Los Angeles, CA
The AFL-CIO salutes the Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers (ORIT) of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) on its fiftieth anniversary. For five decades, ORIT has represented the aspirations of the working men and women of the Americas for democracy in their governments, their workplaces, and their unions. It has stood as a bulwark against all dictatorships, and served as a forum where the trade unions of the Hemisphere have engaged in honest debate and forged links of friendship and solidarity.
As ORIT's Quadrennial Congress XV convenes in Washington, D.C., this April 23-26, the challenges facing democratic unions have never been greater. Union members are the targets of violence and political repression throughout Latin America. The international financial institutions have imposed austerity programs which drastically increase the burden of debt on the majority, while their labor market policies—privatization, deregulation, and "flexibilization" of labor law—have increased unemployment, destroyed social safety nets, and forced millions into poverty. The proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas threatens to grant even more rights to corporations while doing nothing to protect workers or the environment.
Never has the solidarity of workers across the Americas been more necessary: to promote the fundamental worker rights embodied in the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; to demand that trade and investment agreements incorporate labor and environmental rights; to advocate for economic policies which promote democratic, equitable, and sustainable development; and to lead broad movements of civil society to achieve and defend democracy and human rights in every workplace and every nation in the hemisphere.
The AFL-CIO is honored to host, for the first time in the United States, the ORIT Congress on its fiftieth anniversary. We enthusiastically endorse the candidacy of our sister Linda Chavez-Thompson for the presidency of ORIT, and we pledge our hands and hearts to support ORIT as it faces the challenges of the new millennium.