Labour voices were loud and many at the WTO Ministerial NGO meetings from 18 to 20 May, 1998. Facilitated by SOLIDAR — an alliance of NGOs with links to trade unions and social democratic parties — and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), workers unions organised a preparatory session, workshops on labour standards and NGO- Labour alliances, daily briefings and press statements. They released a multilingual info-kit on workers rights and the WTO, and distributed reports on child labour and key ILO Conventions. The session on ‘Labour Standards, Trade and Development’ was attended by over 60 civil society representatives from more than 25 countries. Speakers included representatives of trade unions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Their campaigns for a social clause in the WTO and for social provisions in the Multilateral Agreement on Investment rally around the message ‘workers rights are human rights’. Speakers focused on the social impacts of trade liberalisation and unregulated capital speculation in Thailand, Peru, Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe, including worsening working conditions in export processing zones, protests and price increases in Asia, loss of rights to organise, bargain and be free from bondage or discrimination. The session on NGO-Trade Union cooperation and alliances built on grassroots, national and international cooperation among development and social welfare NGOs and workers unions. It was agreed that on trade and investment issues, increased co-ordination and campaign solidarity amongst natural allies in the majority world was urgently needed.