Bill Jordan, general secretary of the International Confedera-tion of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), told a news conference the withdrawal of a WTO invitation to ILO director general Michel Hansenne was outrageous behaviour on the part of an organisation that wants to command respect in the world.
Jordan said a small group of developing nations that oppose linking trade talks and labour conditions had pressured World Trade Organisation (WTO) officials to prevent Hansenne from taking the platform to urge such links.
It is to their shame that those who are responsible for encouraging this meeting responded (to the pressure) in silencing him, Jordan said after the opening of an ICFTU meet on international labour standards and trade.
The three-day trade union conference in Singapore hopes to push labour issues onto the WTO agenda.The ICFTU said it wanted the WTO meet beginning on Monday to outlaw forced and child labour, end discrimination in hiring, and guarantee the right to join a union.