THE AMERICAS: In his opinion column published on April 23, 2001, Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, calls the agreement signed at the FTAA Summit for the Americas, held in Quebec on April 20-22, “a new agreement for the rich”.
Although free and fair trade is one of the best instruments for development, certain fundamental conditions must be fulfilled for this purpose, such as a clause guaranteeing minimum labour and environmental standards, and increased purchasing power, particularly in developing countries, so that people are able to buy what they produce.
Malentacchi says, however, that the new agreement was not negotiated in this spirit.
Read the full text of the opinion on the associated link or go to “IMF Opinion” on www.imfmetal.org.

PHILIPPINES: At the just held International Metalworkers’ Federation Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, on April 20-21, the 130 delegates approved a resolution asking Cebu Mitsumi Philippines, Inc. to withdraw its motion to suspend pre-election union proceedings, to reinstate the local union president who was suspended on unfounded grounds, and immediately agree to conduct the certification election.
It has been 8 years since the office of the Department of Labour and Employment in Cebu City ordered a certification election for the workers at this company, but management together with an anti-union city mayor have managed to put off the election proceedings and thus suppress the basic right of the workers to form a union and to hold collective bargaining negotiations.
The full text of the resolution can be accessed via the associated link.
Cebu Mitsumi Philippines Inc. manufactures electronic products and employs over 16,000 workers.

10th IMF Asia-Pacific Regional Conference
April 20-21, 2001, Subang Jaya, MALAYSIA

RESOLUTION ASKING CEBU MITSUMI PHILIPPINES, INC. TO WITHDRAW ITS MOTION TO SUSPEND THE PRE-ELECTION PROCEEDINGS, REINSTATE FERDINAND ULALAN AND TO IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO CONDUCT THE CERTIFICATION ELECTION

WHEREAS, the Cebu Mitsumi Philippines, Inc. is a company engaged in the production and manufacture of electronics products employing more than 16,000 workers;
WHEREAS, the employees of the said company have decided to form a union under the stewardship of the Associated Labor Unions for Metal;
WHEREAS, a certification election has been ordered earlier by the Department of Labor and Employment — Regional Office No. 7 in Cebu City, Philippines (since eight years ago) and that the same has not been conducted in an orderly, fair, and honest election due to the interference and anti-union stance of the City Mayor of Danao;
WHEREAS, the company has taken advantage of the anti-union stance of the city officials of Danao;
WHEREAS of recent, the DOLE Regional Office No. 7 has set a new date for the conduct of the election in June 26, 2000, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.;
WHEREAS, the petitioning union (ALU-METAL) has requested the DOLE Regional Office No. 7 to reconsider its order by providing for a two-day conduct of the election instead of one-day;
WHEREAS, on October 2, 2000, the union and management have agreed to set the date of the election on November 28, 2000, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.;
WHEREAS, on said date, the management agreed to submit a verified list of qualified voters with a cut-off date up to October 31, 2000;
WHEREAS, on October 19, 2000, the management reneged on its acquiescence/agreement to submit a verified list of voters by submitting instead an unverified computer-generated list of voters;
WHEREAS, on October 20, 2000, management through its legal counsel further reneged on the agreement to conduct the election on November 28, 2000 by filing a motion to suspend the election proceedings until after the May 2001 National and Local elections citing therein the ground that the political clan of Danao City (Durano’s) are at loggerheads for the position of Mayor;
WHEREAS, the Petitioning union (ALU-Metal) contends that the motion to suspend the election proceedings is an improper action and is a deliberate move of the management to suppress the rights of its employees to freely form a union and to enter into collective bargaining negotiations;
WHEREAS, not contended with this recent deplorable moves, the Local President of the Cebu Mitsumi Workers Union, Bro. Ferdinand Ulalan was suspended indefinitely on unfounded grounds;
WHEREFORE premises considered, the more than 130 delegates from 18 countries attending the 10th IMF Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, 20-21 April 2001 are outraged at the way the Cebu Mitsumi Philippines, Inc. are suppressing the fundamental right of the workers to form a union and to enter into collective bargaining negotiations;
NOW calls upon the social conscience of its local management to reconsider its move by withdrawing the motion to suspend the election proceedings it filed earlier and to re-instate its Local President, Bro. Ferdinand Ulalan back to work;
AND FINALLY calls upon the DOLE Regional Office No. 7 to expedite the scheduling and conduct of the certification election not later than the May 14, 2001 National and Local Elections;
LET a copy of this resolution be provided to the Secretary of Labor of the Republic of the Philippines for her information and guidance, to the ALU-Metal and its local union through Bro. Ferdinand Ulalan as the delegates show of international solidarity.

INDONESIA: The following is a statement issued by the 10th IMF Asia-Pacific Regional Conference concerning the March 29th violent attack on striking workers at PT Kadera, which ended with the murder of two workers:

The more then 130 delegates from 18 countries attending the 10th IMF Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, on April 20-21, 2001, are outraged by the attack on peaceful strikers at the PT Kadera plant in Indonesia.
PT Kadera, a company owned by 90 per cent Japanese interest, produces car seats and is located in the East Jakarta industrial area.
On March 16, 2001, about 400 workers from this plant went on strike to demand a wage increase and improved conditions of employment. The workers there are being paid less than the national minimum wage.
On March 29, 2001, at 3:00 a.m., more than 400 unidentified persons (using the name of FMCI) attacked the peaceful strikers, using knives, metal rods, stones, guns and bombs. Most of the strikers were asleep at that time.
The attack killed two (2) unionists and left 21 injured.
This conference condemns the brutal crime against the workers.
It demands that the criminals who attacked the strikers and those who planned the attack be brought to justice quickly.
It demands that the company immediately enter into serious negotiations with the union to provide workers with justice.
It calls on the Indonesian government to actively implement ILO Conventions and act to prevent these outrageous anti-worker and anti-union attacks.
It expresses solidarity to the brave strikers who are fighting for their rights.
It sympathises with the family of those two brave workers who sacrificed their lives for the working people.

GLOBAL: Stress and burnout is a growing problem for many workers, in particular non-manual workers, and the subject is generating increasing interest and debate. Although at first considered a phenomenon specific to the developed countries, there is more and more evidence that stress and burnout is spreading to the developing world as well.
What with extensive transformations being carried out in today’s workplace, due in great part to economic globalisation, accompanied by restructuring, lean production, subcontracting, outsourcing, as well as new information technology, individual workers are finding higher requirements being placed upon them.
With this in mind, the IMF, in cooperation with its Swedish non-manual workers’ affiliate SIF, is holding its first seminar on the subject, called “Stress and Burnout: a Growing Problem for Non-Manual Workers,” on April 23-24, 2001, in Djurönäset, Sweden. Some 40 participants from 15 countries will attend, including scientific experts in this field. The agenda will focus on work-related stress and its consequences, the global costs of stress and burnout, and possibilities for a trade union response to this growing concern. There will be a presentation on the development of stress and burnout in the 1990s, as well as a study carried out on a group of non-manual workers on extended sick leave.
On April 25, immediately following the two-day discussions, a meeting of the IMF’s Working Group on Non-Manual Workers will be held to evaluate the above-mentioned seminar and to further develop a programme of activities for the IMF Non-Manual Workers’ Department.

SOUTH AFRICA: At the end of its three-day National Bargaining Conference in Benoni last week, the general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Silumko Nondwangu, warned employers that the union’s struggle for wage increases for its members would be stronger than in any other previous year.
Nondwangu said Numsa would focus on reaching wage settlements in both the motor industry and engineering. The emphasis on these two sectors stems from the fact that, according to the union, they are the most “vulnerable” in the metal industry and have suffered the most job losses.
The Numsa conference reviewed the union’s bargaining strategy, particularly on issues such as ensuring new forms of work reorganisation to empower workers. The metal industry has shed the most formal sector work, with over 500,000 job losses in the last 20 years, mainly the result says the union of the introduction of “capital-intensive technology, operational requirements, illegal importation and dumping of goods, tariff reductions and labour market flexibility.”
Wage negotiations will begin at the end of April.
Source: Business Day

THE AMERICAS: The top item on the agenda of the third Summit of the Americas, taking place in Quebec City, Canada, on April 20-22, 2001, will be the continued discussion and negotiations for creating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a trade zone which would extend from Canada in the north to Chile in the south. The 34 heads of state and government attending the Summit intend to step up FTAA talks with a view to concluding an agreement by 2005.
The International Metalworkers’ Federation, representing 6 million metalworkers in the Americas, will be present in Quebec, to draw attention to what is believed to be the real objectives of the FTAA negotiations, i.e. to expand corporate rights and constrain the powers of governments. In a prepared statement to the Summit, the IMF says that experience shows how unfettered competition leads to a race to the bottom. Free trade agreements deepen poverty and income inequalities within and between countries, and there is ample evidence that workers in the Americas have not benefited from neo-liberal policies.
Read here the complete English-language version of the IMF Statement to the FTAA Summit of the Americas or go to the associated link. The text in Spanish and Portuguese (found under “Spanish”), as well as English, can be downloaded from the website homepage, under “Publications”.
During the Quebec Summit, IMF affiliates in the region will be involved in a number of activities planned around the FTAA negotiations.

IMF Statement to the FTAA Summit of the Americas, Quebec, Canada

On 20-21 April, 2001, the Heads of State and Government from 34 nations in the Americas will meet in Quebec City, Canada, to step up the negotiation of a Free Trade Area for the Americas (FTAA), with a view to concluding an agreement by 2005. The Summit will take place a few days after the meeting of the trade ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trade unions are deeply concerned about the intensive police and para-military mobilisation in and around Quebec City. We denounce the repression of the right to freedom of expression, of assembly and political protest and the intimidation campaign of which the population is the victim.
We add the trade union voice to the many being raised in the Americas in order to draw attention to the real objectives of these negotiations, which are to expand corporate rights and constrain the powers of governments. Experience has shown that unfettered competition leads to a race to the bottom and free trade agreements deepen poverty and income inequalities within and between countries.
There is ample evidence that workers in the Americas have not benefited from neo-liberal economic policies. The negative impact has been most pronounced on workers in the countries of the South that have been subjected to structural adjustment programmes. These policies have resulted in more precarious forms of working, more unemployment, more poverty and more economic inequalities. Purchasing power has fallen, the environment deteriorated, the downward pressure on workplace protection intensified, and the public sector has been eroded. There have been massive cuts in health care services and education programmes. Inversely, transnational corporations have gained new rights and leverage to undermine or overrule government regulations.
The IMF and its affiliates in the Americas categorically reject an integration model that would protect and widen corporate rights and power and reduce existing already inadequate labour standards, working conditions and workers’ and trade union rights to the lowest common denominator. Integration should be aimed at achieving the highest possible living and working conditions for all and ensuring that the benefits of trade are shared equitably.
Despite the firm commitments for transparency of the process, there is insufficient information on the FTAA talks. Negotiations are carried out behind closed doors and little is known about the specific issues being discussed. Just as in the case of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), the FTAA process is characterised by its lack of openness, which raises strong doubts as to its legitimacy.
If the FTAA is to improve the working conditions of people in the Americas and better protect the environment, as clearly spelled out in the Miami Declaration and Plan of Action (1994), it is our strong belief that negotiators must squarely address labour and social issues which are an inherent part of trade and investment policies. Political commitment on the necessary social dimension to trade has to be translated into meaningful actions. Trade agreements which ignore workers’ economic and social rights cannot and will not work. They will exacerbate inequality within and between countries and regions and fail to create the sustainable economic progress that workers demand.
Moreover, recent financial crises have demonstrated the devastating effects of the blind pursuit of financial liberalisation and unregulated capital flows on economic development strategy. The cost in terms of lost livelihoods, unemployment and poverty has been borne by working people. These crises clearly point to the need for international regulation of financial markets that is designed to restrict financial speculation.
Any FTAA agreement must have sustainable and balanced economic and social development for all countries in the region as its goal.
The 6 million metalworkers in the Americas, united in the International Metalworkers’ Federation, call for:
– The democratisation, transparency and re-orientation of the negotiating process. As legitimate representatives of the working people, unions must be involved in the discussion and have their views fully reflected in any future FTAA agreement.
– The creation of a labour forum in any FTAA institutional structure.
– The incorporation of internationally recognised workers’ rights and environmental protection into the negotiating process and their inclusion in the body of any future hemispheric trade agreement. All the governments of the Americas must adopt and enforce the ILO core labour standards and ratify the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. These core standards are based on the following ILO Conventions:
* freedom of association and the right to organise (Convention No. 87);
* collective bargaining (Convention No. 98);
* elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour (Conventions Nos. 29 and 105);
* abolition of child labour (Conventions Nos. 138 and 182), and
* non-discrimination in respect of employment and occupation (Conventions Nos. 100 and 111).
Workers’ rights are fundamental human rights. Their observance is a fundamental prerequisite for stability, equity and, above all, a true expression of democracy which the Heads of States and Governments of the Americas have committed to strengthen and promote in the Miami Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action.
– The establishment of appropriate enforcement mechanisms to ensure that labour and environmental standards are effectively adhered to.
– The rejection of any investor-to-state dispute resolution mechanism in any FTAA agreement and any expanded definition of expropriation as currently exists in NAFTA chapter 11.
– The acknowledgement of the huge inequalities which exist between the countries involved, in terms of economic, social and technological development, and responsible policies to deal with these asymmetries. In this context, external debt owed by developing countries to the developed countries in the region must be cancelled.
– Effective rules which tax foreign exchange transactions and curb reckless speculation. International financial regulation is critical to stable, sustainable economic development, internationally and in the region.
– Finance and investment regulations to benefit the people of the Americas, not just the narrow interests of investors. A model has to be developed which includes clear corporate accountability rules to balance any rights granted to investors.
We believe that international trade can contribute to improving workers’ living standards and promoting equitable development only if workers’ rights, the environment and other critical issues are made central elements in international negotiations and incorporated into the core of any future FTAA.
Unions will continue to fight. We will continue to mobilise and make our voices heard until labour and social issues are adequately addressed. International trade can no longer be the exclusive preserve of a political elite and big business. It is time for a new international trading system based on democracy, sustainability and balanced development. Metalworkers will continue to push for trading rules which are fair to workers and help foster equitable economic and social development for all.

GENEVA/KOREA REP: On April 17, on this website, the IMF reported the brutal assault a few days earlier by Korean riot police on Daewoo trade union members who were attempting to enter their union office. A court order had given them the legal right to be there. They were lying down, defenseless, as police clubbed them.
Reacting to this latest attack on trade unionists and on trade union rights, Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, has written a strong letter of protest to Kim Dae-jung, the South Korean president, as follows:
“Last week I wrote to you to urge you to include Korean trade unions in a dialogue to find a solution to the problems of the Daewoo Motor company. Even as this letter was on its way to you, Korean police attacked workers and trade union representatives trying to enter their offices at the Daewoo Motor company.
“Korean courts had upheld their right to do so, but in spite of this, the police violently attempted to prevent them from exercising their rights. This is an affront to international labour rights, the laws of your land, and even your own declared policies. As a result of this illegal police behaviour, we received reports that more than 40 workers were injured and 20 arrested.
“We protest the role of your government and its police forces in this incident in the strongest possible terms and demand that all those responsible be speedily punished. In addition, we insist that your government protect the workers’ rights to enter their office and to demonstrate in support of their demands.
“We call on you to release all workers and trade union leaders arrested in connection with this most recent incident, as well as those still detained as a result of earlier incidents at Daewoo Motors.
“Finally, the excessive police presence can only add to the tensions; consequently, we urge you to reduce the deployment of security forces and begin the dialogue we urged you to undertake in our preceding letter. Let me recall to you that our organisation has 193 affiliates around the world who represent 23 million workers. We will bring these matters to their attention and ask them to support the workers at Daewoo Motor by all appropriate means.”
The IMF would request its affiliates to protest this latest attack on trade union rights. Letters can be addressed to:
President Kim Dae-Jung
Chung Wa Dae 1 Chung-ku
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Fax: (82/2) 770-0202
Contact information for Korean embassies worldwide can be found by clicking here.
Kindly send copies of all correspondence to the IMF and to the:
Korean Metal Workers’ Federation
Fax: (82/2) 712-4253
E-mail: [email protected]

KOREA, REP: The IMF was shocked to learn of the particularly violent police assault on members of the Daewoo Motors Workers’ Union on April 10. Riot police attacked when over 300 members of the union, who were accompanied by their lawyer holding a copy of a court order, tried to enter their union office, located within the Pupyong plant of Daewoo Motors, in Inchon.
What ensued was incredible police brutality and disregard for law, legal rights and human rights. When the police rampage ended, the street was literally strewn with the injured. A total of 43 unionists had to be taken to the hospital with broken arms and legs, serious head wounds, one person was almost blinded and another had a perforated lung.
Following the Daewoo management’s forcible removal of striking workers from the Daewoo union office on February 19, 2001, and closing it down, the Inchon District Court has now ruled that union members should not be obstructed from entering the union office to conduct legitimate union activities and that members of the industrial federation or national confederation to which the union belongs – the KMWF and the KCTU – could enter the union office to provide support for legitimate union activities.
According to a Reuters news report of today (April 17), the incident has drawn very strong criticism from the public and the opposition party, apparently forcing the government to fire the police chiefs of Pupyong and Inchon.