A-Infos (en) 1998 ICFTU report - Middle East and Europe

[Antti Rautiainen <antti.rautiainen@kolumbus.fi>]

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	INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)
	ICFTU OnLine...
	113/990608/LD


	Eastern Europe: social recession
	By Natacha David

	Brussels, June 10 1999 (ICFTU OnLine): Against a background of
frantic economic liberalisation, Central and Eastern Europe is sinking
deeper into social recession.  Widespread privatisation, more precarious
forms of employment, less collective bargaining, ever longer delays in the
payment of wages, new anti-union legislation and an increase  in repressive
practices by the employers and the authorities... the global economic
situation has only served to aggravate the problems encountered by the
workers of the region over the year under review.
	As a result of this precarious economic situation, says the ICFTU's
annual survey, the non-payment of wages remained the dominant social and
trade union issue in this region in 1998.  In Ukraine, miners and teachers
suffered the most from this problem.  In Croatia, some 30,000 workers were
not paid for up to 40 months at a time.  In Serbia, the public sector was
the hardest hit, which led to a general strike.  In Kazakhstan, miners and
workers at a fertiliser factory who had not been paid for two years were
driven to the extreme of going on hunger strike. Another 200 workers in the
same country found themselves behind bars for protesting at wage arrears of
between six months and two years.  But it was in Russia that the wage crisis
was the most severe, affecting no less than 20 million workers in the public
and private sector and leading to mass strikes in April and October, as well
as numerous demonstrations and hunger strikes throughout the country.
	In addition to the problem of unpaid wages, working conditions in
general have been steadily deteriorating in the blinkered pursuit of
liberalisation and profits.  Bulgarian workers at a textile factory in the
Sandanski region were forced to work without an employment contract for 12
to 14 hours a day, sometimes on Saturdays and even Sundays.  The ICFTU
survey also cites the cases of enterprises in the region which forced
employees to work 30 hours at a stretch with only two short breaks.
	The ICFTU is extremely concerned about the fate of the Albanian
workers in Kosovo, victims of ethnic cleansing for several years now,
recalls the survey.  Deploring the mass dismissals of Albanians in the
public services purely on ethnic grounds, the ICFTU also expresses its fears
for the many trade unionists among the Kosovars displaced, arrested,
wounded, tortured, 'disappeared' or killed by the Serb forces.  The ICFTU
survey equally denounces the discrimination against the independent trade
unions of Serbia, and the blatantly favourable treatment of the republic's
official trade union, a situation repeated in Belarus.
	Beyond the borders of Central and Eastern Europe, the ICFTU draws
attention to the unenviable fate of the many Romanian seafarers stranded in
ports around the world, forced to survive in deplorable conditions aboard
ships abandoned by bankrupt owners.
	In this increasingly difficult social and economic situation, any
attempt at fighting for greater justice for workers and the respect of their
legitimate rights is a highly risky venture.  Intimidation, dismissal and
other forms of repression are on the increase, even the lives of trade
unionists are at risk, deplores the ICFTU.  Beyond the difficulties caused
by the economic situation, the region's trade unions were also faced with
the decision by the governments of several countries, such as Russia,
Belarus and Estonia, to impose new, more restrictive, labour codes.
	In Bulgaria, 19 workers in a shoe factory in the Plovdid region were
dismissed simply for daring to claim their rights.  In Lithuania, Rosita
Kazakieve was also dismissed from her job in the Siauliai region, simply for
joining the LWU trade union.  In Croatia, at the beginning of 1998, several
peaceful workers' demonstrations were brutally repressed by the police in
the capital, Zagreb.  Violence against trade unionists is regrettably
emerging as a clear trend in the country, as shown by the example of Marijan
Marsic, a shop steward in the textile industry who was dismissed and
physically assaulted, or Boloca Jurec, another Croatian trade union
delegate, imprisoned for one month on the pretext that his criticism of his
manager amounted to slander.
	Risking their lives...
	In an increasingly tense social climate, trade union repression does
not stop at violence, which has sometimes cost the lives of the trade
unionists trying to get the workers' voice heard.  In Albania, on October
26, Astrit Balluku, president of the teachers' federation and a member of
the executive board of the national trade union centre the BSPSH, was shot
dead as he arrived at the union's headquarters.  In Russia, on 1 January
1999, Gennady Borisov, a trade union leader at the Vnukovo airline, was also
assassinated while involved in a campaign to protest at unpaid wages, and
after publicly denouncing the company's fraudulent practices.  A dangerous
venture, given that another trade unionist had been killed in similar
circumstances before him.
	All these dramatic incidents go to show that some of the region's
new entrepreneurial class will stop at nothing to rid themselves of anyone
getting in their way, particularly those protesting at the ever greater
social injustice emerging in this new economic jungle.  



The Middle East: no improvement in sight
By Natacha David

Brussels. June 10 1999 (ICFTU OnLine): As the years go by, each seems to
resemble the last, as far as the trade union situation in the Middle East is
concerned.  The region is still a black spot on the world trade union map,
particularly the Gulf States.  There are no signs of positive developments,
regrets the ICFTU survey.
Trade unions are banned in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab
Emirates, and all collective bargaining and all strikes are prohibited.  The
same situation persists in Oman where the new labour code had still not been
adopted by the end of 1998, despite the government's many promises.
In Iran, workers' representation only serves to promote Islamic culture.
Government ministers draw up the rules governing the functioning of the
Islamic Labour Councils.  There was an increase in the number of strikes in
1998, mainly to protest at unpaid wages, but there was very little scope, if
any, for collective bargaining.
In Iraq, as in Syria, independent trade unions are banned.  The two
republics both have a general federation of trade unions, which is in
reality part of the ruling party apparatus.  In Syria collective bargaining
is very restricted, while in Iraq there are no laws guaranteeing bargaining.

In some countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Kuwait, trade union activities
are not quite so tightly controlled, although the authorities still
interfere heavily in trade union affairs.  In Lebanon, where the labour code
dates back to 1946, many government employees are not allowed to form or
join trade unions, and the Ministry of Labour still enjoys broad powers.  In
Jordan, public sector workers and non-nationals do not have the right to
organise, bargain collectively or to strike.  In Kuwait, foreign workers,
who make up 80 per cent of the workforce, have to wait five years before
they can join a union.  Indian and Pakistani workers in domestic service or
employed as seafarers in Kuwait cannot join trade unions.
Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates...although the
countries in the region are now encouraging their own people to become more
economically active, many are still dependent on a large migrant workforce.
These migrants include domestic workers, who are particularly vulnerable to
ill-treatment, regrets the ICFTU. In most cases, even where trade unions
exist, these workers do not have the right to join them.  If they do try to
organise or to go on strike, they risk immediate deportation.  Confined to
the home by their employers, they are underfed and subjected to physical and
sexual abuse.
In Kuwait, following many cases of ill-treatment of Sri Lankan domestic
servants,  300 of them, with no money, passport or visa, were repatriated.
In the United Arab Emirates, where migrants make up between 85 and 90 per
cent of the total workforce, many are forced to work in conditions of
extreme heat. This has caused the illness and sometimes death of these
migrant workers, notes the ICFTU report.
Israel and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza are perhaps
a case apart in this region.  Israel respects fundamental trade union
rights, although the situation is far from perfect.  New proposals may give
the Finance Ministry more powers to interfere in pay bargaining.  As for the
West Bank and Gaza, they still have no labour code.  The 1996 draft
restricts trade union autonomy and does not allow public servants to join
trade unions.  The Palestinian Authority was working on a new draft in 1998,
and asked the ILO for its assistance.  At the same time, many Palestinian
workers suffered heavily from the repeated closure of border crossings with
Israel, notes the survey. 

	Contact: ICFTU-Press at: ++32-2 224.02.12 (Brussels). For more
information, visit our website at: (http://www.icftu.org)
<http://www.icftu.org)> .



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