Unions in the Mercosur economic zone are campaigning and organising across sectors and borders in a bid to influence the integration process, says GABRIEL MOCHO

This year’s ITF Railway Action Day broke new ground in parts of South America, where rail unions at three border points participated jointly with their counterparts in road transport. Transport unions from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Venezuela called their joint campaign event the Mercosur Road Transport and Railway Day of Action.

More than 100 union leaders participated in the action on 13 March in different ways. Their activities included the distribution of a joint pamphlet to transport workers and the general public to draw their attention to the importance of union participation in the policy discussions of governments in the Mercosur economic region. The campaign, with the slogan “integration with social justice, safety and efficiency”, was supported by stickers, T-shirts and posters sponsored by the Finnish trade union solidarity centre, SASK.

Time to Zone in If they are to have any influence on the development of regional economic zones, trade unions will need to agree regional responses, says Eddie Dickson There is a continuing process within financial and political circles to promote regional economic zones to advance the free market philosophy. The process involves the removal of national laws that conflict with those of neighbouring countries, the removal of barriers to assist the free movement of goods, and the opening of markets for goods and services. These actions, we are told, will stimulate economic growth and help lift the poor from their current circumstances. Many of the economic groupings – such as Mercosur, Ecowas, Nafta, SADC and the EU – have been developing for years, though they are constrained by the failure of governments to agree to common rules and enforce them. Generally they seek to establish a free trade area, inside of which transport restrictions, tariffs and other barriers to trade are removed, while a common external tariff is agreed. They also seek economic union, implying a reasonable harmonisation of economic, monetary, social and other sectoral policies. Unions and regional groups Many ITF affiliates are disenfranchised from the decision-making process that brings these changes about. While genuine structures for social dialogue exist within the European Union, elsewhere in the world our affiliates are virtually cut out of the decision-making meetings. This is not always because they cannot get an invitation but, unlike other parties who are being paid from taxes or profits to attend, worker representatives need union resources to do so. Unfortunately, for some, a lack of understanding of the influence these bodies have or will have on their national unions’ ability to represent their members also affects the decision. However, in most regions unions are beginning to engage with the political leadership, in a number of cases supported by ITF education programmes. Our challenge is to develop a response to decision-making processes affecting transport where they are being made on a regional basis. There is a need for unions to coordinate with like unions within their respective economic zone to seek agreement on common union policies and then to engage in the regional political processes. Of course this includes lobbying their own national government representatives to seek support for specific policy developments that will improve the lives of transport workers. For their part the ITF regional offices may need to direct more resources to opening up dialogue with the political establishment and encouraging the attendance of appropriate union officers to advance affiliates’ agreed positions at meetings. We will be encouraging road transport unions to use this year’s ITF Road Transport Action Week in October to support cross-border and other solidarity activities between unions. Eddie Dickson is assistant secretary of the ITF inland transport sections.

The brochures were easy to understand and drivers reacted very well when they were approached by their leaders. They also took the opportunity to raise everyday concerns regarding, for example, police corruption, the lack of toilets in the border crossings and other health matters.

So the Action Day helped unions get their joint Mercosur policy campaign off the ground while, at the same time, it provided activists with an entry point for general awareness-raising and organising among transport workers.

Milestone

This was the first time unions from Venezuela and Brazil had organised a border campaign, and they made great efforts to make it a success. The Venezuelan activists, for example, had to travel more than 12 hours by bus to get to the border.
Feedback from participants was generally positive.

Francisco Caro, a leader of Unión Tranviários Automotor (UTA) on the Argentinean side of the Iguazu area and ITF coordinator for Argentina, said: “I am very glad to be part of this campaign to enhance the participation of workers in the policies adopted by Mercosur countries.”

Percio Duarte, president of the Paraguayan union Unión de Sindicatos de Trabajadores del Transporte (USTT), spoke to workers in support of ongoing regional cooperation: “We are working for the unification of transport workers’ unions in Paraguay, to be strong enough to make our government understand the importance of the participation of transport unions in Mercosur bodies. We will work jointly with our brothers in Argentina and Brazil, and Venezuela as new members.”

Coordination

The Mercosur countries have been negotiating transport regulations since the 1990s, with the participation of individual unions in the region. Until recently however, there was no agreed position or coordination among them.

"Unions have seen that if they don’t participate in this process the governments will develop regional policy only according to economic and business priorities."

The ITF regional office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is now helping to facilitate the development of more joint working through a special education project for inland transport. Our objective is to assist the unions in developing a joint agenda to influence governmental decisions.

More integration means more commerce and more transport, but unions have seen that if they don’t participate in this process the governments will develop regional policy only according to economic and business priorities. For example, a regional employers’ federation has formed with the sole purpose of lobbying during the Mercosur governmental meetings.

Political participation

The decision by unions to organise a Mercosur Action Day for road and rail unions was taken at a leadership training seminar in Florianopolis, south Brazil, in October 2006.

Organised by the ITF and supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), it was the third education seminar in a series aimed at preparing union leaders to participate in government negotiating forums. Just as the employers are lobbying for their interests, we are working to help these unions promote their interests in the integration process and the formation of a common market.

The seminar, attended by unionists from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela, was timed to precede a transport subgroup meeting of governments from Mercosur countries, to be held two days later at the same venue as the ITF event.

At the end of the ITF meeting, a formal request for the participation of a trade
union representative was sent to the members of the government meeting. Part of the letter, signed by all delegates said: “We are convinced that many of the obstacles against a more fluid, efficient and profitable transport system, reaching the standards required by inter-Mercosur trade, could be solved with the intervention of the different social players in our region.”

The governments accepted the representation of the workers as an ITF delegation. They agreed that in future we will have the opportunity to participate in all transport Mercosur meetings as the employers have been doing.

The concerns of unions in the Mercosur countries continue to focus on the absence of clear and fair regulations for all aspects of inter-regional exchange. Unions fear this absence will create a deep chasm between the “real Mercosur” and the “institutional Mercosur”.

Transport at the border would then become a free for all. The economic imbalances would be accentuated as a result of unfair competition; and we will see the start of genuine social dumping throughout the region.

The cross-border campaigning and coordination work now being carried out by unions in the region shows their determination to avert this outcome. Supported where possible by the ITF Rio office, their efforts are ongoing. One other product of the recent seminar, for example, was the formation of working groups to focus on three different trade union priorities for integration: legal matters, political and infrastructural issues, and the promotion of fair competition. These working groups are now in the process of preparing a document to set out a complete “Mercosur policy” for transport trade unions.

Gabriel Mocho is regional education coordinator for ITF Americas.