Union leaders outraged by WTO snub to ILO head .
SINGAPORE 1996-12-06
International trade union leaders on Friday expressed outrage that the head of the International Labour Organisation ( ILO ) had been barred from speaking at next week 's WTO meeting in Singapore .
Bill Jordan , general secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ( ICFTU ) , told a news conference the withdrawal of a WTO invitation to ILO director general Michel Hansenne was " outrageous behaviour on the part of an organisation that wants to command respect in the world " .
Jordan said a small group of developing nations that oppose linking trade talks and labour conditions had pressured World Trade Organisation ( WTO ) officials to prevent Hansenne from taking the platform to urge such links .
" It is to their shame that those who are responsible for encouraging this meeting responded ( to the pressure ) in silencing him , " Jordan said after the opening of an ICFTU conference on international labour standards and trade .
The three-day trade union conference in Singapore hopes to push labour issues onto the WTO agenda .
Jordan said the WTO 's credibility was at stake over the issue of trade and labour .
The ICFTU said it wanted the WTO conference beginning on Monday to outlaw forced and child labour , end discrimination in hiring , and guarantee the right to join a union .
Bill Brett , chairman of the ILO Workers Group , told Reuters before the news conference he was " not too surprised , but very disappointed " that the speaking invitation had been withdrawn .
" Some governments are very determined to stop the issue ( of trade and labour rights ) being discussed , " he said , adding that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) seemed particularly hostile to the ILO agenda .
ASEAN groups Brunei , Indonesia , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam .
The ILO wants a trade and labour rights " social clause " included in the final ministerial statement issued by WTO leaders at the end of the meeting , the organization 's first ministerial-level gathering .
Speaking to ICFTU delegates , Richard Eglin , director of the WTO secretariat , said the WTO was capable of making a significant contribution to governmental efforts to solve social problems .
But he said the WTO 's organisational structure made it difficult to impose on its members a social clause such as that called for by the ILO .