UE Convention Resolutions
International Solidarity
Decades of corporate globalization have transformed international labor solidarity into a necessity. We confront increasingly sophisticated institutions regulating the movement of goods, money and people around the globe in ways that serve the agenda of transnational corporations. This neo-liberal agenda affects us all: through downsizing and out-sourcing in the private sector and privatization, deregulation, and budget cuts in the public sector. The global race to the bottom is accelerating. The corporate agenda is financed by international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, and is increasingly backed by armed forces and private militias.With no concern for labor, public services, or the environment, and circumventing the networks of accountability that we have built over the years, corporations are creating a world in which the polarization of wealth, as well as environmental degradation, have reached unprecedented levels. It is not enough to oppose the corporate approach to globalization; we must construct our own alternative vision of globalization – one that uplifts working people throughout the world.
The fate of our planet depends upon our ability to put the well-being of the vast majority of the world’s people ahead of immense profits for the few. New governments in much of Latin America provide eloquent testimony that poor and working people around the world are demanding change. New and exciting coalitions of unions, students, environmentalists, community organizations, amnesty groups, those who oppose the corporatization of our food supply, and many others have emerged to challenge military aggression and the power and agenda of the transnationals and international financial institutions.
An increasing number of UE members work for transnational corporations, with sister shops across the globe. Building relationships of solidarity with unions in other countries and between groups of workers employed by the same corporations is another of our primary tasks in the battle against corporate globalization. Our work to develop concrete links of solidarity around bargaining and strikes continues unabated. We are building networks of unions representing employees at General Electric, Stepan, Terex, and other companies.
We have seen the results: The June 2, 2007 Unity Rally in Erie served to send the General Electric company an international message. Fourteen labor organizations representing millions of workers from around the globe sent messages of solidarity to GE workers. From across the borders in Mexico, Quebec, and Canada, and as far away as South Africa, Australia, France, Brazil, Japan, India, and the Philippines, trade union leaders told GE workers that they are not alone. As a result of the lockout of UE Local 155 members at Stepan, the Communications, Electrical, and Paperworkers (CEP) in Ontario joined other unions in the US in showing solidarity, and they are now active participants in the council of Stepan unions.
UE provides solidarity in a variety of ways. We work with a variety of organizations to send messages protesting the murders and attacks on trade unionists in Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico, Iraq, and elsewhere. We support tours of visiting trade unionists, including the oil workers from Iraq who are opposing the privatization of their oil industry. We provided extensive assistance to delegations from Oaxaca, Mexico that traveled to Washington DC for a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. A delegation from the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Japan (Zenroren) came to investigate the U.S. roots of attacks on overtime pay in Japan. We assisted the tour of Chinese legal scholar Liu Cheng, a lawyer and labor activist who has helped draft new labor legislation strongly opposed by transnational corporations.
UE and the Authentic Labor Front (FAT) continue to seek out organizing targets and to support one another to win tough battles against intransigent bosses on both sides of the border. We continue to distribute Mexican Labor News and Analysis (MLNA) on a monthly basis.
Our international work with the FAT directly contributed to the creation of the North Carolina International Worker Justice Campaign (NCIWJC), challenging the state law which bans public-sector collective bargaining as a violation of international law. The campaign grew out of our first International Public Sector Workers Convergence, and the coordination between independent public-sector unions from Quebec, Mexico, Japan and the U.S. Our relationship with the International Commission for Labor Rights has contributed innovative and effective solidarity to change the terms of discourse in North Carolina, and ultimately led to a remarkably strong decision by the International Labor Organization and the subsequent introduction of legislation.
The Fourth International Public Sector Convergence took place in Tokyo, Japan last fall, hosted by four public sector affiliates of Zenroren, included a large delegation of UE members. We support the initiative of the Brazilian National Federation of Metalworkers (CNM/CUT), endorsed by labor organizations around the world including the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA), which calls on the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) to coordinate militant actions when any transnational corporation announces a serious threat to employment or working conditions. Unions in the countries where that transnational operates would mobilize its members in escalating protests possibly leading up to simultaneous job actions to disrupt production or supplies. The agreement includes that the union of one country will not benefit at the expense of others.
Last March, municipal workers from North Carolina and Connecticut spent a week in the Mexican state of Chihuahua with their counterparts from the Federation of Municipal Workers Unions of Chihuahua, an affiliate of the FAT. At the end of May a local leader from the Guerrero local traveled to Connecticut to attend the Local 222 Convention and visit UE workplaces. He was warmly received by our members, who initiated a "Buck a Brick" campaign, to assist with construction of the union’s new local hall.
At the end of June, the General Secretary of the Juárez local, Arturo Silva, traveled to Atlanta together with Benedicto Martínez to participate in the U.S. Social Forum. Organizers and Regional Organizing Council (ROC) activists from the UE joined their counterparts from the FAT in Chicago for the second part of the UE-FAT Cross-Border Organizers’ Institute.
Benedicto Martínez traveled to Iowa last spring at the invitation of UE Locals 893 and 896. The members of UE Locals 893 and 896 in Iowa and many other UE members recognize the value of this work through voluntary contributions that support the work of the FAT. Local 893 also contributes to the FAT on a monthly basis.
In the last two years, UE sent delegations to the World Social Forums in Venezuela and Kenya and to the Border Social Forum in Ciudad Juárez. UE Local 150 helped plan and many members participated in the Southeast Social Forum in June 2006. UE sent one of the largest labor delegations to the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta in June 2007.
UE participates in international unions federations, and is affiliated with Public Services International (PSI) and International Chemical Energy and Mineworkers (ICEM).
Our work is guided by the principle of commitment to action. We ask for concrete assistance, we receive it, and we extend it when asked to do so. In our global economy, we have no other choice. We are convinced that another world is possible and we are committed to helping to build it!
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 70th UE CONVENTION:
- Reaffirms UE support for the Strategic Organizing Alliance with the FAT; reaffirms solidarity with Zenroren, the Brazilian Central Union of Workers (CUT), the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the Canadian Steel Workers, the Union of Public Service Workers of Quebec (SFPQ), Central Service Workers of Quebec (CSQ), and our other trade union friends in Quebec, and welcomes the development and deepening of other relationships;
- Supports the continued expansion of relations with unions abroad, especially those in our industries, through direct contact, through progressive forums and networks such as the World Social Forum and other means;
- Commits to establishing and deepening relationships with workers in sister shops who globally share our employers, as we are doing with General Electric, Stepan, Terex, and elsewhere, and calls on UE locals to make full use of these resources;
- Commits to continuing UE support and participation in the International Public Sector Convergence;
- Encourages UE at all levels to support the international solidarity struggles of other unions both in the U.S. and abroad, by supporting calls for international solidarity from the ICEM, PSI, Jobs with Justice, and others;
- Supports continued UE participation in coalitions developing alternative trade policies and fighting for labor rights including the World Social Forum, the Alliance for Responsible Trade, the Institute for Policy Studies, the International Commission for Labour Rights, the International Labor Rights Forum, and Grassroots Global Justice;
- Encourages UE locals and members to deepen their involvement in our international program, including contributions and payroll checkoff for the UE international solidarity fund.