[asia-apec 1630] Asia Pacific Labour Network Meeting

[Aaron James]

APEC must deliver on its promises to working people 30/10/2000

(ICFTU OnLine Monday October 30 2000)

The trade unions of the ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network (ICFTU/APLN) 
today called for APEC Leaders, who will be meeting in Brunei in just over 
two weeks’ time, to heed the loss of public confidence in the multilateral 
trading system in both the developing and the industrialised countries, and 
adopt measures to ensure that globalisation brings benefits to all sections 
of society.

In an eighteen-point statementadopted in Bandar Seri Begawan today, the 
ICFTU/APLN which is meeting in Brunei over 28-31 October 2000 calls for 
APEC to set up a Labour Forum as a counterpart to its established APEC 
Business Advisory Council.

“The Leaders of APEC must fulfil their promises to broaden the APEC social 
dimension, and must involve working people through their trade unions 
better in APEC’s work, if they want to convince their people of APEC’s 
role”, said ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan.
The Statement calls on APEC to establish a Labour-Management Work Programme 
on Social Development, covering issues such as occupational health and 
safety; social safety nets; respect for the rights of migrant workers; and 
fundamental workers’ rights, including child labour.
The trade unions challenge APEC to recognise gender perspectives at various 
levels and to promote women’s issues in all the various activities of APEC.
“Most APEC leaders at recent APEC Leaders’ Meetings have agreed that 
organised labour should be involved more”, noted Ken Douglas, President of 
the ICFTU’s Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation (ICFTU-APRO).
“APEC Leaders must now give substance to those words, and devise structures 
for meaningful involvement of trade unions in APEC processes”, concluded 
Bill Jordan.

The trade union delegation is due to meet the Sultan of Brunei on Tuesday 
31 October to discuss the trade union recommendations to APEC.

(Note to journalists: APEC is the trade and investment liberalisation and 
economic co-operation organisation that brings together the countries 
around the Pacific Rim, ranging from Singapore to the United States and 
including new members such as Chile, Peru and Russia. The ICFTU’s Asia 
Pacific Labour Network (APLN) is holding its 6th Regional Conference in 
Brunei. The ICFTU/APLN was founded in 1995 for unions to match the power of 
business in the APEC forum. It has been seeking consistently since then to 
raise the profile of social issues in APEC.)

ICFTU/APLN Statement to 2000 APEC Leaders' Meeting

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)/
Asia Pacific Labour Network (ICFTU/APLN)
Sixth Regional Conference (Brunei, 28-31 October 2000)

DELIVERING TO WORKING PEOPLE
WITHIN THE APEC COMMUNITY:
ICFTU/APLN STATEMENT
TO THE 2000 APEC LEADERS’ MEETING



Introduction

1. The street protests in Seattle, Prague, Seoul and many cities in the 
Americas and throughout the world are representative of a much broader loss 
of public confidence in the multilateral trading system in both the 
developing and the industrialised countries. APEC needs to ensure that 
globalisation brings benefits to all sections of society - at present APEC 
lacks support among many people who have seen little gain from the 
globalisation process while working hours have increased and real wages 
have fallen. APEC Leaders must fulfil their promises to broaden the APEC 
social dimension, and must involve working people through their trade 
unions better in APEC’s work, if they want APEC to achieve successful 
economic and social co-operation among its many diverse members. Above all, 
APEC needs to reach out beyond its established consultations with the 
business community to establish effective mechanisms for the involvement of 
trade unions in relevant activities and meetings throughout the APEC structure.

Trade union participation in APEC meetings – Recommendations

2. The Brunei APEC Leaders’ Meeting should discuss practical measures to 
improve the representation of trade unions in the APEC process. The 
ICFTU/APLN recommends:

Endorsement of the establishment of an APEC Labour Forum and a commitment 
to a process, involving national trade union centres, to discuss how to set 
it up;

Representation of trade unions on selected APEC committees, working groups 
and ministerial meetings, including the APEC Human Resources Development 
(HRD) working group and in preparations for the 4th APEC HRD Ministerial 
(Kumamoto, Japan, 29-30 September 2001), with resources to support such 
participation;

Continuation of regular contacts between the ICFTU/APLN and the APEC 
secretariat for the exchange of information so that, where appropriate, 
trade union comments on issues being discussed within the APEC process can 
be formulated and presented;

Inclusion of trade unions and appropriate representatives of civil society 
in APEC national consultative committees and in national delegations to 
APEC meetings.

An APEC Labour-Management Work Programme on Social Development

3. Workplaces with trade union-enterprise collaboration are overwhelmingly 
the most productive and by the same token, joint labour-management 
co-operation would strengthen the capacity of the APEC process to deliver 
socially and economically sustainable results. Issues like occupational 
safety and health; boosting productivity; active labour market policies; 
and developing best-practice models for labour-management collaboration, 
need to be the subject of collaborative work by ABAC together with the APLN 
to develop common approaches and joint recommendations for adoption by APEC 
member states.


4. Given the lessons that should have been learned from the Asian economic 
and financial crisis, the Brunei 2000 APEC Leaders’ Meeting should instruct 
APEC’s bodies to provide recommendations for a strong labour-management 
work programme on social and employment policies, through both APEC’s trade 
and investment liberalisation and facilitation (TILF) and APEC’s economic 
and technical cooperation (ECOTECH) work programmes, with full use of the 
expertise of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The guidelines 
being developed by APEC Finance Ministers on “responsive and fiscally 
manageable social safety nets” need to be discussed with the APLN and ABAC, 
in view of the workplace expertise that only the social partners can 
provide, at a tripartite workshop before they are presented to APEC Leaders.



5. Women have been more adversely affected by financial and economic crisis 
than men. The recommendations of the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Women, 
concerning in particular the recognition of gender perspectives at 
different levels in APEC and the promotion of women’s issues in all the 
various activities of APEC, need to be implemented fully. The Brunei APEC 
Leaders’ Meeting should make recommendations to develop a work programme 
for affirmative action to improve their situation.



6. An APEC work programme on Social Development would build on the HRD 
project on social safety nets and be in line with the conclusions of the 
3rd APEC HRD Ministerial Meeting (Washington D.C., 29-30 July 1999). This 
requires in turn recognition of the need for respect for human and 
democratic rights on the basis of the right to freedom of association, 
democracy and universal suffrage.



7. The better-off APEC economies should increase dramatically their support 
for social and economic development, directed to the most needy. The 
priorities are stimulating employment creation in quality jobs where core 
labour standards are respected; improving social security systems in APEC 
members, particularly education, health and medical benefits, pension 
schemes and unemployment benefit schemes; helping enterprises to recover, 
and to pay wage arrears; respect for the basic human rights of migrant 
workers (including freedom of association); and promoting sound industrial 
relations and tripartite dialogue between governments, employers and 
unions, based on respect for the ILO’s fundamental workers’ rights.



8. The increasing number of workers in part-time, temporary and contract 
employment is of growing concern to us. These workers are, in many cases, 
not guaranteed equal treatment in terms of employment security, working 
conditions and social security benefits. APEC needs to devise 
recommendations to establish fair work rules to secure and improve working 
conditions for those with atypical employment contracts.



9. All APEC members should support fundamental workers’ rights in law and 
in practice, and should include them on the future APEC work programme, in 
the light of their commitments engaged into under the WTO Singapore 
Declaration and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at 
Work and its Follow-up. APEC should for example develop its work against 
child labour beyond its existing “best practices” project.

Strengthening a socially responsible multilateral system

10. APEC has consistently stressed its support for multilateral trade and 
investment liberalisation through the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Yet 
several months after Seattle, there is concern world-wide that the WTO 
undermines domestic sovereignty, particularly in areas where trade can have 
a socially and environmentally damaging impact. Similarly, the IMF and the 
World Bank face a massive decline in confidence in their abilities to 
fulfil their mandates of poverty reduction, financial stability and 
economic growth.



11. The ICFTU/APLN believes that the WTO General Council must adopt 
measures to tackle the concerns of developing countries about fair 
treatment in the multilateral trading system, to protect basic labour 
standards during globalisation, and to make the trading system 
environmentally sustainable. The APEC Brunei Leaders’ Meeting should 
support steps by the WTO General Council in this regard, including an 
enhanced role of the WTO with regard to respecting fundamental workers’ 
rights.



12. In the context of a spiralling number of bilateral and sub-regional 
trade and investment agreements within APEC, it is vital that basic 
workers’ rights be safeguarded and that the agreements result in the 
improvement, not in the lowering, of living and working standards.



13. APEC work on investment promotion should include reference to respect 
by multinational companies for the revised OECD Guidelines on Multinational 
Companies, as well as the long-standing ILO Tripartite Declaration of 
Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy.



14. APEC leaders should adopt proposals for a newly regulated international 
financial system which would achieve stable, sustainable development by all 
countries. The necessary measures would include improved fiscal and 
monetary policy co-ordination; recognition of the rights of developing 
countries to control foreign capital inflows and outflows; the 
establishment of a currency transactions tax; examining the setting up of 
regional funds to mitigate the impact of liquidity crises and, where 
necessary, establishing social safety nets in the region.



15. The vulnerability of the APEC economies, particularly the developing 
countries, has been increased further by the "oil shock" of 2000. The 
impact of rising oil prices is causing unbearable strains in many countries 
and is adversely affecting the poor and marginalised sectors. The APEC 
leaders should seriously consider ways and means to respond effectively to 
the oil crisis, including through actions to tackle the practices of the 
multinational companies concerned. Efforts to explore the use and further 
development of alternative and sustainable sources of energy should be 
stepped up.




Conclusions




16. Most APEC leaders at recent APEC Leaders’ Meetings have agreed that 
organised labour should be involved more at the country level when APEC 
issues were discussed. Some APEC Leaders’ Declarations such as Vancouver 
(1997) have referred to the role of labour in promoting sustainable growth 
and well-being. APEC Leaders must now devise structures for meaningful 
involvement of trade unions, which would be consistent with the Senior 
Officials’ Meeting (SOM) decision in September 2000 to expand APEC’s 
outreach programme to include civil society. This is needed starting at the 
APEC Leaders’ level, comparable with the arrangements for access by the 
APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), and continuing throughout the APEC 
process.



17. The ICFTU/APLN welcomed the participation in its 4th, 5th and 6th 
Conferences of the APEC Executive Directors, and its discussions with the 
Chairs of the ABAC at its 5th and 6th Conferences, as an important step 
towards developing contacts and consultation between the government, 
business and labour communities within APEC.



18. The ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network (ICFTU/APLN) believes that 
involvement of trade unions in the APEC process would give an important 
boost to APEC’s role as a decision-making and problem-solving forum to 
endure in the 21st century. Involving trade unions on a formal basis in 
APEC’s work requires the setting up of an APEC Labour Forum and, 
ultimately, the opportunity to meet APEC Leaders annually just as the ABAC 
does. APEC must set up an APEC Labour Forum and tackle the social, 
financial and trade dimensions of the APEC region on the basis of the 
recommendations in this document.





The ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network (ICFTU/APLN) was established in 1995 
to support and promote the work of trade unions of the Asia Pacific 
Economic Co-operation (APEC) region in their dialogue with governments, 
business and other groups involved in the APEC process. The APLN consists 
of the affiliates of the ICFTU in Chile, Mexico, the USA, Canada, New 
Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, 
Thailand, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Peru, 
together with the associated sectoral unions grouped in the International 
Trade Secretariats. The contact point for the Network is the ICFTU Asian 
Pacific Regional Organisation (APRO), NTUC Trade Union House, 73 Bras Basah 
Road (4th Floor), Singapore 189556, Republic of Singapore, Tel. No. (65) 
222.62.94, Fax No. (65) 221.73.80, E-mail: gs at icftu-apro.org
Web-site: http://www.icftu-apro.org

The aim of the ICFTU/APLN is to harness the APEC objective of the 
internationalisation of markets to the improvement of the conditions of 
work and life of the citizens of this populous region. In pursuit of these 
goals, in each of the past six years the ICFTU/APLN has held substantive 
and productive meetings with all the hosts of the APEC Leaders’ Meetings: 
the Prime Minister of Japan; the President of the Philippines; the Prime 
Minister of Canada; the Prime Minister of Malaysia; the Prime Minister of 
New Zealand; and the Sultan of Brunei.