[APWSLMembers 313] formal announcement: Jobs and Justice conference

[Kilusang Mayo Uno]

Dear friends,

Here's the formal announcement for the labor flexibilization 
conference "Jobs and Justice: An International Conference on 
Neoliberal Labor Market Restructuring, Labor Rights and Workers' Resistance".

We hope that you can participate in this conference.  Please 
distribute this widely to your network.

Thank you.

In solidarity,
Tess Dioquino
APWSL Philippines
Secretary, KMU International Department




ANNOUNCEMENT
JOBS AND JUSTICE
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NEOLIBERAL LABOR MARKET RESTRUCTURING, 
LABOR RIGHTS AND WORKERS' RESISTANCE
DECEMBER 8-10, 2006
MANILA, PHILIPPINES

I. Background and Rationale
Neoliberal globalization has been roundly criticized for advancing 
the interests of global
capital at the expense of the world's majority who are faced with 
falling relative incomes,
greater economic and social insecurity, diminished social 
entitlements, environmental
degradation, as well as greater restrictions on the exercise of their 
democratic rights.
Unable to deny the mounting evidence attesting to the failure of the Washington
consensus to spur development, its unreconstructed advocates are 
blaming the victims
of their neoliberal policy prescriptions for having poor 
institutions, bad governance and
corrupt cultures. Jobless growth in particular is being blamed on 
inflexible labor market
institutions.
Hence the Washington consensus is now being "augmented" by pushing for a more
aggressive neoliberal restructuring of labor markets both in the 
industrialized North and
the underdeveloped South. Labor markets are being "liberalized" through the
introduction of "flexibility" in the application and observance of 
mandatory labor
standards, the minimum wage, job security, the 8-hour workday and 
other so-called
"rigidities" that hamper the freer operations of capital. Labor 
regulations and fiscal
policies are being re-written to further encourage outsourcing and contingent
employment within and across national borders. Employers' privilege 
to hire and fire is
strengthened while the collective rights of labor are being whittled 
down in order to
dissipate workers' solidarity, impede organizing and undermine 
collective forms of action
and resistance.
This CONFERENCE ON JOBS AND JUSTICE aims to provide a venue for workers
organizations, trade unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and labor
advocates to exchange information on current trends in neoliberal labor market
restructuring in the various global regions and share their 
experiences in struggle. By
deepening the political and technical analysis on which their 
activities are rooted, the
conference is expected to provide the participants and their 
constituents with more tools
in resisting the unremitting neoliberal offensive against working 
people, defending
workers' rights and advancing the struggle for economic and social justice.

II. Conference Objectives
This CONFERENCE ON JOBS AND JUSTICE shall bring together workers organizations,
trade unions, civil society organizations, researchers and labor 
advocates from the
South and North to:
1. share information and analyses of the trends and impact of neoliberal labor
market reforms on workers and other social sectors in their 
respective countries
or regions
2. share their experiences of struggle against these reforms and 
other threats to
labor
3. identify issues and areas for further research, action and 
cooperation among the
participating organizations
4. map out a common platform for advocacy and campaigning with the aim of
strengthening workers rights, promoting workers organizing and building links
with the struggle of other marginalized and oppressed sectors in society
5. express international solidarity and unity with unionists, labor 
organizers and
other activists in the Philippines who are the targets of an ongoing 
campaign of
extra-judicial killings, disappearances and other gross human rights violations
perpetrated with impunity under the present regime
III. Overview of the Conference
The conference will be held at Manila on December 8-10, 2006. It 
shall consist of six
thematic panels and two strategy sessions as follows:
Day 1: Examining Key Trends
  PANEL 1: Labor Flexibilization, Informalization & unemployment
  PANEL 2: TNC outsourcing, global supply chains (include EPZs issue) &
Labor migration
  PANEL 3: WTO, regional & Bilateral "free trade" agreements
  Strategy Session 1: research & advocacy agenda
Day 2: Organizing & Resistance
  PANEL 4: On Organizing the unorganized, defending the right to organize
  PANEL 5: Struggle for jobs, wages & job security
  PANEL 6: Struggle of women workers, farmworkers & migrants
  Strategy Session 2: Organizing & Campaign Strategies
Day 3: Human Rights Day Mobilization
The strategy session at the end of Day 1 is expected to result in a 
proposed common
research agenda for the participants in the conference. The strategy 
session at the end
of Day 2 is expected to distill the lessons on organizing and 
resistance drawn from the
sharing of the participants from the day's discussion. It is also 
hoped that the
participants will come up with a common organizing and/or campaign platform.
On the third day, conference participants shall join local labor and 
other social activists in
a public demonstration on the occasion of International Human Rights Day. The
extraordinary number of extra-judicial killings, disappearances, 
political harassment and
other gross human rights violations in the Philippines under the 
present government is
being likened to the deplorable record of the dark years of the 
Marcos dictatorship,
earning condemnation from local and international human rights groups such as
Amnesty International and Asia Human Rights Commission. The International
Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU) noted that "the number of labor 
related killings in
the Philippines now places it in a similar category to Colombia, 
which holds the macabre
record of the highest number of assassinations of trade unionists in 
the world. The
Philippines appears to be heading rapidly towards second place." 
These violations are
therefore a grave concern for the international labor movement and 
deserve vigorous
condemnation.
IV. Conference Participants
The conference is open to all those who are engaged in the labor movement and
committed to labor rights advocacy. Around 40-50 international participants are
expected to attend, representing South and North, from workers 
organizations, trade
unions, NGOs and other labor-related organizations or institutions. 
They will be joined by
10-20 local participants from various workers organizations, unions and NGOs.
V. Conference Organizers
The Conference is co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Research Network 
(APRN), Asia
Monitor Resource Center (AMRC), Asia-Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and
Action, Research and Education Network of Aotearoa (ARENA).
The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) and the Asia-
Pacific Workers Solidarity Links (APWSL)-Philippines shall serve as local host
organizations.
VII. Logistics
Conference organizers shall provide modest food and accommodations for all
participants. Owing to the limited resources of the organizers, 
international participants
are encouraged to seek other sources of financial support for travel 
costs to and from
Manila and other incidental expenses.
Formal invitation letters will be sent upon request and confirmation 
of participation.
For confirmation and more information, please contact apwsl_phils at yahoo.com or
secretariat at aprnet.org or solidarity at eilerinc.org



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