ICFTU Committee focuses on Chile and Suriname labor situation
CONFIDENTIAL
Case Number: s199900006
PAGE 01
ACTION IO-15
BRUSSE 16808 01 OF 02 171553Z
INFO OCT-00 OIC-02 NEA-06 LAB-04 SNP-01 EUR-01 SS-10 DODE-00 H-01 HA-08 L-03 USIE-00 SP-02 INR-10 EA-10 COME-00 SIL-01
COPY-01 ADS-00 AID-07 AF-10 CIAE-00 EB-08 NSC-01 ARA-16 NSAE-00 PN-09 PA-01 STR-14 SPRS-01 /142 W
R 171549Z DEC 82
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1497
INFO AMEMBASSY BONN, LONDON, PARIS, ROME, TEL AVIV, OSLO, COPENHAGEN, STOCKHOLM, THE HAGUE, USMISSION GENEVA, MADRID, LISBON, CARACAS, BOGOTA, BUENOS AIRES, SANTIAGO, MEXICO, OTTAWA, PARAMARIBO, BRIDGETOWN, PANAMA, TEGUCIGALPA, PORT OF SPAIN
E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR
TAGS: ELAB, ICFTU, XM, CL, NS, VE
SUBJECT: ICFTU Committee focuses on Chile and Suriname labor situation
- SUMMARY: ICFTU’s Latin American Rights Committee held a special meeting on December 15 at Brussels to hear expelled Chilean labor leader Manuel Bustos and discuss ways to step up pressure on the Pinochet regime and aid organized labor there. The committee favored initiation of an ICFTU campaign using Bustos by programming him on visits around Europe and to the U.S., and possibly including an international conference in Spain or the U.S.
The committee also discussed Suriname, recommending that ICFTU request an urgent ILQ mission, organize a conference on Suriname in Barbados next week, and call on all affiliates to urge their governments to exert pressure against the military regime in Suriname.
The committee finally expressed solidarity with the Venezuela Bank Workers Union. End summary. - (U) Special meeting of ICFTU’s Committee for the Defense of Human and Trade Union Rights in Latin America, called to discuss recent developments in Chile, drew some 20 participants, including representatives of eight European affiliates, a smattering of other affiliates (including AFL-CIO, represented by AIFLD Executive Secretary William Doherty), and three international trade secretariats (FIET, MIF, and PSI).
- Chile: Featured participants were two Chilean CNS presidents—Manuel Bustos, whose expulsion from Chile on December 3 had been catalyst for meeting, and Hernol Flores, belatedly invited to assure participation by a labor leader able to return to Chile.
Participants indicated that Bustos led off discussion with an account of recent CNS activities—specifically noting non-communist/communist labor split over issue of whether to support Polish workers and solidarity—and details of his expulsion. The committee, echoing recommendation by October ICFTU mission to Chile, favored continued solidarity aid to Chilean trade unions in a way that promotes maximum unity. It also advocated a stepped-up campaign to spotlight the anti-labor actions of Pinochet regime.
Spanish UGT representative Simon proposed holding an international conference on Chile in either Madrid or somewhere in the U.S. Committee members commented favorably on his idea and urged the secretariat to study its practicability. - In addition, it was decided to program Bustos around Europe to speak before union groups, give press interviews, and meet with appropriate officials. AFL-CIO representative offered to arrange comparable program for him in the U.S. Several Europeans (from Italian CISL and UIL and Spanish UGT) offered to arrange residence for Bustos in their countries; he indicated that he didn’t want to become an exile but hoped to return to Chile soon.
In contrast to ICFTU’s assistance to a second expellee (a communist labor leader named Hector Cuevas) on grounds that he was in distress, AFL-CIO representative reportedly told committee that AFL-CIO would aid only those trade unionists who support Walesa and Polish workers. - Suriname
[CENSORED] - [CENSORED]
- (U) Press conference: Following the meeting, ICFTU-organized press conference attracted 14 journalists, most of whom appeared to specialize in Latin American affairs. Bustos described the difficult conditions for organized labor in Chile and the circumstances of his expulsion. Although it was announced at the outset that the committee had also discussed Suriname and Venezuela, no questions were posed about either.
- Comment: If the meeting served notably as springboard for new ICFTU campaigns on behalf of trade unions in Chile and Suriname, it also appeared to have been a helpful follow-up to the recent ICFTU missions in South and Central America and meeting in Mexico in narrowing existing differences and advancing the integration of the AFL-CIO in ICFTU’s eggshell-sensitive area of Latin American affairs. AFL-CIO representative Doherty told Labatt later that he had been made to feel welcome by the group and had encountered a generally positive, upbeat attitude in the committee discussions. His finding is a sharp contrast to reports of committee sessions in past years (when some European participants were known to have indulged in ideological and anti-American posturing), and probably reflects an upgraded assessment of the committee’s importance by its European members now that the Americans are present.
The test of the newfound harmony in Brussels on Latin American issues, however, will be the extent of its resonance in the various union HQs of ICFTU affiliates in Europe and Latin America.
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