In the period under review (April 1, 2004 \u2013 March 31, 2005) the Global Labour Institute continued to work principally on workers\u2019 issues in the informal economy. As a member of the Steering Committee of Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), Dan Gallin participated in its Transition Sub-Committee, which is preparing the transition of WIEGO to a membership organization under a new constitution. WIEGO, however, does not intend to engage in organizing: that is the role of the International Co-ordinating Committee on Organizing Workers in Informal Employment (ICC), established in December 2003 in Ahmedabad, which held its first meeting in Geneva in June 2004. WIEGO will continue to provide support to union organizing in the informal economy, mostly through research.<\/p>\n
Gallin and Pat Horn, co-ordinator of StreetNet, the international network of street and market vendors, completed a paper on \u201cOrganizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy\u201d which, it is hoped, will provide background material and information that unions may find helpful (on the GLI web site, under Issues\/Women Workers).<\/p>\n
The GLI has also worked with unions and church-based organizations in Germany to secure the ratification of the ILO Home Workers Convention (C. 177). Karin Pape has done most of the work on the project and has prepared a brochure for distribution to parliamentarians summarizing the arguments for ratification. At the same time, the GLI has approached unions and members of parliament in four other countries to explore the possibilities for ratification of C. 177.<\/p>\n
Another area of activity of the GLI has been to participate in the discussion on the future of the international trade union movement. It is generally recognized that the trade union movement is in crisis, in most parts of the world and particularly in its traditional heartland, the industrialized countries of Europe and North America. In last year\u2019s report we noted the manifestations of this crisis: loss of membership and inability to organize the growing mass of unorganized workers; lack of power to resist repression; lack of capacity to resist the neo-liberal agenda. We suggested that underlying this loss of power and authority was a crisis of identity and orientation and that a serious challenge to global transnational capital could not be mounted unless we recovered a common identity based on an alternative vision of society.<\/p>\n
The GLI is among those who hold that the ideology of \u201csocial partnership\u201d, which became dominant in the labour movement in the three decades following WW2, has now become the main obstacle to the necessary renewal of the movement. Clearly, that view is still a minority position: large parts of the trade union movement are still unable to come to terms with the loss of their presumed \u201csocial partners\u201d, even while transnational capital has obviously abandoned any \u201cpartnership\u201d perspective and is using its vastly increased power to unilaterally impose its interests on society.<\/p>\n
There is a real danger that the majority of the trade union movement will seek solutions to its crisis by restructuring exercises that will provide the appearance of power without its substance. That is the issue currently under discussion in the United States; it has also become an international issue through the decision of the recent ICFTU congress to create a new International through a merger with the WCL (plus some former WFTU affiliates and independents). The absence of any political and ideological perspective in this policy decision is striking. We hear that the significance of this merger lies in that \u201cthe ideological divisions of the past\u201d are being overcome, but we are not told what the ideology of the \u201cnew International\u201d is supposed to be. Nor is it clear what stopped the ICFTU in the past from doing by itself what it will supposedly be able to do within a \u201cnew International\u201d where its affiliates will represent about ninety percent of the membership.<\/p>\n
There appears to be an assumption that such a merger, by itself, will automatically restore the power and authority that the labour movement has lost, all else remaining equal, as if the mere addition of weaknesses could produce new strength. This is magical thinking, without any basis in reality or reason. The hedgehog, caught in the headlights, does what it knows best: it turns into a ball – moments before it gets run over.<\/p>\n
There is no attempt, in the leading circles of the trade union movement, to analyze the changing nature of capitalism, which has led to a dramatic shift in power relations to the detriment of labour, nor to analyze the changing nature of the working class, which is a prerequisite for successful organizing.<\/p>\n
However, the assumption that the current leadership of the international trade union movement is seeking to re-build the strength of the movement to make it fit for a successful power struggle with transnational capital may be wrong. It is disturbing to hear that the stated level of ambition of the \u201cNew International\u201d is no more than to exercise more influence in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This means chasing the illusion of a \u201cglobal social partnership\u201d under conditions where \u201csocial partnership\u201d is a thing of the past, even where the labour movement has been strongest. The signing on of most of the international trade union movement to the UN Global Compact is another manifestation of this policy of seeking co-optation at international level. Maintaining an appearance of bargaining without bargaining power: that is a strategy of submission, not a strategy of struggle.<\/p>\n
We do not believe that union strength can be built, or re-built, at any level, without the involvement of an aware, informed, motivated and militant membership. It certainly cannot be done under conditions where most of the members are not even aware of the existence of the organizations that purport to speak in their name. To re-connect the membership to a perspective of international struggle requires a realistic assessment of the situation, the political will to change it, a vision of an alternative, the democratic reform of the movement and a global program of action. Education, organizing and struggle must go hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n
Through its web site and through its networks, the GLI will continue to support those working for the reform of the labour movement through struggle, reconstructing its identity as a movement for democratic social transformation, with a common vision of an alternative, and better, society.
\nAlthough the financial situation of the GLI has improved (slightly) in 2004, it remains precarious. We have ended the year with a small surplus, but will need to further consolidate the position in 2005.<\/p>\n
The GLI Board held its Eighth Meeting on December 11 in Geneva.<\/p>\n
Meetings<\/strong> In 2004: In 2005: IFWEA<\/strong> WIEGO<\/strong> In 2005: In other capacities:<\/p>\n IUED<\/strong> Coll\u00e8ge du Travail<\/strong> Pages de Gauche<\/strong> Solifonds<\/strong> Karin Pape represented the GLI at the following meetings:<\/p>\n In 2004: In 2005: Gallin has completed a synopsis of the international labour movement (14,000 words), which is now on the GLI web site (The Labour Movement, under Issues, International Labour Movement). This was originally commissioned by Harvard University, which will publish a shorter version as a chapter in a text book on social movements. As noted in last year’s report, the original version could become the basis for educational material, in particular for the IUF Asia\/Pacific regional organization, which requested the GLI to produce such material.<\/p>\n The paper Organizing Informal Women Workers<\/em> by Gallin and Pat Horn, co-ordinator of StreetNet, the international network of street and market vendors, is now also on the GLI web site (Issues, Women Workers). A version of this paper will be published by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) (www.unrisd.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n The Graduate Institute of Development Studies (Institut Universitaire d’Etudes du D\u00e9veloppement) (www.iued.unige.ch<\/a>) in Geneva has asked Gallin to write a paper on trade unions and development policies and to conduct seminars on this theme in the course of 2005. The paper should be completed by September 2005.<\/p>\n GLI activity to secure the ratification of the ILO Home Workers’ Convention will continue in 2005, in five countries at the present time, and more where opportunities may arise.<\/p>\n Work has continued on the GLI web site, with the assistance of Mary Sayer in Manchester. It is intended to turn the web site into a serious resource for trade unionists, political activists and students concerned about developments in the international trade union movement and about its future.<\/p>\n In September 2004, a Global Labor Institute was established at Cornell University (www.ilr.cornell.edu\/globallaborinstitute<\/a>). Although the similarity of the name was unintended, it has become clear that the two \u201cGLIs\u201d share important objectives. An Australian Global Studies Research Centre is to be established at the University of Western Australia later this year. The GLI intends to establish co-operative and mutually supportive relations with both institutions. We would welcome the creation of more \u201cGLIs\u201d working together for common goals.<\/p>\n The GLI Chair has continued as an editorial board member of Antipode, a journal of radical geography (contact: ros@antipode.demon.co.uk<\/a>), a member of the advisory editorial board of Federation News, the journal of the General Federation of Trade Unions (UK) (www.ier.org.uk<\/a> or: www.gftu.org.uk) and of the editorial boards of International Union Rights, the journal of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (London) (www.ictur.org<\/a>) and Pages de Gauche (Lausanne), the monthly publication for French-speaking Switzerland of the Left in the Swiss Social-Democratic Party (www.pagesdegauche.ch<\/a>).<\/p>\n GLI Board<\/strong> GLI Advisory Board<\/strong> The autobiography of Werner Th\u00f6nnessen, “Mein Tor zur Welt” (Verlag Sozialistischer Autoren \u2013 VSA, St. Georgs Kirchhof 6, DE-20009 Hamburg) appeared in April. Th\u00f6nnessen worked for the German metalworkers’ union IG Metall from 1957 to 1972 (as head of communications from 1962), then Assistant General Secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation from 1972 to 1989. He is the author of: “The Emancipation of Women: The Rise and Decline of the Women’s Movement in German Social-Democracy 1863-1933”,\u00a0 Pluto Press, 1973 (thoennessen.w@free.fr<\/a>).<\/p>\n Secretariat<\/strong> As in the past, Oscar and Nora Payuyo have been responsible for cleaning and maintenance.<\/strong><\/p>\n Financial Administration<\/strong> A statement of income and expenditure and a balance sheet for 2004, are attached:<\/p>\n
\nIn the period under review, the GLI Chair participated in the following meetings:<\/p>\n
\nApril 19-23: T&GWU Seminar: Globalisation, Development and the International Trade Union Movement, Eastbourne (speech: Contemporary Issues in the International Trade Union Movement, on GLI web site (Issues, International Trade Union Movement)
\nApril 28: Solifonds Board Meeting, Bern
\nMay 22: Swiss Socialist Youth, National Congress, Olten (speech: Partis et Syndicats, unpublished)
\nOctober 4: unia (final congress), Bern
\nOctober 16: UNIA (founding congress), Basel
\nNote: In Switzerland, important changes have taken place in the labour movement. In October, a new general workers’ union UNIA was founded through the merger of four private sector unions: FTMH\/SMUV (metal and textiles), SIB\/GBI (construction, paper, chemicals), FCTA\/VHTL (commercial, food and transport) and unia (services). With 200,000 members (half of the membership of the Swiss Trade Union Federation) UNIA is the largest union in Switzerland. Most importantly, however, the union sees itself as a militant response to changing social and political conditions. It is building a substantial fund for international activities. These will support international trade union action, unlike the Solifonds, which supports one-off solidarity actions, and the Swiss Workers’ Aid (OSEO\/SAH), which engages mainly in welfare and relief projects. (www.unia.ch).
\nNovember 19: C\u00e9r\u00e9monie d’hommage \u00e0 l’exil des R\u00e9publicains espagnols en Midi-Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es, Toulouse
\nNote: This was a memorial meeting in homage to the Spanish republican exiles in Southern France, co-sponsored by the authorities of the R\u00e9gion Midi-Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es and the Regional Government of Catalonia. Gallin was invited as a former member of Aide aux r\u00e9fugi\u00e9s espagnols (ARE), the Swiss branch of Spanish Refugee Aid (SRA), founded by Nancy Macdonald in New York in 1953. SRA helped mainly those refugees who were not supported by powerful political organizations, such as those of the independent and revolutionary Left (CNT and POUM). When Nancy Macdonald retired in 1983, SRA had helped some 5,000 refugees; it still helps a small group, in their 70s and 80s, who have not returned to Spain. ARE, based in Geneva, was active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. (www.ircusa.org\/sra<\/a>).
\nNovember 25-27: Workshop on the Changing Role of Unions in the Contemporary World of Labour, Social Policy Forum, Bogazi\u00e7i (Bosphorus) University, Istanbul (speech: Organizing in the Global Informal Economy, on the GLI web site (Issues, Informal Employment))<\/p>\n
\nMarch 11-12: Rotschuo Circle, Rotschuo (Schwyz)<\/p>\n
\nOctober 9-10: IFWEA\/Euro-WEA Seminar: Global Network: Political Education & Globalization, Eastbourne (speech: Political Education and Globalization, on GLI web site (Issues, Politics))
\nOctober 11-12: IFWEA EC, Eastbourne<\/p>\n
\nIn 2004:
\nJune 7: Workshop: WIEGO and International Co-ordinating Committee on Organizing Workers in Informal Employment (ICC), Geneva
\nNovember 11: Preparatory Meeting, Home Workers’ Convention Germany; Frankfurt<\/p>\n
\nJanuary 10 \u2013 11: WIEGO Transition Committee Meeting, Ahmedabad
\nJanuary 12 \u201314: SEWA meetings (Meeting with SEWA Executive, Launch of SEWA On-Line Newsletter), Seminar on Organizing in the Informal Economy, Ahmedabad
\nFebruary 10: Working Group on Home Workers’ Convention Germany, Berlin<\/p>\n
\nBoard Meetings: April 29 – 30, October 15, January 19, Geneva
\nOctober 18: Table ronde: Le Vietnam \u00e0 l’aube du 21\u00e8me si\u00e8cle, Geneva
\nOctober 19: Opening of Academic Year, Geneva<\/p>\n
\nMay 7 – 8: R\u00e9union internationale “Archives, histoire et identit\u00e9 du mouvement ouvrier” (speech: Les archives du mouvement ouvrier: un enjeu identitaire<\/em>; (on GLI web site (French)), Geneva
\nBoard June 25, Geneva
\nDenknetz\/R\u00e9seau de r\u00e9flexion
\nJune 26, Bern; September 25, Bern<\/p>\n
\nMay 14, October 3, December 5 (Lausanne)
\nOltener Kreis\/Cercle d’Olten: August 28 (Bern)<\/p>\n
\nNovember 10 (Bern)<\/p>\n
\nMarch 17: Participation in the DGB Working Group on Migration (preparation for the International Labour Conference), Berlin
\nMarch 18 \u2013 19: International Conference (DGB and Justitia et Pax): Organisieren \u2013 nicht resignieren. Das Recht auf Vereinigungsfreiheit f\u00fcr die informelle Wirtschaft. Modelle, Strategien, Hindernisse; Berlin (Karin wrote the summary record of the conference, to be published)
\nMay 11 \u2013 13: Seminar (IRENE, Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin, Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst, DGB-Bildungswerk): Decent Labour and Social Security in the Informal Economy: Elements of a poverty oriented development strategy, Berlin (Karin wrote the report of the seminar, to be published in the IRENE Newsletter).
\nSeptember 23 to 25: Seminar (IRENE, Clean Clothes Campaign and Evangelische Akademie Meissen): Campaigning Strategies on Informal Labour in the Global Garment Industry, Meissen, Germany
\nNovember 11: Preparatory Meeting, Home Workers’ Convention Germany; Frankfurt<\/p>\n
\nFebruary 10: Working Group on Home Workers’ Convention Germany, Berlin
\nKarin also participated in the 2004 International Labour Conference as a German Workers’ Delegate (DGB) on the Migrations Committee.
\nWork in Progress, Projects, Networks, Contacts<\/p>\n
\nBy decision of the Eighth Board Meeting (December 11, 2004), Karin Pape was invited to join the Board.<\/p>\n
\nNo changes in the period under review.<\/p>\n
\nKarin Pape has continued working part time as an administrative assistant (since January 1, 2004 on a voluntary basis), and as a researcher and writer on informal economy issues. She is currently working on a brochure (in German) in support of ratification of the ILO Home Workers Convention by the German Parliament.<\/p>\n
\nMs. Mariane Grobet-Wellner has kept the GLI accounts in the period under review. The accounts for 2004 have been audited, as last year, by Mr. J.J. Mermier (CIFISOR S.A.). The auditor’s report is available on request (French only).<\/p>\n