This could turn out to be a very important conference. It has already
received confirmation of attendance by a large number of major Latin
American labor organizations. However, conference organizer Ed Rosario has
appealed for help in recruiting qualified conference panel members, workshop
presenters, keynoters, etc. You help by a) helping with some of
organizational details, b) identifying possible participants, c) doing
outreach to other colleagues and constituencies, d) lining up additional
organizational endorsements. You may have other ideas of ways you can
contribute, or ideas about others who could be recruited to this effort. As
is always the case in such efforts, financial contributions are badly needed
to defray the considerable expenses of this project. If you cannot attend
but can make a contribution (or can do both) those contributions will go
toward scholarships to subsidize those low income participants and foreign
delegates whose attendance depends on financial assistance. Do whatever
time and energy permit. Please accept my apology for possible duplications
as this message has been cross-posted for widest possible exposure. Feel
free to pass it along to lists to which you subscribe that may not have
received it yet.
Thanks,
Michael
==============================================
LETTER OF INVITATION TO
WESTERN HEMISPHERE WORKERS¹ CONFERENCE
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
This letter is to invite you to join the California Labor Federation
(AFL-CIO), the Bay Area labor movement, California statewide LCLAA, and
countless other unions, environmental and community organizations from
throughout the Americas in building and participating in the Western
Hemisphere Workers¹ Conference Against NAFTA and Privatizations, which will
be held November 14-16, 1997, at the Ramada Inn Civic Center in San Francisco.
I am attaching a copy of the official conference materials. Please fill out
the endorsement and registration coupon and send it in as soon as possible
to the San Francisco Labor Council. If you who have already endorsed, many
thanks ‹ and please don¹t delay in sending in your registration form and
reserving a room at the Ramada Inn Civic Center. (We are encouraging
everyone from out of town to sta
y at this hotel. You should register by Aug. 15, if possible.)
We would also appreciate receiving a financial contribution to our
conference-building fund ‹ whether or not you are able to attend. The
registration fees will cover only a portion of our overall expenses. We
urgently need financial assistance to cover the cost of renting the
conference hall, reprinting the conference packets, and ensuring proper
translation into four languages of all sessions. Ch
ecks should be made payable to Western Hemisphere Conference.
To date the response to the Conference Call has been overwhelmingly
positive, with endorsements coming in from major national federations and
important unions and organizations across the hemisphere. The list of
endorsers in the brochure gives only a glimpse of the support we have obtained.
We have just received the endorsement of the United Farm Workers of America
(UFW) and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE).
We are also expecting the endorsement of the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters (IBT) at any moment.
In addition, we have just received the first list of delegates ‹ from Brazil
‹ who will be attending our conference. It reflects the wide spectrum of
unions and viewpoints we are expecting from every country in the hemisphere.
The list includes: Emanuel Melato, president, Autoworkers Union of Campinas;
Edson Soares, president, National Glassworkers Union; Roque Ferreira,
president, National Railwo
rkers Union; Teresa Lajolo, former City Council member, Sao Paulo; Ismael
Cesar, president, National Federation of Public Employees; Luiz Eduardo
Greenhalg, federal deputy, Workers Party; Helio Bicudo, federal deputy,
Workers Party (and president of the OAS Human Rights Commission); Gilmar
Mauro, national coordinator, Movement of Landless Peasants, MST; Plinio de
Arruda Sampaio, national agrarian
secretary, Workers Party; and Francisco Nogueira, vice president,
Dockworkers Union of Santos.
As outlined in the Conference Call, our objective is to bring together
unionists and activists from all countries and backgrounds to build a common
fightback against the policies of NAFTA and privatizations. First, we wish
to promote an exchange of information about the devastating effects of NAFTA
and the other regional trade agreements on all working and poor people, and
on the trade union movem
ent in particular. We are soliciting country and regional reports from the
unionists and activists building the conference, which can be compiled into
a White Paper on the effects of ³free trade² and privatizations. These
should be sent to the conference organizing committee in advance of the
conference to ensure duplication and translation for the delegates. The
reports should be comprehensive, b
ut not too long.
The conference will also provide a valuable forum to share information about
the important labor fightbacks already under way against these attacks. This
information is available to U.S. trade unionists only in the most limited
form. Likewise, important struggles in the United States may not be widely
reported throughout the rest of the Americas.
Another important objective is to promote cross-border links among trade
unions by industrial lines. This exchange among unions in the same industry
or sector will be pivotal to building global unionism. We will want to know
as soon as possible which unions will be represented from which countries so
that we can prepare the conference industrial/sectoral workshops.
Finally, another key goal must be to begin an important discussion about how
best to fight the policies of ³globalization² (free trade, privatizations,
structural adjustment plans, etc.). There are currently various strategies
being debated in the hemispheric trade union movement on this question. Some
unionists feel it is necessary to call for the incorporation of ³side
agreements² or ³social cla
uses² into the FTAA. They point to the example of the side agreements
negotiated as part of NAFTA.
Other unionists feel that the side agreements included in these ³free trade²
pacts are nothing but a ruse to coopt the unions into swallowing the bitter
pill of NAFTA and the other regional accords. They point to the failure of
the current NAFTA side agreements, for example, to address any of the
disputes in favor of the labor movement. Many of these unionists call for
the incorporation of labor a
nd environmental agreements directly into the trade pacts.
Others still argue that the ³free trade² pacts are not amendable, as they
are by their very nature stacked against the labor movement. They oppose the
side agreements and the incorporation of labor language into the pacts
themselves. They argue, instead, for building a movement in each country and
across the continent to repeal the free trade pacts. Many in the U.S. point
to the NAFTA Accountabili
ty Act, sponsored by 91 members of Congress as a vehicle toward repealing NAFTA.
While the conference does not seek to resolve this debate, it can provide a
useful and necessary arena to begin a structured discussion on the issue.
This is a necessary task given the seriousness of the onslaught facing all
working people and the trade unions. A conference workshop has been
organized for this purpose. We will seek to feature panelists holding the
diverse points of view to ensure
that a genuine and thorough discussion can take place on this question.
Another component of this discussion has to do with cross-border organizing
strategies and campaigns. This will include a report on the current efforts
under way by such groups as the Coalition For Justice to Maquiladora Workers
in San Diego, as well as an initial discussion on possible joint campaigns
and actions.
Finally, the conference aims at adopting a final conference declaration that
can summarize the findings of the conference and project some concrete
common actions or campaigns that could begin solidifying the ties across
borders. To that end, we hope to establish some sort of ongoing
correspondence or liaison committee.
I¹d like to conclude by thanking you again for your support and interest. We
have a lot of work ahead of us in the coming months to ensure that this
conference is a success ‹ that is, a truly broad-based initiative
encompassing unionists and activists from across the hemisphere to build a
cross-border labor fightback against the policies of plunder promoted under
the heading of globalization and ³
free trade.² Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ed Rosario,
Newly Elected Pres., SF LCLAA
Conference Coordinator
==========================================================
March 20, 1997
Letter of Invitation to Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against
NAFTA and Privatizations
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
This letter is to invite you to join the California Labor Federation
(AFL-CIO), the Bay Area labor movement, California
statewide LCLAA, and countless other unions and officers in building the
Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against
NAFTA and Privatizations. This conference will be held November 14-16, 1997,
at the Ramada Civic Center Hotel in San
Francisco.
I am attaching a copy of the Conference Call issued by the conference
organizers, as well as the resolution in support of this
conference adopted by the 21st convention of the California AFL-CIO.
We are asking all who support the goals of this conference to endorse the
call and send in their endorsement as soon as
possible to the San Francisco Labor Council, attention Ed Rosario or Jack
Henning, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco,
CA 94109. You can also fax your endorsement to us at (415) 440-9297. If you
have any questions, give us a call at (415)
440-4809 or (415) 587-7638.
We would appreciate receiving your endorsement as soon as possible, as we
plan to constitute a Blue Ribbon Committee of
conference endorsers. This list -- which we hope to expand as we go along --
will be published in our monthly multilingual
conference bulletin.
I look forward to hearing from you soon so we can organize this first, major
step toward Global Unionism. An effort such as
this one has never been undertaken before. We hope you will join us in this
history-making event.
In Solidarity,
Ed Rosario,
Conference Coordinator
==========================================
