(Durban 06.04.2000 - Juhani Artto) ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan was asked in the pre-Congress on Sunday about his organisation's relationship with Chinese, Russian and Palestinian organisations and with the French federation CGT, which is known to be dominated by the French Communist Party.
Jordan told the journalists that the Russian federation FNPR is "in the process of applying for membership". At the Congress itself the FNPR delegation, headed by FNPR President Mikhail Shmakov, has observer status. The FNPR delegation spent part of the Congress week making observations in Cape Town.
Two other Russian organisations, the Russian Labour Confederation (KTR) and the All-Russia Confederation of Labour (VKT), also have observer status at the Congress. So do the Yugoslavian CATYU, the Ukrainian FTUU and several federations from other former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Several other federations from the same region are already full members of the ICFTU. These come mainly from countries that have received Candidate State status in the European Union.
The CGT, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), Portugal's CGTP-IN and 15 African, Latin American and Asian federations are also participating in the Congress as observers.
China card trickier
What about relations with China, in which the authorities have brutally crushed all efforts to establish an independent trade union movement?
The ICFTU delegation, led by General Secretary Bill Jordan, visited China earlier this year and met representatives of the All-China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU). At the press conference Bill Jordan characterised the purpose of the visit as embarking on social dialogue.
The Hong Kong-based Chinese dissidents, organised around the China Labour Bulletin, were highly critical of the ICFTU visit, as they have seen no signs in the behaviour of ACFTU leaders which would justify expectations of their transformation into reformers.
Instead, the view taken in the China Labour Bulletin is that only contact with Chinese workers can put pressure on and improve the work of ACFTU shop floor-level cadres. "... this process may spread upwards through the organisation, increasing the pressure on the ACFTU to reform", China Labour Bulletin observes on its website (http://www.china-labour.org.hk/eindex.htm).
The Bulletin makes the following comments on the ICFTU delegation visit to China: "We do not believe that this form of 'constructive' contact will advance the rights of Chinese workers to organise, anymore than it will improve working conditions or safety at work".
On Wednesday the 17th ICFTU Congress had interactive live video contact with the Bulletin's editor Han Dong-fang, whom the ICFTU presented as an independent Chinese labour leader.
He described the situation in China as follows: "While foreign investment is pouring in, democratic ideas like freedom of association and expression are being thrown out, in a country where workers are told that happiness in life is eating a hamburger ... every three months, as each is worth three day's wages".
Han urged all members of the ICFTU family who visit China to keep human and trade union rights at the top of their agenda when meeting the government representative, ACFTU.
The ICFTU President Leroy Trotman pledged his organisation's continued support for independent trade union activity in China.
Cooperation with WCL
At the Sunday press conference, Bill Jordan made brief remarks on international trade union federations other than ICFTU. According to Jordan, the ICFTU shares many important goals with the WCL, the federation with Christian orientation. This is the basis of the existing cooperation between the two organisations. Jordan spoke optimistically of the chances of increasing cooperation.
In the Congress draft for the Millennium Review document, the WCL is characterised with these words: "One organisation that shares many of the values and principles of the ICFTU, perhaps more obviously than other organisations outside our family, is the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), certain of whose affiliates are also members of the ETUC and TUAC ... Our stated objective in the longer term is for the ICFTU and the WCL to merge".
To the communist and reformed communist-led World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) ICFTU offers dialogue.