REPORT OF THE AFL HUMAN RIGHTS & INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE

The 2001-2003 Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee's mandate from the last Convention had a varied and broad focus. In order to meet its objectives the Committee either organized or participated in a number of activities that we felt best reflected the intent of those resolutions. The following is a listing of those events:

• Day of Action - a workshop dealing with the Aftermath of September 11th
• Refugees and immigrant postcard campaign
• G-8 Protest at Kananaskis
• Solidarity Network Assembly
• Shaw Centre strike
• Leafleting the Bay and Zellers in Edmonton and Calgary
• Letters on behalf of Amnesty International
• Articles for Labour News
• Development of a diversity policy for AFL Schools, Conferences, Workshops
• Human Rights & International Solidarity Committee brochure
• Global Visions Festival
• Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation (CMEF) Conference
• CLC Workers of Colour & Aboriginal Workers Conference
• Aboriginal and Labour Issues Workshop - Building Bridges& Sharing Struggles
• Guest speaker: Marcelo Sabuc Xalcut, a Guatemalan Organizer from a Coffee Plantation Cooperative
• Guest speaker: Viviana Diaz, President, Association of the Relatives of the Disappeared in Chile
• Alberta Trade Union Task Force to Mexico

Further, the Committee used these events to educate and mobilize our membership as well as to develop links with the broader community. The corporate agenda of free trade and globalization necessitates the need to build on theses partnerships both within Alberta and Canada and throughout the international community.

The following is a broad outline of some our activities:

SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001

September 11th, 2001 brought out the worst in a lot of people. Racism became semi-acceptable. The same is true for religious bigotry. Large groups of people were labelled terrorists because of the violent acts of a few.

Many people, including our own members, were the targets of hate crimes, simply because of their ethnicity or religion. Others were the victims of these same hate crimes because of the mistaken belief that they were part of some "terrorist" race or religion. Immigrant and immigration policies are under constant attack, suggesting that every one of them is a terrorist.

In typical knee-jerk fashion, governments introduced restrictive and repressive legislation. Definitions of terrorism were so broad that virtually everyone could have been declared a criminal. Racial profiling has become commonplace.

The United States (U.S.) government has declared a war on terror and those who support it, completely ignoring the fact that it was the (U.S.) who supplied, trained and supported many of these groups. Their foreign policy has a nasty habit of turning allies into enemies.

Unions met these issues head on and should be congratulated for doing so. The AFL also recognizes the importance of dealing with these issues and held a Day of Action Workshop on November 9, 2001 (11-9).

What is next if racism and religious bigotry have become acceptable? Will there be a full assault on other rights or on the rights of so-called "special interest" groups? We have condemned terrorist acts and the ugliness that resulted from them. We must continue to be vigilant and speak out whenever we witness these injustices, whether it's our members, our friends, our families, our governments or even complete strangers. Our silence only empowers ignorance.

FREE TRADE

Free trade continues to dominate the economic and political agenda of the Americas and the rest of the world. Over the last several years we have witnessed the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in North America and now the extension of free trade to the rest of the Americas with the exception of Cuba.

The Free Trade Areas of the Americas (FTAA) is part of the economic and political agenda of the Bush administration and of big corporations. The FTAA is the centerpiece of the neo-liberal policies that have devastated the economies of all of the Latin American countries. The preparatory work for the free trade agenda was done under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank

The recipes of the IMF and World Bank are recipes of disaster. In essence they impose austerity measures on governments, such as paying off the external debts, reducing the size of government by privatizing the public ownership of enterprises such as telephone, electricity, water and even education, healthcare and transportation. This in turn results in: unemployment, underemployment, cheap labour, hunger, malnutrition, lack of health services and education.

Big corporations are taking advantage of cheap labour in every single country on the continent, establishing free trade zones or Maquiladoras. Political and military wars are some other shapes that the neo-liberal economic policies take in countries such as Venezuela and Colombia.

In Venezuela the elite are trying to topple the democratically elected government of President Chavez. If they succeed, it will clear the road for free trade. In Colombia, it takes the shape of a war against drug trafficking but paradoxically this is the country where the most trade unionists are killed because of legitimate trade union activities and opposition to the advancement of free trade.

In a parallel way, the European Economic Community has engaged in signing agreements with individual countries such as Mexico and Chile, thus competing with the United States' interest in Latin America.

The fact that the States have conditioned the signing of the FTAA on the exclusion of Cuba is another factor to take into account, especially in light of the economic embargo that Cuba has suffered over the past 40 years. This embargo tampered with the full development of that country. Millions of workers have been impacted by it.

Even though the Bush administration was fast tracked by Congress last year to proceed with the FTAA, there are several obstacles to a quick deal. The U.S. war against Iraq has put the FTAA temporarily on the backburner but that can soon change. Another factor is the profound economic crisis that most of the Latin American countries are suffering. Also, the social justice movement throughout the entire continent is playing a major role in developing strategies to ensure that people, labour and the environment are protected.
Argentina is going through a major economic crisis that is hitting right at the face of the proponents of neo-liberal economic policies. This country has followed the recipes of the IMF and the World Bank and has been buried under the most precarious economic conditions over the past year. Hunger (unknown to the Argentines before) is causing severe damage to its population and in spite of this; Argentina is forced to make regular payments on its external debt, one of the conditions set by the IMF.

Increasingly, most countries are experiencing very difficult times and they can not meet the conditions imposed by the IMF and the World Bank. The threat of not meeting scheduled payments on loans resulting in defaults is always present.

But on the other hand, there are positive signs that workers and ordinary citizens are not giving in to the IMF and World Bank dictates and they are mobilizing themselves through different initiatives within a continental perspective. One of them is the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) where labour, community, social, youth, indigenous, women's and non-governmental organizations converge and mobilize against the neo-liberal policies and against those governments who impose them.

Another positive aspect has been the election of Lula da Silva as President of Brazil, followed by Lucio Gutierrez in Ecuador and the recent inroad made by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in the general election in El Salvador.

Why does labour in Canada need to care about this? The most important reason is because the neo-liberal agenda is directly affecting all of us. NAFTA has been responsible for the entire privatization mood that we see here and in Mexico. The creation of free trade zones (Maquiladoras) pressure good paying jobs in the north and, more and more, big corporations are looking south for cheaper labour.

REFLECTIONS ON THE G-8 SUMMIT

After the World Petroleum Congress, we came to the week of the G-8 Summit. Why in Calgary? Is it because we are the obedient neighbours of the mighty U.S.A? & maybe so. However the activities of the week clearly demonstrated that was not the case.

A few months prior to the Summit we started preparing different activities. From the beginning, people shared creative ideas; newer, concrete ones compared to the worldwide activities of the past. Initially, even when we agreed on objectives there was one thing missing, the political will to unite to unite us as one force. After many meetings, some very positive, others not, we were all marching together with one goal in mind. We were respectful of our differences.

Despite this somewhat organized chaos, the activities that took place were peaceful and very successful. At the counter conference on the G-6B (Greater than 6 billion people), a forum on labour was organized as part of the overall counter conference. Workers from different parts of Canada and around the world met to discuss issues. This forum was very successful. The only drawback was that it primarily attracted labour participants as community and coalition partners went to other workshops. We need to address how we can better integrate organizations and participants into our events in the future. While this may be the reality we face today, it doesn't have to remain that way in the future.

The most democratic expression began when we took to the streets of Calgary. There, in that moment, we were as one - fighting for something that became ours, the right to express our discontent and show that another vision of the world is possible. Intellectuals, students, young and old, labour and people of equity seeking groups united with no fear, hoping that within ourselves emerges a culture of resistance that once and for all unites us in future struggles.

HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE PICKET LINE - THE SHAW STRIKE

The strike of UFCW Local 401 members at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton for a first collective agreement was one of basic human rights for workers. It started May 2, 2002 after a year of stalled negotiations by the employer - Economic Development Edmonton.

Workers had been harassed into working long hours, without overtime pay for many years. Some of the workers were victims of sexual harassment and racial discrimination. Complaints brought before the Alberta Human Rights Commission were not won. As an ethnically diverse group of workers, they took pride in their work. But these workers wanted better working conditions.

The issues of this strike were: benefits, recognition of employee experience, (i.e. seniority), severance language and an anti-harassment policy. Wages were not the issue. Dignity and respect were the human rights issues of this strike. The strikers were solid in their resolve to win a first collective agreement.

During this dispute, the Labour Relations Board found the employer guilty of numerous unfair labour practices. The City of Edmonton refused to involve itself in the dispute and discounted the proposal by the union for binding arbitration to achieve a first collective agreement.

Thanks to the collective pressure applied by the labour movement in support of these strikers and UFCW Local 401, the strike ended 204 days after it started - just prior to Grey Cup Weekend 2002. With one hour to spare before the labour imposed deadline, the Economic Development Edmonton (EDE) accepted an agreement in principal that ended the dispute. The labour demonstration planned to disrupt Grey Cup activities in support of these workers became a victory celebration on the picket line.

TASK FORCE TO MEXICO

The Human Rights & International Solidarity Committee of the Alberta Federation of Labour organized a Union Task Force to return to Mexico and report back on the effects of nearly ten years of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

A diverse group of eleven (11) union members, and a translator from Change for Children who organized the logistics of the trip, traveled to Mexico during the last two weeks of February. After a two-day orientation in Cuernavaca, the group visited Mexico City, Oaxaca and Tehauntepec.

We met with squatters, a women's pig cooperative, union organizers, health care union executive workers, peasant farmers, laid off workers, striking gas workers and women workers from the Women's Institute.

We were also fortunate to visit the elders of a village displaced by a dam, farmers who will be displaced by a super highway, government workers who had not been paid for three months, hunger strikers protesting false arrest and imprisonment of their relatives, and gas station workers who were required to pay for a chance to work and hopefully collect enough tips to cover the money they paid to have the opportunity to work.

The hosts for the trip, Authentic Labor Front (FAT), the Human Rights Centre in Tehauntepec and the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD) offered an opportunity to meet with those leaders and workers and provided the group with invaluable information about the history, culture and politics of the country. It was valuable to understand the contrasts in Mexican culture as a backdrop to understanding the devastating effects NAFTA has had on Mexican workers.
Our meeting with the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC) which is a research and education organization supported by unions, activists and community groups gave us concrete information to show how trade agreements negotiated between unequal parties hurt the weaker, poorer country and their workers the most.

The trade agreement is part of the problem for Mexican workers but the government's push to privatize government departments and programs, World Bank pressures and China's entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) has brought globalization and an increase in poverty and unemployment to Mexico.

These forces have had a dramatic effect on Mexican workers and unions. The fishing industry is almost wiped out. There has been a decrease in industrial jobs, 600 factories have left for cheaper subsidized labour in China and other countries. Many small and medium businesses have gone bankrupt due to the pressure of large U.S. companies such as COSTCO.

The government has sold 1,000 public companies and is cash starving many public programs such as social security, which includes healthcare and pensions.

NAFTA has had a devastating effect on the peasant farmers in the countryside. Most farm goods were protected, until recent years, but without protection prices have dropped and only 2% of farmers can compete with produce from the U.S. The advantage the U.S. companies have is that they continue to be hugely subsidized despite NAFTA which outlaws this practice. Sixty (60%) percent of the producers are now making subsistence wages. Mexico used to export corn, now they import 25% from the U.S. and about 50% of their wheat and 90% of their soy. Before NAFTA, Mexico was 90% self-sufficient in terms of food production, Ten years later they are 60% self- sufficient. Unemployment has increased and 1.3 million workers have moved to the U.S.

During our trade tour to Mexico, we had an opportunity to talk and visit with some farmers (campesinos). As the meetings with them were both inspiring and interesting, we couldn't help but see and feel a sense of betrayal towards their government by these hardworking people. Putting the economics aside, these people have lost not only ability to provide for their families but they lost a way of life.

In Mexico, as in most countries around the world, farming isn't a business to those who till the land and raise livestock - it's a way of life. When a government allows this to happen, they are taking away the very fabric that keeps a community together. There is woven into this fabric a sense of dignity and esteem that goes with providing for your family and community. No one has the right to destroy this.

The NAFTA agreement has done just that. The farmers can no longer compete with the large, subsidized farms of the U.S. The products that were a staple to the Mexican people like corn and beans are now being imported from the U.S. The U.S. farmers can produce three and four times the production level of Mexican farmers. Add to that, the large subsidies Bush has given them, there is no way for the Mexican farmers to compete.

Because of greed and power, thousands of Mexican families will suffer. The look in their eyes, their body language and the emotion they showed in their speech, assured us they are a betrayed people. It is important for all of us to understand this and show our support in any way we can.

The theory is important, but as always actually meeting workers and other people who suffer from a decrease in wages or a loss of basic human rights brings the struggle home. It was gut wrenching to meet with gas workers forced to pay a large deposit to get a job and then often pay each day for the right to collect tips. It was sad to meet laid off workers, possibly due to age and the inability to produce at a fast enough pace. These workers, since there are no social programs, would have been penniless without the help of FAT's Solidarity Fund.

We protested with some government workers who had not been paid for three months. It was heart-breaking to meet indigenous families who had lost their land to a dam, others who were going to lose land to a super highway and a group of hunger strikers outside a prison who were protesting the false imprisonment of their families and the denial of their indigenous rights guaranteed in law. We saw first hand the struggle for basic human rights, the struggle for a basic salary, the struggle to obtain social security so workers and their families would be entitled to basic health care and a pension, and the struggle to defend land that families had farmed for hundreds of years.
It was clear that the government's Plan Pueblo Panama and the Free Trade Areas of the Americas which will develop a corridor of highways, railroad, electrical lines, telecommunication lines and factories throughout Latin America, will only further devastate the countryside of jobs, land and water for the profits of large companies from the U.S. and around the world.

The delegation made many solid contacts with unions, community groups and social agencies which will be important as we try to globalize the fight for workers' rights, human rights and balanced development to take into account the environment, history, and the community. The delegation was inspired by the spirit of dissent, the fire of the fight and the determination of these groups and individuals to speak out and organize for respect and dignity.

We saw that unions working together with activists, NGOs, community groups and other like-thinking organizations were able to slow the agendas of both the government and the private sector. We saw first hand how important it will be for us to win our battles for the public good as our country continues down the road of globalization.

The trip was a tremendous success and it will now be important to further the connections and exchanges to solidify the resistance to programs unfair to workers and communities.

ABORIGINAL WORKSHOP

On March 21, 2003 the Committee held a workshop on aboriginal and labour issues entitled "Bridging Bridges, Sharing Struggles". The workshop was held at the Enoch Cree Nation Recreation Centre. It was the first time labour initiated hosting a workshop held in the aboriginal community. All the delegates in attendance agreed that this was a positive development and that we should continue to reach out to the aboriginal community in this manner.

The workshop began with presentations on the history of both the aboriginal community and the labour movement. From these presentations, the participants identified a number of common struggles such as the lack of unity, fairness and equality, battling stereotypes, public perceptions, political barriers, and government intervention.

By the end of the day the participants had developed a plan of action that
would continue the dialogue between our groups. It was agreed that we need to go back to our respective organizations and talk about how
 
important it is to further our relationship with the aboriginal community. As well, it was felt that these workshops need to be longer and broader, with more education on the issues relative to both groups, and to continue this type of forum in other aboriginal communities.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the Committee had an exciting and busy two years, however, there is
still much work we be done. The Committee would also like to thank the Officers, Executive Council and staff of the Federation for their support and assistance over the last two years.

In solidarity,

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Committee,

AFL HUMAN RIGHTS & INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE,
2001-2003 

Ramon Antipan, Chair                  CUPW-Edm. Shona Stewart, Secretary             CUPW-Edm. Alan Besecker                                       UNA Pablo Cardozo                             BCTGM 252 Keith Dottin                                 UFCW 401 Tom Kinney                                          UNA Terry Lyons                                PSAC 30015 Mario Pailamilla                             CUPE 474 Linda Robinson                             OPEIU 458 Marjorie Shewchuk                                TWU Mike Desautels                                      CLC Kerry Barrett (ex-officio)                          AFL Les Steel (ex-officio)                               AFL

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