Standing up to the WTO

The ILWU is in a unique position to make the case that we are not against
trade, we are for fair trade.

By Brian McWilliams
ILWU International President

The World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle Nov. 30- Dec. 3 gives us a rare opportunity to express first hand our outrage at how workers have been treated across the planet in the profit frenzy of globalization. It further gives us the chance to express our resolve to tight back against a system where workers pay such a high price for corporate greed.

Understandably there is some confusion about the role of the World Trade Organization and the other international trade and monetary institutions (GATT, NAFTA, IMF, World Bank, etc.) touted as stabilizing and rationalizing the burgeoning global economy. 

But There should be no confusion to workers that the goal of these groups is to facilitate unlimited access to the world marketplace and underwrite any risk in capital investment with little or no consideration for labor or environmental impacts.

Hand in hand with the rise to power and influence of  "The 'Free Traders," our families have seen their purchasing power steadily decline since the 1970s. This decline has been so extreme the generation of workers who grew up in this era have been told all along by various media that they will never have the ability to enjoy the wealth and opportunities their parents did. 

At the same time corporate profits and CEO compensation have shot through the roof. And the basic standard of living for workers worldwide has declined.

Because the Free Traders, the corporate CEOs, politicians and their media mouthpieces, all try to brand WTO opponents as projectionists and anti-trade types, it is particularly important for the ILWU to have a strong and visible presence among the tens of thousands of demonstrators expected in Seattle. We make our living off trade, so we are in a unique position to make the case that we are not against trade, we are for "fair trade."

This has been the position of The ILWU for more than 50 years. It has been reaffirmed and memorialized over the last decade in a policy statement on NAFTA by the International Executive Board in 1992 and similar resolutions on NAFTA by both the union's 1994 and 1997 International Conventions.

We believe in and demand a world where trade and its benefits are shared fairly among the working people everywhere whose sweat actually produces the wealth; a world in which trade isn't geared just to enhance the profits of transnational corporations, but enhances the quality of life for all the people in all the societies engaged in it; a world in which trade brings dignity and fair treatment to all workers; 

a world in which trade enhances the advantages of local economies and encourages healthy and environmentally sensitive development; a world in which trade furthers a cultural understanding among peoples of different nations; a world in which the interconnectiveness of trade promotes peace.

No one can make this statement more strongly or with more moral authority than the ILWU. That is our history, our legacy and our ongoing responsibility. We have always stood up, walked the picket line and marched in protest when working people's rights were trampled. 

We used the power we have to impact cargo movement in order to get the attention an resu1ts needed to help bring justice for workers caught deep the jaws of corporate greed.

In 1974 the ILWU joined an international boycott of Chilean cargo following the overthrow and murder of democratically elected President Salvador Allende by a CIA-backed military junta led by General Pinochet.

Our Longshore Division also refused work coffee from El Salvador in 1989 because the government supported the transnational corporate growers campaign to bust union organizing.

We boycotted cargo on apartheid South Africa ships because it was trade supporting racism and the worst kinds oppression of workers.

In support of the United Farm Workers' grape boycott, we honored UFW picket lines, preventing non-union grapes from being loaded aboard ships.

The Neptune Jade ILWU members refused to work carried cargo loaded by scabs working for the same employers who sacked the Liverpool dockers.

Just last year Locals 13, 63 and 94 decline to work the Columbus Canada's scab-loaded cargo out of Australia when that country' government conspired with employers to bust the Maritime Union of Australia.

So let's have our presence felt In Seattle. The ILWU is joining with the rest of the labor movement to mobilize for the WTO conference. Our International Executive Board has asked all locals and divisions to endorse the Seattle demonstration and participate in it to the greatest extent possible. 

We have asked each local and division to select an individual to coordinate activities with the International in order to work better with other unions, environmental groups and community organizations.

It is important to have each local Executive Board set policy similar to that of the IEB, take those resolutions to your membership meetings for further discussion and, when requested, presentations from the labor community and WTO speakers bureau and, most importantly, join with the rest of the labor movement in packing the streets of Seattle on Nov. 30.

We will not be ignored. The ILWU banner will be there and we need as many members as possible to march behind it. Those locals that can send representatives or coordinate members going on their own need to step forward to get the job done.

This will be the only opportunity in our lifetimes to make such an important statement to the multinational captains of industry and finance. It is a critical chance for us all to force the issues of fair trade on those who dismiss workers rights as subordinate to the needs of capital in the global economy. We must not stand idly by.