For Immediate Release
Sunday, April 16, 2000
Prepared Remarks of AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee to the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Rally
Washington, DC —Sisters and brothers, it is a pleasure to be with you today. I know that many of you were with us in Seattle for the WTO demonstrations, but that many have also joined the fight since those historic days last November. And that is what is so energizing about his movement that is sweeping our nation, and indeed, our planet. This is a movement that is growing every day and that demands to be heard.
And we are a diverse bunch — just look around you. But as we stand shoulder to shoulder, students and environmentalists, factory workers and farmers — we are united in our goal: to oppose the boundless greed of the global economy that puts profits before people at all costs.
Economic globalization should be a rising tide that lifts all boats, but not the way it is currently being implemented. In fact, two hundred million more people live in extreme poverty than a decade ago, surviving on less than $1 a day. Clearly, the global economy is not working for everyone, and this is especially true for the workers of the world.
And while the new economy is benefiting the corporate elite, even this boom could be temporary. We need look no further than this week's headlines about the crash of NASDAQ stocks to realize how fragile our "dot.com" economy is.
The list of globalization casualties continues to grow. This is because the entities charged with implementing economic globalization, such as the WTO, continue to extend their reach, with the approval and encouragement of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — from trade to investment, from goods now to services. This global mission creep has padded the bottom lines of corporations at the expense of workers worldwide.
Now the corporate engines that drive globalization are turning their greedy reach to the provision of public services worldwide. This threatens not only public sector workers around the world, but also the integrity of those very services. The 1.3 million member of my union, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, vow today to hold the line against the threat of global privatization.
The services we provide have been entrusted to governments because they are too crucial or too sensitive to be handed over to profiteers. Education, public health, public safety, social services — if the profit motive is injected into provision of these services, the human beings they are meant to benefit will ultimately suffer.
This is not merely some cautionary tale of future shock I am spinning. It is all too real, sisters and brothers, and it is happening today.
We will be privileged to hear today from Oscar Olivera, a labor activist from Bolivia. Provision of water in his town of Cochabamba was recently privatized by a subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation. Those greedy privateers saw fit, in their infinite wisdom, to charge citizens there, and bear in mind that Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, $20 a month to receive water, and many of these families only had incomes of $100 a month. This meant they were literally being forced to choose between feeding their families, or having clean water.
This cruel choice will be repeated countless times around the world if we do not stand up to the privatization steamroller driven by economic globalization.
But the people of Cochabamba stood up to this threat. They took to the street in peaceful protests that turned violent when the police were used to put them down. A 17-year old boy was killed in those struggles. Imagine that, sisters and brothers, killed because he was fighting for clean water at a fair price. This is the shape of things to come under global privatization.
Beyond privatization, we must also fight to insure that core workers rights are a part of all international trade policies. This means the right to organize, to bargain collectively for fair wages and an end to child labor, forced labor and other human rights abuses.
It strikes me as ironic that on Wednesday, the day that more than 12,000 union members from all over the country came to Capitol Hill to voice opposition against permanent normal trade relations for China, China announced the gift of a giant panda to the National Zoo right here in Washington.
Well, isn't that nice? That's really sweet, isn't it?
So, we say thank you for the panda. We say "yes" to the panda.
But we say an emphatic "no" to goods made by children locked away in factories 16 hours a day. We say "no" to goods made by prison camp labor. We say "no" to goods produced at starvation wages as low as 13 cents an hour. And we say "no" to the oppressive environment in which those who speak out against unfair labor conditions are indiscriminately jailed and tortured.
The Business Roundtable and other entities that back global privatization and PNTR for China can pull off luncheons where corporate CEOs whisper in the ears of members of Congress, but they can't pull off a rally like this one, sisters and brothers. They don't represent millions of people worldwide who are ready to hit the streets and fight for justice.
And never forget the great equalizer of the ballot box. The vote of a worker counts the same as the vote of a CEO. And in November, we will remember.
Say it with me, sisters and brothers. Let them hear you in the White House. Let them hear you all the way over at the Capitol.
In November, we will remember.
In November, we will remember.
In November, we will remember.
Now let's hit the streets, shoulder to shoulder, and march for justice for all in the new world economy.
Thank you and God bless.
