NOV. 20, 2009:NWLP
11/17/09
9:47 AM
Page 6
...WTO-10 Years Later
(From Page 1)
that went further. A treaty signed in
Marrakesh, Morocco in 1994 commit-
ted to reducing all “non-tariff” barriers
to trade; expanded the scope to agricul-
ture, services, capital investment, and
so-called “intellectual property;” and
created the WTO as an enforcement
and dispute resolution mechanism. Sig-
natory nations are supposed to treat all
other WTO members the same; that
means, for one thing, that a country
can’t restrict trade with countries that
abuse workers rights or the environ-
ment.
But not all interests are equal at the
WTO, said AFL-CIO trade policy ex-
pert Thea Lee: The bias is toward the
interests of multinational corporations.
“The labor movement’s view,” Lee
said, “is that to the extent that we will
continue to be in a global economy, we
need to make sure the rules of that
global economy are taking care of
working people and the environment,
not just corporate profits.”
In 1999, labor leaders and environ-
mental and community activists
learned the WTO would hold a summit
at the Washington State Convention
Center in downtown Seattle. They be-
gan putting resources into a response.
For months leading up to the meet-
ing, they made extraordinary efforts to
educate people about the WTO, and
reached out to other groups to coordi-
nate a week of protests.
Organized labor focused on a rally
and march on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999
— Day One of the meeting. Seven staff
organizers assigned by the national
AFL-CIO worked for two months to
prepare. The International Longshore
and Warehouse Union (ILWU) re-
solved to shut down Washington ports
for the day so members could take part.
Other unions paid lost wages so mem-
bers could get off work to attend. The
Machinists Union committed to turn
out 900 members to serve as parade
marshals. United Steelworkers sched-
uled an annual conference to take place
in Seattle just prior to the WTO meet-
ing, reserving 500 hotel rooms. The In-
ternational Confederation of Free
Trade Unions scheduled its annual
meeting in Seattle as well, drawing
unionists from more than 100 coun-
‘But not all interests
are equal at the
WTO ... the bias is
toward the interests
of multinational
corporations.’
tries. Each local labor council in Wash-
ington organized three to 10 busloads,
and labor councils in Colorado, Mon-
tana, and British Columbia organized
bus and car caravans. The Oregon
AFL-CIO chartered and filled a 350-
seat Amtrak train, while other Oregon
labor organizations accounted for 15
more buses.
Meanwhile, environmental activists
and anti-sweatshop groups in the Seat-
tle area and on college campuses
throughout the Pacific Northwest pre-
pared for early-morning street block-
ades intended to prevent delegates from
getting to the meeting.
On Nov. 30, all that preparation bore
fruit. In the early morning, 15,000
mostly-student demonstrators achieved
what few had thought possible: halting
the WTO meeting by preventing dele-
gates from getting to the convention
center. Using physical barriers and
“lock-down” tactics borrowed from
anti-logging protests, they held inter-
sections even when police used pepper
spray and physical force. Meanwhile,
20,000 people, mostly labor unionists,
attended a union rally in Memorial Sta-
dium, and then were joined by another
15,000 in “feeder marches” in a per-
mitted march to downtown. But as
marchers neared the convention center,
they found the streets full of people.
The procession ground to a crawl, and
split into at least three streams, some
mingling with the protesters blocking
intersections.
Steve Hughes, today a union rep at
Oregon AFSCME Council 75, was
then part of a group of The Evergreen
State College students occupying an in-
tersection near the convention center.
Police had been menacing the group all
morning. Fatigue was setting in and
spirits were sagging, when all of a sud-
den, a group of guys in hard hats be-
hind an Iron Workers banner showed
up and stayed to reinforce the intersec-
tion.
“The WTO was one of those mo-
ments where there was a crack in the
facade and we got a taste of our power,”
Hughes says. “It was a vision of how
different groups could work together
and how our causes are interrelated.”
The presence of tens of thousands of
unionists and their families now meant
it would be politically disastrous for
police to keep trying to clear intersec-
tions with force and chemical agents.
By mid-afternoon, with delegates still
unable to get in, WTO leaders can-
celled the day’s session.
(Turn to Page 8)
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NOVEMBER 20, 2009