International Solidarity (ICFTU, Union Statements)

ICFTU Annual Survey: Grim global catalogue of anti-union repression

The ICFTU Annual Survey for 2004 was released on 18 October 2005 and showed that worldwide being a trade unionist is becoming more dangerous with a total of 145 people worldwide killed due to their trade union activities in 2004, 16 more than the previous year, according to the ICFTU Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations. The report, which covers 136 countries from all five continents, also documents over 700 violent attacks on trade unionists, and nearly 500 death threats.

New statistical charts in the Survey point to different patterns of repression in different regions of the world. The Americas stand out as the region with the highest number of murders and death threats, while the Asia-Pacific region has the highest number of trade unionists behind bars. In the Middle East, where trade unions are totally banned in some countries, 11 workers were killed due to their union activities. In Europe, where the situation is less dramatic overall, authorities in several former Soviet states are actively trying to take control of trade unions.

Asia: brutal repression of workers' rights

As unregulated globalisation marches on, the trade union rights of Asian workers are being trampled on, with assassinations, police killings and beatings being popular tools of oppression by governments throughout the region. The Chinese "economic miracle" is somewhat less miraculous for its workers who are denied basic freedoms and the flow on effects to the world's Export Processing Zones are being seen in the increased exploitation faced by the mainly female workforce.

China

The Chinese economic giant is characterised by the total absence of trade union freedom. In 2004, China's State-controlled single national union, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, proved more ineffective than ever before in defending workers' rights. The annual survey of the ICFTU reveals that the privatisation process underway in the country and the vast corruption associated with it are among the main sources of discontent among Chinese workers. The scale of the embezzlement and the misappropriation of public funds, including those normally reserved for unemployment and other benefits allocated during the restructuring of State-owned companies, were at the root of most of the workers' demonstrations held in China in 2004, along with the blatant violation of pension, health and unemployment rights.

The survey also covers the many other cases of workers who were arrested and convicted during 2004 in China. In September, for example, Kong Youping and Nin Xianhua were given prison sentences of 15 and 12 years, respectively, having been convicted of "subverting State power", allegedly for posting articles on the Internet promoting the establishment of free trade unions, freedom of association, and supporting the outlawed China Democracy Party. Concerns are also growing with regard to the condition of long-term prisoners, particularly Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang, deprived of desperately needed medical care.