Ryder said there were twenty national and international trade union leaders at the Forum, and that their principal aim is "the globalization of social justice." But so far, he declared, the "record is not very good" in bringing it about. He cited the turmoil in Argentina and the collapse of Enron as examples of where social justice was needed.

John Sweeney, the president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, said the union leaders "were not here in opposition to globalization, but only to make sure it's fair."

Sweeney, who read from a prepared statement, was especially critical of Enron. Its executives, he said, made $1 billion trading company stock, while its workers lost their life savings in 401K plans. "But what is really wrong with Enron," he insisted, "is not how it fell, but how it rose." The company made its own rules, he said, "and deceit and manipulation are what Enron economics are all about."

But if Enron was so important, why wasn't the Forum devoting some effort to studying it?, a reporter asked: "Was it being swept under the rug?"

"I can't speak for the World Economic Forum," Sweeney replied, adding that "Enron will become the poster child for corporate accountability and what's happening in America."

But another reporter persisted. The more that union leaders participate in Forum meetings, he said, the worse things seem to get. Is it possible, he asked, that what might be good for the Forum was not necessarily good for anyone else?

Sweeney said that forty representatives of the world's workers were at the Forum, and that the "private sessions" they had with other participants had been fruitful. Sharan Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, agreed. "Thoughtful business leaders," she said, were now paying attention to what workers were saying. "A few years ago, it was hard to get corporations to audit social responsibility," she said, but that's not what she's finding today.

Burrow, however, had a criticism of the Forum. "The Forum is still incredibly male-dominated," with only token representation of women on its discussion panels.

Of all the speakers at the news conference, Fackson U. Shamenda, president of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, took the most pessimistic view of globalization. From the Third World point of view, he said, globalization means poverty and the loss of jobs. He also said that privatization means that foreign corporations will control African economies. In fact, the Zambian economy rises and falls with the price of copper, its principal export. In a blow to that economy, Anglo-American recently suspended its Zambia mining operations. Meanwhile the World Bank is considering some way of extending help.