[asia-apec 247] AMRC position statement on APEC

[AMRC]

AMRC Position Statement on APEC

Workers under APEC: Another Road to Barbarism

As an organisation which has been committed to the struggle of genuine,
grassroots workers' movements in Asia for the past 20 years,  we absolutely
reject APEC and its neoliberal agenda promoting globalisation. APEC, like
GATT/ WTO and the World Bank, is concerned solely with increasing the power
and reach of multinationals in the name of 'free' and 'fair' trade. To
achieve this governments of the 'economies' that are members of APEC will
use further political, economic and legal repression to deprive working
people of their rights and freedom and enforce policies that will generate
greater economic inequality and social injustice. The only freedom will be
that of multinationals, freed from any form of social regulation and control. 

APEC promotes 'labour flexibility' among member economies by demanding
complete deregulation of national labour markets and the removal of all
forms of government interference in the operation of a regional free labour
market. This 'interference' in the free market refers to government
regulations, laws and programmes which protect the livelihood and rights of
working people. All forms of employment protection, minimum wages and
guarantees of job security will be abolished in the name of free and fair
trade, and subcontracting, casualisation, declining full- time employment,
and the destruction of the collective bargaining power of workers will be
become even more widespread than it already is. In following the APEC agenda
governments will claim that they must abolish the many of the labour laws
and regulations that protect workers' rights, while introducing new
regulations which prevent workers from organising against these changes. 

It is claimed that deregulation of the labour market will encourage greater
efficiency and productivity through market competition, while giving workers
the opportunity to cross national borders in search of jobs. A flexible and
free labour market means that workers lucky enough to have jobs will be
exposed to unrestrained exploitation by multinationals. Competition means
that workers will be divided, competing for lower and lower wages, while
multinationals relocate factories or import migrant workers in their search
for mega-profits. The ultimate expression of this neoliberal capitalist
agenda are Export Processing Zones and Free Trade Zones which are prevalent
throughout Asia. These Zones were created as special areas within which
multinationals can trade freely, pay little or no taxes, and  exploit the
people and the natural resources of these countries without the threat of
sanctions. The incentives offered by governments to foreign investors
include low wages, unrestricted working hours, bans on trade unions and
collective bargaining, and exclusion from existing labour laws. From the
perspective of industrial workers what APEC promises is to turn the
Asia-Pacific region into a giant Export Processing Zone. 

The APEC agenda will also demand the privatisation of state and public
enterprises, leading to massive lay-offs as state monopolies become private
monopolies. Working class families throughout the region will also suffer
from neoliberal policies on heath, education and social welfare. The
privatisation of health, education and social welfare will create an
'efficient', competitive system that excludes the majority of working
people, while the growing number of unemployed workers will be faced with
the obligation of workfare rather than the right to welfare. Ultimately the
obstructions which are hindering the APEC vision of  'labour flexibility'
are those regulations, policies and programmes which organised labour
movements have won through working class struggle. 

Regardless of whether APEC is able to achieve its aims in 5, 10 or 20 years,
it will be a powerful force in closing off possibilities for alternatives
forms of social and economic development. Working people will be told that
the free market economy is the one and only path to prosperity, and will
continue to be subjected to the violence of the 'free' market with little
hope of sharing in the prosperity and wealth promised in the coming 'Pacific
Century'. 

It is on this basis that we must demand the dissolution of all organisations
committed to promoting globalisation of the neoliberal capitalist agenda
such as APEC, WTO and the World Bank/IMF.