São Paulo, November 18, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - A document signed by Ministers of Labor from 34 countries that belong to the Organization of American States (OAS) will be delivered this week to officials in Miami who are negotiating the final phase in the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). "The document contains analyses by the Ministers on the question of unemployment, the precariousness of the working world, and the perspective that the Ministers of Labor are offering. What is desired is that, when commercial and economic relations are debated, labor issues be taken into account; otherwise, economic decisions are made, and the Ministers of Labor merely administer the consequences," the Minister of Labor, Jaques Wagner, said on Monday (17).

Wagner, who is not part of the Brazilian Ministerial delegation involved in the FTAA negotiations, will attend the Miami meeting as president of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (Cint). He will transmit the concerns of Cint members over the impact of globalization on the working world, as presented in the document, prepared at the most recent meeting of the group, in September.

This will be the first mobilization of the Cint, which hopes to have greater participation in the decisions of the trade blocs. According to Wagner, if the Ministers of Labor confine themselves to administering the consequences of the resolutions, they will be unable to formulate new programs in the area of employment. "We believe that an imbalance was created when economic and financial considerations began to prevail over the working world, and this is a political movement to change this situation. It represents a political decision, of confrontation, but it is mainly a decision to begin to try to introduce the working world variable at the moment decisions are made, not afterwards," the Minister said.

Wagner was in São Paulo taking part in a debate on labor questions in the series of talks, "Portugal at a Glance." (DAS)