CRISIS IN WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1948, Page 4

CRISIS IN WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS

Little Hope Of Agreement Which Will Guarantee its Survival (From Herbert Tracey, of Britain's Trades Union Congress] LONDON, What can be done to save the World Federation of Trade Unions from disruption in the near future? The question still awaits an answer. It cannot be said that the recent meeting of the Federation’s executive .bureau in Paris gave much hope of an agreement being reached which would guarantee its survival. The complete breakdown of negotiations with the International Trade Secretariats brought the Federation nearer the final crisis. The Trade Secretariats’ negotiating committee have reported failure to come to terms with the Federation on merging their organisations in new Trade Departments within the framework of the Federation. There seems to be little likelihood that the Trade Secretariats will change their attitude.

A comment on relations between the Federation and Trade Secretariats comes from the general secretary of Britain’s National Union of Seamen, one of the most influential unions in the International Transport Workers’ Federation. He says in the current journal of the union that it has been' found impossible to reconcile the insistence of the Federation on the principle of general accountability of these Trade Secretariats with their conviction that they’ know better than any other organisation outside their field of work, what are their problems and responsibilities. Citrine’s Warning He goes on to deal with those wider aspects of international trade union unity discussed at the recent Trades Union Congress at Margate. He recalls the warning given by Walter Citrine, then general secretary of the T.U.C. and President of the World Federation, at iis inaugural meeting, three years ago: “If once we get into the maze of politics, as surely as I an standing at this rostrum, this International will perish. It will split because th.e different conceptions of political aspirations, desire, method and policy are so wide that they would divide us.” That prophecy, the secretary of the National Union of Seamen says, is fulfilled in the state of affairs now obtaining in the World Federation. He says the Margate Congress decision gives a free hand to the T.U.C. General Council in seeking to enforce the fundamental principles of the Federation’s constitution. That constitution permits no national centre to dominate the Federation or to prevent full expression of the viewpoint of any National Centre. “I may say,” he continued, “that this union is in full accord with the attitude of the British T.U.C. in this matter, and with the decisions taken on behalf of the International Trade Secretariats in the recent conference of their representatives in Paris in mid-September.” Reference is also made, to this question in the T.U.C.’s monthly journal. In its report on the debate that took place on the World Federation at the Margate Congress, it says that what has happened in the Federation “is nothing less than a betrayal of the whole idea of international trade union organisation. The British trade union movement wants the World Federation to fulfil the objects for which it was founded, not to disappoint the milliohs who look to' it as their hope. It wants, above all, the World Federation to liberate itself from the political machinations in which it is becoming immersed.” T.U.C. Attitude The secretary of the T.U.C., Vincent Tewson, also refers in a leading article in the journal of the T.U.C. to this matter. He says that when Congress came to define its attitude to the World Federation, the delegates “showed themselves in no mood to continue to sanction heavy spending of time and money on the organisation unless it displayed early signs of becoming efficient and effective, in the discharge of its duties as formulated at its inception.” The leaders of the Federation must now take the initiative in satisfying critics that their organisation will be brought back to its original purpose —to guide the activities of the different trade union centres and secure practical results for the membership of the affiliated unions. Meanwhile, the T.U.C. is concentrating on the development of its European Recovery Programme policy in conjuction with the National Centres of' other participating countries. It was decided at the Paris meeting of the E.R.P. advisory committee of the unions, to establish an information centre in Paris, in charge of a permanent representative responsible for maintaining close contact with the Governmental Organisation on European Economic Co-operation. It has also been decided in Paris that informal conversatioTis should be held with the International Trade Secretariats with a view to bringing them into active association with the European Recovery Programme through the unions' E.R.F. advisory committee. What exactly, this decision involves time alone will show.