Appreciation of John Vanderveken

4 February 1930 to 21 May 2024

Acting ICFTU General Secretary and General Secretary 1982-1992

“Bread; economic security and social justice for all. Freedom through economic and political democracy. Peace with liberty, justice and dignity for all.” from the ICFTU Manifesto, adopted on 7 December 1949 in London by its founding Congress.

Johnny was a thoughtful, kind, and passionate person. He treated everybody with respect and had an exceptional talent for listening and bringing people together. He was the right person at the right time to lead the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

The ICFTU was a diverse organisation. The glue that held it together was common values. However, affiliates did not always see those values the same way. In addition, there were cultural differences. Vandervecken was a master at understanding those differences and building consensus around shared principles.

Vanderveken was modest and undervalued his contributions. His organisation and mission were more important to him than personal glory.

However, his accomplishments were not modest. As a fighter for free trade unionism and democracy, Johnny helped shape the world at a crucial period in the history of the 20^th century. Many millions of people who never knew his name benefited from his labours.

Early in life, he learned to reject all forms of dictatorship regardless of their political colour. One of his teachers was Omer Becu, radio officer on merchant ships and transport union leader, later GS of the ICFTU (1967-1972). Becu participated during WWII in meetings of the Resistance held in the Antwerp café of Johnny’s parents. Becu also responded to the threat of totalitarianism coming from further East. With the expansion of the Soviet empire, he went from resistance to resistance.

The GS who succeeded Becu and preceded Vandervecken was Otto Kersten, who had been International Secretary of the DGB. As a young activist, Kersten was sentenced to hard labour by East German authorities for opposing their takeover of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Vandervecken was his Assistant GS and his close collaborator.

Throughout his service in the ICFTU, Vandervecken supported free trade unions and democracy with words, but also with action. Whether it was underground or exiled trade unionists from Spain and Portugal, refugees from Hungary, opponents of Pinochet in Chile or of the military dictators in Brazil and Argentina, unions fighting apartheid in South Africa, imprisoned UGTT leaders in Tunisia, or organisers of Chinese autonomous unions at Tiananmen Square in China , Vanderveken and the ICFTU were engaged in their support and defence.

With the birth of Solidarnosc in Poland and later changes in the region, there was a massive challenge to support free trade unionism and encourage trade union cooperation. For that purpose, the ICFTU set up a new unit headed by a young and dynamic member of the secretariat who had been working in the Africa department, Anna Oulatar. That unit played and still plays an important role in sharing information as well as in trade union education and union renewal. Education in the trade union movement had long been a mission of the ICFTU and, once again, it became a means to discuss, understand, and apply trade union values.

What seemed, at first, a rapid evolution in the region became a difficult transition. Leaders of the official unions of the past had been obliged to respond to ruling parties, not workers. Even new independent unions stumbled at times. Although they fought the system, they were, nevertheless, shaped by it. New generations of workers, often facing hostile employers and governments, are re-discovering free trade unionism.

When Johnny retired, he really retired. He compensated for long years of too many hours, too many meetings, and too many trips by enjoying time with his wife, children, and grandchildren.

He did, however, accept a trade union responsibility, and it was an important one. In 1993, the International Federation of Free Teachers’ Unions (IFFTU) and the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP) merged to form Education International (EI). They had agreed on membership criteria, but disputes about whether new or existing organisations were bona fide free trade unions would have delayed the merger. To “de-politicise” the membership issues to the extent possible, they established a Committee of Experts that worked with the Executive Board. It was composed of former trade union leaders of unassailable character and integrity. Vandervecken served on that committee. There have been several mergers of Global Unions since 1993 but none of them have adopted such an innovative and effective committee.

In recent years, Johnny worried that democratic progress was coming unraveled. After Trump was elected in 2016, he could not fathom that an American President could attack NATO and the EU and support Brexit. Vandervecken said that he was glad that he had served at a time when democracy was moving forward before the growth of the Extreme Right with their attacks on democracy at home and abroad.

I am very lucky to have known Johnny for more than than 40 years. He combined passionate belief in trade union values with the ability to make them live in others and in an organisation.

He was a good person, a good trade unionist, and a good friend.

I shall miss him.

by Jim Baker