December 2004
1. Congress reaffirms that universal and full respect of trade union rights remains a key objective of the ICFTU and that globalisation adds to the urgency of its achievement. Together with other core labour standards, ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and accompanying jurisprudence define internationally recognised human rights at work and are an integral part of the rights of all people in all countries in all circumstances.

2. Respect of trade union rights is a precondition for justice
at the workplace, in society, and in the global economy. Only when working people are free to organise in order to take trade union action in their workplaces and across borders, through their national and international union organisations, and to bargain collectively can they claim a fair share of the wealth they produce and decent conditions of work, and so contribute to equity and consensus in society. Violations of these rights is a source of unfair competition in the global economy, and needs to be prevented on economic as well as social and human rights grounds: repression anywhere constitutes a threat to liberty everywhere.

3. Congress declares the responsibility of the ICFTU to combat trade union rights violations wherever they occur and without distinction. It will not be deterred by the power and influence of those responsible for abuses or who benefit from them, nor by the bogus arguments they adduce in self-justification. The ICFTU will oppose resolutely attempts to weaken trade union rights by redefining them or to detract from their effective supervision.

4. Congress welcomes the publication of the ICFTU Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights as an authoritative and objective overview of the occurrence of abuse of the rights to organise and bargain collectively, and calls for its continuation. The evidence it provides shows changes in the incidence and type of violations, but no general trend of improvement. It also highlights the particular vulnerability of women workers in the exercise of their trade union rights.

5. The spread of democracy in many parts of the world has brought an end to some of the most flagrant prohibitions on free trade unions associated with repressive dictatorship. But some remain and are an affront and a particular challenge to the ICFTU. Added to them are the collapse of the rule of law in the growing number of failed states, making the normal exercise of trade union rights impossible.

6. At the same time, the Survey testifies to the pernicious multiplication of violations of trade union rights introduced as a deliberate part of national policies, including those of democratically elected Governments, with the stated intent of making markets more efficient, curbing union actions contrary to national interests, promoting macroeconomic stability and adjustment, or attracting foreign direct investment. In particular, many governments are broadening illegitimately their definition of so-called “essential services” as a pretext for restrictions to workers’ rights. There is often a serious lack of social dialogue and respect for trade union rights in the public sector, showing the importance of ratification and application in law and in practice of ILO Convention 151 on Labour Relations (Public Service).

7. Congress recognises that this type of abuse is frequently part of a wider attempt to alter power relationships in society and a rejection of the role of trade unionism in them. It regrets that the ideological inspiration for such attacks on trade unionism has sometimes drawn strength from the views and policy recommendations of some international organisations, notably the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The progress made in having them formally accept promotion of all core labour standards – including these concerning the right to organise and to bargain collectively –still needs to be translated uniformly and reliably into national level policy interventions. Moreover, this progress towards policy coherence has to be carried forward so that the international community acts on the imperative need for mechanisms which permit the effective and universal enforcement of trade union and other fundamental workers’ rights, through their linkage to the international trade system overseen by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and their incorporation in regional and bilateral trade agreements and in the policies and actions of the international financial institutions.

8. The struggle for the universal respect of trade union rights requires the contribution of all concerned international organisations. In this context Congress pledges to promote the unique, lead role of the ILO in the setting and supervision of standards and to oppose resolutely any attacks on the ILO supervisory system. It calls on the ILO to reinforce its standards-related activities and to promote actively system-wide coherence in support of trade union rights.

9. The great majority of the more than 50 million workers in the world’s export processing zones (EPZs) are denied, by law or in practice, the exercise of their trade union rights. EPZs are a concrete demonstration of how Governments are succumbing to the pressure of unregulated international competition to deny trade union rights. Congress acknowledges the key strategic significance of EPZs in the struggle for trade union rights in the global economy and commits the ICFTU to campaign for decent work in EPZs.

ICFTU Action Programme

10. Congress instructs the ICFTU and regional organisations, working together with Global Unions partners and affiliates, to undertake the following actions:

a) Strengthening capacities. Strong national centres are the first and best guarantee of the respect of trade union rights. The ICFTU should assist in the development of their capacity to defend their rights nationally, to strengthen tripartism, to promote the conclusion of collective bargaining agreements, including in the public sector, to fight for the adoption of strong and effective national legislation to this effect and to make use of international mechanisms, including the supervisory machinery of the ILO, when necessary;

b) Mobilising international trade union solidarity. The ICFTU will strengthen its capacities to become a central point of enquiry, information, communication, cooperation and mobilisation of unions in different countries (including requests from unions for material support and industrial sympathy action where appropriate) for the promotion of trade union rights and the defence of victims of anti-union repression;

c) Using ILO procedures effectively. The ICFTU will continue to forward comments to the ILO Committee of Experts, to select cases for the Committee on the Application of Standards, to use Article 24 and Article 26 procedures when appropriate, to present complaints to the Committee on Freedom of Association, to make use of the follow-up mechanism to the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and to ensure that adequate resources are allocated to the ILO Standards Department, in particular to the Freedom of Association branch;

d) Participating in relevant UN fora. The ICFTU will make full use of the opportunities offered in all relevant UN bodies, including the Commission on Human Rights, ECOSOC and the General Assembly;

e) Promoting rights through trade, investment and development agreements. The ICFTU will press for the inclusion of provisions for the defence and promotion of trade union rights in trade, investment and development agreements, and use existing opportunities for the enforcement of those rights. It will continue to work for the defence and promotion of core labour standards at the WTO, including working towards the establishment of permanent structured co-operation between the ILO and the WTO;

f) Ensuring coherence in ICFTU actions. In its own purchasing policies, the ICFTU will give preference to those companies that have collective agreements freely bargained with the trade unions concerned and respect those agreements. It will encourage affiliates to do the same;

g) Promoting rights. The ICFTU will promote, in all possible fora, the universality of trade union rights and other human rights as the instruments of political, economic, social and cultural development of societies;

h) Promoting international policy coherence. The ICFTU will hold all relevant international organisations to their responsibilities and stated commitments to promote respect of trade union rights. It calls on all UN member states to put their weight behind the realisation of the recommendations for effective international cooperation of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation;

i) Building alliances. The ICFTU will work closely with appropriate human rights advocates in civil society in support of trade union rights and also encourage affiliates to develop complementary actions with human rights advocates in order to achieve progress on trade union rights;

j) Campaigning intensively on carefully selected cases of trade union rights violations. The ICFTU will continue to focus on a limited number of national situations of particular gravity, including Belarus, Burma, China, Colombia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, as well as on EPZs in all parts of the world where trade union rights are under attack.