---

UAW :Cuba Si, IMF No

19 February 1998

UAW International Executive Board Today Passed Two Resolutions: (1) Opposes Additional Funding For International Monetary Fund; (2) Backs Legislation to Allow U.S. Companies to Sell Food, Medicine, And Medical Supplies to Cuba

    DETROIT, Feb. 17 -- The UAW International Executive Board,
meeting in Detroit, today passed two resolutions (1) opposing the request by
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an additional $18 billion from the
people of the United States, and (2) supporting legislation to allow  U.S.
companies to sell food, medicine, and medical supplies to Cuba.

    Resolution on International Monetary Fund
    In opposing the IMF's request, the UAW International Executive Board noted
that IMF involvement in the current financial crisis in Asia and 1994-95
crisis in Mexico "dramatizes the tremendous burden that imposed austerity
measures place on working people around the world."
    Rather than helping working people in developing countries, the UAW
resolution noted, the purpose of IMF involvement has been to "bail out
international banks and investors whose pursuit of excessive profits led them
to make questionable, high-risk loans."
    "IMF-dictated austerity measures worsen U.S. trade deficits, leading to
the loss of solid family-supporting manufacturing jobs in auto and other
industries, while driving down the already abysmally low wages of workers
living in developing nations," the International Executive Board stated.
    The resolution sharply criticizes the IMF for failing to require that
governments respect internationally recognized workers' rights as a condition
for receiving IMF funds.  "In Indonesia, independent union leader Muchtar
Pakpahan remains on trial for his life for his union activity.  Yet the IMF
has made no effort to use its leverage to free him," the resolution stated.
    Noting that the IMF has failed to move toward reforms that would ensure
equitable solutions to crises in financial markets, the UAW resolution further
called for the IMF and other international organizations to place "the
interests of working people at least equal to those of finance and capital."

    Resolution on Lifting U.S. Limits on Sales of Food, Medicine, and Medical
    Supplies to Cuba
    In its resolution supporting legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Esteban
Torres (D-California) to allow U.S. companies to sell food, medicine, and
medical supplies to Cuba, the UAW International Executive Board observed that
the recent visit of Pope John Paul II served to draw attention to the
suffering of many Cubans, including children and the elderly.
    "While we deplore the limits on the freedom of the Cuban people --
including restrictions on workers who seek free trade unions -- the UAW
believes the time has come to end the United States' boycott on sending
medicine, medical supplies, and food to Cuba," the resolution stated.
    "The current limits on the sales of these items to Cuba have failed to
achieve the goal of pressuring the Castro regime to become more pluralistic,
instead inflicting serious harm on many innocent Cubans who have been denied
life-sustaining medicine, medical supplies, and food," the resolution noted.
    "In supporting the Torres bill, the UAW joins with other organizations in
the hope that the U.S. will seek new initiatives toward Cuba that will speed
democratization there and encourage the range of freedoms -- including labor
rights -- that Cuban workers deserve,"  the resolution concluded.

SOURCE  UAW