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'It's unconscionable what some governments and corporations are doing in the name of globalization.'
Ottawa (25 June 2008) – James Clancy delivered a message of international solidarity to more than 3,000 delegates attending UNISON’s 2008 national conference in Bournemouth, England, last week.
UNISON is the largest public sector union in Britain - and also in Europe. It has more than 1.3 million members.
Clancy, president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), one of Canada's largest public sector unions, told delegates that unions around the world must work together on issues that transcend national boundaries if they are going to successfully defend workers' rights and meet other challenges posed by globalization.
“Increasing globalization and an unprecedented concentration of transnational corporate power has confronted us with grave new threats to the jobs and economic security of workers everywhere – and to the very existence of the labour movement,” said Clancy.
"The misery, pain, suffering, the degradation of the environment, degradation of public services that we are witnessing today are not necessary. It's unconscionable what some governments and corporations are doing in the name of globalization."
Think globally
Clancy stressed that in order to fight back trade unions must also think globally.
"It's important that we reach out to women and men, workers, often half way around the world, who speak a different language, often with a different god, or no god, black or white. That is critical for the success of the labour movement worldwide," he said.
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He spoke of the imperative for all unions to "recruit, recruit, recruit" and the need to investigate "strategic partnerships across boundaries," including global unions, to overcome falling union density in many countries.
All unions must redouble their efforts to assert that labour rights are human rights, he argued.
"Workers have an inalienable right to organize as a collective and an inalienable right to bargain collectively, yet government after government around the world, using globalization as an excuse, has been chopping away at these legal human rights," Clancy said. "Unions must make the fight for progressive labour rights one of their core tasks and fight back campaigns must transcend borders."
Clancy also emphasized the need for unions to be tireless advocates for quality public services and those who provide them. He noted that UNISON is respected around the world as a “very strong union dedicated to campaigning for quality public services and for recognition of the essential role of public service workers in building compassionate communities.”
"It is critical that we remind citizens everywhere that public services are what make our communities more humane, more civilized places in which to live. Public services are critical to ensure that, as globalization rolls out in this century, average folks, ordinary working men and women have a chance," Clancy said. NUPGE