Summit of the Americas on Inter-American Labor Ministers’ Agenda

The OAS Headquarters in Washington, D.C. hosted labor ministers and other high-level representatives at a meeting to follow up on the decisions adopted by the Eleventh Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor. The two days of meetings, on February 24 and 25, also attracted employer and union representatives, who form part of the consultative committees linked to the OAS meetings of labor ministers. The ministers last convened in Viña del Mar, Chile in October 1998. At the request of the US Department of Labor, this meeting included the next Summit of the Americas in Quebec on its agenda.

In attendance were the labor ministers of Brazil, Chile, Canada, the US and several Central American countries. Other countries sent high-level delegations. The turnout represented a successful effort by the US Department of Labor to refloat the Labor Ministers’ Forum as a way to strengthen efforts to include worker rights in the Summit and FTAA processes. The meeting debated a document entitled “Proposed Labor Policy Areas Suitable for Technical Cooperation Programs,” which contained a framework to support improved application of ILO basic labor standards. Personnel from the Inter-American Development Band and ILO were present to offer their views on how these organizations could provide support to “modernize” the hemisphere’s labor ministries. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney also addressed the meeting, thanks to the efforts of the US Department of Labor. The event’s success suggests that the OAS labor ministers’ structure will remain a player in the Summit and FTAA processes, continuing at the 2001 Inter-American Labor Ministers’ meeting in Canada and the 2003 meeting in Brazil.

After the Washington meeting, Victor Baez, secretary for political and economic affairs of the Inter-American Regional Worker Organization (ORIT), commented that with WTO resolutions still up in the air, the FTAA represents a viable alternative to develop a more transparent and accountable integration structure for the hemisphere. Baez cited this as an important reason to gain better access to the proceedings of the FTAA negotiating groups. Both the ORIT and the AFL-CIO seek participation and do not reject the process outright, as do many anti-WTO groups. However, serious debate on this issue is expected both before and during the world trade unions’ ICFTU World Congress in April in Durban, South Africa. Given the lack of progress on workers’ rights and other social dimension issues, it would not be surprising to find a hardening of attitudes there.