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August 31, 2003
We, representatives
of organized labor, are calling for a global ethic, one in which trade,
investments and global economic and political arrangements work for poor
people and their communities through sustainable development. We envision
a new global order where the people's rights and welfare, and not
corporate profits, reign supreme.
Like the IMF and the World Bank, we believe that the World Trade
Organization (WTO) is out of sync with this aspiration. Eight years after
it was established, it is already clear that the WTO has miserably failed
to live up to its promises. Instead of reducing global poverty, it has led
to massive unemployment and the destruction of livelihood for millions of
workers, while at the same time further enriching transnational
corporations. Instead of promoting sustainable development, it has rolled
back whatever development the Global South has gained so far.
In the Philippines, its accession to the WTO is now being blamed not only
for the disastrous condition in the agricultural and manufacturing
sectors, but also for the worsening of the government's budget deficit.
According to the Tariff Commission, WTO related tariff cuts lowered the
country's tariff collections from P83 billion in 1997 to P59.5 in 2002.
The difference between the collection rates in 1997 and 2002 came to
P23.6, which was over 10 per cent of the P210 billion deficit for 2002!
 Yet despite all these, countries of the North, especially the US, EU,
Japan and Canada – the so-called Quads – will continue to press for a new
round of negotiation in Cancun, Mexico on September 10-14, 2003 where the
5th WTO Ministerial Conference will be held.
Once again, the working people's future is at stake in Cancun. More
than 10 million farmers will face further tariff cuts for competing
products, even as there is no commitment to reduce developed country
subsidies, under the Harbinson draft. The 2.5 million rice farmers will
lose their protection from quantitative restrictions and would be bound
under the progressive liberalization commitment under the Harbinson draft.
One million fisherfolk will likewise lose their chance for protection as
fish products become bound for further liberalization under the new
modalities on liberalization in non-agriculture products. The jobs of
three million workers in manufacturing will be threatened as the presently
bound 2,958 non-agriculture tariff lines with tariffs from 4-50% face
further reduction, and around 2,000 tariff lines previously unbound become
bound to progressive tariff reduction under the non-agricultural market
access modalities. The government stands to lose whatever instruments
remain for industrial policy and public service with the inclusion of new
issues in investment and government procurement, as well as the opening to
foreign commercial presence of key public services under the GATS
negotiations. The employment preference for Filipinos and the nationality
restriction on land ownership are being requested by developed countries
to be torn down.
Less than three weeks are left before the start of the WTO Ministerial in
Cancun. Yet up to now, the government has no clear development framework
on which to base its negotiating positions. Worse, it has even refused to
disclose to the public its intended commitments to the upcoming
negotiations.
For this reason, we the representatives of organized labor call on
the Macapagal administration and all the Trade Ministers attending the 5th
WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico this September 2003 to:
1. Oppose a new round of WTO trade negotiations,
2. Oppose further WTO trade and trade-related liberalization, and
3. Oppose the incorporation of the "new issues" of
investment, competition policy, government procurement, and trade
facilitation into the WTO agenda.
Furthermore, we demand for the following:
1. Freeze negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) on
the ground that this is a mechanism for dumping cheap industrial goods,
leading to job loss and greater poverty in developing countries. This step
must be taken within the broader context of an industrial and development
framework to be developed
after a comprehensive study carried out in collaboration with concerned
sectors. Trade instruments and international trade agreements should serve
and promote national development objectives.
2. Freeze negotiations in services on the grounds that a
long-standing demand for clear assessment on the impact of services
liberalization has yet to be done and that the GATS subverts the
Constitution and foreign investment laws.
3. Agriculture should be out of WTO, Fisheries must remain out of
WTO. Food sovereignty is undermined by the WTO. Instead of securing food
for the people of the world, WTO agreements, particularly the agreement on
Agriculture(AoA), has prioritized export-oriented production, which has
increased global hunger and malnutrition. Experience has shown us that the
AoA restricts the people's right to define their own food and agriculture;
to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in
order to achieve sustainable development objectives; to determine the
extent to which they want to be self reliant; to restrict the dumping of
products in their markets, and; to provide local fisheries-based
communities the priority in managing the use of and the rights to aquatic
resources.
In the meantime, the proposed non-agricultural market access (NAMA)
agreement would include fisheries under WTO jurisdiction, threatening to
destroy the livelihood of our already impoverished fisherfolks.
4. Stop Corporate Patent Protection, Stop Patenting on Life. Oppose
the drive of the US and other developed countries to undermine the Doha
Declaration provision allowing developing country governments to override
the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement in the
interests of public health; stop all efforts to extend patents to life and
traditional knowledge; and prevent monopoly of technological diffusion by
transnational corporations.
5. Assess the Results of Previous Commitments to the WTO and its
Promised Benefits; Hold All Trade Negotiators Accountable. Government
should make publicits previous commitments to the WTO and subject them to
a thorough assessment. All trade negotiators should be held accountable
not only for mistakes they have made during the negotiations but also for
the unmet promises of the trade agreements they have negotiated.
6. Institutionalize People's Participation in Trade Negotiations. All
trade agreements have far reaching effects on the working people,
especially those in the South. Thus, all governments, including our own,
must promote broad public discussions on any trade agreements before any
commitments are made. The Macapagal administration must instruct the
Secretary of Trade and Industry and other trade representatives, to
conduct regular consultations with stakeholders, especially the workers,
at least several months before making any new commitments.
7. Develop the Domestic Market Alongside the Export Market. The
long-term solution to achieve sustainable development is for government to
balance export orientation with determined efforts to develop the domestic
market. This would necessarily require the integration of the various
small, separate "economies" that we find existing within the country
through infrastructure development. But more importantly, this would also
require the political will to institute a real asset reform, not only in
the rural areas (agrarian reform), but also in urban areas (urban land
reform, profit sharing, etc.). In that way, we need not fall ill each time
the US sneezes.
Labor Organizations:
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU)
Lakas at Gabay ng Manggagawang Nagkakaisa (LAGMAN)
Mangagagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN)
National Association of Trade Unions (NATU)
Party List Parties:
Akbayan
Alab Katipunan
Partido ng Manggagawa
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