The constant gardener
Asian Labor Network on International Financial Institutions (ALNI)
Anna Lanoszka,
University of Windsor
Mary Pardi,
University of Windsor
In March 1999, at a conference in Manila, the Asian Labor Network on International Financial Institutions (ALNI) was established. The ALNI was created in response to the Asian Financial Crisis which produced high levels of unemployment with increased inflation and fewer state-provided services. The network is made up of trade unions, non-governmental organizations, and academic communities from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Its main goal is to engage in constructive cooperation to protect the workers in these nations. ALNI encourages change in the policies of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
The ALNI believes the processes of liberalization, deregulation, and privatization have adversely affected employment, and that such policies must cease until their effects are assessed and proper programs are created to help unemployed workers. The organization argues that international financial institutions, like the IMF, took a generic approach to the Asian Financial Crisis, exacerbating its effects on workers. The ALNI organizes round-table seminars and training programs and publishes books and manuals about international financial institutions (IFIs). It increases public awareness, strives to improve social protection, and seeks to establish international labour standards. In 2001, the Malaysia ALNI disbanded, declaring that a lack of IFI investments in the Malaysian economy made the work of the committee less essential. Nonetheless, the ALNI remains significant for globalization and autonomy, as not only an example of global civil society opposition to the International Monetary Fund, but also as a cross-border labour solidarity movement, founded in developing countries, that promises to offset to some degree the global power of multinational corporations.
Suggested Readings:
Asian Labor Network on International Financial Institutions (Philippine Chapter) website.
www.alni.org.ph (accessed 22 December 2004).
Asian Labor Network on International Financial Institutions (Thailand Chapter) website.
www.alnithai.org/eng (accessed 22 December 2004).