Union movement weak.

Americas Inter Press Service: By Daniel Gatti/IPS/Montevideo The May 1 commemoration of the 113th anniversary of the first labour struggles for an eight-hour workday in the United States will find central unions in most Latin American nations weak, with low levels of membership and waning influence. Bolivia's traditionally combative largest union, the 'Central Obrera Boliviana' (COB), for example, has never been weaker. For the first time in four decades, workers do not plan to take to the streets on labour day, despite their complaints against labour reforms designed to make hiring and firing more flexible, and the elimination of a number of social benefits. According to trade unions, the decline in their influence is partly due to a rise in unemployment, growth of the informal economy and overall drop in labour activism, which has affected social groups as well as political parties, especially those on the left. Leaders of Uruguay's central union, PIT-CNT, point to the drastic reduction in the number of jobs in industry, the growth of the services sector, where the level of labour organisation is low, and above all the expansion of the informal sector as elements characterising the labour market today in Latin America. Trade unionists and academics from Latin America and Europe who met at a conference in Ixtapa, Mexico early this year observed that the growth of unemployment was a universal phenomenon, the impact of which has varied from region to region. While in Europe the welfare state continues to offer a safety net to ease the effects of the drop in employment and ensure at least some degree of protection for workers, in Latin America the state has practically pulled out of social areas, and protective mechanisms have been gradually dismantled. ''To tackle the problem of unemployment from an alternative perspective, access to a certain level of control of the state apparatus is needed in order to promote creative forms of fighting unemployment from an institutional level,'' Argentine parliamentary Deputy Daniel Cieza told the conference. But such conditions are found in very few places in Latin America, said Cieza, a member of the Employment Commission of Argentina's Chamber of Deputies. ''What predominates in this region is a total withdrawal of the state from the social scene, leaving business free to act, on the understanding that it is the market which must have the first and last word,'' said a union officer with Argentina's 'Central de Trabajadores'. The rise in unemployment as a consequence of the economic policies followed by governments in the region will be the central focus of labour day marches and demonstrations in the region this year. Unemployment will be one of the key issues at a May 1 gathering on the border between Uruguay and Brazil organised by the union confederations of the four nations of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - and their associates Bolivia and Chile. Peru's main labour union, the 'Confederacion General de Trabajadores', called a general strike Wednesday against the rise in unemployment and the economic policies of President Alberto Fujimori. But the action, the first general strike held in 16 years, was declared illegal by the government. In Colombia, it is in the public sector where trade unions still enjoy some degree of influence, according to a study carried out last October by the country's National Department of Planning. In January, public employees - led by education and health workers - held a general strike to protest the 13 percent increase in salaries proposed by the government, five percent behind the rise in inflation. Unions in Colombia are estimated to represent a mere four percent of the country's economically active population of 14.6 million. In Chile, the once-powerful 'Central Unitaria de Trabajadores' has also lost influence, and now represents less than 20 percent of the labour force. The international economic crisis, with the consequent plunge in commodity prices - Chile depends heavily on copper - and the resultant rise in unemployment have hit the local labour movement hard. In the first quarter of the year, production fell and unemployment rose to 8.2 percent, according to the latest report by Chile's National Institute of Statistics - which trade unions say provides an unrealistically low figure. Some of the largest companies in Uruguay, meanwhile, have downsized or closed up shop this year and last, and the need for measures against rising unemployment will be one of the key focuses of the May Day march planned by the PIT-CNT central union. The latest casualty was 'Cristalerias del Uruguay', a factory that produced glass containers, which closed its doors this week due to the impossibility of competing with imported products. Another element characterising labour-business relations these days in Uruguay are pacts between unions and companies agreeing on wage cuts in exchange for job stability. Around a dozen such agreements have already been signed. In Brazil, unemployment - which stands at 8.15 percent or 19.9 percent, depending on whose figure, the government or unions - and a rise in the national minimum wage will be the key themes of the activities planned for Saturday by the two largest central unions, the 'Central Unica de Travalhadores' and 'Forca Sindical'. The two central unions have also called a partial stoppage of activity Friday, especially in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, the country's largest city and economic capital. 'Forca Sindical' held a day of solidarity with the unemployed Tuesday. The 'Movimento dos Sem Terra' (MST) or landless movement will hold a mass demonstration in Sao Paulo Friday demanding that the government's agrarian reform programme be accelerated. The group will also take part in Saturday's labour day activities. The MST's new strategy consists of drumming up support among the unemployed and marginalised urban sectors, while pushing for a multi-sectorial discussion of a proposal for a broad-based plan of changes for the country. Mexico's unions announced that their May 1 activities would be focused on fighting the privatisation of electric companies through a draft law submitted to Congress. The government has been unable to push the bill through, however, as the lower house of Congress has been dominated by the opposition since 1997. Both the government-affiliated 'Confederacion de Trabajadores de Mexico' (CTM) and the independent 'Union Nacional de Trabajadores' (UNT) are opposed to the privatisation of the companies. The CTM, which will hold its second labour day demonstration in Mexico City's central square, will ''thank'' the government for the economic recovery seen since the late 1994 peso debacle and 1995 economic crisis. But it also plans to express its concern over the continued high levels of poverty. The UNT, meanwhile, will reiterate its opposition to the ''neo- liberal'' focus of the government of Ernesto Zedillo. 99-04-29

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