text: Union leaders outraged by WTO snub to ILO head. SINGAPORE 1996-12-06 
   International trade union leaders on Friday expressed outrage that the head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had been barred from speaking at next week's WTO meeting in Singapore. Bill Jordan, general secretary of the International Confederation 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 conference on international labour standards and trade. The three-day trade union conference in Singapore hopes to push labour issues onto the WTO agenda. Jordan said the WTO's credibility was at stake over the issue of trade and labour. The ICFTU said it wanted the WTO conference beginning on Monday to outlaw forced and child labour, end discrimination in hiring, and guarantee the right to join a union. Bill Brett, chairman of the ILO Workers Group, told Reuters before the news conference he was " not too surprised, but very disappointed " that the speaking invitation had been withdrawn. " Some governments are very determined to stop the issue (of trade and labour rights) being discussed, " he said, adding that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seemed particularly hostile to the ILO agenda. ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The ILO wants a trade and labour rights " social clause " included in the final ministerial statement issued by WTO leaders at the end of the meeting, the organization's first ministerial-level gathering. Speaking to ICFTU delegates, Richard Eglin, director of the WTO secretariat, said the WTO was capable of making a significant contribution to governmental efforts to solve social problems. But he said the WTO's organisational structure made it difficult to impose on its members a social clause such as that called for by the ILO.
competitors: WTO ILO SINGAPORE International Labour Organisation ILO WTO Singapore Bill Jordan International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ICFTU WTO ILO Michel Hansenne Jordan World Trade Organisation WTO Hansenne Jordan ICFTU Singapore WTO Jordan WTO ICFTU WTO Bill Brett ILO Workers Group Reuters Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN ILO ASEAN Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam ILO WTO ICFTU Richard Eglin WTO WTO WTO ILO