ACLD Minutes, May 2, 2003

A. Attendance of Committee Members: The following Committee members were present for all or part of the meeting: Thomas R. Donahue, Frank P. Doyle, Anthony G. Freeman, John Joyce, Ray Marshall, William Lucy, and John J. Sweeney.

B. Attendance of State Department Employees: The following Department of State employees were present for all or part of the meeting: George White, Director, International Labor Affairs; Arlen Wilson, Deputy Director, International Labor Affairs, Jean Gardner, Senior Advisor, International Labor Affairs; Ken Audroue, Executive Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Labor Diplomacy; Randy Fleitman, Economic and Business Affairs Bureau; Jim Leader, Coordinator, State Department Labor Training Course; Robert Zuehke, Bureau of African Affairs; Alden Irons, International Labor Affairs; Charlotte Roe, Labor Officer, Western Hemisphere Bureau; Richard Patard, International Labor Affairs; J. Marinda Harpole, International Labor Affairs; and Michaela Meehan, USAID.

C. Attendance of Department of Labor Employees: The following Department of Labor employees were present for all or part of the meeting: J. William Brumfield, Foreign Service Coordinator, International Labor Affairs Bureau; Robert Shepard, Director, International Labor Affairs Bureau; Robert Wholey, Office of Foreign Relations, International Labor Affairs Bureau; Anne Zollner, International Labor Affairs Bureau; and Mark Judge, International Labor Affairs Bureau.

D. Attendance of Members of the Public: The following members of the public were present for all or part of the meeting: Christopher Candland, Advisor to the ACLD; Harry Kamberis, Executive Director, Solidarity Center; Barbara Shailor, Director, International Affairs Department; Margaret Goodway, World Learning;and Herbert Weiner, FSO-retired.

II. Public Access: The meeting was open to the public.

III. Public Participation: No members of the public submitted oral or written statements to the
Committee.

IV. Reports received by the Committee: The Committee received no reports.

V. Matters Discussed at the Meeting

A. MORNING SESSION

Chairman Thomas R. Donahue called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. Mr. Donahue noted that Committee member Linda Chavez Thompson was unable to attend. He asked the group to observe a minute of silence in honor of Thomas B. Moorhead, Deputy Under Secretary of Labor for International Affairs, who had passed away on April 27. Mr. Donahue recalled Deputy Under Secretary Moorhead’s comment at the last meeting in which he said we really had a great need for more labor officers around the world. Mr. Donahue asked that the Committee’s condolences be expressed to the family of Deputy Under Secretary Moorhead.

Mr. Donahue introduced Christopher Candland, Assistant Professor at Wellesley College and recipient of a Council of Foreign Relations fellowship. He noted that Professor Candland had spent the first six months of the fellowship year working with Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI) and the last six months as Chief Advisor and Research Coordinator to the ACLD.

Mr. Donahue applauded former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall’s latest paper, which looks at the correlation between enforcement of labor standards and high performance economies. He noted that, though the paper had been undertaken for the National Academy of Sciences, it would be reformulated for distribution to wider audiences. He asked Committee members to provide comments to Mr. Marshall on the paper.

Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Lorne Craner welcomed the Committee, said the Secretary and he valued the previous contributions of the Committee and looked forward to strengthening the productive bonds between the Committee and the Department. He reviewed the Bureau’s plans and programs for the Middle East, the Muslim world and China. Assistant Secretary Craner said he wanted the Committee to be clear about the commitment of the President and his team to bring about democracy in the Muslim world. Though this commitment was evident before September 11, the events of that day made it imperative that the U.S. work with all like-minded friends to achieve our goals in the Middle East.

Assistant Secretary Craner gave the floor to Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Carpenter, who had just returned from Iraq. Mr. Carpenter acknowledged that, in terms of building Iraqi civil society, labor priorities had not been given equal attention with other areas i.e., justice. He emphasized, however, that there was a great opportunity for labor to play a major role in restructuring Iraqi society. He suggested that the Committee particularly needed to take the opportunity offered by the reopening of the petroleum industry to require observance of core labor standards as a condition of the “new liberty” requirements in Iraq. He said that, while there was less work underway on labor issues vis-à-vis Iraq than on most other issues, as plans got underway for the establishment of ministries Assistant Secretary of Labor Chris Spear would be in Iraq to represent labor at the conferences on reconstruction.

Assistant Secretary Craner turned to China and emphasized the Administration’s commitment to advancing human rights, including labor rights, in China. He reviewed the Bureau’s democracy and rule of law projects in China and said the Administration will continue to bring substantial resources and political pressure on China until change occurs. He noted that he was discussing with the Commerce Department how best to advance corporate rights and responsibilities in China. Assistant Secretary Craner said he expects more contention between the U.S. and China as China is fully integrated into the WTO, and that he needed the Committee’s advice on how to deal with the labor situation in China.

Mr. Marshall commented that China now has only government-controlled unions. He asked Assistant Secretary Craner if Chinese leaders had raised during official meetings in the Department the issue of Poland’s experience with the Solidarity movement. He also asked if Assistant Secretary Craner had an understanding of whether Chinese leaders were clear about the need for workers to have a voice in policies affecting their work.

Assistant Secretary Craner said that the Chinese government had not articulated in high-level meetings any fears about Chinese workers replicating a Solidarity movement similar to that developed in Poland. The issue of whether a Polish-style workers’ movement will develop in China does often does come up

in discussions with academics and NGOs in China. Assistant Secretary Craner noted that, while Chinese workers are trying many different experiments to develop independent unions at the local level, all experiments so far have been shut down by the government. He acknowledged that the shutdowns so far had not kept the U.S. Government from supporting other experiments to gain the reform of worker rights in China. Assistant Secretary Craner emphasized that to date the U.S. Government had not sought the Chinese government’s permission to undertake any programs in China. Instead, U.S. officials had communicated only in a very general fashion about how we were proceeding.

Mr. Marshall noted that, in order to open up and modernize the Chinese economy, the government will have to give workers a voice in the policies affecting them. He pointed to Brazil as a good example of a country which first tried, without success, to develop a modern economy without democratic institutions but was forced to change its approach. He noted that Brazil might usefully serve as a model for China.

Mr. Joyce commented that Poland hadn’t been happy to see labor unions develop either, but that many complementary policies and programs had been implemented to get the government to support unions. The real danger was supporting programs that appeared to give voice to workers but which actually co-opted them. Mr. Joyce noted that the U.S. Government needs, therefore, to make sure its efforts result in workers having a genuine voice in decisions affecting them.

Mr. Doyle emphasized that the cooperation and alignment of business and labor at the plant level will be critical as restructuring takes place in China. He suggested that the committee develop more specific policies and programs in this area for consideration by the Department.

South Asian Affairs Coordinator for Afghanistan David Johnson briefed the Committee on Afghanistan. He noted that the U.S. Government is working pursuant to an agreement the Afghans negotiated among themselves in Bonn in 2001 that provides for “stepping stones” to a permanent Afghan government. The June 2002 national convention, at which time President Karzai was elected by secret ballot, was the first step. The next step will be the drafting and adoption of a constitution, which is expected to be completed by the end of October 2003. The newly appointed Constitutional

Commission will soon begin public discussions.

Mr. Johnson noted that the USG wants the Afghan constitution to provide for: (1) a government that works effectively, unlike the 1970’s structure that set up conflict between competing power centers, bred instability and encouraged coups; (2) respect for basic human rights, including women’s rights and freedom of religion; and furthermore (3) be capable of gaining the support of the public. After the constitution is adopted, elections are to be held in 2004, in accordance with the Bonn agreement. The basis of the economy is subsistence agriculture, and some commercial agriculture, including narcotics and AID programs, which help but also which introduce distortions into the economy. The U.S. Government is rebuilding transport infrastructure, starting with the “Afghan ring road” linking Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat. Eventually roads through Afghanistan will facilitate transport from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean.

Mr. Donahue emphasized that the Department must become more familiar with trade union structures in Iraq, in order to supplant the existing Baathist unions with independent unions. Mr. Joyce noted that there was inadequate recognition within the State Department of the role unions could play in reconstructing Iraq. At the end of WW II, people with strong labor credentials and perspective were involved in rebuilding Germany and Japan;

the AFL-CIO is not now involved in Iraq. Assistant Secretary Craner said the Department plans soon to bring into the Iraqi reconstruction planning people with strong labor backgrounds. He noted that leaders with labor expertise may not have been involved in Japan and Germany this early in the occupation either. Mr. Joyce said personally he did not see anyone addressing on a strategic basis the labor issues in Iraq. Assistant Secretary Craner said that “to get labor input is the point of today’s presentation to the Committee. We will await the Committee’s recommendations on how to undertake work on labor issues in Iraq.”

Under Secretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky addressed briefly the objectives of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), through which money for projects will be distributed to nations that: (1) govern justly; (2) invest in people; and (3) encourage economic freedom. Under Secretary Dobriansky said the MCA provides for a 50% increase in core development assistance over the next three budget years. Eventually this will result in a $5 billion annual increase over current levels.

Mr. Doyle asked about how countries which do not meet the MCA criteria would be dealt with. Under Secretary Dobriansky said there was recognition that there will be a group of countries just below the cut-off for MCA that will have to be “built up” in order to later qualify for the aid. The Agency for International Development would provide assistance to this group of countries and other “most needy” countries. Mr. Joyce commented that, in terms of understanding the importance of labor in the overall global affairs arena, he felt there had never been a “better” team than Under Secretary Dobriansky’s team. Under Secretary Dobriansky said the recommendations of the ACLD are critical to the Office of the Under Secretary for Global Affairs and that she wanted to continue the discussions.

B. AFTERNOON SESSION

Professor Christopher Candland briefed the committee on his research on Labor, Trade Unions, and Labor Rights in the Muslim world. He noted that the last report of the Advisory Committee on Labor Diplomacy said that “the Department of State has paid negligible attention to trade union movements in Arab and Muslim countries.” The Committee had also emphasized that labor reporting and labor data were weak and getting weaker.

A decision taken in 1993 to make the “Foreign Labor Trends” publication a voluntary reporting activity of labor officers is a case in point. The Advisory Committee has made many sensible, feasible recommendations that, if adopted, would help to re-establish more active and effective U.S. labor diplomacy.

Professor Candland noted that, in addition to recommending that the Departments of State and Labor improve their labor reporting and data collection, the Committee decided to devote more of its own attention to trade unions, labor rights, employment trends, terms of service, conditions of work, and other labor issues in the Muslim world. U.S. unions and labor organizations, the international trade secretariats or global federations to which they are affiliated, and the ILO have strong relations and rich knowledge of unions and labor organizations throughout the world, including in the Muslim world. Professor Candland expressed his appreciation to Chairman Donahue for the opportunity to work with all of these labor organizations and to provide data and material that may advance the Committee’s work.

Professor Candland then reviewed briefly the highlights of the history of key Muslim countries, with a focus on economic and development data. He emphasized that it is the general absence of fundamental political rights, such as freedom of association and freedom of expression, that prevents the establishment of social organizations -- such as trade unions. These organizations convert economic growth into social justice and economic opportunity. In many countries of the Muslim world, workers are prevented from forming unions, from associating freely, and from bargaining collectively. In many other countries, these rights are seriously restricted.

Findings from Pakistan show, most notably, for example, that organized labor played a significant role in the democracy movements that helped to end military rule in the late 1960’s and 1980’s. And today, the declining textile towns of Faislabad, Gujranwala, and Jhang are the main recruitment centers for known sectarian organizations in Pakistan. Professor Candland said job creation would "pull the rug out from under these anti-democratic forces."

Professor Candland noted in conclusion that the ability of labor organizations in any country to promote democracy and development depends, of course, on country-specific variables. Thus, the more we know about trade unions and labor rights in the Muslim world, the better job we can do to assist labor organizations in promoting societies with decent working conditions and with the foundation – such as universal education – for economic opportunity.

Mr. Shepard, Director of International Organizations in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, told the Committee that the Department of Labor (DOL) signed five Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Chinese officials in the last six months, on which work had been underway for five years. These MOUs were made possible as a result of the China Normalization Act that created the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and which contained a section enabling DOL to work with Chinese officials on labor projects.

Mr. Shepard said when the late Deputy Under Secretary for International Labor Affairs Thomas Moorhead assumed his position in the fall of 2001, he decided early on to move ahead on projects authorized by the China Normalization Act. Specifically Deputy Under Secretary Moorhead directed that work proceed on MOUs on: (1) A Rule of Law project; and (2) a Mine Safety and Health project. Though Chinese officials fought the inclusion of provisions governing worker rights in the texts of the MOUs, Moorhead insisted upon their inclusion and ultimately won.

Mr. Shepard noted that in 2002, China witnessed some of the largest protests it has seen in years when tens of thousands of workers in Daqing and Liaoyang took to the streets. Two of the leaders of the Liaoyang protest were convicted of subversion and still await sentencing. At this time, the government acknowledged that there were at least 150,000 work stoppages around China. Except for the Daqing and Liaoyang protests, most work stoppages were apparently not met with government action.

Mr. Shepard emphasized that the Chinese government had taken small steps to allay worker unrest in the past few years, including strengthening the Labor and Social Services Ministries and consolidation of the mine safety and health functions. On the East Coast and in the South there has also been greater media coverage of workplace infractions – especially those concerning how few services are provided to migrant workers. There has also been more negotiation about workplace grievances in factories, but there is still an absence of collective bargaining between labor and management, including in the factories held by Reebok. In addition, Social Safety Net instruments have remained quite limited.

Mr. Shepard said that the negative pressures China faces are enormous. Of its 750 million workers, approximately 200 million are in the wage economy. Of these wage workers, approximately 80-100 million are in migrant population centers spread out around the cities. Another 100 million workers are in county and village enterprises. Per capita income in China (at $350 a year) is the second lowest in the region – only Vietnam is lower. Tax rates are actually higher in some places than per capita income. Though child labor seems to be on the increase, China’s record in
this area is still fairly good. China is also now attempting to address the issue of forced labor.

Mr. Shepard noted that Congress established the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in 2001. Senator Hagel (R-NE) and Congressman Leach (R-IA) chair the Commission this year; DOL is a member, as are State Department Assistant Secretaries Craner and Kelly. According to the legislation, the Commission will focus on programs to work with the Chinese government in four areas:  

Mr. Freeman noted Mr. Shepard’s earlier comment about the 150,000 work stoppages in China and asked whether he and DOL see the “beginning of workers trying to organize structures at the plant level.” Mr. Shepard answered that most work stoppages are at State-owned enterprises that are being privatized and that, in most cases, people are protesting loss of benefits. Mr. Shepard said he did not see workers organizing structures at plant level at this point.

Mr. Brumfield asked if there was a need for more labor reporting from Beijing. Mr. Shepard said it would be especially helpful if we could have more reporting on South China. Mr. Weiner asked Mr. Shepard whether he had noticed any politicians in China trying to develop relationships with labor leaders to further their own political careers. Mr. Shepard replied that he had not yet seen labor used as a special issue for political purposes.


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