Globalisation: Old problem, new form

Speech delivered by John Sutton, National Secretary CFMEU Construction Division to the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) Conference, June 2000.

Globalisation is a term used constantly today. Personally, I can't understand all the fuss. Globalisation is not a new concept.

Marx and Engels recognised the impact of globalisation over 150 years ago. Lenin discussed the phenomena of globalisation at the start of the last century under the label of 'imperialism'.

Yet at the start of this century a lot of people who get excited about globalisation say that technological forces are so vast and so powerful that all of the previous laws and social contracts developed over time are irrelevant. The same was probably said about the wheel, and the same proposition was definitely put forward when the internal combustion engine sparked the industrial revolution.

Today, we are told that computers and information technology will transform all.

To my mind the economic and social laws are the same as they have been since the dawn of capitalism. I say we are simply seeing class struggle play itself out in today's circumstances. Albeit, we are in a phase where capitalist forces are in the ascendancy. Since the emergence of serious mistakes in the practice of socialism and the eventual collapse of the socialist world, capitalism around the globe has moved into an arrogant free-wheeling phase. It is now in the position where the market no longer has to endure the types of controls introduced in western economies after the Great Depression and the 2nd World War.

Today the institutions of capitalism are pulling down the cultural barriers, national and international regulations and structures that governments have previously erected to protect civil society.

All decent values and institutions are expected to be cleared out of the way to facilitate the grip of the trans-national corporations.

And, of course, supra-national organisations have been fashioned to ensure that this happens. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation are today's arbiters of the rules of capitalism.

But, they are not neutral umpires implementing fair rules that have been agreed upon by all participants, or all stakeholders, as modern parlance would have it.

So what should the union movement do in response to the new reality? Well, I hear all the time that what is required is greater international co-operation between unions. But frankly on some occasions this is little more than empty rhetoric.

Of course unions need to cooperate and coordinate internationally, but for such an approach to be effective individual national unions have to get their own house in order. On too many occasions unions who have been lazy and increasingly irrelevant locally seem to think that they can rely on calls for international unity.

If you think of the problem in terms of a soccer team, if the 11 players on the pitch are fat, lazy and useless, the team will never win.

But if 7 or 9 or 11 team members get themselves in shape and perform well then there is a good chance the team will succeed. And so it is with the international union movement.

After having had some experience with the international movement over the last 8 years I have to say that I am somewhat sceptical about some of the people and organisations I have come into contact with.

Our building union chooses to be a member of the left-wing UITBB building union international. It is not well resourced and survives on a shoe-string budget. However, it is an organisation dedicated to fighting for building workers and for a class struggle program. Further, the people involved are sincere.

We have had many overtures from the IFBWW to join them but we are more impressed by the people we are currently involved with and we intend to stay on that course. What would be desirable would be for a genuine merger to occur between the two organisations, but our union will have no part of a takeover where the money of some continental Northern European unions is used to force right-wing policies on building unions around the globe.

On the battle against global capital, we think that the process that unfolded in Seattle was a good beginning. We have to confront the WTO and other enforcers of capitalism. We have to demand a fair trade agenda rather than the suicidal free trade agenda and this battle will have to be tackled and won within national political structures as well as international ones.

I'm anticipating a major struggle at the Australian Labor Party National Conference in 6 weeks time. The Labor Party leadership is locked into a destructive free trade agenda. Personally, I am convinced that the Australian working class is interested in economic policy that puts the national interest and, in particular, local jobs first.

In fact I see it as the duty of a trade union to do its best to protect local jobs and this may well entail conflict with Governments (both conservative and social democrat) who see no alternative to being subservient to international capitalist forces.

In our industry it is clear that trans national corporations are beginning to dominate major construction projects around the globe. In Australia, construction giants have bought out 5 of the top 10 companies. Two large Australian firms have expanded their operations and have moved into the European market. Here I speak of Bovis Lend Lease and Multiplex, two companies you are going to hear a lot more about.

Unlike manufactured goods, you can't export or import building sites, so in many ways we are exempted from the more difficult trading issues between trading nations.

So I see this as making our job more straight forward than other unions in industries such as manufacturing. Our job is to organise locally and deliver good wages, conditions and other benefits demanded by our membership. We need to ensure that our respective unions are strong, vocal activist organisations that concentrate their efforts on the needs and aspirations of the membership. We need to be constantly alert to efforts by employers to drive down conditions, for example, thought the use of illegal immigrant workers, or an "industrial reserve army" as Marx used to say.

In today's world, where the rapid movement of people is easier than ever before, this also throws up racial and human rights issues that need consideration.

So, comrades, my message is that to meet the challenges of globalisation and giant trans national construction employers we need to get our act together locally so that we are in a position to contribute bargaining power to the international movement.

And I see bi-lateral relationships between genuine struggle-orientated unions as a potentially important ingredient in the fight-back process. In this light I look forward to the CFMEU and UCATT continuing the struggle beside each other on the front line.

June 2000

United we bargain - Divided we beg.

Contact the National Office, Construction Division at:
Level 12, 276 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Ph: 02 8524 5800
Fax: 02 8524 5801
Email: queries@fed.cfmeu.asn.au

Postal address: PO Box Q235, Queen Victoria Building Post Office, Sydney NSW 1230.