News
BackA Conference in Brussels this week dealt with the Global Europe Strategy, the Free Trade Agreement of the EU with third countries associated with it and their impact on the employment situation in the countries concerned. The discussion was organised by SOLIDAR, a non-governmental organisation, which advocates social justice both in Europe and worldwide.
To start with, David O’Sullivan, the responsible Director General for Trade of the European Commission pointed out that “Global Europe” was only a part of their agenda. There were agreements of a political nature, such as the Free Trade Agreement with Libya for example. Other agreements were characterised by a strong interest of companies, for example with countries such as the USA and China.
With regard to the core topic of decent work, O’Sullivan remarked that free trade would result in growing wealth. It was, however, the question how this wealth would be distributed. Inequalities would still exist. One had to say, however, that one could of course forego trading with other countries. The practice, however, would show that countries, which not engaged in foreign trade, were significantly poorer.
Negotiations entered into by the European Union with regard to Free Trade Agreements, the Director General said, would often lead to controversial discussions about labour and environmental standards: the accusation of the negotiating partner would frequently be that EU countries were colonialists and protectionists. One had been successful in the first negotiated Agreement, the Korea Agreement, in setting Core Labour Standards; a social dialogue had been agreed. In discussions with other third countries too, one would try to integrate decent work. This was not always easy as the countries wanted certain commitments for these trade agreements. Finally O’Sullivan pointed out that at € 23 billion resp. 55 % of the global volume, the European Union was also leading in providing worldwide development assistance.
Anton Marcus, Secretary of the Free Trade Zones Workers' Union in Sri Lanka described the difficulties, which the local labour representatives had to deal with. The government had taken various measures in an attempt to prevent the formation of trade unions. Core Labour Standards had not been implemented. The labour representatives had therefore complained among others to the International Labour Organisation.
In 1999, the government had passed a new law, which would make concessions to employees. For example, from a level of organisation of 40 % in one sector it was now possible to negotiate a collective agreement. Trade unions were permanently hindered by the government; an implementation of the ILO Standards, however, would be a significant improvement.
In other speeches, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Africa, and Marc Maes of the non-governmental organisation 11.11.11 pointed out that a trade liberalisation with measures to abolish customs tariffs could have a dramatic impact on the national budgets in some African countries: up to 67 % depend on tariffs. Adu-Amankwah added that the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on the African states had led to catastrophic consequences. Agriculture had partly collapsed, among others because of highly subsidised products from the European Union. The African countries would suffer from an employment crisis and poverty. Marc Maes stated results of studies, which show that a Free Trade Agreement could yield profits of up to € 160 billion for rich countries. Major developing countries too would benefit, whilst small developing countries would be the losers. Finally Maes criticised that the WTO negotiations would only concentrate on Free Trade; it would, however, be desirable if they would devote their time to Fair Trade.
Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) would like to see the Doha Development Agenda finalised. Then at last one could start negotiations on development and social topics. Pascal Lamy had already indicated at his re-election that he wanted to discuss these topics as soon as the Doha Round had been negotiated. Guy Ryder, made some critical comments with regard to the Korea Agreement: Core Labour Standards would not have to be implemented. He had been informed by local trade unionists that a general strike against the government had been planned for the coming week. The reason for this strike were measures taken by the government, which would result in a constant deterioration of human rights, said the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation in his concluding words.
With regard to the core topic of decent work, O’Sullivan remarked that free trade would result in growing wealth. It was, however, the question how this wealth would be distributed. Inequalities would still exist. One had to say, however, that one could of course forego trading with other countries. The practice, however, would show that countries, which not engaged in foreign trade, were significantly poorer.
Negotiations entered into by the European Union with regard to Free Trade Agreements, the Director General said, would often lead to controversial discussions about labour and environmental standards: the accusation of the negotiating partner would frequently be that EU countries were colonialists and protectionists. One had been successful in the first negotiated Agreement, the Korea Agreement, in setting Core Labour Standards; a social dialogue had been agreed. In discussions with other third countries too, one would try to integrate decent work. This was not always easy as the countries wanted certain commitments for these trade agreements. Finally O’Sullivan pointed out that at € 23 billion resp. 55 % of the global volume, the European Union was also leading in providing worldwide development assistance.
Anton Marcus, Secretary of the Free Trade Zones Workers' Union in Sri Lanka described the difficulties, which the local labour representatives had to deal with. The government had taken various measures in an attempt to prevent the formation of trade unions. Core Labour Standards had not been implemented. The labour representatives had therefore complained among others to the International Labour Organisation.
In 1999, the government had passed a new law, which would make concessions to employees. For example, from a level of organisation of 40 % in one sector it was now possible to negotiate a collective agreement. Trade unions were permanently hindered by the government; an implementation of the ILO Standards, however, would be a significant improvement.
In other speeches, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Africa, and Marc Maes of the non-governmental organisation 11.11.11 pointed out that a trade liberalisation with measures to abolish customs tariffs could have a dramatic impact on the national budgets in some African countries: up to 67 % depend on tariffs. Adu-Amankwah added that the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on the African states had led to catastrophic consequences. Agriculture had partly collapsed, among others because of highly subsidised products from the European Union. The African countries would suffer from an employment crisis and poverty. Marc Maes stated results of studies, which show that a Free Trade Agreement could yield profits of up to € 160 billion for rich countries. Major developing countries too would benefit, whilst small developing countries would be the losers. Finally Maes criticised that the WTO negotiations would only concentrate on Free Trade; it would, however, be desirable if they would devote their time to Fair Trade.
Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) would like to see the Doha Development Agenda finalised. Then at last one could start negotiations on development and social topics. Pascal Lamy had already indicated at his re-election that he wanted to discuss these topics as soon as the Doha Round had been negotiated. Guy Ryder, made some critical comments with regard to the Korea Agreement: Core Labour Standards would not have to be implemented. He had been informed by local trade unionists that a general strike against the government had been planned for the coming week. The reason for this strike were measures taken by the government, which would result in a constant deterioration of human rights, said the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation in his concluding words.