 |
Labour Views
with Steve Petersen
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The recent revelations of a $200,000-plus trade mission heading to China with a group rife with retiring or re-jockeying politicians and business leaders are troubling on many levels.
This further demonstrates the arrogant manner by which this cabinet has acted during its term, as if it was a majority government. It is not and should not act in such a unilateral fashion.
My eyes get itchy, from the wool being pulled over them, whenever statements from this group are uttered.
So many issues have been hammered down the throats of the regular MLAs, and ultimately the constituents. The effectiveness of consensus government is being undermined.
Why was the debate for an extra $100,000 to embark on this junket stymied, and approved without any transparency? The guest list does not include any representatives from organized labour. Ironically nor does it include Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister Brendan Bell! An odd exclusion given the stated nature of the outing.
The NWT has one of the highest percentages of unionized workers in the country, and labour leaders are elected, unlike business leaders.
Labour would add a very vital dimension of human rights awareness and ensure the mission does not deal with businesses or individuals suspect of human rights abuses.
There is a legitimate fear business people will be looking for cheap expendable labour, ignoring our human rights and labour standards.
China is certainly not a bastion of human rights, as previous letters to this paper have stated. The majority of the population face mobility restrictions, so just the elite can partake in the tourism.
Labour should be a part of this mission, we have a lot of expertise dealing with governments and bureaucracies.
Labour contingents have been on missions to Russia, China, Columbia, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil and the U.S., to name just a few. Our role in many of these excursions was to assist the people of the area while also learning from them - their reaction to struggles are uplifting and inspiring.
Water, for example, is becoming more and more a touchstone for activism in some of the countries mentioned above.
Peasant populations in South America, Africa, and Australia have been able to mount effective opposition to multi-nationals attempting to steal this vital nectar.
China, with the Three Gorges project, has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and is flooding vast tracts of land. Many sacred temples are, or will soon be, fathoms below the surface. This contentious project went ahead with little regard to the desires of the people; there are of course many other concerns with corruption, and graft in the government itself.
Child labour, actually indentured slavery, is still quite common and companies were caught in the act leading up to the Olympics with a few politicians actually committing suicide.
The timing of this pork barrel sojourn is suspect, why the urgency? What is the rational for the outgoing politicos to attend?
Why could the trip, if it's actually required, not wait until after the election?
- Steve Petersen is the North Great Slave regional vice-president of Northern Territories Federation of Labour