Union activists around Australia have decided to launch Unionists Against Corporate Tyranny (UACT) to unite and mobilise worker activists in a campaign against the global system that institutionalises massive wealth for the tiny few and inequality and poverty for the overwhelming majority. UACT is open to anybody who agrees with the broad demands of its founding statement, printed below.
It will share information about activities and solidarity in the Asia-Pacific region via an email list and web site. Seminars, forums, tours of regional activists and international visits to meet with other worker activists are also planned. Solidarity will be built up through messages of support and protest, pickets and speak-outs, and international actions.
UACT will be launched at "Globalisation: union resistance in the Asia-Pacific region" seminars in Melbourne on August 27 and in Sydney on September 2 (see pages 30-31 for details).
UACT statement
All out for September 11! Oppose the unjust world economic order of the IMF, World Bank and WTO!
Today's world economy, dominated by the wealth and power of the multinational corporations and intensifying global competition, is rapidly increasing the exploitation of workers. It degrades their working conditions, forces them to work harder for less and threatens them with unemployment and a struggle to exist.
In the countries of the Third World (the "South") those lucky enough to find work face subsistence wages, a working week of up to 60 hours, poisonous and dangerous conditions and primitive, if any, social security.
For the workers of the advanced industrial countries (the "North"), the gains from a century of trade union and democratic struggles have been seriously eroded or are under threat from privatisation, labour market deregulation and dismantling of the welfare state — from the agenda of neoliberal economic "reform" common to the mainstream parties.
Economic injustice and inequality between the South and the North is stark. Despite all the talk of "free trade" and a "level playing field", the terms of trade for the exports from the South continue to decline (1.5% a year since 1980). Third World countries face tariff barriers up to five times as high as those set for the economies of the North.
The debt of the South to the North stood at $US100 billion in 1970 and now stands at $US2.5 trillion. Had export prices and interest rates stayed at the 1980 levels this debt would have been completely paid off. It should be cancelled!
Increasingly, workers are being forced into ruthless competition within and between countries, but only the bosses benefit. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation are the main economic enforcers of this unjust and unequal system. They make aid and loans conditional on the implementation of anti-worker and anti-people economic programs, jealously guard the multinationals' monopoly of knowledge and technology ("intellectual property rights"), and are dominated by the United States and the G-7 club of rich industrial nations.
Trade unionists have only one principle to proclaim against this destructive and unjust global system — we need to globalise solidarity among working people. We should reject any call made in the North for increases in tariffs and subsidies or for global trade agreements that include social and environmental conditions (social clauses) that block exports from the South. These only destroy jobs, working conditions and the environment in the South without creating jobs or increasing people's employment security in the North.
To counter the social and environmental devastation caused by neoliberal globalisation we therefore propose the following program of demands. It is aimed at easing the burden carried by working peoples and countries of the South, at reversing the loss of workers' rights and conditions in the North and at drawing working people North and South into a closer union of resistance against global corporate tyranny.
In the interests of global economic justice we say:
That the IMF and World Bank should:
cancel all debts owed to them;
stop imposing "structural adjustment program" that exacerbate poverty and inequality through making loans conditional on neoliberal economic "reform";
pay reparations to the peoples who have suffered from the disastrous impact of their programs and cease to channel aid through private sector investment that further fosters neoliberal programs; and
be made democratic, participatory and transparent, and take full account of the interests of the peoples most affected by their policies
... or else be abolished!
And also that the World Trade Organisation should:
overturn the discriminatory and exploitative ground rules for trade it has imposed on the South and help provide the countries of the South with access to new technology, knowledge, investment and trade opportunities;
... or else be abolished.
We further demand that the governments of the North, including the Australian government:
provide the South with equal access to technology, knowledge and investment so as to boost their development potential;
immediately allocate 0.7% of its GDP as assistance to the countries of the South and that this aid be unconditional and directed to those most in need; and
cease the purchase of World Bank bonds as well as all payments to the IMF;
And that the Australian trade union and environmental movements:
focus their work on solidarity with the unionists and environmentalists of the South and not on introducing discriminatory "social clauses" into trading agreements.
We also support the call made by Fidel Castro at the recent South Summit:
for the creation of a new development fund through applying a 1% tax on all global speculative capital flows, and this fund to be democratically controlled by the countries of the South.
Signed (so far): Alana Kerr, delegate DOCS, NSW Public Service Association (PSA); Alex Bainbridge, Hobart, state council, Australian Education Union (AEU); Alison Williams, Canberra, Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU); Andy Blunden, Melbourne University National Tertiary Education and Industry Union (NTEU); Anna Kailis, Perth, State School Teachers Union; Anthony Benbow, Perth, Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU); Chris Spindler, delegate, Victoria, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Chris Slee, delegate, Melbourne Tax Office, CPSU; Coral Wynter, Queensland University NTEU; Daniel Jardine, delegate, Macquarie University NTEU; Dave Wright, Brisbane Centrelink, CPSU; David Rodda, Tax Office; Francesca Davidson, Sydney, Independent Education Union; Graham Williams, Geelong, AMWU; Helen Jarvis, University of NSW, NTEU; Hughie Williams, state secretary, Qld TWU; Ian Jamieson, Perth, Maritime Union (MUA); Jenny Long, delegate, NSW PSA; Jeremy Smith, Ballarat University, NTEU; Jim McIlroy, delegate, Brisbane Centrelink, CPSU; Jo Williams, Melbourne, AEU; John Gauci, NSW Teachers Federation/IEU; John McGill, delegate, Adelaide Mail Exchange, CEPU; Judy Swan, president Ballarat University NTEU; Julia Perkins, Murdoch University NTEU; Karen Fletcher, lawyer, Australian Services Union (ASU); Katherine Newnam, South Australia, PSA; Lachlan Malloch, delegate, NSW PSA; Lynda Hansen, Brisbane, CPSU; Lisa Farrance, delegate, RMIT, NTEU; Manrico Moro, Australia Asia Worker Links; Marcus Pabian, Students Association, Canberra University; Mark Walker, organiser, Qld TWU; Mary Merkenich, Melbourne, AEU; Meredith Butler, producer Stick Together Show, Melbourne community radio 3CR; Micheal Amati, organiser, CPSU; Micheal Bull, Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU); Melanie Sjoberg, Democratic Socialist Party; Mike Byrne, delegate, Brisbane Telstra; Nick Fredman, Lismore, Southern Cross University NTEU; Norrian Rundle, Melbourne, AEU; Pat Brewer, University of Canberra, NTEU; Patrick O'Connor, Screensound Canberra, CPSU; Paul Oboohov, delegate, Canberra DEETYA, CPSU; Paul Petersen, delegate, Department of Fair Trading, NSW PSA; Peter Johnston, Darwin, ASU; Peter Perkins, NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union; Phillipa Stanford, Brisbane, CPSU; Rebecca Meckelburg, Darwin, CPSU; Rob Graham, delegate, Adelaide, CPSU; Rupen Savoulian, Perth, CEPU; Sam Wainwright, Sydney, MUA; Sarah Harris, delegate, Perth Centrelink, CPSU; Sarah Stephen, Perth Centrelink, CPSU; Scott Thompson, ACT, CPSU; Shane Bentley, Sydney, MUA; Stan Thompson, Brisbane Tax Office, CPSU; Steve Crofts, ACT, CPSU; Stuart Martin, delegate Screensound Canberra, CPSU; Tim Gooden, Geelong, CFMEU; Tim Stewart, Brisbane, CPSU; Tom Flanagan, Sydney, MUA; Yvonne Francis, Canberra, CPSU; Les Crofton, Qld state secretary, rail division, Rail, Bus and Tramways Union; Jeff Knight, Qld state secretary, CEPU; Bob Patten, delegate, Cairns, CPSU; Ashley Morgan, delegate, Townsville, CPSU; Janine Gertz, Townsville, CPSU; Craig Johnston, Vic state secretary, AMWU; Peter Perkins, delegate, Rail, Tram and Bus Union, NSW.
For more information contact Jeremy Smith (Melbourne) (03) 5229 0655, email <jeremy.smith@ballarat.edu.au> or Melanie Sjoberg (Sydney) (02) 9690 1230, email <m_sjoberg@hotmail.com>.