Workers' Liberty

Suggested resolution for trade union branches on the 26/12/04 tsunami disaster

This union expresses our deepest sympathy with the victims of the Asian earthquake and tsunami. The scale of the disaster and the suffering caused has shocked and moved us all.

We express our particular solidarity with trade unionists in the region, many of whom have lost their lives and loved ones, and seen their workplaces and trade union work destroyed.

We recognise that the earthquake and tsunami were a natural disaster which no political measure could have prevented. However, we also recognise that their impact was made much worse by the poverty and under-development in the areas affected.

Buildings, communications, transport, emergency and medical services can reduce casualties, but are weak in these areas. There is no tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, unlike in the Pacific, where the USA set up such a system in 1948.

Large multinational corporations make billions of dollars profit in countries such as Indonesia, India and Thailand, through exploiting cheap labour in sweatshop conditions, and keeping workers and communities in desperate poverty.

We believe that the generosity of ordinary people in making charitable donations has shamed governments into giving more than they would otherwise have done. Aid from governments such as the US and UK is welcome, but is a fraction of what they spend on war.

We resolve to make a donation to TUC Aid tsunami appeal and/or FNPBI (Indonesian trade union federation), and to hold a collection in this meeting and in the workplaces. We also resolve to make ongoing solidarity links with trade unions in the region.

This union calls for:
- More aid to the region from the governments of richer countries.
- The complete cancellaton of the debts owed by the countries affected - a moratorium on debt repayments is not enough.
- The reallocation of military resources away from Iraq and towards disaster relief in Asia.
- Corporations to be made to return profits extracted from the countries affected, to assist with relief and reconstruction.
- No obstruction to relief efforts from local governments.