"The absence of effective references to workers' rights at the WTO meeting in Doha is creating a crisis in world trade negotiations," Bill Jordan, General Secretary of the ICFTU said from Doha, where he is leading a trade union delegation to the 4th Ministerial Conference of the WTO.

"Our patience is running thin - yet the present draft Resolution is a step backwards for the protection of workers' rights. Social development and labour standards have been ignored by the WTO since its creation, and that must change in Doha this week. That is why workers from industrialised and developing countries alike have joined the Global Unions Day of Action, November 9, calling for a globalisation that works for people," commented the General Secretary of the Brussels-based labour group.

On the eve of the WTO Conference, global union leaders are meeting with WTO Director-General Mike Moore, European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and trade ministers from South Africa and the United States, to set out the trade union position on how to change world trade to lead to social and economic development.

The unions in Qatar will be backed by hundreds of thousands of trade union members, participating in actions north and south, calling for a fairer globalisation.

40 trade union officials representing over 150 million workers are in Qatar to stress that globalisation, as managed so far by the WTO, has not brought general social and economic gains, but poverty and violations of workers' rights. They will argue that the WTO needs to start doing things differently.

In what is believed to be one of the largest ever international trade union mobilisations, hundreds of thousands of trade unionists worldwide will be in the streets, in their workplaces, and in the media, clearly voicing their objections to globalisation for the benefit of the rich, and demanding that world leaders put a human face on the international trading system. Trade unions from all continents are participating in the actions, the majority of which are happening in developing and transition countries.

The trade union delegation's demands will emphasise the need to create a world trading system built on fair rules and respect for core labour standards as defined by the ILO, in order to achieve balanced and sustainable development.

Trade unions also demand much more progress on access to medicines through the TRIPS agreement, on implementation issues, on differential treatment for poor countries, and market access for developing countries. "It is absolutely unacceptable that rich multinationals can continue to bleed poor countries dry by hiding behind ambiguities in the TRIPS Agreement. Lives are more important than patents, and this must be made explicit once and for all," said Bill Jordan.

"Core labour standards and TRIPS are the deal-breakers without which this conference will be a failure for working people," he concluded.