Asian
Social Forum
Globalization
And Labour Rights
Sukomal Sen, General Secretary,
All India State Government Employees’ Federation and General
Secretary, Trade Unions International of Public & Allied
Employees.
Globalization, Lberalization,
Adjustment, Privatization. These words have become slogans over
the last 20 years initiated by the International Finance
Capital. These slogans are being implemented in practice by the
IMF-World Bank and the WTO also. The entire capitalist world has
accepted these slogans and the national governments are
implementing it with the support of the indigenous monopoly
capitalists most faithfully.
Their proponents promised a world
of growth. According to the trickle-down effect of a global
economy, not immediately but in the medium term benefits all,
jobs would be created, poverty would retreat and social justice
would emerge through the invisible hands in the market.
International Financial Institutions (IFIs) were put in the
driving seat, preaching the good word. But the magic pill did
not work.
Consider
this; out of the world’s six billion inhabitants, 2,800 million
survive with less than US Dollar 2 a day and 1,200 million of
those have only half that amount. The average income in the 20
richest countries is 37 times that of the 20 poorest countries.
The stock market value of the 10 largest multinational companies
is higher than the gross domestic products of 150 of the 189
member countries of the United Nations. More than 130 million
children do not attend schools and more than 250 million
children are at work for most of the day. Africa spends on the
reimbursement of its huge of its foreign debt twice the amount
it spends on health.
These figures do not come from
trade unions or disgruntled non-governmental organizations. They
come from IFIs themselves. They clearly show that something is
gravely wrong for the poor, with the way the global economy is
left to operate at the present time. Globalization in terms of
its results, has proved to be veritably anti-worker and
anti-people. It also affects the national sovereignty of the
nations since the decision making authority on economic and
labour issues hardly remains with the national governments, it
basically lies with the World Bank-IMF-WTO and its imperialist
policy makers
Incorporating social concerns and
core labour standards and labour rights into the policies and
operations of the IFIs has been the central theme of many a
international symposia, and trade unions all over the world.
The World Bank and MNCs in its
operation of gobalization agenda, are repeatedly emphasizing on
flexibility of labour in the interest of the international
finance capital to multiply their profits by over-intensive
exploitation of the labour.
Flexibility of labour in simple
terms means irregular employment instead of regular one,
contract and casual labour without any job security and longer
working hours. It all leads to Hire and Fire policy
totally divesting the workers from any trade union protection.
The World Bank and the International Finance capital and the
indigenous monopolies are hoarsely preaching for deregulation of
labour market which means depriving the labour from all trade
union rights and protection. In India, this mad drive of
privatization not only of public sector units and financial
institutions but also of government departments both at the
centre and the states including the state public sector units
are being resorted to. Moreover, drastic downsizing of the
government departments is throwing out huge number of employees
without any alternative employment. This means these retrenched
employees loses all rights to a job and its benefits. They are
deprived of basic rights of eking out a human living of minimum
standards.
But the International working
class movement did not accept this disastrous situation lying
down. Almost in every capitalist country in some form or other
the working class is seeking to resist this inhuman offensive of
capital. Its inspiring manifestation was witnessed in Seattle in
November 1999 and thereafter it has been continuing unabated
rather with more vigour and intensification in South and North
America, in Europe, in Australia, in some countries of Africa
and in many Asian countries including India. This
anti-globalization struggles came to a peak in July 2001 in
Italy when tens of thousands of workers assembled in the city
of Genoa and faced police bullets. And a worker, Carlos Guillani
embraced martyrdom. In fact various countries are rocked with
militant struggles of millions of workers, students, youths,
women, environmentalists, NGOs and people from various political
affiliations or no affiliations.
Shocked with this incessant waves
of protest struggles the MNCs are now raising the slogan of a
‘trade union free world’. The international capitalism is afraid
of the existence of these trade unions and their mighty
struggles considering it as an obstacle in their way of
unfettered labour exploitation. The MNCs, IFIs and the
indigenous monopolies are pressurizing the national governments
for so called ‘Labour Reform’ meaning thereby amending the
existing labour laws drastically curtailing or even snatching
away the trade union rights of the workers which they earn with
tremendous sacrifice of themselves and their forefathers.
This attack on the labour rights
of the workers is concommittant with the rise of the phenomenon
of neo-liberal globalization and is growing intensification. The
ferocity of labour exploitation for multiplication of profits
necessitated the international capital to disarm the workers
from their rights to protest and struggle. They want a pliable
and helpless labour force who should accept the ferocity of
exploitation without any grudge. There lies the genesis of
international finance capital’s desire for a ‘trade union free
world’.
Faithfully acting on the dictates
of the IFIs, the MNCs and the indigenous monopoly capital, the
national governments in the capitalist world are desperately
trying to change the labour laws some times lock, stock and
barrel. In some countries it has happened. For example, in South
Korea in 1996 the labour laws were drastically changed to
deprive the workers of their right to protest and to force the
to meekly accept the exploitation of capital. And that is why in
Novemberr,1996 the world witnessed the historic resistance
movement of the South Korean workers of all categories right
from administrative workers down to the industrial workers,
teachers of all grades and technical personnel including the
engineers. The strike continued for three weeks paralyzing the
economic and the normal life of the entire South Korea. On 16th
April 2002 Italian workers went on a countrywide strike in
protest against anti-worker and retrograde amendments of the
trade union rights. The amendments even sought to ban the basic
rights of the workers and the right to strike. In Japan on 25th
December, 2001 the Japanese government enforced “Outlines of
Reform in the Public Servants’ System” which seek for drastic
changes of the system and proposing a new system in accordance
with its traditional policy of imposing restrictions on public
servants’ basic rights. To revert to the situation of South
Korea, the South Korean government is suppressing the free trade
union movement and over the last 4 and half has imprisoned more
than 700 trade union activists including Dan Byung-ho, the
president of the Korean Confederation of Trade unions . On
another front, the government is blatantly denying trade union
rights to government workers. The South Korean union busting
designs were witnessed on 23rd March 2002 when
thousands of riot police stormed a university auditorium in
Seoul where the inaugural session of Korean Government Employees
Federation was being held disrupting the meeting and arresting
hundreds of delegates and observers. In Pakistan, basic trade
union rights like a strike in a factory is virtually banned and
any militant trade union activity invites dismissal and
imprisonment for the leading activists. In fact, Pakistan trade
unions are appealing for international solidarity in their
struggle against such suppression of trade union rights. Human
Rights and Labour Acts violation in Colombia are amongst the
worst in the world and perhaps Colombia is the world’s dangerous
country for terrorism. “According to the Escuela Nacional
Sindical, a total of 184 union activists were killed during
last year”. Vast majority of victims are public sector workers,
mainly health care workers, public utility workers and municipal
workers and teachers. Plan Colombia, a US strategy designed to
extend economic exploitation through systematic military,
political and cultural aggression as attempts to further
privatize public services are leading to the brutal suppression
of trade union rights and trade union activists of that
country.
While exploitative employers have
always used the threat of firings or deportation to stop
undocumented workers from organizing, in the aftermath of 11
September, 2001 in the United States, workers faced even greater
risk for loosing their jobs for standing up for their rights. In
perhaps the least noticed anti-emigrant attack since September
11, 2001 an estimated one hundred thousand low-wage workers have
lost their jobs in a flurry of identification verification
activities stemming from letters sent out by the social security
administration. This is the plight of the emigrant workers who
are traditionally bereft of any labour rights.
Now coming down to India, the
government of India which is over zealously and very faithfully
implementing the dictates of World Bank, IMF, WTO, the
International Finance Capital and their accomplishes - the
indigenous monopoly, have been for the last few years
desperately trying for amending the traditional labour laws such
as Indian Trade Union Act, 1926 which gives their workers right
to trade union and to strike and the Industrial Dispute Act of
1947 and 48. Already they have amended some clauses of these act
much to the detriment to the rights of the workers. In 1999 the
BJP led NDA Government of India appointed the 2nd
National Labour Commission filled up with his own people who are
to faithfully follow the ideological dictates of the ruling
party, to look into the various aspects of the existing labour
laws and recommend the changes desired for pre-exploitation of
labour by the International and indigenous monopoly Capital. The
Commission was asked among others to review labour laws and
globalization and its impact. As is known, from its very
beginning the major part of the trade union movement of India
opposed the terms and reference of the Commission which were
detrimental to the labour.
Confirming the anticipation of the
trade unions when the report was submitted to the Government
its anti-labour thrust became very clear beyond anybody’s
doubt. The anti labour thrust of the Commission are revealed
from the following aspects of recommendations :
-
Freedom to hire and fire to all
establishments irrespective of size of employment
-
Freedom to close down all
establishments employing up to 300 workers
-
Varying rates of compensation to
workers, rewarding the employers who manage to have their
units declared sick
-
Provisions of section 9A of the
Industrial Disputes Act relating to change in conditions of
service diluted and rendered practically ineffective in favour
of employers.
-
Green signal for unfettered
freedom to contract out non-core jobs completely and core jobs
also subject to some spurious limitations.
-
No to industry level wage boards
-
No secret ballot for selection
of bargaining agent
-
Secret Ballot MUST for strikes.
Open ended right to Government for politicizing and
illegalising strikes.
-
Punitive prescriptions for
illegal strike
-
‘Go Slow’, ‘Work to Rule’ termed
misconduct
-
A façade of equating lock out
to strike
-
Stripping majority of the trade
unions in the country, which could not get recognition by the
employers, off almost all their rights
-
Curtailment of holidays
-
‘8 hour work day’ concept
tampered with
-
Separate law for small
industries employing below 20
-
Supervisors irrespective of
salary and employees in higher bracket of salaries to be
outside the purview of labour laws.
-
Allow wide spread registration
of Membership Based Organisations’ of women workers under the
TU Act, which in effect will divide the trade union movement
on gender lines.
It is not the purpose here to make
a detailed analysis of the 2nd Labour Commission’s
Report but it can be concluded that this report is in full
conformity with the desire of the International Finance Capital
and Indian Monopolies to deprive the workers of their rights to
protest and resist the fierce exploitation, they are subjected
to, because this is an obstacle in the way of unbridled state of
Capital for reaping super-profit.
Conclusion
Thus the World’s working men and women in the 21 Century are
facing the most difficult challenges posed by the neo-liberal
globalization and the present onward march of International
Finance Capital. Never before in the history of trade union
movement workers faced so much of ferocity of exploitation and
attack by the International Capitalism on the trade union
rights. Today, whatever trade union rights the workers earned
through last hundred years of struggle and sacrifice are
threatened to be lost by the offensive of global capital. Even,
the eight hours’ works earned through the heroic episode and
martyrdom of the Chicago workers in 1986 are getting lost by the
greedy attack of capital for more and more profit by forcing
longer working hours. Whatever the social security benefits and
the rights to enjoy a dignified living earned by the
International Working Class, is in the process of being vanished
in the wake of globalization and its offensive. The neo-liberal
globalization is inseparable from the global capital’s attack on
labour rights. So it is the duty of the working class at the
national and international level to mobilize, strengthen and
expand their unity for taking up this challenge to decisively
defeat the global attack of global capital both on their
economic conditions and labour rights. And that struggle has to
be conducted both nationally and internationally because the
essence of the attack is international, though implemented
nationally. |
