Re: Overseas Job Migrations - one industry's perspective

Brian G. Moore ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
: 
: Personally, I think the only thing that is going to help in the long
: term (and it might be reallllly long term) is pursuing global
: unionization.
: 

Jeff Faux, the first president of the Economic Policy Institute, gave 
a speech on a global labor strategy:

   http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_global_strat_labor
   A Global Strategy for Labor -- Viewpoints | EPI

  "THIS SPEECH WAS GIVEN AT THE 2002 WORLD SOCIAL FORUM IN PORTO ALEGRE,
   BRAZIL HELD ON JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 4, 2002.

   A Global Strategy for Labor
   By Jeff Faux

   [snip]

   As one Asian economist observed: "The U.S. Treasury runs the
   International Monetary Fund, and for years urged them to make loans to
   dictators who squandered the proceeds and are now dead, or retired in
   the South of France. Then the IMF tells us that the only way to pay
   their debts is to increase exports made with our cheap labor. When we
   do, U.S. unions complain that we are undercutting labor standards."

   On the other hand, trade unionists from developed countries see their
   third-world brothers and sisters as being too willing to align
   themselves with multinational capital in opposing social protections
   through trade and financial agreements. They are skeptical when those
   in developing countries who claim to be supportive of human rights
   resist economic sanctions -- which, in practical terms, are the only
   way to preserve those rights.

   One strategy for overcoming this disagreement is to design a "grand
   bargain" that gives the working people in both developed and
   developing countries what they need. The bargain starts with the
   distinction between rights and standards. Collective bargaining is a
   right that every worker is entitled to, regardless of how rich or poor
   is his or her society. The wages and benefits that a union settles
   for, however, will depend on what the particular enterprise can pay.
   Likewise, all workers should have a right to a minimum wage. But the
   level of that minimum wage will depend on the economic development
   level of the country or region.

   Once that distinction is understood, it may be possible for labor
   organizations and their allies in all countries to reach agreement
   that would provide enforceable labor rights in exchange for guaranteed
   commitments of long-term development aid and debt relief. Thus, the
   developed world would get protection for its social standards, and the
   developing world would receive the flexibility and capital investment
   it needs for growth. Incidentally, the issue of labor rights and
   standards is not just an issue for developing countries but developed
   ones as well.

   This "grand bargain" that links development with broadly increasing
   living standards would be connected to planning for sustainable
   development to create the program elements for a global social
   contract. Other elements would include:

   o Flexible Development. The one-size-fits-all policies of the
   international financial agencies have not only failed to produce
   faster growth, they have allowed the leaders of recipient countries to
   escape responsibility for their own policies by blaming all their
   problems on the IMF or World Bank. Therefore, once human and political
   rights are ensured, countries should have the flexibility to choose
   their own development path, for which their leadership should be held
   accountable - to their citizens.

   o Winners Compensating Losers. As long as workers who have to bear the
   costs of open markets expect that they will be abandoned by the
   society that profits at their expense, they will resist globalization.
   So countries need social policies that compensate those who must pay
   for the benefits of economic integration. Such policies would include
   increased public spending on health care for the uninsured, worker
   retraining, adequate pensions, and community redevelopment, as well as
   more generous unemployment compensation and wage insurance to cushion
   the blow of moving to lower-paying jobs.

   o Regulated Finance. Volatile financial markets must be tamed. Since
   no system of global banking regulation is in sight, the simplest
   solution is the "Tobin Tax" - a tax on international financial
   transactions. The proceeds would be used for long-term investments in
   education and health care in poor countries. Such a tax, which has the
   virtue of being easily understood and can be administered with minimal
   bureaucratic discretion, is already supported by many influential
   people around the world. Several years ago, in fact, the government of
   Canada proposed a discussion of the Tobin Tax for the agenda of the
   Group of Seven (the major economic powers) meeting in Halifax, but the
   U.S. Treasury quickly quashed the idea.

   o Coordinated Economic Policy. A fully functioning global economy --
   like a fully functioning national economy -- needs central banking and
   counter-cyclical public budgets in order to maintain overall growth.
   But there will be neither a global central bank nor a global
   government budget for a long time, so these functions must be
   performed by the governments of the three largest economies - the
   United States, Europe, and Japan -- acting together. Having pressured
   the world into a system of brutal competition, the major powers have
   an obligation to maintain sufficient global demand with low interest
   rates and other macroeconomic policies. Putting pressure on their
   governments to act is the special responsibility of worker
   organizations in those countries.

   Conclusion

   A major strategic task before us is the strengthening of the alliance
   of working people -- North and South, East and West -- through a
   common program. This should rest on a "grand bargain" in which the
   interests of developing and developed country workers are served. Such
   a grand bargain for labor would also help raise consciousness among
   the majority of the world's citizens of the need for international
   solidarity with each other.

   The task is difficult. But the world's working majority has two great
   advantages. One is that it is the vast majority -- in every country.
   The second is that the world's workers are indispensable. One can
   imagine a world without multinational investors. It is impossible to
   imagine a world without workers.

   Thus, the world's workers broadly defined, have the power to radically
   change the rules of the global economy. To do it, we need a common
   program, strong organizations and the realization that -- whatever
   country we live in -- we are all in the struggle together."


The requirement of "Winners Compensating Losers" is very important, and 
could be the only thing to prevent a global class war between the global 
investor class and the global labor class.


It doesn't take much imagination to foresee some "Kevin Flanagans" 

   http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5848767.htm
   Contra Costa Times | 05/13/2003 | Job losses sap morale of workers

  "...One month ago, Kevin Flanagan took his life in the parking lot of Bank
   of America's Concord Technology Center, on the afternoon after he was
   told he had lost his job..."

becoming suicide bombers, if they feel that they're losing everything
that they've worked for all of their lives, and decide that taking out
some of their enemies is worth the ultimate sacrifice.


--Jerry Leslie
  Note: [EMAIL PROTECTED] is invalid for email