africa/global: Trade Unions tell IMF/WB to change the model
Between 21-23 October, over 90 trade unionists took part in consultative meetings with the IMF/World Bank to discuss issues including privatisation, poverty reduction and reforms of the international financial architecture. The scale and scope of the meetings was unprecedented, and the unionists confronted these institutions with evidence of the continuing damage wrought by their policies throughout the developing world.
INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)
ICFTU OnLine...
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21-23 October: High-level trade union delegation meeting with international financial institutions (IFIs) - ICFTU releases new briefing paper on privatization - 'Public Service or Private Profits.'
Trade Unions tell IMF/WB to change the model
Brussels October 22, 2002 (ICFTU online): Between 21-23 October, over 90 trade unionists are taking part in consultative meetings with the IMF/World Bank. Yesterday, the delegation - including 29 national union leaders - met World Bank President James Wolfensohn, IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler and other officials to discuss issues including privatisation, poverty reduction and reforms of the international financial architecture. The scale and scope of the meetings is unprecedented, and the unionists confronted these institutions with evidence of the continuing damage wrought by their policies throughout the developing world.
The ICFTU is highly critical of the international financial institution's (IFIs) promotion of the "dysfunctional practices of US capitalism" in developing countries and particularly condemnatory of the dogmatic "fix it, even if it isn't broken" approach to privatisation. As laid out in a new ICFTU briefing paper "Public Service or Private Profits", privatisation for most workers has come to mean increasing charges for public utilities and growing inequality, as well as unfair dismissals and non-respect of union rights. The ICFTU maintains that the IFIs bear much of the responsibility for these failures.
The paper further highlights the contradictions in the Bank's much-vaunted participatory approach to privatization. The Bank claims to involve workers in the process; yet in reality, trade unions and other civil society organizations are only consulted once the decision to privatize has already been taken. While consultation on other issues has improved, experience with privatization has shown that trade unions are only consulted when it comes to planning issues such as severance programmes and dismissals from downsizing. Meanwhile, the relentless ideological drive to privatise at any cost continues unabated.
During the Washington meetings, the trade union delegation is also insisting on the urgency for the IMF to put in place a fair and transparent mechanism which would allow for an orderly renegotiation of unsustainable external debt and reduce the catastrophic consequences of defaults, such as that of Argentina. In addition, members of the delegation have explained how World Bank-sponsored social security privatisation was one of the leading causes of the fiscal crisis in Argentina, as contributions that formerly covered the costs of public pensions (still the only source of income for most retirees), were diverted into highly cost-inefficient private funds. The same model of pension privatization, which is in part inspired by the largely discredited Bush plan for social security privatization in the US, is being applied by the World Bank in several other countries, particularly in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Trade unionists from those regions are demonstrating how these "reforms" will worsen the situation of most retired workers.
"The trade union delegation is calling for greater transparency in the IFI decision-making processes, especially concerning privatisation policies, and better consultation of workers and civil society," explained ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder. "But above all, the unions are calling on the IFIs to stop promoting economically and socially destructive structural adjustment, not just in their rhetoric, but also in their loan conditions and their country-level policy advice."
Further information:
'Public Services or Private Profits'
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991216605&Language=EN
'Changing the Model: IFI Policies and the Failures of Corporate-Driven Globalisation,'
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991216493&Language=EN
The ICFTU represents more than 157 million workers in 225 affiliated organisations in 148 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org
For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0232 or +32 476 62 10 18.