From: •••@••.•••
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 13:25:30 -0300
Subject: (es/en) Nuevo Orden Mundial // New World Order
TEXT IN ENGLISH BELOW
Nuevo Orden Mundial // New World Order
Sí así le tratan a Massachusetts,
¡ imagínese cómo tratarán a América Latina !
If they treat Massachusetts in such a way,
one can imagine how they will treat Latin America !
La conferencia tendrá lugar en Londres el 26 de septiembre. Las direcciones
para inscripción y obtención de informaciones sobre la OMC / WTO
(Organización Mundial del Comercio) y la "Rueda" son:
<http://www.onelist.com> y <www.citizen.org/pctrade/gattwto/wto-book.pdf>
Saludos / Saudações de
Roberto Magellan
###########################################################
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 Organization: ATTAC
Subject: [ATTAC] TURN AROUND THE WTO conference and leaflet
X-Mailing-List: <•••@••.•••> archive/latest/369
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Keene <•••@••.•••>
Sent: mercredi 28 juillet 1999 22:09
Subject: TURN AROUND THE WTO conference and leaflet
The text beneath is on the flier I am currently sending out. If you would
like any hard copies of the flier to distribute, please contact me.
Side 1 TURN AROUND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION
Do you want to eat American beef treated with artificial growth
hormones which could give you cancer? The World Trade Organisation
thinks you should, and now their panel of trade bureaucrats, which
always meets in secret, has decided that the USA and Canada can impose
trade sanctions on the EU as punishment for protecting the health of
their citizens by banning hormone treated beef. We don't even need
the extra beef these growth hormones produce; their only function is
to increase the profits of the corporations manufacturing them. The
WTO always puts the interests of multinational corporations first,
ahead of those of women, the environment, workers, consumers,
developing countries and animal welfare. It also threatens action to
safeguard human rights. In 1996 the State of Massachusetts, appalled
at Burma's human rights record, passed a law to discourage state
government purchases from companies doing business there. The law
was identical to one passed in the 1980s to support the anti-apartheid
movement in South Africa, but the EU and Japan, encouraged by the
multinational corporations who were losing business because of it,
have challenged the law at the WTO. If the WTO had been around in the
1980s, Nelson Mandela would probably still be in prison.
Since it was set up in 1995, the WTO has failed to live up to its
promise that increasing free trade would lead to increased prosperity
for everyone. Instead it has caused enormous increases in inequality
and job insecurity. Now there are plans to increase the WTO's powers
still further, in a new round of negotiations due to start next year,
the so-called Millennium Round. WE MUST STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING.
Instead, there should be an assessment of the damage the WTO has
already caused, carried out with the full participation of civil
society in an open and transparent way, then a change to the WTO rules
so that they operate for the benefit of citizens and the environment
instead of multinational corporations. If we want democracy in the
next Millennium rather than corporate rule, we need radical reform of
the WTO now.
NO NEW ROUND - TURN AROUND!
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE THIS LEAFLET
Side 2 WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP THE MILLENNIUM ROUND
Get informed Subscribe to the StopWTORound email list. Go to
http://www.onelist.com. In the space beneath By Name or Subject, type
StopWTORound.
Get Public Citizen's booklet on the WTO from the internet at
www.citizen.org/pctrade/gattwto/wto-book.pdf. If you don't have
access to the internet contact Chris Keene (see bottom of page) for a
copy.
Spread the Word Few people have heard about the proposed Millennium
Round, so tell everyone you know about it - your family, friends,
neighbours, workmates, trade union, religious organisation, etc
Write to your MP Tell them your concerns about the plans to increase
the powers of the WTO and the problems it has caused already. Tell
them there should be no new round of negotiations. Ask them to demand
an assessment of the WTO's effects and then a change to its rules to
repair any damage it is found to have done. And ask them to bring
this to the attention of the Prime Minister.
Join the ANTI-GLOBALISATION NETWORK Contact Chris Keene (see bottom of
page). It is free, but I would appreciate a donation of £5 per year
to cover postage and production of our newsletter, unless you have
email, in which case just send me your email address.
Come to the TURN AROUND THE WTO conference Sunday 26 September, 11am -
5pm. Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Chair: Hilary
Wainwright (Editor of Red Pepper) Speakers: Caroline Lucas MEP (Green
Party); Ronnie Hall (Friends of the Earth); Claire Melamed (Christian
Aid). To register contact Chris Keene
Printed and published by Chris Keene, 90 The Parkway, Canvey Island
SS8 0AE. Tel 01268 682820 Fax 01268 514164 Email
•••@••.•••
**********************************************************************
From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Fw: OWC-APPEAL TO HEADS OF STATE AT WTO SUMMIT
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 00:13:20 -0400
----------
From: Alan Benjamin <•••@••.•••>
Subject: OWC-APPEAL TO HEADS OF STATE AT WTO SUMMIT
Date: Friday, August 06, 1999 7:01 PM
OWC-APPEAL TO HEADS OF STATE AT WTO SUMMIT
*****
OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE OF WORKERS
In Defense of Trade Union
Independence & Democratic Rights
(c/o S.F. Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St.#203,
San Francisco, CA 94109. Tel: 415- 641-8616
Fax: 415-440-9297 Email: •••@••.•••)
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE
RATIFICATION, IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT
OF THE ILO CONVENTIONS!
*****
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
We are writing to urge your support for the
"Open Letter to the Heads of State Attending the
World Trade Organization Summit in Seattle."
The Open Letter [see below] calls on these government
leaders to ratify, implement and fully enforce the
Conventions of the International Labor Organization
(ILO).
Over the past 80 years, the ILO has adopted 176
Conventions under the constant pressure of the
mass movement of workers and their allies. When
ratified by a particular country, the substance of
the ILO convention must become the law of the
land.
These ILO Conventions represent a tremendous
gain for the workers¹ movement. They have set
the standard for labor rights worldwide. The
binding constraints for national labor legislation in
the ILO ratification procedure, in particular, make
them both a reference point and a rallying point
for the independent trade union movement in
every country.
Beginning in 1991, the IMF and WTO called for a
"reform" of the ILO. IMF top officials said the ILO
conventions had to be made more "flexible" and
more "adapted" to the needs of the global
economy in the new millennium. It was necessary
to create a "less constraining framework for
ensuring international labor standards."
In 1994, top officials in the WTO pressed further,
explaining that the countries that had ratified and
implemented the ILO conventions on labor rights
were at a "comparative disadvantage" in relation
to countries that had not done so. It was
necessary, they said, to move toward the adoption
of a new ILO charter on fundamental workers¹
rights that could outline general principles
without imposing on the ratifying countries the
mandatory and legal constraints required by the
adoption of ILO conventions.
And this is precisely what happened in June 1998
with the adoption by the ILO of a new "Declaration
of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work."
The principles and rights contained in the
declaration became disconnected from the
ratification process. This means a country can
adopt these principles ‹ even though it has not
ratified any of the ILO conventions ‹ without the
requirement that these principles find their way
into national laws.
Not surprisingly, the new ILO declaration has been
hailed loudly by Clinton and the leaders of the G8.
The Open Letter issued by the Organizing
Committee of the Open World Conference in
Defense of Trade Union Independence and
Democratic Rights (OWC) demands that the
existing ILO Conventions become the law of the
land in every country. It rejects government or
corporate pledges to support hollow principles and
rights detached from concrete implementation in
national labor legislation.
The Open Letter also rejects support for watered-
down agreements that would supplant the existing
ILO Conventions. This is a reference to the 1999
ILO declaration opposing the "worst forms of child
labor" ‹ a document which Clinton supports and
has vowed to take to the U.S. Congress for
ratification.
This new agreement is presented by its defenders
as a "bridge" to ensure wider acceptance of ILO
Convention 138, which bans child labor altogether.
In reality, it is being deployed by governments
beholden to the corporate agenda to legalize the
"least offensive" forms of child labor. In Europe,
for example, the European Union is projecting
lowering the ban on child labor to 12 years of age
on the basis of this new agreement.
Another ILO Convention slated to disappear
before long is ILO Convention 103, which deals
with maternity leaves for working women.
The OWC Open Letter concludes by calling
specifically on Bill Clinton and the U.S.
government, who are hosting the Seattle WTO
Summit, to ratify and implement these ILO
conventions.
Though the U.S. government claims to champion
workers¹ rights at work, in reality it has an
"appalling record on workers¹ rights" and "one of
the worst ratification records [of ILO Conventions]
in the world." This was the conclusion reached by
the International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU) in a 15-page report published July
14, 1999. [See attached ICFTU report summary.]
<snip>
We hope you will endorse this appeal and help
circulate it widely in your union, workplace
and/or community organization. Please contact us
if you wish more information about this campaign.
In Solidarity,
Organizing Committee,
Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union
Independence and Democratic Rights
OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Jack Henning, Secretary-Treasurer-Emeritus,
California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO);
Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer, San
Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO); Baldemar
Velasquez, President, Farm Labor Organizing
Committee (FLOC-AFL-CIO); Mya Shone, Co-
Coordinator OWC and member OPEIU Local 3; Ed
Rosario, Co-Coordinator OWC, Coordinator WHC
and President, San Francisco LCLAA; Daniel
Gluckstein, Coordinator, International Liaison
Committee for a Workers¹ International (ILC);
Patrick Hébert, General Secretary, CGT-Force
Ouvrière Labor Federation (Loire-
Atlantique/France); Nancy Wohlforth,
Secretary-Treasurer, OPEIU Local 3 (AFL-CIO);
Frank Martin del Campo, National Executive
Committee, Labor Council for Latin American
Advancement (LCLAA); Alan Benjamin,
Assistant Coordinator WHC, member OPEIU Local 3
and SF LCLAA)
**********
OPEN LETTER TO ALL HEADS OF STATE
Attending the World Trade Organization
Summit in Seattle:
The Conventions of the International Labor
Organization (ILO) Must Be Ratified,
Implemented and Fully Enforced in Every
Country!
Dear Heads of State and Government:
We, the undersigned trade union leaders, union
activists and supporters of labor rights the world
over, address you this Open Letter on the occasion
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Summit in
Seattle in November 1999.
In recent months, U.S. President Bill Clinton and
the heads of state of the G8 countries have issued
countless declarations professing the need to
uphold workers¹ rights in all "free trade" pacts and
to put a "human face on the global economy."
As trade unionists and supporters of labor
rights, we have reached the conclusion ‹ based on
years of bitter experience ‹ that the "free trade"
agreements and Structural Adjustment Programs
promoted by the WTO, as well as by the IMF and
World Bank:
o are an assault upon our rights and upon our
working and living conditions, and stand as
barriers to social progress and democracy,
o elevate the multinational corporations and
their interests above those of the peoples of
each country,
- have, at their core, the aim of destroying our
public services, collective bargaining
agreements, and national labor codes,
- are an assault on our right to employment,
insofar as they destroy jobs for the many
while creating work for only a few,
- are a means through which the governments
and employers seek to undermine the
independence of trade unions that stand for
the defense of working people and our
interests.
As trade unionists and activists, we
consider that any government leader that
today professes to uphold and defend
workers¹ rights must begin by ensuring
that his or her own country ratifies,
implements and fully enforces the
conventions of the International Labor
Organization (ILO).
The ILO, which was founded in 1919, has
codified into 176 ILO Conventions the gains won
through struggle by the workers¹ movement over
the past century. When a country ratifies a
Convention of the ILO, it must bring its own
national legislation into conformity with the ILO
convention. The substance of the ILO convention
therefore becomes the law of the land.
These ILO Conventions have set the standard
for labor rights worldwide. On every continent
they have laid the basis for national labor
legislation and labor codes ‹ all which are under
assault today in the name of "globalization."
In June 1998 ‹ under pressure from the WTO
and IMF to create a "less constraining framework
for ensuring international labor standards" ‹ the
ILO adopted a new "Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work." The principles and
rights promoted in this declaration correspond to
seven of the existing ILO Conventions. On June 20,
1999, the G8 Summit in Cologne, Germany, issued
a communiqué pledging to "promote effective
implementation" of this new ILO declaration.
We, the undersigned, state categorically: If this
ILO "Declaration on Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work" is to be of any value to working
people the world over, the seven corresponding
Conventions of the ILO must be ratified,
implemented and enforced fully by every
government participating in the WTO Summit in
Seattle!
These seven core ILO Conventions are:
1. ILO Convention 87 concerning freedom of
association and the protection of the right to
organize (1948)
2. ILO Convention 98 concerning the right to
organize and to bargain collectively (1949)
3. ILO Convention 29 on forced labor (1930)
4. ILO Convention 105 banning forced labor
(1957)
5. ILO Convention 100 on equal wages for work
of equal value (1951)
6. ILO Convention 111 on discrimination in
employment (1958)
7. ILO Convention 138 on the abolition of child
labor (1973).
We will not accept any substitutes for the
existing conventions of the ILO. We will not accept
support for hollow principles and rights at work
detached from concrete implementation in
national labor legislation. We will not accept any
watered-down agreements.
Finally, we wish to issue a special appeal to the
government that is hosting the November 1999
WTO Summit ‹ that is, the U.S. government:
U.S. officials proclaim loudly in every
international arena that the United States is a
staunch defender of workers¹ rights. Bill Clinton
addressed the yearly assembly of the ILO in June
1999, where he trumpeted his support for the
new ILO "Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work."
But the truth of the matter is that the U.S.
record on workers¹ rights is abysmal.
On July 14, 1999, the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) issued
a 15-page report that fully documents the
"massive, ongoing, and appalling violations in the
United States of the right to freedom of association
and the right to organize."
"The United States," the report continues, "has
ratified only one of the seven core labor standards
‹ ILO Convention 105 opposing forced labor. ...
This is one of the worst ratification records in the
world."
The ICFTU report reviews in great detail how
the core ILO conventions ‹ including those on
child labor, forced labor, discrimination in the
workplace, and the right to strike ‹ are violated
daily in the United States. The ICFTU report
concludes with these words:
"The United States needs to take a series of far-
reaching measures to establish genuine respect for
core labor standards in the United States. In areas
of compelling violations, ILO Conventions 87
(Freedom of Association) and 98 (Right to
Organize) should be ratified and the country¹s
laws brought into conformity with these
Conventions, because major reforms are needed to
protect workers who try to organize and bargain
collectively from employer interference and
intimidation.
"The United States should also ratify
Conventions 100 and 111 against Discrimination,
Convention 138 on Child Labor, and Convention 29
on Forced labor, and work to put these
Conventions into full effect."
We, the undersigned, fully concur with this
ICFTU report and its conclusions. Any government
that pretends to uphold workers¹ rights must
begin by ratifying the Conventions of the ILO!
*****
[This Open Letter was prepared by the
Organizing Committee of the Open World
Conference in Defense of Trade Union
Independence and Democratic Rights (OWC),
which will be held in San Francisco in February of
2000 with the participation of trade unionists and
activists from 86 countries.
[The call to organize an international campaign to
ratify the ILO conventions was first issued by the
Seventh Annual Meeting of Trade Unionists in
Defense of the ILO Conventions, held in June 1999
in Geneva at the time of the yearly assembly of
the ILO. The meeting was convened by the heads
of 17 African trade union federations and the
International Liaison Committee for a Workers¹
International (ILC). The ILC is a co-sponsor of the
OWC, along with the San Francisco Labor Council
(AFL-CIO) and the Continuations Committee of the
Western Hemisphere Workers¹ Conference Against
NAFTA and Privatizations (WHC).
[For more information about the Open World
Conference, write to OWC, c/o S.F. Labor Council
(AFL-CIO), 1188 Franklin St. #203, San Francisco
94109, or tel. (415) 641-8616, or fax (415) 440-
9297, or email <•••@••.•••>.]
*****
Initial list of Signatories:
Organizing Committee of the OWC:
Jack Henning, Secretary- Treasurer-Emeritus,
California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO);
Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer,
San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO); Baldemar
Velasquez, President, Farm Labor Organizing
Committee (FLOC-AFL-CIO); Mya Shone, Co-
Coordinator OWC and member OPEIU Local 3; Ed
Rosario, Co-Coordinator OWC, Coordinator WHC
and President, San Francisco LCLAA; Daniel
Gluckstein, Coordinator, International Liaison
Committee for a Workers¹ International (ILC);
Patrick Hébert, General Secretary, CGT-Force
Ouvrière Labor Federation (Loire-
Atlantique/France); Nancy Wohlforth,
Secretary-Treasurer, OPEIU Local 3 (AFL-CIO);
Frank Martin del Campo, National Executive
Committee, Labor Council for Latin American
Advancement (LCLAA); Alan Benjamin,
Assistant Coordinator WHC, member OPEIU Local 3
and SF LCLAA.
*****
ENDORSEMENT FORM:
PLEASE ADD MY NAME TO THE LIST OF SIGNATORIES
OF THIS OPEN LETTER TO THE HEADS OF STATE
NAME
EMAIL
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
ZIP
UNION/ORG:
TITLE (for id. only)
(Return to OWC, c/o S.F. Labor Council (AFL-
CIO), 1188 Franklin St. #203, San Francisco 94109,
or email: <owc.igc.org>)
*****
ATTACHMENT NO. 1
SUMMARY OF THE ICFTU REPORT ON WORKERS¹
RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES
<snip>
**************************************************************
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 10:31:08 -0400
Sender: World Order Conference List <•••@••.•••>
From: Helmut Burkhardt <•••@••.•••>
Subject: WTO
Appended is some information on the next round of Negociations of the World
Trade Organization. I is taken from the informative Gallon Newsletter:
THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment
506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec H3Y 2R5
Ph. , Fax (514) 369- 3282
Email •••@••.•••, Website http://www.gallon.elogik.com
Vol. 3, No. 23, August 1, 1999
...... snip
INTEREST IS GROWING REGARDING THE WTO MEETING IN
SEATTLE IN SEPTEMBER 1999
The WTO's 3rd Ministerial Conference, scheduled to be held 30
November to 3 December 1999 in Seattle, Washington, will launch
the next major world trade negotiations due to start early in 2000.
Ministers and other senior officials from over 150 governments are
expected to attend the four-day meeting at the Washington State
Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. At the last WTO Ministerial
Conference held in May 1998 in Geneva, Switzerland, Ministers
established a process under the WTO General Council to prepare for
the 3rd Ministerial Conference. This process, which has been underway
since September 1998 in Geneva, calls on the General Council to submit
recommendations regarding the WTO's work programme to Ministers,
enabling them to take decisions in Seattle. Based on the General Council's
recommendations, Ministers will announce the organization and management
of the WTO's work programme, including the scope, structure and time-
frames of negotiations to liberalize international trade in sectors such as
agriculture and services. With the count down to Seattle Internet Sites
are springing up like mushrooms. Here are number of the websites,
World Trade Organization website at http://www.wto.org
WTO Seattle at http://www.wto.org/wto/minist/seatmin.htm
Seattle Business welcomes WTO at http://www.wtoseattle.org
WTO Millennium Round by Green Party http://www.millennium-round.org
Ontario PIRG's MAI-not Project website at http://mai.flora.org
Peoples Global Action (PGA) website at http://www.agp.org
PGA in Seattle http://members.aol.com/mwmorrill/pga.htm
People For Fair Trade website at http://www.peopleforfairtrade.org
Public Citizens Global Trade Watch http://www.tradewatch.org
Seattle Citizen Committee website at http://www.seattlewto.org
Third World Network website http://www.twnside.org.sg/souths/twn/trade.htm
BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) http://www.snafu.de/~bund or
www.bund.net
Friends of the Earth Europe website http://www.foeeurope.org
Trade, Environment and Sustainability http://www.foe.co.uk/foei/tes
Critical Mass, Seattle website at http://www.oz.net/~nic/cm.html
.... snip
Helmut (Ken) Burkhardt
Adjunct Professor of Physics
Ryerson Polytechnic University
Toronto ON Canada M5B 2K3
Tel: 416-979-5000 x 7246
Fax: 416-698-1214
Email: •••@••.•••
