CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUE: A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

  
The seventh meeting of the Mercosur Forum of Business Leaders invited the sub-region's national trade union centers to a session in Montevideo on July 4. The Coordinating Committee of the National Union Centers of the Southern Cone (CCSCS) was represented by its technical secretary, Alvaro Padrón, who was accompanied by Silvia Portella of the CUT Brasil and Jorge Vanerio of the CGT Argentina. After a brief orientation on union strategies in the integration efforts since 1986, discussion ensued of the uniqueness of the role of civil society in Mercosur.

According to Portella, "there is a different behavior of the Mercosur union movement with regard to other commercial blocs." Although the movement lacks the political presence and economic strength of its counterparts in Europe, the United States or Canada, Mercosur's unions have developed an unidad de acción, or unified set of criteria. Portella cited as an example the fact that soon after Mercosur was created in 1991, the CCSCS-which represents 20 million workers-issued its first press release taking a positive stance on the integration process. The union representatives reminded business leaders of their mutual commitment to promote a unified commercial bloc of South American nations, expanding Mercosur across the continent and facilitating negotiations with the European Community and in the FTAA. Padrón offered a telling summary of the discussions between the business and union leaders, highlighting the two groups' similar concerns regarding transparency and access to the negotiations. Finally, the participants held a mature discussion of the need for supranational collective agreements in which transnationals create similar conditions for their workers in a particular region, so that one country is not left at a disadvantage to another. Padrón pointed out that Volkswagen recently applied these standards to its Mercosur contracts.

Mercosur forums such as this one have stimulated a new relationship between unions and employer organizations in the Andean region. A joint meeting of the Union and Employers Consultative Councils of the Andean Community was held on July 10 and 11 in Arequipa, Peru. At the gathering, the first of its type in three decades, workers and employers agreed on a final declaration that supports the creation of an Andean Common Market by 2005. They also agreed on the need to incorporate a greater social and labor content into trade policy. The participants applauded the June 2000 agreement to modify the Cartagena Treaty, the basis for Andean integration agreed on at the Summit of Andean Presidents, and urged their national legislatures to approve its "Commitment to Democracy" (see: http://www.comunidadandina.org/document/declar/D11-7-00.htm).

Some outside observers discount such agreements as reflections of traditional labor and manufacturing groups' fear of open markets. They also argue that although Mercosur's consistent efforts to promote dialogue are encouraging, they have proved to be a double-edged sword. The examples described above were bipartite discussions that did not include governments, but highlighted the mutual interest of labor unions and employers in promoting greater transparency and a broader consideration of the impact of trade on society as a whole. As long as such groups expand the dialogue between labor and management, critics charge, governments can refuse to consider broader forums for bringing these concerns into the FTAA negotiations.

However, these agreements are remarkable for their recognition of the need for market-driven policies that enhance employment opportunities while respecting worker rights. The Mercosur and Andean discussions have produced more popular support for economic integration and market opening than has been achieved in North America, going to show that a little dialogue can go a long way.