of capitalism is coming out with all its horror.

CHINA AND THE ILO

The above gives a brief picture of attempts to perpetuate their hegemonism by the western powers and their frontal organisation, the ICFTU, in the arena of labour and ILO. China and the Chinese trade union, namely the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), are victims of such attempts.

China is a founding member of the ILO and in the early years one representative from the Chinese trade unions was elected to the governing body, the highest policy making body of ILO. After the 1948 revolution, however, China’s participation in the ILO was discontinued and was resumed only in 1983. But in the last 22 years too, the western lobby has taken every possible step to stop China and the ACFTU from becoming a full member of the ILO governing body. The ACFTU became a deputy worker member in 1984, and again in 1987. After 1990, during the period of the so-called “globalisation,” China and the ACFTU were totally excluded from the ILO governing body. In 2005 the ACFTU seriously contested for the post of worker member in the governing body, but the western lobby came out virtually openly and did everything possible to defeat China in a body which is supposed to be democratic and representative of all views and systems. This is hegemonism of the worst kind.

The contrasting picture is also interesting. The ACFTU has a membership of nearly 14 crores and is by far the largest trade union in the world. But the INTUC from India, with a membership of 27 lakhs that is less than 2 per cent of the ACFTU membership, has a full membership in the ILO governing body. The INTUC has been enjoying this privilege for decades. This year also, the INTUC was elected to the governing body while the ACFTU was defeated. Performance-wise, if we compare the movement of Chinese workers’ real wages with that for Indian workers, we get a shocking picture. The real wage of Indian workers fell down by 31 per cent between 1990 and 1999, while the real wage of Chinese workers doubled in the same period. Yet, this was no achievement to the western powers. Unions following a pro-employer policy and not opposing the hire and fire system or a relaxation of labour laws are the ICFTU’s choice for the governing body of the International “Labour” Organisation. The ACFTU of China does not fit the bill.

DISTURBING DEVELOPMENTS

The seminar was held in the backdrop of two disturbing developments in the world on the labour and trade union front.

Firstly, in the wake of globalisation, poverty is increasing among the working people in the developing countries.

Secondly, barring a few exceptions, trade union membership is falling all over the world, thereby reducing the effectiveness of trade unions.

The two-day forum (seminar) brought out incontrovertible facts about the falling wages, continuously decreasing purchasing power of the people, and rising unemployment and insecurity among the working class across all the five continents. Globalisation has affected the working class most across the length and breadth of the world.

Therefore, it is but natural that trade unions organise themselves for a betterment of their own conditions and also of other oppressed sections of the society. It was decided to draw up programmes of action to ensure social justice and fairer distribution of wealth, and to fight for more employment and better wages. The trade unions of developed countries were urged upon to support and help in this endeavour of the trade unions in the developing world.          

On the question of membership, the common feature is that generally there is a fall in membership because employment is going down. Also, in some cases the union leaderships are not willing to fight for the workers, while in other cases the workers are losing the battle even after big movements. How to protect the workers’ interests in an effective manner is a big challenge today before the trade unions. In this given situation, trade unions have to redouble their efforts and extend their activities in legal aid, training, education etc, so that they may win workers’ confidence and enrolment increases. This was the gist of the consensus arrived at the seminar.

In this context, it has to be noted that pro-globalisation trade unions are either breaking up or becoming irrelevant as their leaders are nakedly supporting all anti-worker actions. There are some startling developments. The ICFTU, the pro-employer international trade union body, has lost a large number of members. The AFL-CIO, the biggest central trade union organisation in the USA, has broken up and a big group has formed another organisation named Coalition for “CHANGE TO WIN,” led by Ms Anna Burger. Such a development is obviously a reaction to the attempts to muzzle the voice of workers in order to establish the hegemonism of big MNCs and their political masters in the trade union movement. American workers are frustrated by and furious over the pro-employer, anti-worker policies of established leaders of the AFL-CIO.

MAJOR CONCLUSIONS

The Shanghai seminar (forum) drew the following conclusions at a time when the trade union movement all over the world is undergoing major changes. According to the opinions expressed at the forum, trade unions have to do the following:

1. Work for peace and development, as these are key to overcoming poverty and a guarantee for the working people’s rights.

2. Fight for employment; decent employment and employment of women in particular must be the focus of all policies by the government.

3. Fight for justice, for a fair share in income and against poverty. Trade unions need to take up greater social responsibility. Globalisation has created huge wealth but the workers have gone poorer.

4. Strive for unity of action between trade unions of the developed and developing countries in order to fight against injustice and poverty and for common goals.

5. Forge global unity of workers. This is needed to fight hegemonism, defeat the cold war mentality and intrigues, and make world bodies like the ILO more democratic and more representative.

The seminar emphasised that there must be a fair and rational new order of the international trade union movement on the basis of greater understanding, mutual respect and common programme of action for progress.

Dakshi proposed that the next forum meet might be held in India. This would be considered by others.

All the delegates from abroad thanked the leadership of the All China Federation of Trade Unions for this initiative and for the success of the forum.