French confederation of the christian workers one Europe of social progress and of sustainable development

(Extract of the orientation motion adopted at the 49th confederal congress, in November 2005)

Towards a control of the globalization

CFTC is not satisfied with a world more and more interdependent and which shows less and less solidarity. It fights for the construction of a globalization which contributes towards the undertaking of a prosperity fairly shared out and towards the promotion of fundamental human rights and to the sustainable development . It refuses the non recognition, by some States, of the social and trade union rights . These states put into practice, for mercenary purposes, a social dumping which fosters the fear of a globalization, that, far from reducing the inequalities, is only worsening them . For CFTC, the working conditions, the trade union rights, the requirement of a fair remuneration and of a good social welfare are as many criteria to be respected in order to end up in a globalization of the prosperity and of the social justice . The States that constitute the European Union have to keep up their powers of regulations and lean on a constructive dialogue between employers and trade unions in order to control a globalization which integrates the social and environmental dimensions that conditions the sustainable development and the well-being of the populations .

For Europe, create a real social and democratic inspiration for the whole citizens

The ultra – free market economic conceptions today are advocating the “Anglo – Saxon” system as a one – model society . Such conceptions, which not only do not participate in the construction of a feeling of community between the European populations but today are also rejected by a number more and more important of workers, must give rise to an alternative .
Man comes before profits.
The market must be in the service of men and not the contrary . In the first place, it is important that the national governments should be transparent as regards their action at the European Union level, so that the interests that they are standing up for should be controlled democratically by the citizens and their representatives elected . The European institutions, European Central Bank, European Commission, European Parliament, have to, furthermore, abandon their technocratic running and attend to elaborate and to implement some economic and social strategies coordinated in the service of growth and employment, in particular by using all the monetary and budget instruments at their disposal . This supposes that the statutes of the European Central Bank should be written again so that the single currency could serve the targets of social and economic development and so that it will not only be the instrument of a control of the inflationary pressures . Just like in the United States of America, employment has to be a target of the monetary policy .
In the same way, its running must be subject to a form of democratic control . In parallel, CFTC asks for the setting up of the social convergence criteria to be reached by the whole 2 countries that constitute the European Union ; ( convergence criteria that could be suggested to the bordering countries ) .
CFTC expects from the European Union that it establishes a real constructive dialogue between employers and trade unions leaning on the trade union pluralism, and that it becomes a proposals force in the social field without losing sight of the expectation of the populations, that is to say a Europe that protects them and not a Europe that hands them over unprotected to the market laws .
Today, in order to favour the adherence of the European populations to its projects, Europe has to offer future prospects more exciting than those proposed up to now . CFTC will continue its action in order to let recognize and live, on a European scale : the values of justice, of solidarity, of equality and of non discrimination ; the sustainable development based on a social free-market economy and on full employment ; a participative economy, a first stage in this sense would consist for every state in spreading a regular and readable information of the decisions taken on a European level and the motivations that led the politicians to make these choices ; a constructive dialogue between employers and trade unions inside the transnational companies, especially in case of restructuring . In this perspective, it seems essential to turn the European workers’ councils into real authorities of dialogue ; an industrial policy combined with a policy of research and development boosted and co-ordinated at the European level which benefits from human and financial means taken into charge by a mutual insurance system or a public authority ; a
support of the poorest regions in order to favour a rise in their standard of living and to reduce the sources of social dumping ; a co-ordination of the economic policies, especially through a policy of major projects financed by the an European loan with a view to speeding up the development of the infrastructures and so to stimulating the economy .
The CFTC has willpower to put a lot definitely more into the European authorities, especially through its participation within the European Commission on economic and social affairs, the European confederation of trade unions and the Europeans federations . The CFTC, to sustain its visions of society, is going to reinforce its already existing actions of partnership with the European trade union organizations included into the geographic networks of the European area just like the network Arc Atlantique CFTC . It will also develop its action within the trade union committees crossborder . The CFTC also has willpower to intensify its action within the transnational companies structures, especially within the European workers’ councils .

www.cftc.fr/ewb_pages/e/english.php