Workplace Violence: The Declining Power of the Unions

This is the fifth in a series of segments which together comprise a larger paper presented at the  Ninth World Conference on Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion, Merida, Mexico, focusing on workplace violence from a “global” perspective. In its entirety, this paper examines the contributing factors of workplace abuse which plague both developed and developing nations.

 Workplace conditions are, in part, defined by the ability of the workforce to advocate on their own behalf through elected representatives. Historically, organized labour has evolved over time on a national or sector-specific basis with variations from country to country, marked by differences in focus, density and collective strength.  Although there were earlier attempts to organize “internationally”, it wasn’t until after the Second World War that the labour movement began to expand its reach with the formation in 1949 of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).  Also in the immediate post-war period (1948), a body was created to represent unions in connection with recovery programs in Europe. This organization later became the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

 As an independent organization, the ICFTU brings together workers from 234 affiliates in 152 countries and territories representing over 155 million workers, each national centre with links to trade unions in a particular country.  Through its regional organizations, a major part of the work of the ICFTU is in the area of representing trade union interests at the international level.[1]It plays a major role in the Workers’ Group of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Governing Body, the official representative of organized labour at the United Nations, and represents workers’ interests in its contracts with the International Monitory fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Working collaboratively with the ICFTU is the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), TUAC and Global Union Federations commonly known as GUFs.

The ICFTU 17^th World Congress passed 15 resolutions at its meeting held in Durban, Ireland on April 3 – 7, 2000, one of which called upon the World Bank (WB) or the IMF to withhold funds from countries which are constant violators of workers’ rights. In addition, the ICFTU reaffirmed its support of the ILO work in its efforts to secure social protection and to advocate for occupational health and safety concessions. In addition, the ICFTU strongly encouraged the ILO to improve cooperation with the IMF, WB and the WTO, and to strengthen its regional work, including raising its regional profile and re-activating local support.

Although much is being done on the International Labour front to improve labour conditions and monitor the changes brought about by Globalization, there are two significant obstacles which face the labour movement, (1) its lack of leverage at the international level, and (2) dwindling union membership.

Although the international labour movement surely benefits from the official status granted the ICTWU by international organizations, none of those organizations is empowered to deal with the day-to-day problems of workers or to pass judgement on individual employers. Realizing that they are severely disadvantaged in their dealings with TNCs, national unions on their own are exploring ways of building and strengthening a multinational labour movement. Some industry-specific international confederations of unions, such as, the International Metalworkers Federation, have attempted coordinated bargaining across national borders. The North American Free Trade Agreement has inspired US and Mexican unions to engage in cooperative organizing efforts on both sides of the border.[2]  Whether such efforts will strengthen the transnational labour movement that will be an effective counterweight to TNCs defies prediction.

Today, unlike any other time since the beginning of the trade union movement, there is a worldwide decline in unionization. This trend was described in the IOL’s World Labour Report 1997-1998 in which they noted that of the 92 countries sampled in 1995 only 14 had a union density of more than 50%. More than half the sample – forty-eight countries – had unionization rates of less than 20%.  Although conditions vary by country and region, most commentators believe globalization has weakened union’s influence, especially in industrialized nations.  It appears that capitol mobility places traditionally unionized blue collar industries in competition with lower cost producers abroad, and has result there is a loss of unionized jobs.  In addition, shifts in employment toward nonstandardized jobs pose challenges for organized labour. Contingent workers are traditionally thought to be hard to organize because they lack attachment to the labour market and work at the periphery in the worst jobs.

Members of trade unions who seek to exercise their rights in certain countries face the risk of life-threatening violence. In the Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Rights., the ICFTU monitors and documents the conditions under which trade unions operate within most nations of the world. In its 2004 report the ICFTU indicated that Columbia remains the most dangerous place on earth for trade unions. In 2003 a of 94 people were killed for their trade union activities, and more than three times that number received credible death threats.  (International confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) 2004, Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights: Americas, p.2). At its March 2005 session of the ILO Governing body approved the 336^th report of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, which examined 30 cases. Nepal violent intervention in a demonstration that resulted in the arrest and detention of trade unionists. Guatemala, serious allegations of violence against trade unionists, dismissal of union leaders etc..  Zimbabwe arbitrary arrests and detentions, anti-union intimidation and harassment.