Good evening. My name is Mario and I've been asked to say a few words about the efforts that unions here in Alberta are making to promote solidarity between working people around the world.

In particular, I would like to talk about some of the things that the Alberta Federation of Labour -- through its Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee -- has been doing to deal with international issues.

As many of you probably already know, the Alberta Federation of Labour is the largest labour organization in the province.

About 250 union locals representing more than 115,000 Alberta workers are affiliated with the Federation.

We have members in almost every sector of the economy and in almost all of Alberta's major communities -- from Pincher Creek and Medicine Hat in the south to Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie in the north.

For years now, the AFL has taken a strong interest in international events -- especially events that effect working people.

We have always believed that working people share common concerns and challenges, no matter what countries they live in.

Whether we live in Canada or Cambodia; England or India; France or the Philippines ... we are all linked.

To a greater or lesser extent, we all face similar challenges when it comes to things like unemployment, wages, harrassment and workplace health and safety.

Of course, things are much easier for those of us living in the so-called "developed world." Our wages are higher. Our unions are stronger. And we have more security.

But as the world economy is transformed by globalization, many of the advantages enjoyed by workers here in Canada and other industrialized countries are being eroded.

In this new globalized environment, we at the Alberta Federation of Labour think it is even more important than ever for working people to stand together -- it's more important than ever for us to fight to protect the rights of workers, wherever they live.

That's why the AFL has taken such an interest in international issues. And that's why we have made education and action on human rights and international solidarity such a priority.

Over the past few years, we at the AFL have been taking action on our ideals.

For example, we helped launch an international campaign against the use of child workers by companies like Nike. As a result of this campaign, Nike recently agreed to hire only people over the age of 18 in its factories in places like Vietnam and Indonesia.

We also played an important role in the international campaign aimed at convincing the manufactureer of toys to accept Codes of Conduct that would prohibit the exploitation of workers in their factories.

In addition to our efforts to put pressure on business leaders, we have also worked hard to educate Alberta workers about the plight of their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.

With this in mind, we have sponsored visits by former Nike workers from Indonesia, who came here to talk about the abusive conditions in Nike factories. We have also sponsored talks by union activists from places like Mexico, Chile, El Salvador and Britain.

More recently, the AFL's Human Rights and Interntional Solidarity Committee, sponsored a two-day conference on human rights. At the conference, we talked about the problems of racism and discrimination here in Canada and how these issues are linked to the braoder international struggle for workers' rights.

Overall, the AFL and the AFL's Human Rights and International Solidarity committee have tried to do two things.

First, we do everything we can to educate working people here in Alberta about the challenges faced by working people around the world. Through conferences, public forums and articles in the AFL's newspaper, Labour News, we attempt to raise public awareness of these issues and remind workers here in Canada why they should be concerned about workers rights in other countries.

Second, we go beyond education by taking direct action. We have used things like information pickets, rallies and letter wr-ting campaigns to put pressure on politicians and business leaders. And in many cases, these actions have had positive results.

In conclusion, I would just like to thank the organizers of tonight's meeting for providing us with a forum to discuss the importance of international solidarity between working people.

I would also like to encourage all the union members in the audience to get involved with their locals and with the AFL. Through your involvement you can help ensure that international issues and international solidarity remain top priorities for the Alberta labour movement.

Thank you and Solidarity!